You might remember seeing the atmospheric 3D platformer, After Us at last year’s The Game Awards. It certainly piqued our interest at the time.
Developed by Piccolo Studio, who also made the stunning Arise: A Simple Story, it’s clear the studio has a very strong visual style.
Quest Daily was invited to go hands-on with the game ahead of its release, and after roughly 90 minutes of playtime, I was left eager to dive back in and experience more of what it has to offer.
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In After Us, you play as Gaia, the Spirit of Life.
The Devourers (humans) have brought a calamity upon the earth and the last of the animals have died. Gaia’s mother has used the last of her life force to save their souls, trapping them in their decaying bodies.
You must guide Gaia on her quest to rescue the souls and bring them to the sanctuary of the Ark, restoring Mother’s light and the planet in the process.
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After Us has a very unique and atmospheric style, from the serene grass fields of the Ark to the broodingly dark, decaying world of The Devourers.
You’ll be spending the majority of your time in the latter, what I can only assume to be a surrealistic earth.
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The levels are filled with the crumbling remnants of civilisation. I started off on an elevated highway that had definitely seen better days! Hundreds of abandoned cars littered the area, providing plenty of platforming opportunities, but also a deep sense of foreboding.
Further exploration revealed plenty more hints to the now-dead society, rooms full of discarded mannequins, a broken down merry-go-round, there were even plastic shopping bags floating around the world that would kamikaze-dive into Gaia if you got too close.
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Then there are the giant stone effigies of the Devourers, littered all over the doomed planet. These giant naked statues are a clear representation of the humans that brought about this catastrophe.
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It all paints a pretty bleak picture of where our society could be headed if we continue on the path of pollution and destruction we’re on.
Thankfully though, there is a literal ray of hope for the world. The bright white light of Gaia is in stark contrast to the rest of the environment. So too the pops of colourful vegetation that grow wherever she walks or when she unleashes the power of nature.
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There’s a heavy focus on movement and exploration.
Predominantly a platforming game, you’re given access to a sprint, long jump, double jump, glide and air dash, all within the first 10 minutes of playing. It’s clear the developers want you to be able to explore freely and don’t want to tie motion behind progression walls.
Later into the preview, I was able to wall-run across certain surfaces and vine-surf along power lines and wires which looked and felt very cool.
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Simply jumping feels satisfying, it’s floaty (in a good way), like a low-gravity environment. There’s also a halo of light under Gaia as you descend from a jump, helping you to judge where she will land. Both helped me immensely with platforming in the 3D environment, where you can pretty easily misjudge your jump and end up falling to your death.
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While exploring the post-apocalyptic world you will come across spirit orbs that you can rescue by throwing your heart at them. Not a bleeding, beating lump of flesh mind you; more a glowing ball of light. These smaller spirits are in addition to the eight main spirits you’ll need to collect to restore Mother’s lifeforce to the world.
Each time you save a soul, it’s represented as a star within a larger constellation.
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You’ll need to explore thoroughly to find all of these smaller spirits, though helpfully Gaia has the ability to sing, which will assist you to zero-in on the wayward souls when any are close by.
The rescued animal essences will be sent to the Ark where you can enjoy their presence and even greet and pet them! I had a fun few minutes chasing a cute little sausage dog and trying to keep pace with some galloping stallions.
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The human world is also filled with oily gunk, some of which you can clear with a burst of energy, others that reach out with grimy tendrils and pull you under when you get too close. New phobia unlocked!
From what I’ve seen so far, the main chunk of gameplay is platforming and exploring, there’s also a little bit of combat in there too. Some of the devourers are still alive! Well… Undead might be a better description. They’re drenched in the same insidious slime that covers the world and will come at Gaia, trying to devour her light. You’ll have to keep your distance and cleanse their souls with your projectile heart if you want to survive.
Some Devourers will leave behind a memory that manifests as a sketched comic panel. Collecting panels will build a short side-story of life before the calamity.
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The music is pretty cerebral, packed full of ominous bass and droning synth that wouldn’t be out of place in a Blade Runner movie. Combined with the ambient sounds of the world it fits the tone of the game perfectly.
While we’re on the subject of audio, there’s no voiced dialogue in the game. There is some text when Mother speaks directly to Gaia, but just enough to convey the key details of the world and Gaia’s mission.
For a game like this it works, it’s less about characters and story and more about the message the game is trying to get across.
If you haven’t already gathered, this game has strong ecological themes.
It’s tackling the destructive relationship between humans and nature, commenting on the desolate future we have before us if we don’t make changes to how we share this world.
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It’s a message we can all agree with on some level or another. I think you’d have to be living under a pretty big rock to have ignored the negative impact we’ve had on the world so far, environmentally anyway.
So there’s something very satisfying about traversing these bleak environments, clearing away oily goop and rescuing the souls of animals.
I can’t wait to explore more of this world and see what other surprises it has to offer. And of course, PET ALL THE CUTE CRITTERS!!
After Us releases on May 23 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.
Stay tuned to Quest Daily for more.
