I’m rather lucky in that I’ve never really experienced much loss in my life, but it’s something that’s coming sooner or later whether I like it or not. I imagine most would agree that there’s nothing more devastating than losing a loved one, and since the dawn of storytelling this has been a theme that resonates hard with pretty much everyone. There have been countless video games that explore loss, from indies to AAA, but I can’t recall playing many rhythm games about losing someone you care about. Afterlove EP is a game about coping with grief, continuing to live on after such a devastating event, and playing some radical music for good measure.
At the start of Afterlove EP the future is looking bright for our protagonist Rama. He’s part of an up-and-coming band (the wonderfully named Sigmund Fraud) with his friends, has lots of local fans, and most importantly a girlfriend he adores. After playing an awesome gig he notices Cinta seems a little off, but she convinces him she’s fine and sends him off on a night of drinking with the band. That’s when Cinta passes away, and Rama’s whole world is turned upside down. This opening hits you like a truck, and if that sounds too difficult for you to go through then Afterlove EP probably won’t be the game for you.
Cut to a year in the future, and Rama is trying to get back to normality. He’s called a band meeting, and is hoping that music will help him get through this miserable phase of his life. While his whole life has been absorbed by grief though the rest of the world has continued to exist, and that includes the lives of his bandmates. They agree to one more gig with Sigmund Fraud in a month’s time, but unless that goes really well they’ll likely go their separate ways. With this deadline on the horizon it’s up to you to guide Rama through life for twenty-eight days, make some new friends, and hopefully find a happy ending in whatever form you can.
Sounds simple enough, but there’s one aspect of Rama’s comeback story I haven’t mentioned. He can hear the voice of his departed love as he goes about his life, and doesn’t know if her spirit is still with him or if he’s going through a mental health crisis. Either way, he doesn’t want to lose her again, despite regularly replying to her out loud in the middle of conversations.
For a few hours, Afterlove EP feels more like a visual novel than anything else, as you are guided from place to place to talk to various characters. These chats can be with bandmates, new friends, or even record store workers, and thanks to the fantastic writing they’re always compelling. You can explore the world as you wander to your next hang sesh too, which is a beautifully realised version of Jakarta. Although only really made up of a small selection of flat scrolling screens, there’s a lot of character and life in the environments that are nice to take in.
After a few in-game days, you’ll gain more control of what Rama spends his time on. With old friends to reconnect with and new ones to discover, whoever you choose to spend time with will affect your ending and Rama’s story as a whole. I was personally happy with the path my story took and my ending, but I can’t promise you will be if you have different priorities.
Alongside everything else, Afterlove EP is still a rhythm game, albeit a simple one. With a marker in the middle and lanes of notes that come in from the left and right, you’ll need to hit the face button on each note in time to the music to succeed. It’s about as straightforward as rhythm games get, and even on the highest possible difficulty (which is admittedly just Normal) it’s hard to even miss a note. Because of this lack of difficulty it’s a struggle to really get much out of these sections, which is a shame because they’d be a nice change of pace otherwise. The music is at least pleasant though.
Outside of the underwhelming rhythm game sections, there’s not a lot to complain about in Afterlove EP. The pacing is a bit slow in the middle portion of the game, although after the impactful opening anything would feel that way. There’s also an issue with text scrolling where it automatically cuts out the voice acting on Cinta’s lines, which can only be stopped by making them unskippable and is a bit of a pain. None of this detracts too much from the overall experience though.
Afterlove EP is an emotional game about loss with a lot of heart, great writing and a lovely vibe. Don’t go into it expecting a fast-paced rhythm game though, because that particularly small part of the game is definitely not the focus. As long as your heart can handle a gut punch or two you’ll find a lot to love in this story about battling grief, and might help Rama move on with his life.
