The concept of life after death is something that has occasionally preoccupied various developers in different types of games (such as the god game Afterlife), including, of course, point-and-click adventures. How this "sensitive" topic is approached depends on the mood of the creator: sometimes with humorous undertones (see LucasArts' Grim Fandango), while others take a surreal approach, such as Wormwood Studios' Strangeland. Spain's Aruma Studios chooses to open the first curtain, with Shadows of the Afterland being a rather interesting adventure game that combines a darkly lighthearted depiction of "life after death" with a "detective" mystery plot. It's a combo that's sure to intrigue any fan of the genre, as long as the game can rise to the challenge. If it does, you'll find out right away.
Shadows of the Afterland takes us to Madrid in 1960. There we watch Pilar, a young girl dressed as a maid, visit the city zoo at a rather late hour, asking the grumpy caretaker to let her visit her beloved tiger. After an exchange that does not particularly flatter the caretaker, he allows Pilar to stay for a while, and she wastes no time in visiting the tiger's cage. There, while she was talking to the tiger (monologuing, to be precise) and the skies were about to pour down rain, for some strange reason, we see Pilar's soul leaving her body, which seems to take on a will of its own. So strong that it leads to Pilar's suicide, with her soul trying in vain to stop her.
But the paradoxes do not end there. We are now located to the dimension of the afterlife, which we find to be not particularly different from life on earth—apart from the fact that souls float and have no legs. Bureaucracy, control, services, exchange of products, all under a veil of constant stress on souls for reincarnation, which is perhaps the most terrifying move one can make. That is, to start life on earth all over again, without any prior knowledge, not knowing where one will end up and what quality of life there will be. This would happen in a normal death: but not here. During Pilar's descent into the other world, we find that although the appearance may be the same, the person communicating through it is another woman and former law enforcement officer, Caroline.
An unprecedented situation, made even more complicated by the fact that Caroline... hasn't been born yet! Therefore, our mission is to unravel the mystery and discover what happened, and we have... two souls in one (Pilar and Caroline), especially since Caroline's persistent "detective intuition" won't allow her to give up on the case so easily. This will lead to a very dark aspect of Afterland, which no one had realized until then. Or maybe not?
We would easily describe the script of Shadows of the Afterlands as clever and, at times, quite original, something not so easy to achieve in our era where almost everything has been written and said. However, apart from the good initial idea, the game is also characterized by a high level of writing, which raises its "stakes" even further. The dialogues are witty, with clever lines that don't force laughter or underestimate the player's intelligence, while at the same time successfully sketching a series of characters who appear to have a substantial background.
Like, for example, former "security guard" Cesar Santos, who has isolated himself and refrains from any social activity, Gaspar, who plays the role of "the guy who can find anything" (something like Red from Shawshank Redemption – what do you mean, "who is that?") or Gregorio, who tries (in vain) to find souls to reincarnate, and whose chatter has a touch of our beloved Stan from Monkey Island. In addition, the fact that almost every NPC in the game has a story to tell about their death (we even earn an achievement if we ask them all), which is often unbelievable, shows how much thought has gone into the work by Aruma Studios.
However, in terms of puzzles, Shadows of the Afterlands does not impress as much as we would like. Not because there are no well-designed puzzles – quite the contrary. Especially when, later in the game, we gain the ability to "possess" various living characters, simultaneously taking control of the items they carry (keep that in mind), the ingenuity of the puzzles increases dramatically. However, their difficulty level is quite low, as most of the time it is obvious what our next move will be and the game guides us accordingly. Combined with the relatively few visitable areas and equally limited hotspots, it is unlikely that anyone will get stuck on a puzzle for more than five minutes (except, perhaps, for one).
The fact that there is no moon logic in their design contributes to the "ease" of the puzzles, despite the supernatural context in which the game takes place. Consequently, by paying a little attention to the dialogues and what we need to do each time (there is no built-in hint system, but there are several characters who, if we ask them, "direct" our attention in the right direction), it is possible to complete the game in an afternoon.
This is not an exaggeration, as the game suffers from the equally serious "ailment" of being rather short, perhaps due to a limited budget. Especially from a certain point onwards, when it becomes clear what exactly is happening in Afterland, the events unfold quite quickly, in the form of narration/cutscenes, while some important characters and ideas remain unexploited, leaving a feeling of "rush" in order to quickly reach the finale. A bittersweet finale, which probably leaves room for a sequel, and why not, we would add, since the world and characters created by the Spanish developers open up many possibilities for exploration, with even more adventures in Afterland.
On the technical aspect, Shadows of the Afterland uses pixel art, and its approach is very reminiscent of a similar game from the 1990s. From the colorful fonts and the huge cross/mouse pointer to the overall design of the interface. Of course, the increased expertise gained over the years since then is evident in the animation and implementation of the characters, which are quite well-designed for the style of the game, as well as in the depiction of the locations and the "liveliness" (no pun intended) that characterizes each scene. However, we must make special mention of the voice-over, which is one of the best we have heard in recent times and is extremely professional. Truly excellent work, both in the choice of voices and the performance of the actors. As for the controls, which some of you may be wondering why we haven't mentioned at all, they are so accurate in their one-click interface that they go unnoticed.
In summary, Shadows of the Afterland is a very beautiful adventure, but its relatively low challenge and short duration prevent it from being labeled a "must-buy." It will not disappoint anyone who decides to give it a try, but we would like to see more "content" next time, so that we can unequivocally admit that it can compete head-to-head with the top representatives of the genre. Without a shadow of doubt, there is no shortage of ideas and talent.
RATING - 79%
79%
I shouldn't be here!
A clever and interesting adventure, whose short duration and relatively low difficulty of its puzzles do not allow it to shine more brightly.
