After peeking through a gateway to oblivion in Oxenfree, Night School Studio takes us all the way down the rabbit hole in Afterparty. When two teens find themselves prematurely condemned to hell, it’s our job to get them out. But is it devilishly fun, or a bad trip? Find out in my Afterparty Switch review.

To note, a review code was supplied by the game’s developers.

There was a lot to love about 2017 cult hit Oxenfree. An indie darling, it featured a group of five wise-cracking teenagers whose island sleepover is derailed by a malevolent supernatural presence. It had snappy, dynamic dialogue, great music, forking timelines, consequential decisions, beautiful watercolour scenery, genuinely jarring moments, and ingenious gameplay elements that made for an absorbing, atmospheric experience.

Flash forward to 2020, and the follow-up, Afterparty, has landed on Switch. While it retains the spindly stick figures, quick-fire chat system and walk ’n’ talk gameplay of Oxenfree, that’s where the similarity ends. Afterparty swaps the hazy, moody island for a neon-bright contemporary Hell, rendered as an engaging series of side-scrolling 3D scenes, and populated by a bustling cast of mean devils, damned monks, demon lawyers, lost souls and – of course – Satan himself. All in all, it resembles nothing so much as a night out in Camden during a bad trip.

Sympathy for the devil

Our protagonists are two of hell’s most recent arrivals – childhood friends Milo and Lola. Confronted by the unpleasant reality of their sudden demise, they quickly set about trying to escape the underworld. With the help of a mysterious cab-driver, they discover a loophole in eternal damnation: if they can win a drinking contest with Satan, the prize will be their freedom.

What follows is a somewhat jumbled experience. The game’s setup is that of a linear point ’n’ click adventure game. We find a key character, who gives us a small task; we carry it out, then we can progress with the plot, which – of course – includes more small tasks. The game is self aware when it comes to its formulaic structure, often breaking the fourth wall with lines like “I could explain, but why bother with the unnecessary world-building?” and “Seeing as we have to drive now, it’s time for some exposition.” After completing one long-winded passage of play, we return to Satan – well acted by the alternately grandiose and despondent Dave Fennoy – who says: “I hope that didn’t feel like busy work.”

Paved with good intentions

Unfortunately, this remark is a little on the nose, as much of the game’s five-hour playing time is exactly that. There are two sub-games – rounds of beer pong, and a drinking contest – both of which we must endure twice. They should be fun diversions, but each turns out to be more like the famously maddening volleyball and skipping rope subgames in Mario Odyssey. The results don’t really matter, anyway, as you’ll usually advance whether you crush it, or get crushed.

Other encounters play out via multiple-choice dialogue exchanges. Alcohol is free in Hell, so Milo and Lola can order as many cocktails as they like; taking a sip will add an extra “drunk” dialogue choice, whether it’s to be aggressive, catty, or to reply in pirate patois. It’s a fun gimmick that, once again, turns out to have minimal bearing on the outcome. There’s also an in-game social network called Bicker, which manifests as text boxes that overlap each other illegibly or float offscreen before you can read them. Yet again, it’s a good idea that doesn’t quite click.

Devil in the details

So, it’s down to the vibrant setting and quick-witted dialogue save the day. Alas, for every joke that lands, there are five that fall flat. Barrooms packed with colourful, devilish characters lose their lustre when you realise that you can’t talk to anyone. Walking through red-light districts with crackling dumpster fires, puking demons and Monty Python-esque crucifixions is amusingly lurid at first, then tiresome when you schlep past for the third time.

Such problems are compounded by serious bugs and performance issues. Dialogue boxes sometimes don’t appear, causing awkward pauses until you hit a random button, not knowing what you’re choosing to say. The in-game map didn’t work properly until after a save and restart, causing confusion at certain junctures. The frame rate regularly dropped, from small stutters to total freezes. Some of these technical issues had a direct bearing on gameplay, and left me feeling frustrated.

Afterparty Switch Review

So, despite plenty of good ideas, top-notch voice acting and no small amount of charm, this promising game turned out to be the kind of Afterparty that made me wish I’d gone home before closing time. If you head out on this booze-fuelled misadventure, maybe you’d have more fun joining in – and turning it into a drinking game.

Therefore, I give Afterparty by Night School Studios my rating of

What did you think of John’s Afterparty Switch Review? Were you a fan of Oxenfree? Will you be checking out Afterparty on the Nintendo Switch? Let us know over on Twitter or come say hello over on Discord.

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