Afterparty

Hell has been transformed into a giant, twisted, colorful party and Night School has filled it with a terrific cast of characters and a unique drink-based mechanic that will all easily leave you wanting more. Afterparty is worth picking up and is easily one clever gem that shines brightly…especially when standing out among a city filled with puking demons and bodies lit on fire. It was, indeed, a killer rager.

With sharp writing, this choice-driven adventure manages to retain Night School’s knack for endearing, character-driven stories, but accentuates it with the unique new drinking menu that can further mix up – again, pun intended - how I decided to shape Milo and Lola’s personalities. Tackling some heady ideas with a down-to-earth approach makes Afterparty’s raucous, emotionally moving night in Hell one to remember.

Afterparty has plenty of lighthearted moments, but you'll stay at the party for the meaningful conversations.

When it hits those strides, it's a novel look at what hell might look like for most of us, a vision that turns the concept of eternal damnation into something more palpable and threatening. It fumbles when it reaches outside its comfort zone, and the focus on small moments means it lacks the grandiose ones that make our lives feel more meaningful than they might otherwise be. But again, that's kind of the point: After all, what did we do to deserve anything else?

While I love nothing more than Night School Studios' deadpan humour, Afterparty, like Oxenfree before it, really resonates with me in the way it portrays relationships, both between characters and in a wider sense. They take effort, and they can hurt, and sometimes we're all just lonely together, but we're never truly alone and we still have time to figure this out, even if it takes a lot of alcohol to get there.

Afterparty is one of the funniest games I’ve ever played, and its plot bends to player choices in subtle, important ways. But Night School Studio needs to clean up the bugs before I can fully recommend players go to Hell.

The top-notch writing and superb voice acting, coupled with the visually vibrant hellscape, keeps your interest from start to finish.

Night School Studios have made hell intriguing and complex, with punchy dialog and relatable characters, be it human or demonic. The humor and writing is where Afterparty shines the most, breathing life into every character it touches—be it short and sarcastic, or emotional and reverent. Like the Beastie Boys' "Fight for Your Right (To Party)," what seems like dumb entertainment can evolve into something a lot more meaningful if you're willing to look beneath the surface.