2026 Special - Afterimage

When I started up Afterimage for the first time, it asked me whether I'd like to play on the Normal or Advanced difficulty. Knowing next to nothing about this Metroidvania by Maximum Entertainment, I decided on Normal, with the (honest) intention that I'd tackle the harder setting in the next playthrough. Now, at this very moment, I'm debating whether or not that was the right call. The only teeth Normal has is those found on a playful kitten. Enemies of all shapes and sizes fling mildly damaging attacks every which way, but the odds remain stacked in Renee's favor. I should've pushed myself further instead of settling for a fluffy adventure where I never had to pay much mind to the opposition. However, there is an argument that ignoring Advanced was the right call. Afterimage is already the definition of excess. Throwing in excessive damage and excessive retries might've broken my psyche, which is already a glass jar tumbling around inside a sack full of doorknobs. 

Admittedly, I'm not the same person I was 20, 10, or even 5 years ago. Morning Ketsui: Kizuna Jigoku Tachi sessions haven't been on my schedule in a long time. It's not that I don't appreciate a challenge anymore, but I have to set limits. Launching myself face first into a brick wall for hours on end doesn't feel as good as it used to. Chalk it up as another casualty of trying to survive increasingly harsh years with outstanding debt as my sole companion. Now, as easy as it might be, I can't blame myself for everything. Afterimage is one of those games that wants to have it all. It wants to be the Dark Souls x Bloodstained x Hollow Knight epic that plunges its players into a massive, interconnected world. Each of its many locales is bursting at the seams with shortcuts, secrets, and bosses. If you're on a tight budget - and who isn't in this economy - then you could certainly do a lot worse than a game that controls well and guarantees 20+ hours of playtime on a first playthrough. However, there's just so much content for the sake of it that even thinking about a second playthrough is exhausting. 

Damn if it doesn't play smooth as heck though. Take control of Renee as she attempts to solve all the problems surrounding Engardin. Apparently, the "Razing" that wiped out 99.999999999% of the world's population wasn't enough, as what little that remains is under attack from every kind of evil imaginable. There's chaos everywhere Renee turns, but at least she never has to worry about tripping over her own feet. "Controls well" is an understatement on my part. What I mean to say is that it feels like warm silk in a cold house. The heroine moves with a floatiness that's actually really satisfying and only gets better as her traversal abilities improve. Unlike, oh I don't know, Samus in Super Metroid, Renee's talent for wall-climbing isn't contingent on the player's mastery of some relatively tricky inputs. Provided it's not a wall of spikes, she can hurtle her way up as fast as the jump button is mashed. Speaking of, navigating Engardin's many obstacle courses is no sweat. Wall-jumping and air-dashing around spike-filled mini-labyrinths comes so naturally that you'd swear you've been doing it all your life (and all your past lives as well).

It won't be long until our sword-swinging heroine is introduced to an entire suite of weapons to play around with. Afterimage does a remarkable job of providing a something for every playstyle. I love swinging a greatsword while in mid-air. It's got a lot of range, perfect for clipping flying foes or slashing earthbound enemies from above. Scythes and whips are also pretty remarkable. If I had to pick a favorite, it'd be the blade. This katana got a lot of love, because as far as I can tell it received some of the most powerful and exciting techniques. Judgment Cut is a wonderful counter for those who dare to swing their weapon wildly. Its mid-air attack is also quite spectacular. Magic happens when it's coupled with the Renee's pitch-perfect mobility. Be sure to explore every area and complete every task, because the hidden weapons usually have some nice abilities that'll help players find the exact build that suits them. One that comes to mind is Scorching Judgment. Its ability to unleash devastating explosions every five or so seconds makes it a good secondary. 

Admittedly, I didn't use spells very often. There's no shortage of magic books and staves lying around, but whatever capabilities they might have were always the last thing on my mind in a pitched battle. Still, I see the value in having them available, as they can deal damage from long-range, give Renee a temporary boost, and do just about anything that suits the player's current needs. 

Engardin, dangerous as it tends to be, looks just incredible. This is a world that exudes wonder and beauty. Each location has eye-catching vistas and gobs of intricately crafted flora. The level-design tends to do it a disservice though. I believe the main issue is that while there are a ton of biomes, exploring them is handled in a way that gets predictable. The excitement of reaching a new area doesn't last as long as it should, because exploring them tends to be a rote and... "gamey" process. Expect to run into lots of walls that are fortified in only one direction, usually indicating a puzzle-platforming section is nearby. Credit where its due, most bios have one or two elements wholly unique elements, but they're so large that all the details blur together. Afterimage is also so afraid of dead-ends that it causes problems for the interconnectedness. When I'm not sure what my destination is, having a stopping point is a big help. It tells me that I should head in a different direction. Getting the wall-jump, double-jump, and dive-smash opens up close to 90% of the entire world. From a surprisingly early point, players are free to go just about anywhere, perhaps even stumbling into endgame lairs long before they're supposed to visit. The amount of freedom is as impressive as it is overwhelming.

This massive world houses quite a lot of bosses, so many in fact that killing 30 of them is only worth a couple of achievements. These battles are entertaining, but they also highlight my one issue with this game's combat. Both Renee's hurtbox and the great many hitboxes she has to avoid are a little clumsy. Something has simple as avoiding contact damage can take an uncharacteristically long time. Almost every attack is huge and a couple of frames too early. Players will adjust in time, but usually that time doesn't come until after the boss is defeated. Maybe it'll be different for you or someone else, but on my Normal playthrough, Renee never saw death. She took a lot of punishment; I mean a lot. Death, however, is kind-of essential to learning bosses, how to react to their many abilities, etc. There was a very clear adjustment period that I practically skipped, all because I didn't choose Advanced mode. 

Even knowing what I know now, I can't... or at least shouldn't wholeheartedly recommend starting with the harder difficulty. I feel this way because most of what occurs outside of boss-battles is breezy. Afterimage is not a game where every inch of progress has to be earned in a trial by fire. Renee is like the wind itself, weaving through any obstacle placed in her path. The importance of a good challenge can't be understated, but at the same time, this is a 20-hour game when everything goes right. Players are going to be exhausted if every boss is an unyielding stone wall. I don't know the exact count, but I'd wager this game has at least a Dark Souls 2 number of bosses. It's a lot to deal with under the best of circumstances. On the plus side, difficulty can be changed midgame.

Too much like the worlds that inspired it, Engardin gets a little obtuse with side-quests. I managed to stumble through most of them, but that might've been because they were intentionally designed that way. I won't complain too much, because there doesn't exist a Souls-like that I haven't used a guide for. Still, Renee's mission could've been made a little more obvious. A couple NPCs allude to the importance of memory shards, and one of the better endings is only attained by finding 13 runes, but that's the sort of information I need stapled to my forehead. Also, if a truly final dungeon exists, then I'll probably never know unless I look it up. 

Considering Afterimage is often subject to staggering discounts, there's not a good reason why it shouldn't be in as many libraries as possible. I know my review hasn't exactly been a deluge of unanimous praise, but seriously, I respect this game's dedication. It's just so big, like those games I'd dream about making when I was a kid. Engardin is a massive world that's dense with lore and characters. It's got the deserts, forests, mountains, the sea, an abandoned ghost village, and all those other wondrous or scary places a healthy imagination would travel to. Really, it's quite something to experience, even if its full potential feels unrealized.

Oh, and there's a world map too. Sheesh!