Afterlove EP Famitsu Review

 Afterlove EP, a young musician ponders life following the death of his partner who now lives in their head. An incredible slice of life adventure game from the creators of Coffee Talk where each character is incredibly relatable. 

 

What kind of emotions come the memories of separations and goodbyes for everyone, I wonder. 
Whether it’s the breaking off of a friendship, the estrangement from family, or the death of a close friend, separations have a sad, and painful image.  
But there are also temporary separations, with the promise of another meeting like with Moomin Troll and Snufkin from Tove Jansson’s The Moomins, who part just for the winter. 

 
The separation depicted in the slice-of-life adventure game Afterlove EP, for main characters and lovers Rama and Cinta is a permanent one, brought on by death. 

We were provided a download code of the release version of the game and experienced one part of the story set in Indonesia’s capital of Jakarta depicting the lone musician attempting to move on with life.  

Was the voice we heard the ghost of their lover? Or could it be all in Rama’s head? 

The game begins with Rama sorting through his lover, Cinta’s pictures following her untimely passing. 
 
As she was shown as having either a weak disposition or some chronic illness it’s likely that she had passed away from a sudden complication due to this. 
 
Rama performs vocals and guitar as part of the three-man band “Sigmund Feud”. However, unable to get over the shock of Cinta’s passing, had completely cut contact with his bandmembers and had been in a depression for over a year, amidst a crucial time for their band, aiming for their major debut. 
 

Rama is trying to grasp a life without Cinta and move forward but is unable to take that first step forward for a specific reason. Cinta’s voice still rings through his head, almost as if she were really still there with him. 

This voice of Cinta is rather scary. 

This is due to the fact that the player knows nothing about Cinta as she was when she was alive. For this reason, we are unable to tell for sure if this voice is a real depiction of Cinta, or one thought up by Rama in his head. 

Of course, it is possible that the Cinta we see was really like that (entirely affirmative of Rama). But, as we did not really know her, one could think that it could be a self-defence mechanism born from his mind as they do not want to forget Cinta. 

However, there are times when Cinta comes out with thoughts and expressions that do not seem as if they would come from Rama himself... It's possible that no one knows what is really happening. 

Frequent “aha!” moments turn you into a bobble-head. 
 

Afterlove EP introduces many varied characters with Rama as the focal point. Whilst it sounds obvious that everyone has their own lifestyles and ways of thinking in the real world, this is captured very realistically in this game. On top of this, you can relate to these characters to a strange degree. 

For example, the main character Mara. With the loss of Cinta, the one who was most hurt and feels the most pain is himself, he claims. A very understandable thought. 

 

Whilst not wanting to let go of Cinta, they realize that hearing their late partners voice after their death is not normal and so Rama decides to begin therapy. Through this, they are able to face their thoughts. 

Rama laments that no one is able to understand the pain they feel from the loss of Cinta. In response to this, Rama’s therapist asks “Have you tried to express these feelings to anyone, or tried to show your vulnerability?”. To this, Rama replies “All of my feelings are in my songs. Through these songs, my band members should know how I’m feeling.” 

From this we can see that according to Rama they are expressing that they are suffering terribly, right? But, from the point of view of the band members, even if they try to comfort him, he doesn’t say anything so they dont know. “I told you.”, “No, I didn’t know.” I’m sure there are many people who have experienced this kind of misunderstanding. 

Also Tasya, the bassist of Sigmund Feud, is the type of person that will passionately do anything in the pursuit of their dreams. 

She is working toward making their band’s major debut. Despite this, Rama who writes and composes as well as performing vocals and guitar, goes radio silent with no explanation, and so Tasya is trying to get the band back together around Rama’s circumstances. With resentment toward Rama mounting, she even proposes joining a different band. 

As she does not see anything with aiming for the top in itself, she is the type of be told “You’re trying too hard. We just want to have fun doing what we love and we’re not gonna continue to go along with you.” 
And then there’s Sigmund Feud’s drummer, Adit, who could be described as having little self-esteem. 

He leaves the date plans to his girlfriend, and the direction of the band to the other members. But I think that it's not as if Adit does not have interest in these things, but it's more like he is the type to care less about what he is doing, but more who he is doing it with. 

 
Rama, who laments that no one understands him despite lack of communication, Tasya who won’t align with her band members depsite them all having the same goal and Adit who does not have a dream of his own, but just wants to be in the company of others. 

1. I. Really. Understand. Everyone!!! 

2. 
   

Fully enjoying the atmosphere of Jakarta. 

Pikselnesia, the indie game studio who made this game is based in Indonesia. 

And this game is set in Indonesia’s capital of Jakarta in the modern day. It is the same for games set in Japan too, but when games are set in a specific region, you can feel that region’s particular atmosphere. I like this.  
 

For example, in this game I am able to experience the feeling of Jakarta’s streets vicariously 

 
On the map, we can see a “Mol Blok W” location, this is surely based upon real world Jakarta’s “Blok M Square”, right? 

Within the game, there are various things such as the townscape, the food and the things being sold that you can really feel Jakarta from. There are also things that feel ‘Japan’ too... 

 

Incidentally, L’Alphalpha who appear in game are a real-life Indonesian indie band who worked on the soundtrack for this game. 
  

With whom will you deep your connection? What will happen to Rama’s band? The choice is up to you. 

Rama decides to reform with the band, however, their crucial new song has not yet been completed, the direction each member is facing are varied, and Rama’s own mental state is unstable. 

But time does not wait, and their first live performance in a year waits at the end of the month. 

 

For this reason, the player must play the role of Rama’s guide in this month before their performance. Who will he meet and what will they talk about? How will he confront and face Chita? All of this is up to you. 

You will learn the difficulties in restoring interpersonal relationships whilst being immersed in Jakarta’s multicultural atmosphere. 
I would love for everyone to play Afterlove EP and to become constantly nodding bobbleheads by empathizing with its characters. 

Translated by Ronnie Dickson

Source: https://www.famitsu.com/article/202502/32745