Afterard review - "Take the 'Reigns' in a familiar way but in unfamiliar space"

• Swipe left and right to decide the fate of your space colony
• Plenty of outcomes, characters, and scenarios to unlock
• Very, very, very similar to Reigns

Things are never black and white in real life, and while it's actually the shades of grey that spice up real-world decisions, the dichotomy definitely simplifies things when it comes to video games. 

Sorry - I guess I'm trying to give this a smart little intro, but really, it's all very Tinder-esque in Afterard and its swipe-left-swipe-right mechanic. I'm not even going to pretend it's reinventing the wheel either, as it definitely takes inspiration from the popular Reigns franchise in more ways than one - and that's not at all a bad thing.

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Table of contents:

• Afterard story
• Afterard gameplay
• Afterard verdict

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Afterard Story

Even the visuals are very much alike, with their minimalist designs and clean interface. Essentially, all you really have is a character in the middle asking you to make a decision - you either swipe left or right to commit to that choice, and when you do, consequences happen.

This can mean adding or subtracting from the four levels you're meant to balance as the new Director of a space colony - Energy, Supplies, Community, and Politics. Obviously, favouring one too much over the others will lead to the end of your rule, whether that's dying in some hilariously gruesome way or getting taken over by the mob because your chef's food isn't salty enough. 

As someone who prefers savoury snacks over sweets, I totally support that kind of revolution.

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As you go along, you'll unlock more characters, more scenarios, and more deaths - and with each new rule, you might even learn a thing or two to make the next attempt last a tad longer.

Afterard Gameplay

The replayability is really where this shines - I didn't feel like anything was repetitive as I went along, and neither did I see the need to memorise any previous choices just to get to where I needed to be.

That shows an incredible amount of depth for all the outcomes possible, and that alone makes the whole endeavour worth diving into.

That said, if you're familiar with the Reigns franchise, then nothing will stand out to you here. It's exactly the same experience - some choices even lead you to battle, which is card-based combat where each win rewards you with points you can use to upgrade your deck. I quite enjoy those battles as a CCG fan, but it's nothing I haven't seen before.

There are also plenty of achievements to unlock, and the narrative itself is pretty fun - you can host regular movie nights and music sessions to boost morale, for instance, or even try to decipher who or what your AI assistant ARIA-9 really is.

And did I mention the cool intro features a stellar voice-over that sounds suspiciously like Clancy Brown? The man can read the dictionary and still get me invested in everything he has to say, quite frankly.

What's the appeal?

I do find it odd that it's in landscape mode when it would definitely play better in portrait. Also, there were instances where lines of text would just cut off with no way of seeing what comes next, which makes me feel like there's a tad lack of polish even in Afterard's final form.

I suppose the issue lies in the fact that it's pretty much Reigns but set in a different world - almost like a spin-off of the OG, if you will (much like Reigns: The Witcher). Now, I did say that that's not a bad thing, but I guess it depends on whether or not you're looking for something new here. 

If you're already a fan of Reigns, this should be right up your alley. But if you're hoping for some kind of twist to the formula, you'll find better luck elsewhere.

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That said, Afterard does offer enough content to keep you busy for a long, long time, and if you consider that it was made by a small team of two, it's incredibly well done - from the narrative choices down to the sound design. 

And it's a premium purchase at a mere $3.99, too, so if you're looking to flex your directorial muscles to see if you've got what it takes to save the human race in a galaxy far, far away, this is the perfect place to start.