Afterparty

Afterparty is a dialogue-heavy adventure about getting through the afterlife by talking, drinking, and choosing what Milo and Lola say next. Its best trick is the writing: the game leans on jokes, argument, and characterization more than on complicated systems, so the whole thing lives or dies by conversation. The downside is that if this kind of back-and-forth comedy does not land, there is not much mechanical padding to hide behind. By our assessment, it sits among narrative indie adventures rather than action games or traditional puzzles. In practice it is a lot of walking, talking, and picking lines, with the occasional branch that changes how a scene feels. That makes it easy to follow and also somewhat narrow, because the pleasure comes from the script, not from mechanical depth. People who want a sharp story game with a distinctive voice will find the most to like here, while players looking for systems to master should look elsewhere. The game is mostly about conversation, and it stays that way from beginning to end.