After Us

After Us is a third-person adventure game based mainly on platform game elements from Barcelona-based indie Piccolo Studio - creators of Arise: A Simple Story. It was published by Private Division, part of Take-Two Interactive.

Plot

The plot of After Us was set in a surreal world, almost completely destroyed by the actions of extinct humanity. The protagonist of the game is a life spirit named Gaia. Her task is to restore the ravaged planet and save the souls of representatives of extinct animal species - the last whale, eagle, deer, etc. - and bring them back to the Ark Mother, who, to save these seeds of existence, sacrificed all her life force.

In pursuit of this goal, Gaia comes to look at many elements of the devastated world - including dying forests, crumbling cities, dried up ocean floors, and a polluted sky. In addition, the protagonist encounters Devourers on her way - dangerous, hungry creatures covered in environmentally destructive, deadly oil. They wander through the desert, looking for any life forms that have managed to survive. Over time, the protagonist discovers their sad story.

Mechanics

Gaia can jump, glide and perform dynamic spurts, enabling her to avoid both enemies and all kinds of dangerous traps. The heroine also has a special skill, used to remove the aforementioned oil from the world. Using it, she is able to face even the Devourers. However, the game does not offer a combat system as such. Instead, it features relatively simple puzzles that must be solved in order to make progress in the storyline.

Technical aspects

After Us was maintained in a charming three-dimensional graphic design, in which abstraction mixes with surrealism. A kind of curiosity - as well as a considerable difficulty - is the fact that the PC version of the title cannot be played with a keyboard and mouse. If you want to start playing, you need to connect a controller (pad) to the computer.