The Aftermath

Every religion seems to have some sort of explanation for an eventual apocalypse, because people figured out a long time ago the fact that some day the human race might go extinct for some reason. Hence, most beliefs talk about places where good people go to be happy for all eternity, as well as horrible places destined for bad people.

The Aftermath is a simple video game that aims to emulate the great Papers, Please by featuring a very similar set of gameplay mechanics. However, it’s even more basic than Papers, Please, which is why it gets repetitive a lot quicker as well. It’s a nice idea, on the other hand, and it’s also quite humorous, which is great if you have a few minutes to spare every now and again.

After a cataclysmic event wipes out every human on Earth, they are raptured and brought to be judged for their sins. As it happens, you are the one in charge of their judgment, which means that you get to stamp their sheet and decide whether they deserve eternal happiness or they are going to be sent into a pit of despair and burn for eternity.

Each man and woman comes with a sheet of deeds and hobbies, which is your only way to understand whether they have been good or bad. These sheets are actually quite funny most of the time, especially when they feature conflicting deeds that seem to cancel each other out. On the other hand, there are no rewards and no punishments for choosing heaven or hell, so it gets pretty repetitive after a while.

In fact, that’s what made Papers, Please so great, because you had a story to keep you engaged and something to look forward to. However, The Aftermath is a bit barren and annoying after the first five minutes, even if there are many interesting things you can read along the way. On top of that the graphics are very basic as well, although that is not usually a problem.

The Aftermath is not at all a bad game, it’s just too basic and rough at the moment, not to mention the fact that it lacks content. Hence, it can certainly be improved if the developer keeps working on it.