I’ve never beaten him in a fiddle contest, but I’m sure glad I got to challenge Lucifer to a drinking competition in Night School Studio’s second adventure game, Afterparty. The Oxenfree developers’ descent into the underworld retains its formula of 2D exploration with near-constant conversation and Telltale-like dialogue choices while introducing a world of neon-soaked demonic alleyways and dive bars that look… well, like most do on Earth. But inside that over-the-top demonic shell is a deeply human, cuttingly honest, and frequently funny story about two best friends making it through one hell of a night.
Afterparty’s tightly knit cast allows for more personal and affecting storytelling than what we saw in Oxenfree. Milo and Lola have, surprisingly, found themselves in Hell. Believing they’ve wrongly ended up surrounded by fire and brimstone for eternity, the duo ventures off to win a trip back to Earth by beating Satan in a drinking game. Should be easy enough, right?
