Developer: Elushis
Publisher: Black Shell Media
Platforms: PC
Tested on: PC
After The End: The Harvest – Preview
Vintage RPG games have been around ever so long and they usually fall back to principles that seem to be set in stone. After The End: The Harvest certainly promises elaborate dialogs, an intriguing story and epic fights against opponents that dwarf your character, but also brings something different as you visit countless worlds in the open universe exploration adventure.
After The End: The Harvest is best described as a retro space adventure. The player is given full freedom to explore the universe, handling quests and finishing off some nasty space-monsters along the way. The game is intended to be open-ended, leaving the amount of required goals to an absolute minimal. By giving the player control over a spaceship from the get-go, the exploration element is never far away. The combat system is a bit Zelda-esque, real time and very responsive. This is a rather rare feature for these types of games. It is certainly fun to be able to take down space behemoths not only based on the player’s level and stats, but also using reflexes and skills.
The game really shines in these epic titan-sized battles. Nothing beats taking on a mountain sized monster by mashing a button and earning bragging rights along with some precious spoils! Aside from swinging your sword like a human weed hacker, there are other special skills to be bought and learned. So far these seem rather limited at this early stage of development and are not yet properly introduced.
The main mode of travel becomes available right at the start of the game. The fact that you’re supposed to explore other worlds this early on absolutely does not mean the game is lacking in the quest-department. The universe is indeed loaded with various worlds and characters, each having their own summarized story and quests. As the developer describes :”The goal is simple, the game is hard, reach the centre. How it’s done is up to you.” Players that love the traditional RPG storylines might not feel affection for this statement, because it implies there is no clear goal to work to. It is not clear if this is a conceptual or developmental issue this early on, who knows what Elushis has in mind.
Audiovisually, After The End: The Harvest is nearly there. A lot of effort is being put into the looks of the game. There even is a semi-3D camera mode implemented, with impressive backgrounds especially when travelling between worlds. Unfortunately, despite the enjoyable looks of the game, the screen is not resizable. The game sometimes looks more like an emulated Game Boy Advance title due to this. The music is what is to be expected from these types of game, however don’t fix it if it isn’t broken : the smooth retro-tunes are part of the genre’s atmosphere.
Conclusion
Even though the game already feels mature, it is noticeable that the developers have quite an impressive list of simple “to-do’s” on backlog. For example, an improved tutorial system and a well defined storyline would bring a better understanding of what the game is all about. After all, proper documentation is key for players that are to be let loose by themselves. In the end, Elushis and After The End: The Harvest should get the benefit of the doubt, as the current investigated version is only the 8th update along the way. A lot of work is expected to be done to further improve the game, yet the concept behind it is already enjoyable at least.
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