Afterimage

Afterimage hooks you with the familiar but satisfying rhythm of pushing into a dangerous new corridor, cutting through enemies, and realizing a newly learned ability opens a route you passed earlier. Its ruined fantasy world gives the exploration a little more weight than a pure map-clearing exercise, while fast combat and weapon upgrades keep the journey from becoming a leisurely stroll.

This is a generous, nonlinear action RPG that asks you to enjoy getting lost as much as getting stronger. If you like digging through a large metroidvania for shortcuts, boss fights, and build options, Afterimage is an easy recommendation, even if its sprawling structure can occasionally make the next productive path feel less obvious than you would like.

Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

Afterimage understands the basic pleasure of the metroidvania loop. You begin with a limited reach, find new abilities and skills, then return to formerly blocked stretches of Engardin with more confidence and more options. Each unlocked shortcut turns a previously intimidating region into familiar territory, and that gradual sense of mastery is the game’s strongest hook.

Combat has enough speed to make ordinary encounters feel active rather than purely transactional. The game pairs its hack-and-slash action with weapon upgrades and RPG character building, so you are not simply waiting for the next traversal power. You are also shaping a fighter who feels increasingly prepared for the enemies and bosses ahead. That mix gives exploration a welcome purpose: progress changes both where you can go and how you handle trouble once you get there.

The tradeoff is scale. A nonlinear world is exciting when curiosity leads you somewhere useful, but it can become frustrating when you have several unfinished paths and no clear sense of which ability will solve which obstacle. You need some patience for retracing your steps and testing old dead ends. If you treat wandering as part of the reward instead of a detour from it, the game’s structure starts to click.

Graphics

Engardin is rendered in hand-drawn 2D artwork, fitting its ruined fantasy setting better than a cleaner, more cheerful look would. The side-view landscapes give the journey a storybook quality, while the destruction at the heart of the world keeps the imagery from feeling too precious or cozy.

Story

Renee’s journey begins on solid genre footing: she has lost her memories, her village has been destroyed, and attacks on the remaining human settlements demand answers. It is a direct motivation, but a useful one. You are moving through a broken world for a personal reason as well as a practical one.

The Razing gives Engardin a clear wound at the center of the adventure. That backdrop makes the search for new areas and hidden routes feel connected to a larger recovery effort instead of being a string of unrelated expeditions. The mystery of Renee’s past also gives the long trek a natural thread to follow.

Do not come in expecting the premise to reinvent fantasy tragedy. Come in if an amnesiac hero investigating a catastrophe sounds like a strong enough excuse to keep pressing deeper into a hostile, damaged land. The story’s real value is the momentum it lends to exploration.

Overall Experience

Afterimage is at its best when a difficult stretch finally gives way to a shortcut, a fresh ability, or a boss victory that proves your build is coming together. It has the ingredients that make this style of action game easy to sink into: a large connected world, fast fighting, character growth, and a steady supply of locked-off possibilities.

Its biggest demand is also its dividing line. You have to be comfortable with a broad, nonlinear journey that may send you back through earlier territory before it yields the next breakthrough. Gamers who want a tightly guided action game may find that structure tiring. For anyone who enjoys making their own route through a dense map, it is a worthwhile commitment.

On PlayStation 4, Afterimage remains a strong choice for a lengthy hand-drawn action RPG built around discovery and growing capability. For official game details, visit the Afterimage website. The adventure does not need to be radically original to be rewarding; it succeeds because its exploration, combat, and progression all pull in the same direction.