We have all been through potholes throughout our lives . Obstacles that seem insurmountable, walls that appear before us and seem to have no end. And as certain as they will appear again, it is that we will overcome them again and again.
We all remember that moment in which we managed to get up, even though it was perhaps not the first or the second time that we stumbled on the same stone. Overcoming, learning and continuing is what gives us strength.
This, and many other reflections, is what What Comes After has left me, a work about which a lot can be said and surely very little. A game that has won me over, welcoming me with open arms and sneaking into the best I’ve had this year.
Enjoy the trip
The creators of Coffee Talk are once again betting on the same course that they had set with their previous work: the narrative load is everything. In What Comes After, the what, why or when matters , but at no time is the how important. Because you don’t need it.
The story puts us in the shoes of Vivi, a young woman who is returning to her mother’s house. The whole scene of the title plants us in the carriages of a train that circulates without pause, taking each of its passengers to their corresponding destinations.
We can talk to all of them, each with their own idylls and problems in mind. The intention is to listen a lot and speak little, so once we have had conversations with most of them, Vivi will fall asleep in a seat.
Once awake, he discovers that he is still in the car, although now all his traveling companions are ghosts , spirits who wait for the train to take them to their last destination. Having to wait to be returned to her station, Vivi begins her own internal journey between rattling tracks.
On an artistic and visual level, What Comes After is really enjoyable. He is tremendously consistent with the characters he draws. Vivi is a really insecure person , with a patent shyness, something we notice in that she clutches her arm tightly, walks with her hands crossed and puts her hand to her mouth when she apologizes.
These actions will be a constant, since the title only allows us to scroll like in a lateral scroll and talk with the rest of the travelers. Vivi, despite being covered with a mask from the coronavirus, is tremendously expressive with her emotions.
A breath of hope
The best thing about What Comes After is when you grab a cushion, lean back, and let yourself go. His argument, his themes, are the only weapons he has to defend himself and he uses them with skill.
Never has a video game struck me in such a way with its first message, an on-screen warning that there are “mentions of suicide and self-harm.” The body already prepares for what comes next, activates the senses for what may happen. But it doesn’t happen as you think.
Simple, without being explicit, but without playing around with grammatical subterfuges, What Comes After puts on the table issues as delicate and current as depression, the aforementioned suicide, non-acceptance and the feeling that everyone points out your failures.
While Celeste told us about similar dilemmas through her gameplay, What Comes After just wants us to read her book. It has no cover, it is simply a set of lyrics waiting for you to, perhaps, teach you something new, just as it can do with many others.
Animals, plants or newborns … are some of the souls who will tell us about their life, their way of facing life , moments that evaporated between their fingers or simply, how happy they were while they were able to enjoy themselves. And they did it with all their might.
Vida Extra’s opinion
What Comes After is not a perfect game. It is closer to what a novel visual can offer in the mechanical section, since we can only walk and talk . It has many NPCs, but few characters that leave their mark.
Its hour and a half of duration is ideal; You will rarely find a game that gives you so much in such a short time. Perhaps its greatest handicap is that if you do not allow yourself to be trapped and moved by its history, it is possible that what I have put aside, you end up putting it in front.
Regardless, I will continue to recommend it whenever I can. If only for having the courage to dare to speak of such sensitive difficulties (as present in today’s society as the pandemic we are suffering from), he has won my favor unconditionally.
AWhat Comes After
| Platforms | Switch and PC |
|---|---|
| Multiplayer | Not |
| Developer | fahmitsu, Rolling Glory Jam |
| Company | Rolling Glory Jam |
| Launch | April 1, 2021 |
| Price |
The best
- Simple and straightforward.
- You vent it to yourself in one breath.
- A thrilling story.
Worst
- No interaction with the environment.
- Absence of prominent characters.