Francisco Cerda - After Death (2017)

 

Composer: Francisco Cerda
Console: Steam, GoG, Modern PC
Game Release Date: 2017-10-05
Soundtrack Release Date: 2017-10-05
Runtime: 60:00, 15 Tracks

I legitimately can't remember how I first heard about this game. I think it may have either been on a recommended steam page or reddit somewhere. I can't remember. 

After Death is an Indie metroidvania released back in 2017. In it you play as soul who ends up possessing a skeleton. The soul has lost its memories and it wants to escape the strange world it finds itself in. As you explore this world you collect items you can use to open a gate to free yourself. From there you explore a bunch of different area ranging from deserts to vast libraries, each with their own enemies and quirks. This is done all while being guided by a number of spirits who perform tasks like fast travel and saving. At the start it may seem a bit similar to MediEvil but the only similarity is that both protagonists are skeletons. After Death is a much darker and more depressive game. 

You go through this "ruined world" as you explore, encountering half-dead and barely animate enemies. The bosses themselves have seen better days too. The game is wonderfully sprited (it's supposed to replicate 16-bit although I disagree it does that well). Don't get me wrong. The game is beautiful. Hand-drawn sprites, extravagant boss design and beautiful locations. The only games I could really compare it to are The Waste Land and maybe...in a strange way Nier: Gestalt. Maybe some doujin games like the Touhouvania and Mosesvania. 

Also, the game is really....I guess precise. The platforming and control you have over the skeleton are very fine. It made the platforming extremely enjoyable. Combat was good too, the skeleton has a large range of attacks, AOE attacks and plenty of health and armor upgrades all over the place. It also has a "glitch" that once I found made greatly alleviated the difficulty of many of the later bosses. When you strike there is a half-second cooldown before you can hit again. When you duck and hit there is no cooldown. So if you time it correctly and rapidly duck, attack, rise, attack, duck and repeat you can double, triple the amount of hits per minute to the point where some bosses can be defeated in minutes. The desert boss in particular I destroyed in 3 minutes. I don't know if there is a speedrunning community for After Death but if there is this glitch would be absolutely essential to beating the game quickly. 

But all in all, this was a really enjoyable metroidvania for me. The team behind it seems to have only formed to create this one game so I have no idea if they have plans for anything else. 
The game's music was composed by Francisco Cerda, a Chilean composer. He is better known for his work on indie games Jamestown and Gunpoint. He's still active at the time of writing and all of his stuff is available on Bandcamp. Including this soundtrack. The game's music is epic electronic and some heavy metal fusions. For the slower segments Cerda masters the ominous and cold sounds and adds transitions perfectly. The games title screen theme is iconic to me, starting off with his lonely electronic ballad that gradually explodes into a metal ballad. I have linked the bandcamp below. 

Also worth noting but this upcoming Friday is a Bandcamp Friday. They will be waiving platform fees. So go buy something! 

Bandcamp: https://franciscocerda.bandcamp.com/album/after-death-original-game-soundtrack