Afterdream

Haunted mansions are a common theme for psychological horrors, and Afterdream is no different. Explore the manor while blending fantasy and reality in the form of a lucid dream. Players must bring closure to their own story by helping ghosts and solving puzzles with the help of an unusual camera. Afterdream is a 2D side scrolling puzzler, handmade by a solo developer in Finland. The developer has been an active member of the community and has shared some of their experience developing the game as time has gone on. They have worked hard to push atmosphere over gore, making the game creepy but not overly disgusting.

Beautiful 2D graphics

Although there are thousands of 2D sidescrollers out there, this game is unique in the details of it’s graphics. It’s clear that the developer spent a long time working on making the game beautiful and otherworldly. It’s not all doom and gloom either. Although the majority of the game has an almost greyscale selection of colors, there’s a few warmer sections in vivid autumnal colors that are worth admiring just for the art. If the color scheme looks familiar you’re not imagining things. This is the same developer (Jesse Makkone) who created Distraint. If you were a fan of Distraint, you’ll likely enjoy this game as well. The sound for this game is also very beautiful, with sound effects and music that fit in well with the game.

Chat with Ghosts

The manor you are exploring is populated with ghosts. These ghosts can be friendly or unfriendly and all have stories of their own. Solving puzzles and interacting with ghosts help reveal the storyline, which the developer describes as intriguing.

There’s not a lot of information out there on the actual storyline itself, but this could be to help keep the story fresh for players when the game is released at the end of September. What we do know is that Jesse Makkone has a knack for psychological horrors. Their previous game has over 6,000 positive reviews on Steam. If Afterdream is anything like Distraint, chances are it will be a great horror game to entertain you for a few hours.

Variety of Puzzles

Afterdream is generous with the variety of puzzles in it. One minute players may be attempting to dial a code using the handles of an appliance, the next they’ll be searching the screen with their camera for a hidden box. Games can quickly dull if it is the same puzzle over and over again (remember the tiresome Alohamora spell from Hogwarts Legacy?) Fortunately, this game helps keep it fresh with lots of new puzzles.

Pros:

• Beautiful graphics
• Minimalist navigation

Cons:

• Unknown