What is "Love"? No, I'm not coyly referencing the 1993 breakout dance hit from Haddaway (ok well, maybe I am), but I'm also genuinely asking. Love can mean different things to different folks, kind of like how your memories of an event can differ from one person to another. Hell, even your own relationship has multiple perspectives: how you see your partner is most likely not how they see themselves. We all process love in our own way and we contextualize memories differently because of our lived experiences, personal beliefs, nature, and upbringing. It's human nature, after all!
After Love EP is a game that tackles this topic in a slice-of-life, narrative-rich adventure with a little bit of rhythm gameplay for good measure. But will After Love EP leave you with butterflies in your stomach, or is it a VIP pass to heartbreak? I'll give you all the juicy details in this review.
After Love EP comes to us from developer Pikselnesia, founded by writer and developer Mohammad Fahmi Hasni of Coffee Talk fame. When Fahmi tragically passed in 2022, the Pikselnesia team made it their mission to complete this final project of his, which brings us to its February 2025 release.
Despite some not-so-subtle nods to Coffee Talk, like a cafe called Coffee Chat and a cat named Tofu, the two titles do not appear to be connected, so if you're hoping to serve up some lattes, you'll have to return to your favorite coffee shop in Seattle.
Instead, After Love EP takes place in Jakarta, where we play as aspiring musician Rama, who seems to have it all—an up-and-coming band, great friends, and a doting artist girlfriend, Cinta. One night, after a successful local gig, Rama and his bandmates go out to celebrate without Cinta, who is feeling a bit under the weather. This is a decision that will haunt Rama as Cinta's cough proves to be much more serious than she let on. The next day, in his hungover state, Rama receives a phone call that shatters his reality and sends him into a deep depression. Cinta is hospitalized and ultimately does not pull through.
I know, I just dropped a bomb on you, but I assure you that this all happens within the first five minutes of gameplay. And don't get out the tissues just yet, because while Cinta may no longer be physically present, her voice lives on in Rama's head and she has quite a bit to say about it, let me tell you. How can you move on from love lost when that love still lives on in your mind? That accidental tongue twister is the real focus of After Love EP. Can Rama find closure in time to pursue his passion for music and foster new relationships?
The subject matter must be carrying most of the weight for this title, because the gameplay is pretty light. Much of After Love's story is told via dialogue boxes between characters, which can be toggled to auto-advance if you so choose. The game is broken up into days leading up to an important gig for Rama's band. During this month, you'll wake up each day in Rama's bedroom, check your messages from friends and head out into the world without any real directive. This free reign means you can take your time to explore the city, meet the locals and socialize with new and old friends at your leisure. In doing so, you'll form bonds with these individuals and can even take things in a more romantic direction, much to the dismay of Cinta's disembodied voice. But, you don't have to focus on romance. There is still the band to socialize and practice with, therapy sessions to attend (much needed, mind you) and even some busking to do at the cafe or on the street. Each day, you'll be able to choose a few interactions to have or duties to fulfill—usually one in the day and one in the evening, and at night, you'll return to your room and repeat the cycle once again. There are some things you'll need to do to advance the story, but for the most part it's pretty directionless, and if I'm being frank, a bit monotonous. I know this is a slice of life game and excitement isn't necessarily a key component, but there was too much dead time between actual interesting events that made me lose interest in my overall goal.
While interacting with others, there are a few dialogue choices sprinkled in, but not enough to make me feel like they were really making a difference in the direction of the story.
Band practices are by far the most interactive element as you'll play a "rhythm game" while showing your bandmates the new tracks you've been working on. I'm putting rhythm game in parentheses because it's about as basic a rhythm game as you can get. Button prompts will scroll across the screen from both the right and the left. When a prompt crosses the center of the screen, you'll input it on your controller. Some notes need to be held, while others are a short press, but that is all the variety you'll get. Despite a few mistakes on my part, I never once failed a song, nor did I receive any sort of score or feedback on my playing, which made the whole thing feel inconsequential. Don't get me wrong, I love rhythm games and I actually really liked the full songs when they were played with the band, I just wish there was a little more thought put into this gameplay element, because as it stands right now it could have easily been left out. If you can't get enough of the rhythm game, however, you can always practice your guitar in Rama's bedroom or with another local group of musicians that meet in the park. For someone who bases so much of their identity on music and songwriting, I am quite surprised that there isn't a heavier focus on this portion of the game.
Side-note: Rama's band is called Sigmund Feud, which is appropriate because the whole lot of them need therapy and they are constantly fighting. Literally every scene they're together. They argue, they make up, and then get into it all over again with little to no progress made in their interpersonal relationships. As someone who is pretty conflict-avoidant, this activated my fight or flight on so many levels.
ANYWAY, while busking, Rama will also seemingly write lyrics on the spot, where you'll be presented with the first few lines of a song and then have to choose the next. Many of the songs focus on, unsurprisingly, the loss of a loved one, with Rama using Cinta and her untimely passing as his muse.
And that's really all there is to it. You'll use your phone a lot to check messages in order to find things to do and then consult the map, which both shows you where your friends are hanging out and allows you to fast travel to the different sections of town. You'll play guitar. You'll fight with your band. Your dead girlfriend will yell at you. The night comes and the cycle repeats until the BIG SHOW.
It hurts my heart to say this, but After Love EP is a bit of a letdown for me. My biggest issue is that I found it challenging to be emotionally invested in any of the characters, and I think that's what this game really needed in order to succeed. The concept itself is fascinating—personifying the memory of a loved one with a voice that lives in our head, representing how we hold onto the memories of lost love and paint these memories with rosy tints—keeping the good bits and forgetting the not-so-pleasant parts. Unfortunately, I didn't care for Rama as a person, nor the voice of his deceased girlfriend. I also wasn't too fond of the rest of the cast. The constant squabbling between bandmates was frustrating and, ultimately, the relationship I chose to pursue felt forced and I even felt bad for the individual I was courting because, honestly, Rama wasn't ready. They deserved better. For a group of individuals that are supposed to be young, independent adults, the whole thing comes across as rather childish and immature. And hey, maybe that's the point, but it didn't connect with me the way I was hoping it would.
One bright spot of this game is the music, which I thought was quite well done. Indonesian indie rock group L’Alphalpha, referenced in the game, contributed their sound, which does make it feel authentic. Their music is well-suited for this kind of low-key indie scene of urban Jakarta where the game takes place, filled with quaint bookstores, record shops, and cafes. It's a warm, rich soundtrack that I genuinely enjoyed and sought out the rest of their catalogue on Spotify after my gameplay, and I was not disappointed. This isn't their first contribution to a game soundtrack, and I sincerely hope it is not their last.
UNFORTUNATELY, my enjoyment of the sound was often hindered by the intrusive thoughts of CINTA, who was the only character with voice acting in the game. I understand the point of this, and I thought the acting itself was fine, but being able to go at your own pace reading through text, only to be halted by a voice acting line was jarring.
After Love EP also has a polarizing art style. While I personally enjoyed the simple, manga style of the character design, some of the animations were choppy and disjointed. There are also a number of cut scenes that seemed to drag on and really only showed mostly static images of the characters. I am perfectly fine with using my imagination, but when you contrast scenes like that with the animated concert or band practice sequences, there was an inconsistency in effort and style.
There is probably a lot more I could say about my disappointment with After Love EP, but I'll keep this review at a reasonable length. I wanted to feel that familiar tug on my heartstrings, but instead I felt frustration. The rhythm game elements were underdeveloped, the actual death of Cinta feels rushed and doesn't give the player enough time to feel the gravity of her loss, and the character development never improves much from there. The intrusive nature of Cinta's dialogue interrupts the flow of the on-screen text and the cut scenes cut corners and end up feeling too drawn out.
The music is great, and I do like the character designs, but I just couldn't fall in love with this one. At the very least, it won't take you an incredibly long time to complete, and there are multiple outcomes for you to explore with the various romances, but I don't think I'll be going back in for a second date.
MEDIOCRE