A rather fast conclusion to "Shadows of the Afterland"...

And that's how we got our multicultural society here...

When playing Shadows of the Afterland last time, I left Carolina in a sticky situation. Having saved the game, I was ready to investigate and figure my way out of it. But when I reloaded and watched the recap of my previous playing session, I thought the game glitched and the recap kept showing, no longer past conversations, but future ones as well! Trapped by the villain, I expected a good puzzle but instead the game kept going from cutscene to cutscene. The recap wasn't glitched, because I loaded an older saved game to test it and the conversations kept coming this time as well. I didn't even have to switch Afterlife locations manually anymore.

The travel map.

Finally I was given control again and I could do a couple of actions, but they didn't amount to much. Half an hour after reloading, I finished the game, bringing my total playing time to just under five hours. It was only partly a satisfying ending, since I was expecting more answers to the mysteries. I was left with the same questions I had at the start of the game. 

This woman looks at least 20 years older than she says she is!

I did discover another handy feature besides the recap system the devs added to Shadows of the Afterland: saving during conversations, and even during cutscenes! You simply pause the game in the middle of talking, click on the menu icon and save! Oh, how long have I wished for this to be implemented! The conversations here aren't that long, but there are games where they can stretch out for a long time and sometimes, when you have to go, you don't have the time to sit through all that, and in many games quitting a conversation early doesn't always guarantee you can continue the conversation later on.
 

Portal hopping to the land of the living...

So, other than the rather hurried and pretty much un-interactive finale, I really enjoyed Shadows of the Afterland with its quirky characters, fun pixel art, and interesting take on the afterlife, mixing the drama of death with humor and adding a very slight whiff of some Grim Fandango crime. And of course that brilliant recap system, and the ability to save during conversations.

Next up I'll be going back in time to a 90s classic. With a trembling heart I'm going to attempt the Les Manley sequel, Lost in L.A. After the disaster of the first game, I'm hoping this one will be a bit more forgiving, though that will probably not be the case since it's I've heard it makes the first game look like Monkey Island 2...

You can find Shadows of the Afterland on Steam and on itch.io.