What Comes After

Trying to elicit emotion, especially more personal ones, through the medium of games can be hard. But those that can pull it off turn into near masterpieces in my book. What Comes After is a short narrative driven game developed by both fahmitsu and Rolling Glory Jam, and published by Rolling Glory Jam. With this game, they set out to deliver a message, about loving oneself, through an interesting story. 

In What Comes After, you play as a young woman named Vivi who accidentally fell asleep on the last train home and woke up in a train for the dead. Shortly afterwards, she finds out that she isn’t dead, but instead accidentally left on the train when it was meant for the dead after it stopped. However, they can’t bring her back until the journey is over, so she roams the entire train, talking to the many that inhabit it, whether it be human, animal, or otherwise. 

Gameplay is not much; you’re just walking around and talking to people. The writing is rather spectacular, even if it does have some typos. Everything you talk to in What Comes After has something to say. Usually, they keep these stories at a rather basic level of explanation, not trying to add too many complexities into it. It’s simple, yet charming, like the artstyle and soundtrack the game itself has. They just tell you their story, and sometimes you’ll have a conversation about it, most likely a deep one. Plenty to think about on a train for the dead.

The stories did get rather sad though. Many times I would have to stop to just process my feelings. And the conversations they would have did get me thinking about my own life. Though, it wasn’t always like this throughout the game. What Comes After would do a good job of keeping things hopeful and light. Sometimes there would be a funny conversation, or an uplifting story, just to keep things level, since always having things be at a specific low tone can be almost too much.

I don’t really have much else to say. What Comes After was a tear-jerking, though-provoking adventure to me, even if it only lasted about an hour. That hour, though, meant a lot to me. This felt like something I really needed to play, to understand. I have always had doubts about myself, thoughts that I shouldn’t. What I was left with at the end of this game was a hopeful message, and a great many things to think about. I am more than happy I played this, and now I’m excited to see what comes next from fahmitsu. 

Heavily Recommended

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Reviewed by Freelance7 on PC. Game provided by Rolling Glory Jam.