Afterlove EP, A Tale Of Acceptance

Experience life in Jakarta as young musician Rama

A Slice Of Life Adventure Set In Urban Jakarta

One Month To Set Things Straight

A narrative-adventure and visual novel game with rhythm game elements, Afterlove EP puts you into the shoes of Rama, a young Indonesian musician from Jakarta struggling to move on with his life after the death of his beloved, Cinta. Even with an encouraging support system, he has been stuck in a slump for over a year, neglecting music, his mental health, and his connections with other people in his life. And it doesn’t help that he seems to be hearing Cinta’s voice inside his head…is she a figment of his imagination or is that her spirit speaking to him?

Players will play as Rama in a period of over 28 days and nights, making decisions that will determine his fate. A crucial gig to the band is taking place in a month, and it’s either he gets back into the fray as a musician once again or gets left in the dust. Explore the wondrous city of Jakarta, repair relationships that soured from Rama’s isolation, and pursue new ones. Come to terms with his heartbreaking past, rediscover his love for music, and give Rama a new future to look forward to.

The game features a manga-inspired art style by famous Indonesian artist Soyatu, an exquisite soundtrack by Indonesian indie band L’Alphalpha, and side-scrolling exploration, letting you meet different characters and engage in meaningful conversations. You can even jam with your bandmates in the rhythm game minigame sections!

A Tribute To A Brilliant Mind

Pikselnesia is an independent game studio based in Indonesia, with its members spread across the country. The team members have worked individually on other projects such as A Space for the Unbound, and Hello Good Boy. Renowned narrative designer, writer, and developer Mohammad Fahmi was also the founder of the studio, his newest creation after working on heartfelt story games such as What Comes After and Coffee Talk.

Afterlove EP served as his final project before his untimely passing in 2022, and Pikselnesia is determined to complete the game and ultimately bring his vision to life. “No work happened on Afterlove EP during that time, but then we came together, talked about the game’s development, and we all agreed to continue Afterlove EP no matter what,” game producer Ivor Dwitomo said to Polygon in an interview.

Fahmi extensively outlined the game and its characters with lead narrative director Galuh Elsa (also known as Sasha Ariana), and was very deliberate with his vision on the game. “Our big objective as a team after Fahmi passed away has always been to keep the outline aligned with his vision whilst creating all of the content in the game — especially when writing the dialogue and script,” Dwitomo said. He also noted that Sasha was a great foundation of it all, guiding and shaping the new writers into the way Fahmi would have envisioned for them to do.

The game is really a labor of love and a tribute to the developers’ country and culture, with areas in the game directly based off the streets of Jakarta that they live in or have lived in. “And we hope that they will enjoy getting to know our home through the locations and vibe of the characters you meet, whilst if you’re from or know Jakarta, you might find yourself nostalgic for some of the spots we chose to recreate in the game,” game director and programmer Dany added.

A Peek Into Jakarta

Afterlove EP, from the get go, is a deep tale about love, loss, and acceptance. Players will get to see this tale unfold and even influence the ending of it all. The passion of the developers also shines through, through the representation of their culture and their childhood. They hope that through this tale, they would feel the same feelings they did as they were creating it, and see the very same meaning that Fahmi would have wanted to address to all players.

Afterlove EP is coming this Q3 of 2024 on PC (Steam, GOG, Epic Games), PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch. A PC demo is available to play on their Steam page!