Back in 2020 a little game called Coffee Talk boomed onto the indie scene with its visual novel deliciousness. Since then, one could argue the Switch has brought about stacks of visual novels – perhaps because handheld mode feels like reading a book.
Coffee Talk creator Mohammad Fahmi tragically passed away in 2022, before he could complete his latest project Afterlove EP. Now, Fahmi’s colleagues at Pikselnesia and Fellow Traveller have brought us the posthumous release. This visual novel/dating sim/rhythm game is a heartwarming tribute to Fahmi, a love letter to music and Jakarta, and a cosy play – though it doesn’t always meet its full potential.
In Afterlove EP you experience things through the eyes – and ears – of Rama, a young person mourning the death of his girlfriend Cinta. One year after she passes, Rama hears her voice in his head. Through this device, the game mixes heavy topics with everyday mundanity; sometimes it’s a successful strangeness, other times a jarring juxtaposition.
Over a month, Rama converses with Cinta and counts down to a gig with his band (cleverly named Sigmund Feud). Meanwhile, the band struggles to reignite the harmony they once had. You follow Rama through the grieving process: writing songs through his pain and anguish, trying to get back to ‘normal’, seeing friends (and dates – more on that later), all with Cinta following him and commenting.
Cinta’s is the only voice with VO in the game (and talented VO at that). She’s also the only imaginary character. Rama’s conversations with Cinta reveal his mind isn’t very mentally healthy. He has experienced significant trauma, after all. We learn that his reality doesn’t always align with everyone else’s. He has a strong network of friends, yet he doesn’t always see it himself. He’s unsure how to perceive actions and words. And even his memories differ from his friends’.
Slow play is the nature of the game here, and you take things one day at a time – akin to the grieving process itself. Each day passes when you play through two sections of characters’ narratives. Rama’s friends and suitors all have layered personalities and relatable modern-day experiences: one explores a new career as a chef; another deals with homophobic bullies at a local park; yet another faces sexism in her work as a model. You make dialogue choices in both in-person conversation and in text messages, which can affect other events but are mostly inconsequential.
The dating sim area is where most of the dialogue choices do affect the narrative. You build relationships with three potential suitors by spending time together. You learn about them and about yourself as you play through each one’s story. We wouldn’t have expected a dating sim element in a game like this, and it felt a little offbeat since the core story is about losing a partner. In these scenes, Rama doesn’t talk much about Cinta, and he doesn’t talk to her – which, in contrast to the way she distracts him from band conversations, seemed a little odd.
Even outside the dating sim, the characters’ behaviour can feel a little disjointed. Conversations jump from the benefits of therapy to band practice to heated arguments with barely a beat in between. In a different genre this wouldn’t weigh so heavily on us, but in visual novels the story and dialogue are everything, and we wanted just a little more cohesion here.
Like Coffee Talk and another Fahmi creation What Comes After, Afterlove EP deals with a broad range of sensitive subjects. In addition to bereavement and healing, there are themes of homophobia, gender inequality, creative block, and friendship. It’s clear the developers wanted to explore these in a respectful way, yet keep the tone relatively light. That light tone means the emotional notes don’t always make up a swelling ballad in the style of, say, Spiritfarer. It’s good if you want to keep your eyes dry, but we did find ourselves wishing Afterlove EP had tugged on our guitar heartstrings a little more.
Interestingly, some of the strongest, most poignant moments were in short, dialogue-less ‘films’ of Rama and Cinta’s history, that you unlock as you explore, encountering spaces where big and small moments took place for the couple. Here the game lets you put the pieces together, the music swells, and we couldn’t help but smile.
The narrative is broken up by music-based minigames played to Rama’s songs. There are more traditional rhythm games where you time button-pressing to notes on the screen, and others where you fill in song lyrics. Both were quite cute and fit with the band storyline. In particular, the note rhythm games are just challenging enough. There’s no visible scoring but you can get achievements for ‘perfect’ rounds.
That said, we sometimes felt they weren’t aligned with the rhythm. Less coordinated players may also have trouble with the notes coming from two directions. Easy mode is an option, though we couldn’t detect any major difference when we togged it on.
We loved the soundtrack in the minigames and overworld, though. Written and performed by real Indonesian band L’alphalpha, it’s soft rock: relaxed electric guitar, bass, and drums, like a band on holiday. A great accompaniment to the cosy vibe and the music theme.
Indonesian manga artist Soyatu’s illustrations evoke the feel of a moving manga: the hand-drawn look, cutaways to panels, and even handwritten typeset throughout. The backdrop transports you to sweltering Jakarta: soft blur at night for the humid air, sprinklings of Bahasa Indonesia, and even details like Grab drivers.
Afterlove EP performs pretty well on Switch, although we did stumble upon a few issues. It froze and forced us to restart early on, and, in the final chapter, we encountered several bugs that crashed the game between areas. There are other glitches, like Rama suddenly changing from sitting to standing, the too-fast-to-read text autoplay, and events being randomly triggered, but they shouldn’t hamper your rhythm too much.
Conclusion
Afterlove EP definitely fits with the cosy set: slow tempo, heartwarming narrative, and sad story (yes). The themes of grief, mental health and their impacts on our lives are explored in a way that feels gentle, much like Fahmi’s earlier releases. There were a few wrinkles as things unfolded, and the dating sim aspect was unexpected, but still there’s easygoing fun to be had. If you’re looking for a light touch on serious issues, this one could be worth a play, and a replay. If you want a heavy-hitting game to wreck you emotionally, you might want to hit ‘skip’.
