Afterimage is a hand-drawn Metroidvania from Aurogon Shanghai, an indie development team based in China that you may be familiar with if you’ve dabbled in the Gujian series. While it is entirely hand-drawn, there is still lots to see and do in the world of Engardin.
If you’re familiar with the Metroidvania genre, you will feel at home as you obtain new abilities that allow you to access new areas that were previously blocked. However, there are many other systems at play that may throw even the most hardcore player base off at first.
Exploration Is Key
As with most Metroidvanias, exploration is a crucial aspect of Afterimage and will give you access to unique and powerful gear, equipment, and items if you leave no stone unturned.
The tricky thing is that, as the genre suggests, you will not be able to explore each area to its fullest until you acquire specific abilities, which can come several hours later in your adventure.
Fortunately, exploring each area will almost always get you to where you need to be and will clue you into what sort of abilities you can expect the further you progress.
There are tons of NPCs you can stumble into that can offer unique rewards or even open up shop for you to get your hands on valuable items that otherwise are incredibly rare to come by, and much more.
You should explore each area to its fullest, then revisit it later when you have new abilities to gather everything you missed on your first pass-through. Everything from weapons to Talent Points to boss encounters and everything in between can be found off the beaten path, and we encourage you to seek them all out when possible.
Complete Quests
Speaking of NPCs, as touched on above, you will run into many of them throughout each area of the game, most of which will offer unique rewards for completing their Quests.
These rewards can range from valuable resources to unlocking a shortcut to lending you a helping hand by offering their skills and expertise by opening up a shop in Resting Town, giving you access to purchase unique and powerful items.
In the world of Engardin, you will stumble across Blacksmiths, Chefs, Shopkeepers, strange sentient Fungi, and much more, all willing to help you reach your goal by making you stronger in the process.
Revisit Resting Town Often
By completing these Quests, you will slowly start recruiting more and more people to Resting Town, the hub world of Afterimage. At first, Resting Town won’t have much going for it, but it can quickly become one of the most crucial spots in the game.
When you first start your journey, you will have no access to shops that sell HP or MP Potions, making them one of the more sought-after Consumables as they are finite and crucial to your survival in boss encounters.
However, completing the Quest “Rescue” in Field of Geo will grant you access to Tark’s Shop, which has Heath and Mana Potions, and even Refined ones, allowing you to stock up on all the Potions you can carry to never be in a sticky situation again.
During your exploration, keep an eye out for NPCs and speak with them, then view their Quest by opening the Menu and tabbing over to the Quests page. From there, you can see what you need to complete the Quest, allowing you to prioritize it above anything else you’re doing.
Filling Out The Map
Filling out the Map is a crucial aspect of every Metroidvania, as you will get to see more and more of the Map expand and become uncovered as you learn more abilities and can reach new areas.
While that remains the case in Afterimage, there is one minor caveat to note: the Map will not update unless you rest at a Confluence, activate Memory Fragments, or talk to some NPCs.
This means your Map does not “live update,” so you cannot see where you are in a new area unless you reach a Confluence, Memory Fragment, or NPC. Confluences will always update your Map (old or new), while Memory Fragments and NPCs can be hit or miss.
Map Fog Of War
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Each new zone will have a “Fog of War” over the Map, which will get removed as you explore the area. The catch here is that you must rest to see your progress, making things seem slightly tedious at first when you do not have many of your traversal abilities.
Getting to see more of your Map will tip you off to hidden pathways or areas you may have missed your first time through, so always be sure to check it after you see the “Map Updated” text pop on your screen.
Updating your Map will also allow you to see where you’ve been and push forward without accidentally backtracking and walking in circles. While having the Map live update would be much better, this is what you must deal with, so constantly keep it refreshed!
Fast-Traveling To Confluences
Fast-Traveling is indeed a thing in Afterimage, but you cannot freely do it as you might expect. To Fast-Travel, you will need to get your hands on a Resting Potion, which will be consumed when you select a Confluence to Travel to via your Map.
Resting Potions are, unfortunately, extremely rare to come by, especially in the early goings of your adventure, so do not waste them. We recommend only using Resting Potions when you absolutely need to, such as if you’re stuck in an area with challenging enemies and just want to return to Resting Town to stock up on more items.
Wasting your Resting Potions can result in lots of unneeded tedium, so before using one to whisk yourself away, be sure you are making the right decision.
Zone Difficulty
One minor aspect of Afterimage that you may overlook at first is that each zone has its own Level, indicating to you if you should be there. However, if you blink, you might miss it, so let’s quickly go over how to tell if a zone is right for you or not.
Upon entering a zone, you will see text briefly flash on the screen of the zone’s name and Level before it fades away. Always read this text, as it will let you know if the enemies in the area are around your Level or will destroy you with one hit.
Player Level
Keep in mind that your Level is always visible in the top left corner of the screen, so whenever you enter an area, look at the zone’s Level and compare it to yours to see if you belong there yet.
You can always check a zone’s Level by entering it from another one. For example, walking back and forth between the Resting Town and the Resting Path will display both their Levels when entering them.
Some extremely high-Level zones are accessible in the game’s early goings, allowing you to avoid them and revisit them when you are ready.
What Does Dying Affect?
Finally, let’s touch on the penalties that come at the cost of falling in combat, as you will likely die several times throughout the course of your adventure.
Taking a page from the likes of Hollow Knight or the Souls games, dying will place you back at the last Confluence you rested at. Your accumulated EXP will also be in jeopardy, having you go on a “Corpse Run” to reacquire it.
EXP Accumulation
To see your current EXP accumulation, look at your Level in the upper left corner of the screen. A blue liquid fills up the orb that displays your Level. When the orb gets completely filled up, you will Level up.
Dying will reset this orb, but you can get your EXP back by passing over a marker where you died, which can prove challenging. To easily locate where you died, open your Map and look for a Ghost Icon. This Icon marks where you fell in battle.
Lastly, if you Level up, that Level becomes locked in, meaning if you die right after, you will still retain the Level you earned. So don’t worry about returning to a Confluence after Leveling up. Your new Level is safe and sound the moment you reach it!
