After Us hands-on details—A free-flowing, tear-jerking platformer

blog.playstation.com:

When humanity meets its end what will be left of Earth? This is the question Piccolo Studio’s platforming adventure title, After Us, looks to answer. As Gaia, the Spirit of Life, you are tasked with sprinting, jumping, airdashing, and rail-grinding your way across the surreal and barren planet while freeing the souls of extinct animals. Along the way you’ll encounter the monstrous Devourers, countless tear-jerking moments, and a lot of somber, yet beautiful, scenery.

In our hands-on time with the game we were met with all this on top of a wonderfully unique and expressive gameplay core that proved After Us is a great addition to the pantheon of platformers.

Bring life back into the world: Gaia is the Spirit of Life, bestowed with the ability to bring beauty back into a world consumed by a dark void. Pressing L2 fires a boomerang-like orb of light, used to retrieve lost souls, attack enemies, and even make simple wires into green grindable rails. Holding L2 down instead charges her with light and upon release unleashes a blast of bright energy that replaces untraversable goop-covered land with safe grass and fauna to traverse.

Battle the dark with life: Not only is Gaia’s power used to return greenery into the world and unlock secrets, but it can be used to defeat dark hordes of enemies as well. The Devourers, oil-covered monstrosities that trap souls, wait beyond many corners. To free the trapped souls Gaia must use her boomerang-like spirit ball to fight back while using her superb movement options to avoid their attacks.

Free, expressive platforming: Gaia can jump to various heights, double jump, dash through the air, float, wall run, and rail grind through the world. Putting all these together allows players to freely