In a world where robots rebel against their human overlords, victory rests on the shoulders of workonics and enforcers, all fighting over energy supplies. Aftercharge by developer Chainsawsome Games is a first-person tactical shooter game (emphasis on the tactical), and the object of the game is for humans to defend their extractors while robots are trying to destroy them. However – the robots are invisible and the enforcers are invincible! How does that work out? Let’s get into it.
Depending on the players, your gameplay experience can be extremely fun, but it can also be somewhat boring when everyone takes a defensive stance. While enforcers cannot be outright destroyed, they do need energy to keep up the fight. So, the extractors are more than just objects we need to defend; there is some utility here. On the other hand, workonics have their invisibility, but they can be seen while they are interacting with the environment (with their fists). When they are downed by an enforcer, an ally can revive them. There is a brief moment where they are invulnerable when they are first raised, and that’s good for balancing. If all 3 workonics are incapacitated, the enforcers win.
On the tactical side, there is so much to play with! In a city/industrial map there are plenty of areas to trap enemies with the use of energy shields as barriers. Players can really exercise an amount of creativity especially if it’s a group of friends communicating. Even when that’s not the case, I felt like I was in sync with what my teammates were thinking most of the time. You can even see how much energy/hp your teammates have over their head. I think that’s pretty nifty, knowing whether or not we can roll out our strategy without wiping in the first 3 seconds.
You may be wondering – how does that game look? I think it looks great! A sort of cartoony feel like Team Fortress 2 with a little Overwatch dashed in. Each side has 5 different models/characters, and I really like the profiles of each of them. They each have their own role on the team, and oftentimes I’ve seen people change up their team composition to try to get an upper hand or to balance out the match. The devs also own the design of these characters as well, like a personal staple. One of my issues is when a player quits. The model in the game isn’t replaced by a bot or another player, so it gives me flashbacks to surrendering at 20 in League of Legends.
One of the only other things I thought about was pacing/timing. A match doesn’t last too long, but it varies, of course. Some teams have a snapping turtle approach where workonics focus down each extractor, and it gets a little antsy by the last two extractors. There isn’t a clock that ends the game or anything like that – but I think that’s deliberate. The matches last somewhere between 8 to 15 (maybe just maybe 20) minutes. It’s dynamic like that, but I feel as though there is a limit. I can’t help but feel like I will eventually get tired of rinsing and repeating ideas from my playbook.
Overall, I like Aftercharge. There’s a hiccup or a bug every now and then, but nothing I would call game breaking. It looks fresh, the controls feel good, and the sounds are decent as well. The rest is up to the players for a good or lackluster experience. The maps are well designed, with plenty of approaches to the extractors or for traps. You don’t really need to communicate too much with the other guys on your team if you don’t have a mic. Sometimes everything nicely falls into place. I think a fair rating for this title is a 9 out of 10. This would be perfect for a game night with a couple friends.
Check Out the Aftercharge Trailer:
Aftercharge is available on Windows PC via Steam and on Xbox Live for Xbox One and Xbox One X.
Xbox One Review
I like to think of myself as the average Joe who grew up alongside video games. I have fun playing strategy games, RPGs, shooters, sandboxes, the whole shebang! Every game provides an experience whether it strikes you as profound, mundane, or someplace in between. I'd like to weigh in my two cents before you spend a single penny.
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