When thinking about the boom Metroidvanias have had over the last several years, a few notable examples typically pop up, ranging from the highly popular Hollow Knight to more niche titles such as Momodora: Reverie Under Moonlight or Unsighted. These games have earned their place when it comes to well-regarded examples of their genre, and after spending about 30 hours playing Afterimage, there may very well be another title worth being part of the conversation.

Afterimage follows Renee, an amnesiac woman who sets off on a journey throughout the lands of Engardin after her village is burned to the ground. Alongside her is a cute floating creature named Ifree who acts as her only constant companion in a ruined world. The premise is very much in line with the anime that have likely served as inspiration. It doesn't set high expectations in the beginning, but going on a journey of finding answers and self-discovery is always a compelling hook.

As Renee and Ifree's adventure reveals more about the world and the protagonist's identity, the story becomes far more interesting. Nature is thriving in the world of Engardin, and it proves to be a gorgeous and somber setting with locales ranging from mines overrun with mushrooms to dead villages. Using a hand-drawn art style inspired by anime, colors in every area pop, making even the most desolate location feel alive. The Town of the Exiled, for example, is populated by the spirits of its deceased residents but exudes strong accents of purples, blues, and some reds in the enemies and environment. Afterimage's narrative shines the best in the environmental storytelling found in each area.

The game explores themes like how selfish desires end up causing catastrophe for everyone, the different methods one's sense of faith can be exerted, and how cycles of violence can potentially be broken. How all of these are handled varies, and is also somewhat player-dependent given how little is outright explained. Those themes come together at various points, though, especially in the game's multiple endings.

To see most of those endings, players are required to carefully explore the environment in Afterimage's world. By far the strongest part of the game is how open-ended most sections are. Like most Metroidvania titles, much of the setting can only be seen after obtaining traversal upgrades that give Renee the ability to do things like double jump and navigate underwater. While none of the upgrades break new ground in the Metroidvania genre, they all feel incredibly satisfying to use because of how good Renee herself feels to control.

Platforming is precise and Renee has a lot of control in the air, with many challenges hitting a sweet spot between too easy and too frustrating. Anytime Renee fails, the game smartly places her back at a predetermined spot, which avoids those situations where players are stuck in the middle of a platforming challenge without any hope of progressing. Unfortunately, sometimes the respawn point is further back than players might expect. Feedback is also jarring when Renee takes damage because of the way the camera will lag and then suddenly catch up. Nevertheless, those small gripes don't take away from how satisfying the platforming challenges can be to complete.

Despite a few quirks with the platforming, jumps and slides in Afterimage showcase Renee's agility, and later abilities such as wall jumping and a dash upgrade that allows Renee to phase through enemies make her feel like a powerful force. Combat is equally satisfying, with weapon types that feel great to use and have specific areas where they excel. Swords are versatile weapons with quick speed, good range, and solid damage whereas a whip provides fantastic range and great damage, but is slower. Much of our playthrough was spent using dual blades for their speed and greatswords for their high damage and sweeping attacks.

Magic is also available as an option, ranging from elemental attacks such as fire and water to a life-stealing blast that generates HP on a killing blow. These are fun to use as a ranged option in combat, but damage limitations and high cost of use made them less viable than weapons for our playthrough.

Combat remains simple for most of Afterimage, as early opponents do a good job of easing players into the game's flow before mid-game enemies start ramping up the damage. The difficulty remains manageable for the entire game, but there is a difficulty spike that can be jarring. Luckily, publisher Modus Games has stated that a patch will reduce the enemy damage output.

Boss fights in Afterimage are plentiful, challenging, and a blast to fight. They have interesting patterns to memorize that never become overwhelming, but they can be highly imbalanced depending on when players encounter them. If players do a lot of exploration they can easily stumble upon a boss while under-leveled or if they spend a lot of time building up Renee they could encounter bosses when they are over-leveled. On several occasions, boss fights were absurdly easy or had to be returned to at a later point. Finding that balance between when to find a boss is tricky, and in some cases it diminished the excitement of a fight. Rather than an encounter that should have been challenged and required developing skill, the sheer power of Renee could brute force the fight.

There is at least one notable instance of a boss that is incredibly easy to exploit, unintentionally making it one of the funniest boss fights in recent memory. The fight itself is well-done when working properly, with a multitude of difficult attacks to dodge, but it has a fatal flaw in being incredibly easy to repeatedly stun with a weapon that can be found right before fighting it. More specifically, this weapon is dropped fairly often by an enemy found a couple of rooms before the boss arena, and it trivializes what should be a tough fight.

Basic enemies, on the other hand, are generally fun to fight and are incredibly varied. While there are a few palette swap designs, most foes are unique to their area. It's impressive how new enemies are consistently introduced, offering new challenges throughout the game.

Even if there are a few rough spots, Afterimage is a magical Metroidvania that shines. Most of the issues require a little patching but the core remains engaging. The combat works because the enemy variety compliments Renee's moves, and overcoming previously difficult bosses is intensely satisfying. Platforming has a few quirks, but using enemies as impromptu platforms to find secrets or barely making a jump is exhilarating. Even the story, which doesn't start out with alot to set it apart, blossoms thanks to a spectacular world and interesting themes. This title is an absolute gem for Metroidvania fans.

Afterimage comes out April 25th for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Game Rant was provided a PC code for review.