Later On

Creepy atmosphere combined with great storytelling and a cheap price.
What else do you need?

Score: 8/10

+++ easy, fast & cheap 100 % Steam Achievements

+ little & weird Game with sad Story

Good for Achievement Hunters, Casual Indie RPG Story Fans & Games Collectors

https://store.steampowered.com/app/781110/Later_On/

Later On is a surreal horror game made using rpgmaker as a medium. It's more of a story/experience game than an rpg. Beat it and 100%ed everything in 2.3 hours using a keyboard. Difficulty is moderate. This game deals with depression and suicidal themes.

- When you first start the game and David isn't doing Jack for you, the game isn't broken. Hit enter or space a few times. You're welcome.

- The gameplay amounts to walking around solving puzzles either by finding items or making the correct replies. You can speed walk through the open areas, but cannot do so in rooms. The controls are simple and easy to figure out. Holding shift flies through the convos (more important if you're achievement hunting).

- Oh snap, I screwed up! Naw, just kidding. Before you get to any serious confrontations the game asks you to save so there's a safety net if you die. Which means little in the way of backtracking.

- The puzzles involving talking are far more interesting to me than the ones with using items, however some of the items themselves are also entertaining. Does that even make sense? You'd understand if you played. That said, it's easy to get stuck in parts and even with what guidance there is you can be clicking random stuff in a room going, "WTF AM I SUPPOSED TO DO!?"

- The horror elements range from dismemberment, death, severed body parts, gore, spiders, murderrrr... and scary sounds. All gore is restricted to pixel people and pixel pictures.

- The story is why you're getting this. Everything is a wild trip and for a game on rpg maker, it's very inventive in how it delivers scenes and unfolds the plot. You aren't spoonfed Anything. It's easy to get into.

- The music is OK, however nothing impressive. It's very horror'esque and themes well with the story. I hated the song in the restaurant; it nettled me.

- Woof :(

- It's 2 whole bucks! Worth the money!



In the end, Later On is a unique horror story game about David having a really bad time with life. Some parts are legit ahhhh! scary, other parts are weird in a trippy way. Everything centers around depression and bad choices, and the story is interesting. The game is also short, in a way too short. After playing this, I deeply wish Later On got a remake with a better medium. If this was created using the Unreal engine, escaping the 2d plain of existence and given better graphics, it would be far, far more scary and the story insanely more impactful. For now this surreal escape is left as a bite-sized crystal of an idea that does its job within the limits it was given.

Great, short game!

"Later On" is a great mix of narrative-driven walking simulator and absurdist quest that sometimes can be challenging but never becomes too hard. It have its own flaws, but the positive impression from it is still outweighs its shortcomings. I can even say, it's a shame that this project still remains unknown for the broad audience.

Its story may seem nonsensical on the first playthrough, but on the second playthrough all the pieces of a puzzle meet together: there is a lot of hints of what's truly going on in the dialogues from the first half of the game - they seem surreal and unclear before you know how the story truly ends, but after that they sort things out perfectly.

Dialogues, key scenes and puzzles of "Later On" are magnificent, and at the end of two hours of gameplay I was completely charmed by them. These parts of the game are always surprising and they often end in unexpected ways - that's the level of originality that can rarely be seen in modern quests. Witty writing completes the picture perfectly.

If you're searching for a simple story, "Later On" may frustrate you on the first walkthrough, but if you're searching for a good time, it may give you two hours of surprises with happy ending before titles, and it's a rare thing for RPG Maker VX Ace game that costs less than 1.50$. Dark humour, absurdism, trashy horror (1st hour) and "more serious" psychological horror (2nd hour) elements included.

Later On is certainly an experience. While it has some issues in my opinion, it is mostly a success. With dark themes, excellent music, and a familiar but pleasant visual aesthetic, I can't help but ignore it's flaws and heartily recommend it. Especially for the low price it carries ($1.99 at the time of this review). Frankly, I'm baffled that something this good came out of such a tiny team. It just goes to show the immense amount of heart that went into it.

Pros:
- Engaging story
- Deep and insightful dialogue laced with philosophy (specifically nihilism)
- Incredibly relatable for those with issues such as depression
- Excellent music and sound design
- Perfect length (roughly 1.5 hours) for the content

Mixed:
- Puzzles are reasonable in terms of difficulty, but become more like tedious plot checkpoints than anything else in some instances.
- "Combat" if you want to refer to it as such is essentially choosing correct dialogue. It's a fascinating concept, but not fully fleshed out here.

Cons:
- Despite the relatively open design of the town, this game is a hallway. Most of the buildings are set dressing and you can't actually access any area not relevant to the immediate objective.
- Exploration is actively discouraged by some of the reactions to items in the environment, and as such I felt like I was leaving this game's world without ever getting to experience it.
- Dialogue can lead to a fail state (game over). Maybe if I could at least skip dialogue I'd already read to save minutes of backtracking this wouldn't be as much of an issue, but as is I was afraid of the game over screen for the wrong reasons.
- Minor localization issues.

This is a short "interactive story" type game where you lead the main character around the game and complete puzzles as the story is revealed to you. It has typical RPG maker style graphics with anime styled character portraits. There's no combat, it's linear, and not many choices that have any bearing on the story - to my knowledge there aren't multiple endings.

The soundtrack is a bit uneven; there are some nice ambient and industrial tracks in there, while others are quite forgettable.

Without revealing too much, it's a horror-themed game, and if you've played other pixel horror games you might get an idea of what this is like. What really shines here is the writing and the atmosphere; the characters are unusually vivid and alive for a video games, even games with much higher budgets, and the setting is great in all its surreal glory. The conversations are unexpected and the world manages to surprise you more than once. There's a heavy emo influence and while that's gotten a bad rap, I feel it's done in a more solemn way, that takes a serious look at mental and emotional issues. There are also a few easter eggs for the astute eye.

All in all, these kind of games are limited in what they can do, but for what it is I'd have to say it's good, if it rubs you the right way you might even say really good. If you're a fan of horror, interesting characters and a weird almost Twin Peaks kind of feel, grab it

Great-game:)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soB4aLM6azU

Later On is a very good and fairly short game with an excellent narrative and atmosphere. The psychological horror element is almost tangible and the music helping to create it is very disturbing when needed. I enjoyed the game greatly, the developer did a very thorough and good job! A thousand blessings upon you ღゝ◡╹)ノ♡
The only issue I had with the game (? may be something wrong with py PC though) were achivements, for some reason they didn't unlock for me even though I'm sure at least some of them were supposed to (both towel options, for example).

One of the most pleasant games so far i have ever played. The story interesting and the musics are awesome. I had some hard time solving some of the puzzles but the good thing is that you dont get bored of trying :) The question-based fighting is brilliant idea of the developer. 2$ is nothing when you compare it to the fun you get. Finding the chance of helping David was really cool and the game is definitely perfect. Thanks and congratulations to developer, hope the game finds its deserved place among others. I strongly recommend the game to all players without any concern, you will have a lot of fun!

I still find it hard to believe that this game was developed by a single person. So much going on in this one, let me explain.

This could easily be one of the most unique plots that I've played in a game. From start to finish, every second was full of contemplation, decision making and most important of all-plenty of your own lessons to take, which might be valid for "real Davids" out there. Facing your own perilous past, accepting goods/bads for what's worth, and finding the needed closure in your life is the main story of this game. While unearthing sad story of David through very fun puzzles, you are also helping him to get to his own closure.

Set and setting really differentiates this game from other hordes of the same genre, in which you feel immersed by smart story telling, scenes, lightings and fun dialogs. Replaying your hurtful past on stage in front of watching audience? Check. Dead whales? Check. Mermaids? Check. Facing your nagging mother? Check.

All the music in the game was composed from scratch and you just could tell how much work went into them, which changes according to tempo of every scene and at every turn of the story. Goose bumps all over...

If you enjoy playing high quality indie games, you CANNOT miss "Later On". Even ones who are not fan of the genre will find something in the game that will echo their lives.

HIGHLY, STRONGLY RECOMMENDED. Not a miss, this one!

This game is an experience that you have to feel rather than doing some random stuff inconsiderately. The ambience is an epitome of psychological horror style with its' cozy environment. You may also observe reminiscences from some prominent horror games (e.g. Silent Hill).

I'll eagerly wait for the devs. future games, later on... :)
p.s: "People are trash."

When confused with the game of horror, good Puzzle, Good Story and Beautiful Voices.
Then I finished the PERFECT game

I screamed. Definetly worth my 2 bucks.

Story is interesting, storytelling is even better.

This is one of the best RPG Maker games I've ever played. Mindblowing and bending! It makes you come back for more and makes you want to solve this mysterious case. A case unlike any other you've seen. It really grabs you into the story and makes you feel a part of it, as if you were the detective yourself. Its creepy, mysterious, comical, haunting and compelling.

First of all, definately worth the price. I love the soundtrack and dialogues. Since I'm not good at solving difficult puzzles, this is the right amount of difficulty that I needed. Narration is so fluent that sometimes I forgot to save the game. Thankfully developer opens save screen before dangerous situations.

It is not a classical rpg game, but it is not a classical adventure game either. You don't fight with weapons or other stuff. Instead you use words to overcome situations. There is always a chance to die (or let's say "game over"). So you have to understand the feelings of protagonist. And remember, be truthful...

Very good game with horror theme. Congratulation goes to developer.

First of all, I really like old school video games with good story. I was tired of button bashing console games and wanted to venture some cute indie games with a story element. Eventhough, It has been a while since I played much in the way of RPG video games. I decided to give this one a shot as £1.69 is a steal for a game.
And then, a few minutes later... I really got sucked in. The graphics are like old-school games (perhaps a bit nicer than my childhood consoles with shader effects). Anime style characters are cute and occasionally humorous but not cliche nor overly talkative like JRpgs. In terms of the game, There is a serious horror story with some mysteries to solve.
Overall, it's been great, a refreshing breath of fresh air to play “Later on”. Kudos to developers...

Interesting story. The music really puts you in the mood. Some challenging puzzles and a few fun hours...