Thumbs-up with two big caveats. This is cute, but I enjoyed it less than Oxenfree.

The conceit and setting are inspired. The idea that hell is one big sticky frat party will resonate with a lot of gamers. It sure resonated with me.

The writing is energetic, too. Lola and Milo’s different flavors of anxiety come out well, and the cast in general are endearing. Banter is witty and constant.

The ending feels a little forced—just as the plot was starting to zoom in on the protagonists and get a little personal, it backs off from that, and in a weird twist shifts focus to a barely present character—but there’s still a bit of closure. Really, though, I was just ready for it to be done.

Because of those caveats!! I.e.:

1. The writing and performances are witty, but they’re also trying very hard. SO hard. Almost every character speaks with exactly the same mid-2000s, cripplingly self-aware, low-budget indie-movie tic. It’s fun, but you have to have a high tolerance for that sort of banter.

2. A much bigger problem: the game is frightfully passive. You just move left and right and listen to dialogue, occasionally directing the conversation in inconsequential ways. It doesn’t even reach the level of walking sim, since there’s almost nothing interactable and no content reward for exploring. Even worse, when you’re asked to find a character or location, you’re set free to poke around, *implying* that there’s content to explore, but all you ever find—after multiple screens of walking—are dead ends. I kept falling for this, and it felt bad every time. Probably a full hour of my six hours of game time was spent walking into, and back from, dead ends. The dialogue is often pretty passive, too; the game only asks you to make two or three meaningful decisions total.

That second caveat is what makes it difficult to recommend this wholeheartedly. I think Afterparty would be a fun two-hour movie. I had fun with it, but I’m not sure that this needed to be a videogame.

Both Oxenfree 1 and 2 were spectacular so I was excited for this one, it is nowhere near as good. The visuals and sound mixing are beautiful but that's it for the positives.
I know it takes place in hell but it feels like every character is ♥♥♥♥♥♥ and unrelatable and swearing is funny? It kinda actually feels like the plot was written by a grade 9 student who may have never been to a party.
I also feel like it glorified drinking to the point it was uncomfortable, I did finish the game but I feel the same way.

Pretty. Thought provoking. Funny. Would recommend to a friend. Probably won't play again.

Other thoughts: Maybe don't play if you have a drinking problem, maybe play if you know someone who does? As to this game's replayability, there are multiple endings and mildly interesting achievements to hunt for but I wish you weren't literally just playing the same game again. Also I restarted the drinking game with ♥♥♥♥♥ like 10-15 times, had to sit through that whole intervention womp Every Time, and still never won. Would have appreciated being able to skip that bit. Especially since you can't skip the game as far as I could tell? I suppose I could be wrong. Also I would do it all over again so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯