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Afterimageis a hand-drawn Metroidvania with a hint of Soulslike DNA, making boss encounters and exploration feel tense, rewarding, and exhilarating. Some will feel right at home with this blend of beloved genres, but it may be a bit overwhelming to others.
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Nonetheless, the combat system in Afterimage has lots of potential, with its Talent Tree offering many ways to broaden your playstyle and actions during encounters. Despite the world of Engardin being filled with formidable foes, you’re able to make things much more manageable with proper direction.
Healing Priority
In Afterimage, you will havetwo methods to replenish your HPin the heat of battle. The first way is byholding LB(Xbox Controller) down, which will haveRenee charge a Healing Spellfor a short period before casting it on herself,restoring a small amount of HP.
The next method is byconsuming Healing Potions,afinite Consumable Itemin Afterimage that can beassigned to one of your four Quickslotsandused via the set direction of your D-Pad.Using Potions isinstant,meaning your HP will be replenished as soon as you press the D-Pad.
Both Healing methods have their strengths and weaknesses. Still, with Healing Potions being finite,we suggest always trying to use your Healing Spell first,as it will beautomatically restoredupon resting at aConfluence.
Healing Potions should only be used when you need to restore HP immediatelyor if you have a Refined Healing Potion and needs lots of it as soon as possible.
Replenishing Healing Items And Magic
During theearly goingsof your adventure, you will only be able touse your Healing Spell once before having to rest at a Confluence to restore it,but itsnumber of uses and potency will increase as you progressand explore more of the world.
ForHealing Potions,you will likely struggle to keep them on hand early on,as youcannot readily purchasethemuntil after you completetheQuest"Rescue" in theField of Georegion and gain access toTark’s Shop.Even then,they aren’t cheap,so you should still use them wisely when you do have them on hand.
There willalmost always be a window of opportunity for you to back off and use your Healing Spellduring a Boss fight, and we suggest trying to find it and use it to avoid wasting your precious Healing Potions!
Choosing Your Weapon
Choosing yourWeaponin Afterimage will likely come down towhatfits your playstyle most,and fortunately, there aresix different Weapon Typesfor you to select from. you’re able to alsoequip a Primary and Secondary Weapon,allowing you to use two Weapons Types alongside one another.
With six Weapon Types at your disposal, it can be tough to find which one fits your playstyle, especially when you are constantly finding newer and better weapons early in your adventure. However, we compiledall Weapon Types and their strengths and weaknessesin the table below to help make your choice slightly more manageable.
There are many Weapons to find of each Weapon Type, all of which can be Enhanced with Materials and through the Talent Tree with Talent Points. The table above just showcases each Weapon Type’s general strengths and weaknesses without being fully Enhanced or Upgraded!
Movement Is Crucial
As highlighted above,Movementis a crucial aspect of combat in Afterimage, as it can make or break your attempt at besting a formidable foe.
Some Weaponswillgive you additional Movement options,such asaerial attacks, dashing strikes, and much more,while others will focus on squeezing the most damage out of the Weapon as possible.
However, you will gain more Movement options by acquiringAfterimages,the game’sCore Abilitiesthat enable you totraverse more of the world.These actionscan also be used in combatencountersand will help you out tremendously when used strategically.
Afterimages range from enabling you toperform a Double-Jump to a Slide to being able to Dive-Kickand much more, andusing these to evade an attack quickly will boost your odds of survivingquite drastically.
You should always be moving during combat,as this will enable you to use all you have at your disposal to best your opponent. If youropponent jumps a lot,utilize theSlide to get underneath the attack.If theyuse low-profile attacks,Double-Jump over them,then hit them when their back is toward you.
Deflecting Projectiles
One crucial aspect of Afterimage’s combat system is your ability todeflect projectiles back at the enemywith awell-timed attack on the object just before it hits you.
Remembering this method will allow you toswiftly deal with those pesky knife-throwing or bow-wielding enemieswithout worrying about how to close the gap on them. You can simply deflect their own projectiles back at them for significant damage.
Unfortunately, while this strategy willalmost always work on the more common enemies,most boss encountersthat have them tossing out projectiles - annoyingly -follow different rules,so be cautious when trying to use their own tools against them.
Regarding boss encounters, we suggest trying to deflect their projectile once. If that doesn’t seem to work, abandon that strategy immediately and focus on taking them down the old-fashioned way!
Comeback Later
A freeing aspect of most Metroidvanias is yourability to explore densely-packed zones, encounter loads of different enemies, collect unique items, and stumble into secret areasthat can contain all those things and more.
In Afterimage’s case, all of those are present here as well, but that also meansthere are some formidable foes waiting for you to stumble into themthat can obliterate you if you aren’t prepared or at the proper Level.
Fortunately,you can almost always bounce from a challenging area and revisit it later on if you aren’t quite ready for it yet,or if a boss encounter is giving you trouble. Don’t be afraid to admit when a boss is getting the best of you, and use that as an excuse to revisit previous areas with your newly obtained Afterimages.
You are likely tofind better equipment and Weapons if you set off and explore previous areas.You willaccumulate lots of EXP by slaying the enemies in each zoneas you explore, making youstronger and more prepared to revisit the boss or areathat once gave you trouble and besting them.
Upgrading Weapons
Lastly, let’s touch on theWeapon Enhancementsystem in Afterimage, as it is quite essential and can make your life a bit stressful when used haphazardly.
To Enhance your Weapons, you will need to get a hold ofBalmsand have someDew(Primary Currency) on hand. While you will likely haveplenty of Dew if you explore,getting a hold ofBalms can be challenging.
Due to this,we strongly suggest not wasting resources to Enhance your Weaponsuntil youfind the Weapon Types you likeand when youfind better versions of them.Essentially,avoid Enhancing the base tier Weapons,as you are merely throwing your Materials down the drain.
When first starting out,we recommend Enhancing the Bronze, Blackwood, and Elemental-type Weapons,as they will net you the best results. TheWooden Weapons should only be used to see if you like the Weapon Type and to get you by until you find something betterof the same Weapon Type.
