Later On is an indie/puzzle-adventure game developed on RPG Maker by Zeynep Palaz and published on Steam (26 Jan, 2018) by Penumbra Games.

You play as a troubled, cowardly young man (David) livinig an ordinary life. One day his best and only friend disappears and David starts to search him, but what he's going find will take his ordinary life into a darker reality. It's a quite surreal psychological game with horror elements. If you love games like Ib, Close Your Eyes Redux, Mad Father, The Witch's House, Yume Nikki you'll get approximately 2 hours of well entertainment here. So, lets examine the game in detail.

STORY

One of the best things about Later On is its story. It's so well written that you can instantly establish a bond with the characters and the situations they're in. This is something I didn't see in other similar games I mentioned earlier above (except Ib). As the game proceed, you see the changes in David's personality and the strong bonds between other characters he meets during his quest and not only David but also his friends has powerfull lines. While the story leads you through psychologically shocking events, in the meantime, it helps you to keep the sparkling joy in your heart with its humor too and there are many hints in town if you catch them. The other best thing Later On manages with its story is that it brings the perturbation that Silent Hill games has into a 2D pixelated game. It deserves to be played more than once. I'm sure you'll catch something you missed in the first play.

GRAPHICS

If you pay attention you'll notice each room has designed to give a certain feeling related to what happens in the room. I liked the boss drawings, they're not perfect but good enough to make you feel the tension.

SOUND/MUSIC

Later On really achieves to create it own realm with sound. As the graphic concepts, it's certain that musics are also composed to give specific emotions in the rooms. Added to story and graphics, music forms the ambience game needs and it always makes you stay on alert. As the story, music takes you to unknown quests in your own mind fitting the uneasy atmosphere of the game and it's different from other rpg horror game sounds. In each room, music establishes its own environmetal harmony in an experimental way and it devours the town with its surrealistic creepy sound. When these all are combined together with other settings, even if it's just a pixelated game, you start to immerge more into the game and it makes you feel the presence of Later On Town all around you.

GAME PLAY

Later On is a 2D game with top-down view. You need to such things as waking a sleeping manhole, and cheering up a depressed towel in order to progress. It has text-based Boss fights that helps us to understand protagonist's state of mind and the world he's in...


Lastly, Later On is a very unique RPG Maker Horror game that is trying to tell a story about finding your way out of a situation that makes you feel trapped. It has a strong sense of empathy with characters from beginning to end. How David deals with the facts helps you to establish a mutual relation with characters and you as a player.