Exploring Gaia's Symbolism and Environmentalism: Insightful After Us Interview with Devs

After Us is a video adventure game set in 2023, and is the second game from Piccolo Studio. Players take on the role of Gaia, on a mission to revive the souls of extinct animals and uncover the tragic events that led to their demise. Along the way, players must face the dangerous Devourers while utilizing Gaia's traversal abilities to explore a vibrant world, avoid traps, and cleanse the environment. Recently, Game Rant interviewed Co-Game Directors Alexis Corominas and Jordi Ministral, who discussed the development of After Us, including its unique world and gameplay mechanics. The following transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Could you elaborate on the inspiration behind After Us and how it differentiates itself from other adventure games?

Corominas: Our previous game, Arise: A Simple Story, centered around an elderly man reflecting on his past. With After Us, we wanted to explore the concept of legacy and what we are leaving behind for future generations. Specifically, we wanted to examine the environmental issues of today and imagine a future where humanity's actions have resulted in a desolate world. Against this backdrop, we created a story about a young nymph attempting to restore life to a barren world.

Could you talk a little about the main character Gaia and her role as a personification image of nature?

Gaia, the universal deity of life on the planet, is referred to as such in the game. Her appearance is that of a small nymph, with a bark-like dress and long, white hair that glows. Despite her anthropomorphic appearance, she exudes a touch of nature. Gaia embodies the pure emotions of a small child, yet she is also determined. She moves gracefully, with agility and speed. Although she does not speak, she sings to uncover spirits and can use her heart to interact with the world. Additionally, she can summon vegetation through a burst of life, albeit temporarily. The character of Gaia draws inspiration from various movies and popular culture, but the developers aimed to create a unique and minimalist persona.

Gaia's traversal abilities, including gliding, jumping, and dashing, are an integral part of the gameplay experience. Despite being a small character in a vast and dangerous world, Gaia's movements make her feel powerful and agile. These skills have been thoughtfully designed to not only feel satisfying to execute but also to encourage exploration of the game's expansive and natural environment. Combining these abilities allows for even greater freedom and creativity in traversing the world.

The game doesn't rely on metrics for platforming, but rather a combination of different skills that can be utilized to overcome obstacles. This approach gives the game a more organic feel, with no obvious patterns. As a result, the artists are able to create a rich and immersive environment for players. The line between gameplay and background is intentionally blurred, and although the basic traversal skills are familiar, it is the execution and setting that make for a unique experience. Additionally, Gaia has some special abilities that are exclusive to her, such as throwing her heart or unleashing a burst of life. Ministral's aim is to appeal to a broad audience, so the platforming is not overly difficult, but still presents moments of challenge and pressure.

Could you elaborate on the special gifts or powers that Gaia possesses that will allow her to fight Devourers and free souls?

Combat in this game is designed to seamlessly integrate with traversal, allowing players to jump over, dodge, and navigate around enemies. Gaia's traversal abilities are particularly effective against enemies, and players are encouraged to use them in combat instead of simply avoiding fights. Unique special skills, such as using the heart as a boomerang and the burst of life to grow vegetation, can be used in various ways throughout the adventure. The heart can also be used to free animal souls and fight Devourers by shooting and recalling it to remove their corrupting oil coat. Additionally, the burst of life can be used to stun Devourers and create opportunities for redemption.

Instead of relying on stats and special abilities, we focused on designing emotional rewards. The actions you take in the game are entirely optional and driven by the desire to free animal spirits and create a more beautiful world, rather than progress or earn rewards. While you can grow life at certain locations, the reward is the life itself that grows. This approach may be unconventional, but it aligns perfectly with the concept of the game. The basic experience is built using recognizable "gamey" features, such as enjoyable traversal, interactions with the world, and engaging enemies, but we also wanted to mix genres, resulting in a game that sometimes feels like a platformer, other times like a puzzle game, and sometimes like an action game.

Could you discuss the role of Gaia’s Mother, her rejuvenating voice ability, and Gaia’s cry that can turn everything around her green and help fight off attackers?

Rewritten: In After Us, the landscapes serve as a reflection of both the natural and industrial world. The natural world is depicted as beautiful and serene, with lush forests and clear skies. On the other hand, the industrial world is portrayed as bleak and desolate, with abandoned factories and polluted rivers. These contrasting landscapes highlight the consequences of human activity on the environment and the importance of preserving the natural world.

The world in After Us is the main character of the game, and we aim for players to empathize with Gaia. Despite this, we purposely set the camera far away to allow the vast, desolate world to speak for itself. The world is portrayed through epic and symbolic landscapes, where players are but a tiny speck of hope striving to progress. The game's look and feel are centered around the contrast of light, color, and size. We intended to create a "dead museum" atmosphere, where players are the only living entities. This world is full of symbolism, reflecting our exploitative relationship with nature. Our goal was to emphasize this bluntly to players.

As players progress through the game, they can make subtle changes to the landscapes, growing vegetation and freeing animal spirits, leaving behind a better world. Although these changes are small, we want players to understand that even tiny actions can have a significant impact. We made these changes optional, as we want players to make them because they want to, not because the game forces them to. Additionally, beyond the devastated biomes, players can find the Ark, a serene and beautiful garden where all the freed spirits can roam. This area celebrates life and the player's actions in the game, creating a magical forest ambiance.

How does the game portray the destructive relationships between humans and nature, as well as the contrast between progress, love, and hope?

In Ministral's vision, the game depicts a dystopian world where all life on the planet has been squandered due to human actions. The game's title reflects the idea that humans hold the power to destroy life, which raises the question of the legacy that we leave behind. However, the game does not blame individuals for this destruction, as it is a collective effect of our actions that are often beyond our control.

Corominas emphasizes that the game portrays humans not only as agents of destruction but also as victims of their own actions. This duality is highlighted in the accumulation of scenes and memories that players can uncover towards the end of the game. These memories reveal that the nature of humanity is not black and white, but rather composed of shades of grey, which the game explores in depth.

The Devourers in the game symbolize humans and are initially depicted as statues representing daily life. However, as enemies covered in corrupting oil, they also represent humans as agents of destruction. The game explores the grey shades of humanity, showcasing their capacity for both beauty and destruction. Ultimately, the game presents humans as agents of hope on an individual level.

The eight major souls, also known as vessels, hold the key to rekindling life to the world in After Us. Retrieving these souls is the primary objective of the game, and players must explore a vast world, overcome hazards, solve puzzles, and conquer platforming challenges to achieve it. While players can retrieve the souls in any order, each vessel is equally important to the overall progression of the game. As players retrieve the souls and rekindle Mother's power, Gaia awakens in the Ark once again, leading to a series of emotional revelations rather than a dense plot with major twists and cliffhangers.

Can you discuss the rescued animals in the game and how they contribute to the landscape and storyline?

When you choose to free an animal spirit in the game, you are not rewarded with any tangible benefits such as power-ups, experience points, or items. Instead, the reward is the satisfaction of watching the previously desolate world come to life with the roaming of that particular animal. This reinforces the notion that all animals are equally important and that we are just one of the many species inhabiting this planet. This is what the game refers to as emotional rewards as opposed to mechanical ones.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Corominas: We hope that After Us makes an impact on players, to be moved and instill a bit of hope in them.

Our goal is to elicit a response from players when they engage with our game, and we are pleased when we achieve this. Our ultimate failure would be to create a game that leaves people feeling unmoved. After Us is currently accessible on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S platforms.