Aftermath is an Adventure Book Game in which players take on the role of small critters struggling to survive and thrive in a big, dangerous world. Humans have mysteriously vanished, and the remnants of civilization are quickly being reclaimed by nature and the animals who still remain.
In the game, you play as a misfit band of critters known by their colony as "providers". There’s the guinea pig with anger issues, a hamster that talks fast and drives faster, a small mouse with keen eyes and a lot to prove, and a mysterious vole who’s borderline feral. These characters each have their own personalities, play-styles, and personal goals.
You’ll leave the safety of your colony and venture out into the abandoned world on one of 20+ story-driven missions and side missions. Scavenge the ruins of mankind in search of food and supplies for your colony, but beware — the world is filled with bandits and predators, and you must fight or flee to stay alive.
Return to your colony with resources and information that will help your friends and family survive. Grow your colony and keep it safe by building structures and improvements with the spoils of your adventures, but plan accordingly, for the colony will face hardship each time you leave it…
—description from the publisher
diagonah
I love playing difficult games and think that i.e. Phil Eklund has complicated but sophisticated systems. I played once Aftermath and have to admit that it is the most clunkiest and difficult to play game I have tried. Rulebook is awful and youtube tutorials are loooong and not very well summarized. Don't know who on earth would enjoy this. If you like good flow of the game with clear rules and good time stay away from this garbage.
agilmor
I'm not a fan of deck builders or actions by cards. I'm neither a fan of using animals as fantasy characters, neither about the post-apocalypse themes. So, I wasn't expecting much for me from this game... but boy, I was so wrong! I've played 2 sessions and I'm just in love with this game! The cards mechanics are so clever, how it uses icons-colors-values for movement-skills-combat with combos, plus the control the threats, enemy movents and time passing... brillant! I wonder if drawing an extra card would just avoid using dice at all... The narrative is so well done, every single bit of text gives you theme and history as in a well written book. The save and restore mechanics for the campaign, the discovery and remove decks, altogether with the side game of the colony building phase gives you the perfect motivation for the missions in a quite open world, you just try to feed your family friends! And discover what happened to humanity... Although it's true that the game is oriented on learning by playing and the rulebook may be too ambiguous so you may feel that you are not ready to play after reading it, the enhanced one in BGG reduces the ambiguity just enough keeping it as short as possible. Anyway, after the first mission/session you already feel that you understand everything from this gem, and after the second one you are already in love with it! I'm not giving it a higher rating just because the font size is reminding me my age too often... ;-) EDIT: I'm downing my rate from 8 to 7.5 because I've not completed the campaign and I've lost the interest after the romance period.. but I still think I can find the moment to do it and enjoy it!
Bolt90
Awesome game that is accessible for new to extensive RPG style games. Jerry Hawthorne's games always deliver