8Doors: Arum's Afterlife Adventure
- June 17, 2020
- Rootless Studio
- 10h median play time
Get on Steam
Get on Epic Games Store"8Doors: Arum's Afterlife Adventure" is a Metroidvania-style action platformer that follows the story of Arum, who enters the afterlife in search of her father's soul. Players will explore 8 different areas of purgatory and battle over 36 types of specters and bosses while wielding various weapons and skills. The game is heavily influenced by Korean folktales, providing a unique and immersive story set in the afterlife.
PC
Steam Deck
Windows
Reviews
- The game features a beautifully designed world with a unique art style inspired by Korean folklore.
- Combat is engaging with a variety of weapons and challenging boss fights that require learning attack patterns.
- The story is compelling, with charming characters and a narrative that unfolds as you progress through the game.
- The game suffers from bugs, including a game-breaking issue where dying at the same time as a boss can prevent story progression.
- Backtracking can be tedious due to a lack of fast travel points and the linear progression of the game.
- Some players may find the controls unresponsive and the platforming mechanics frustrating, leading to a less enjoyable experience.
- story210 mentions
- 37 % positive mentions
- 60 % neutral mentions
- 3 % negative mentions
The story of "8Doors: Arum's Afterlife Adventure" is generally well-received, with many players appreciating its charming characters and emotional depth, rooted in Korean folklore. While some critiques mention a lack of complexity and occasional translation issues, the narrative effectively engages players through its exploration of themes like reincarnation and the afterlife, complemented by beautiful visuals and music. Overall, the game offers a straightforward yet touching storyline that enhances the metroidvania experience.
“The game has a fascinating lore and story to keep you engaged.”
“8doors: Arum's Afterlife Adventure is a hand-drawn, cute, story-rich, emotional adventure game with multiple endings where you play as Arum who goes to purgatory in search of her father's soul.”
“The story is engaging and kept me coming back to discover the mystery behind purgatory.”
“The story was such dull drivel that I had to stop playing.”
“The translation also causes almost all dialogue to feel quite stilted, making it lose any impact it could’ve had, which drags the story down even further.”
“However, 8doors just uses the story as an excuse to make the player go to new areas.”
- graphics163 mentions
- 59 % positive mentions
- 39 % neutral mentions
- 2 % negative mentions
The game's graphics are characterized by a unique and charming hand-drawn art style that blends simplicity with personality, often drawing comparisons to traditional Korean art. While many players appreciate the aesthetic and its immersive qualities, some critique the visuals for lacking clarity, which can hinder gameplay. Overall, the visuals are praised for their beauty and creativity, contributing significantly to the game's atmosphere and storytelling.
“The game has a neat art style with pretty good animation.”
“Beautiful hand-drawn graphics that range from adorable to sometimes unsettling.”
“The best part is that this is all wrapped up in a simple yet compelling storyline with beautifully hand-drawn graphics.”
“This Nintendo Switch game is a metroidvania type platformer with okay-ish 2D 'paper art' style cartoon illustrations instead of, you know, computer graphics you expect to see in a video game from 2021.”
“While there are options to change the resolution for the game, all this does is scale up the simplistic 2D art assets used to make the game, which makes little or no difference to the graphics quality.”
“Because of the muted and gray art style, many platforms are difficult to see immediately and many projectiles become essentially invisible.”
- gameplay117 mentions
- 38 % positive mentions
- 59 % neutral mentions
- 3 % negative mentions
The gameplay of this metroidvania title is generally well-received, with many praising its smooth controls, engaging combat mechanics, and rewarding upgrade system. While it draws heavy inspiration from games like Hollow Knight, some players feel it lacks depth and innovation, leading to a mixed perception of its overall enjoyment. The level design is solid, featuring a variety of abilities and challenges, but some mechanics, such as certain weapon utilities and boss encounters, have been criticized for being simplistic or frustrating.
“The gameplay is smooth and polished with a similar feel to Hollow Knight.”
“A really well-designed metroidvania that captivates with smooth controls, interesting abilities, fun combat mechanics, diverse enemy design, and tons of secrets.”
“This metroidvania-style game really hits all the high notes: great platforming, a progressive ability mechanic that encourages you to go back and re-explore previous areas, and bosses that present a serious challenge and are so satisfying to beat.”
“It's gameplay is very simple and not really fun or rewarding at all.”
“Despite the charming artwork of this title, the gameplay falls flat in more than a few areas.”
“Many of the tools you acquire are mostly useless outside of niche environmental gameplay or specific boss encounters, and worse still, as the game reaches the late stages of the story, things become an absolute chore to play through with various areas feeling like overly padded elongated messes.”
- music77 mentions
- 55 % positive mentions
- 40 % neutral mentions
- 5 % negative mentions
The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with many praising its ability to enhance immersion and complement the game's atmosphere, particularly through its traditional eastern influences. While some players found the soundtrack beautiful and fitting, others described it as average or unremarkable, noting that certain tracks could be bland or repetitive. Overall, the music contributes positively to the experience, though opinions vary on its memorability and impact.
“The soundtrack is well crafted, it fits the atmosphere of the game, it's nice.”
“Music is great, with tracks that draw inspiration from traditional Asian instruments which makes the OST range from beautiful to epic.”
“Overall, the setting, story, music, atmosphere, and amazingly charming art and animation really shine in this game, and make for a great time just to experience it all.”
“The music is unremarkable, unfortunately.”
“The game may not have a deep story, the music isn't memorable; aside from the trailer theme and mountain boss theme, getting 100% for the areas is irksome.”
“The soundtrack, while being more ambient and background, still gives the areas a nice touch and builds a great atmosphere, but the sounds are not that great. You will hear the same slashing song all the time, and it can get annoying quickly.”
- grinding19 mentions
- 11 % positive mentions
- 5 % neutral mentions
- 84 % negative mentions
Overall, players find the grinding aspect of the game to be a mixed experience. While some appreciate the lack of grindy achievements and the shorter map that reduces backtracking, many criticize the tediousness of combat, platforming, and boss fights, which can detract from the enjoyment. The game features a blend of rewarding challenges and frustrating mechanics, leading to a sense of monotony in certain areas.
“You'll need a second life for grinding.”
“Most achievements are 100% map, items, etc. There are no grindy achievements.”
“Enemies get tankier and the platforming obstacles become tedious.”
“The platforming is clunky at best and non-functional at worst, and the tedious boss design left me feeling disappointed that I had spent so much time on the game.”
“It felt like they content-stuffed this game not with content but tedious platforming travel and a map that feels like it's three times bigger than the story.”
- atmosphere14 mentions
- 64 % positive mentions
- 14 % neutral mentions
- 21 % negative mentions
The atmosphere in "8doors" is praised for its unique art style, well-crafted soundtrack, and distinct map areas that contribute to an immersive experience. While many players appreciate the game's visual and auditory elements, some note that repetitive sound effects and certain design choices, like invisible walls, detract from the overall atmosphere. Overall, the game's setting and ambiance are seen as strong points, though opinions vary on their effectiveness compared to other titles in the genre.
“Overall, the setting, story, music, atmosphere, and amazingly charming art and animation really shine in this game, making for a great time just to experience it all.”
“Especially thanks to the wonderful atmosphere, courtesy of the visuals and soundtrack.”
“The graphics are really pretty and consistent with a cartoon-esque style, featuring murky colors combined with vibrant red, which truly sets an atmosphere.”
“In terms of atmosphere, world building, characters, and complexity in general, it's lagging far behind a HK.”
“The soundtrack, although intended to be more ambient and background, still gives the areas a nice touch and builds a great atmosphere. However, the sounds are not that great; you will hear the same slashing sound all the time, which can get annoying quickly. It doesn't have the 'punch' or 'weight' you would expect from a hit, and most enemies screech the same sound repeatedly, leading me to mute the game and play my own music.”
“The graphics are really pretty and consistent with a cartoon-esque style, but the murky colors combined with vibrant red don't quite create the atmosphere I was hoping for.”
- emotional8 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The emotional aspect of "8doors: Arum's Afterlife Adventure" is highlighted by its heartwarming story and memorable characters, with players finding the multiple endings, especially the "good" and "true" ones, to be deeply touching. The game's beautiful artwork and engaging narrative create a captivating experience that resonates with players, making the journey through purgatory both poignant and impactful. Overall, the combination of cute character design and a heartfelt storyline leaves a lasting emotional impression.
“8doors: Arum's Afterlife Adventure is a hand-drawn, cute, story-rich, emotional adventure game with multiple endings where you play as Arum who goes to purgatory in search of her father's soul.”
“The ending, both the 'good' and 'true' ones, are very heartfelt and beautiful.”
“Incredible game with a touching storyline and memorable characters.”
- stability6 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 17 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's stability is mixed; while some players report experiencing occasional glitches and freezes, others have found it to be well-optimized and bug-free, with smooth performance and fast loading times. Despite the issues noted by some, many users appreciate the game's overall stability and engaging gameplay.
“I 100% the game and encountered no glitches.”
“It has pretty much everything going for it, good level design, fun combat, an engaging story, great music & unique visuals whilst also being well optimized & bug free.”
“Lastly the game was bug free for me, with fast loading times and no frame drops.”
“Every time I get to where I have to do a smash-up, it freezes and says, 'What is this place?' or something like that.”
“There are some glitches when moving around, but if you can look past that, it's a great game.”
- optimization5 mentions
- 40 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 60 % negative mentions
The game's optimization has received mixed feedback, with some players experiencing noticeable stuttering and synchronization issues that hinder smooth gameplay. While the overall design and features are praised, there is a consensus that the developers need to address performance problems to enhance the gaming experience.
“It has pretty much everything going for it: good level design, fun combat, an engaging story, great music, and unique visuals, whilst also being well optimized and bug-free.”
“While it's disappointing to encounter such problems in a 'verified' game, it's clear that the developers could improve the game's performance with some attention.”
“I will complain about one thing, and that is a slight performance issue for me.”
“There was always this sort of slight stuttering going on.”
- replayability4 mentions
- 75 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 75 % negative mentions
The game is praised for its high replayability, particularly in multiplayer mode, thanks to its engaging story, well-developed characters, and unique art style. Players appreciate the variety introduced by different mechanics, which enhances the overall experience and encourages multiple playthroughs.
“This game is infinitely replayable, especially in multiplayer mode.”
“I highly recommend this game due to its exceptional replayability, along with an amazing story and characters.”
“The unique art style and varied perks mechanics contribute to the game's replayability, making it feel distinctly different each time you play.”
“I hate this kind of comparison, especially since it's clear that a lot of work and passion went into creating a unique and pleasant art style. However, many reviews have called it a 'ripoff', suggesting that much less effort was made to make it feel like a truly different game, both in plot and art style, which ultimately affects its replayability.”
“The game lacks the depth and variety needed for true replayability, making it feel repetitive after just a few playthroughs.”
“While the initial experience is enjoyable, there isn't enough content or variation to keep players coming back for more.”
- humor3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game's humor is characterized by lighthearted NPC interactions, amusing animations, and quirky hitboxes, contributing to an overall comedic experience. Players appreciate the blend of humor with appealing graphics and an engaging story.
“NPCs have a lighthearted sense of humor with funny animations.”
“It has funny hitboxes.”
“A funny little game with nice graphics and story.”
- character development3 mentions
- 67 % positive mentions
- -67 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Character development is highlighted for its unique and thoughtfully crafted designs and animations, which many players appreciate. However, opinions on the art style and character designs are mixed, with some finding them inconsistent.
“Character design and animations are unique and well thought out.”
“I really loved the character designs and the art style.”
“The art style and character designs are a bit hit and miss.”
“Character development feels shallow and lacks meaningful progression.”
“The characters are one-dimensional and fail to evoke any real emotional connection.”
