Surviving the Aftermath

73%
Game Brain Score Based on 1,671 reviews
  • gameplay
  • story
  • graphics
Surviving the Aftermath Game Cover
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"Surviving the Aftermath" is a post-apocalyptic city-builder game. Rebuild your shelter, manage resources, and protect your colonists from threats such as raiders and environmental disasters. Plan and build your colony's infrastructure, including housing, food production, and technology research, to ensure your survival in a harsh world.

  • Nintendo Switch
  • PC
  • Play​station 4
  • Steam Deck
  • Windows
  • Xbox One
  • Xbox Series X|S
  • Play​Station
  • Xbox
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

73%
Audience ScoreBased on 1,671 reviews
gameplay67 positive mentions
grinding57 negative mentions
  • Engaging gameplay with a mix of city building and world exploration mechanics.
  • Challenging resource management that keeps players on their toes.
  • Good graphics and atmosphere that enhance the post-apocalyptic theme.
  • Frequent bugs and glitches that can disrupt gameplay and cause frustration.
  • Repetitive quests and events that lead to a lack of replayability.
  • Combat mechanics are poorly designed, with enemies spawning inside the colony and AI issues.
  • gameplay248 mentions

    The gameplay of "Surviving the Aftermath" is a mixed bag, featuring a blend of city-building and survival mechanics that can be engaging but often suffers from bugs, crashes, and repetitive tasks. While the core mechanics are solid and the game offers a rich atmosphere, many players find the learning curve steep and the late-game experience lacking in depth and variety. Overall, the game shows potential but requires significant improvements in optimization and gameplay balance to enhance the player experience.

    • “This game offers a rich and engaging experience that combines challenging mechanics with a compelling storyline, allowing players to truly immerse themselves in a post-apocalyptic world.”
    • “The gameplay mixes efficient city design with a tactical pick-up and deliver board game.”
    • “The survival aspect of the gameplay really sets this game apart from other strategy games with similar mechanics.”
    • “Gameplay is mediocre and repetitive to the point of 'oh my god, give me something to break up the monotony and not just the speed up button.'”
    • “The gameplay is not competitive and lacks balance.”
    • “The pacing of the gameplay feels off, slow and clunky.”
  • story184 mentions

    The game's story is a mixed bag, with some players praising its engaging and immersive elements, while others criticize its lack of depth and repetitive quests. Many appreciate the integration of side quests and the world map exploration, which add layers to the gameplay, but feel that the main storyline is often tedious and poorly paced. Overall, while the narrative has potential, it suffers from inconsistencies and a lack of meaningful choices, leaving some players feeling disconnected from the characters and their journeys.

    • “This game offers a rich and engaging experience that combines challenging mechanics with a compelling storyline, allowing players to truly immerse themselves in a post-apocalyptic world.”
    • “The story unfolds in a way that is both intriguing and immersive, pulling you deeper into the game's world with every mission and objective completed.”
    • “Its challenging mechanics, combined with an absorbing storyline, provide a satisfying and rewarding experience that will keep you engaged for hours.”
    • “For a city builder, this one is particularly poorly designed, with no proper main quest and the lore being non-existent, not to mention gameplay plagiarized from other titles.”
    • “The plot progression feels artificially drawn out, making the player face a ton of catastrophes, attacks, etc.”
    • “The story is a bit lackluster, but the gameplay requires careful planning and strategy as you get disasters which will wreck your city.”
  • graphics104 mentions

    The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some players appreciating the aesthetic and visual quality, while others criticize them as underwhelming and not meeting modern standards. Many users report performance issues, stating that the graphics are overly taxing on hardware despite not being particularly impressive. Overall, while some find the visuals enjoyable and fitting for the genre, others feel they detract from the gameplay experience due to poor optimization and lack of variety.

    • “What sells me on a game is the random events that pop up in the game and cut scenes, along with nice visual graphics.”
    • “The graphics are great.”
    • “The graphics and music are cool too, very atmospheric for the post-apocalypse world, sucks you right in.”
    • “It draws much too much performance from the graphics card for the quality of graphics it has.”
    • “Horrible, unnecessarily taxing when the graphics are not even that great.”
    • “The graphics are low quality.”
  • grinding57 mentions

    Overall, players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and repetitive, particularly in the late game where resource management and micromanagement become overwhelming. Many reviews highlight that while the early game can be engaging, the excitement quickly fades as players are left with monotonous tasks and a lack of meaningful progression. The exploration and quest mechanics are often described as dull, contributing to a sense of boredom that detracts from the overall enjoyment of the game.

    • “For the average casual player who wants to learn the game, it is tedious and boring.”
    • “The story and exploration mechanics are interesting at first, but balancing between real-time city-building mode and turn-based exploration mode quickly gets very tedious.”
    • “The overworld is a tedious mess and I did not enjoy any of it, despite it being vital to progressing in the game.”
  • replayability44 mentions

    Overall, the game's replayability is a mixed bag, with many players noting limited value after completing the main quests and experiencing the core content. While some enjoy the potential for varied playthroughs through randomized elements and different strategies, others feel that the lack of diverse content and challenges diminishes long-term engagement. In general, players suggest that while the game can be fun initially, it may not sustain interest for multiple runs without additional content or features.

    • “It adds a layer of depth and replayability, making each playthrough unique.”
    • “Random encounters, maps, and events give this game amazing replayability value.”
    • “This post-apocalyptic SimCity has kept me hooked for the last two weeks, and I foresee myself doing multiple playthroughs and trying different approaches to the game, so it has great replay value.”
    • “Once you have seen most of it, you will find it to have a rather low replay value.”
    • “Once the primary quests are completed, there really isn't much by way of continuation or replayability, but the journey to victory was worth it.”
    • “But after 37 hours of gameplay, I’m quite confident there’s no replayability here, so I recommend you get it on sale instead of full price.”
  • music32 mentions

    The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with many players praising the soundtracks as a standout feature that enhances the overall atmosphere and gameplay experience. While some enjoy the diverse and powerful tracks, others criticize the limited variety and repetitive nature of certain in-game music options. Overall, the soundtrack is appreciated for its ability to complement the game's themes, though technical issues like music clipping detract from the experience for some players.

    • “Excellent soundtracks, implemented like radio channels in the game.”
    • “More importantly (for me) the soundtrack is just about as powerful as any you will ever find.”
    • “Amazing game, very chill with great atmosphere and music.”
    • “You just chill at 3x speed, watching little NPCs run around... if it weren't for the musical accompaniment, disasters, and random events, I wouldn't have endured this tediousness.”
    • “- there's an option to select a 'radio' but the radio is only one song looped so it's super lame listening to the same thing all game.”
    • “It's like the most depressing elevator music I've ever heard.”
  • optimization28 mentions

    Overall, the game's optimization is widely criticized, with many users reporting significant performance issues, including stuttering, freezing, and excessive resource demands relative to the graphics quality. While some players acknowledge that the game has potential and is visually appealing, they emphasize the need for substantial improvements in optimization to enhance gameplay and reduce technical problems. Many hope for future updates to address these concerns, as current performance hinders the overall experience.

    • “Optimization is also good.”
    • “I stuck it out and at the end of the day, the only thing good about the game I would say are the graphics, the optimization letting my computer handle a few hundred colonists, and the narratives that pop up on the screen.”
    • “To be serious, it's not bad for early access, but it needs to be better optimized and gameplay needs a lot of tweaks.”
    • “The game is poorly optimized right now.”
    • “First and foremost: the game is not optimized at all... every 5-10 minutes the music will start clipping over itself and everything will slowly freeze until you pause for 20 seconds and then it works fine again after catching up with itself.”
    • “The game is poorly optimized, any feeling of progression is now strangled to death from artificial hindrances, hoping to give you enough problems to notice that there has not been any actual content added with DLC nor time.”
  • stability27 mentions

    The game's stability is a mixed bag, with many players reporting frequent bugs and glitches, particularly as colonies grow larger, leading to freezes and crashes. While some users note improvements and a lack of crashes in their experience, the overall consensus is that the game remains quite unstable, especially in its early access state, and requires further polishing to enhance gameplay. Despite its potential, many recommend waiting for more updates before diving in due to the frustrating issues present.

    • “It looks great, runs great, and is very entertaining at times.”
    • “It's not buggy, never crashes, and the gameplay menus are awesome. The developers are constantly improving and updating things.”
    • “Once colonies hit a certain size, the game becomes unstable and freezes, crashes, or ceases to respond to interaction while still running.”
    • “The game has potential, but at the moment it is a buggy, frustrating mess.”
    • “This is a really enjoyable game (and I realize it is in early access), but it is way too buggy at the moment, so I suggest people avoid it until it is a bit more stable.”
  • atmosphere13 mentions

    The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its immersive and unique portrayal of a post-apocalyptic world, effectively conveying a sense of desperation and survival. Players appreciate the combination of engaging graphics, music, and environmental elements that enhance the overall experience, despite some technical issues. Overall, the atmosphere is a standout feature that captivates players and draws them into the game's setting.

    • “This game is a good survival city builder with a pretty unique atmosphere.”
    • “It does convey that desperate post-apocalyptic atmosphere well enough to make you actually care, and want to rebuild a tiny bit of the lost civilization for your survivors.”
    • “The graphics and music are cool too, very atmospheric for the post-apocalyptic world, sucking you right in.”
    • “It didn't add to the atmosphere of the game.”
    • “For those wanting Surviving Mars 2, it’s completely different and the atmosphere is totally different.”
    • “What it lacks in sophistication, it gains in atmosphere and character.”
  • humor6 mentions

    The humor in the game is widely praised for its hilarious mechanics, such as selling pollution to other towns for profit and reputation boosts, creating a comedic take on environmental issues. Players also enjoy the absurdity of the game's apocalypse mashup setting, filled with plagues and extreme weather, though some note that the lack of a coherent story can be off-putting.

    • “Also, I found it hilarious that you can sell off your pollution to the other towns just like any other commodity.”
    • “And doubly hilarious (and slightly disconcerting) that sometimes a town will pay extra and give a reputation boost for it.”
    • “* Hilarious apocalypse mashup setting: plagues and radiation and extreme weather and meteor bombardment, all in the same week!”
  • monetization3 mentions

    The monetization strategy of the game has been heavily criticized, with reviewers labeling it as a "greedy cash grab" that relies on a continuous stream of DLC despite ongoing bugs and crashes. Many players express disappointment in the quality of the game, feeling that it is a re-skinned version of an indie title designed primarily for profit rather than player satisfaction. Overall, the sentiment is that the game's monetization practices detract from the experience and value for money.

    • “Played the beta before the game ever even released and it didn't crash nearly as much as it has since release. Another greedy cash grab. Paradox DLC template in full effect with this game. They keep pushing out DLC after DLC while the game remains filled with bugs and crashes for no reason whatsoever. It's sad that, like most, I keep giving this company and these greedy developers money for game after game. Also have this for console and have the exact same problems. But this being a PC master race game, there really is no reason for the crashes. Graphics are mediocre and there is no modding scene for the game. Just horrible after all this time. Do not waste your money, please!”
    • “Just another Paradox cash grab, low quality, unfun game for a quick buck.”
    • “I've always loved Paradox games, but I'm deeply disappointed that they would half-assedly re-skin an indie game for a cash grab.”
  • emotional3 mentions

    Players find the emotional aspect of the game to be impactful, with poignant survivor stories that evoke strong feelings. However, some users express frustration with gameplay mechanics that detract from the overall experience, suggesting that these issues need to be addressed for the emotional narrative to resonate fully.

    • “The stories are nice, and some of the little tales of the survivors' snippets are heart-breaking.”
  • character development2 mentions

    Reviewers emphasize that meaningful character development requires a compelling narrative, personal growth, and inherent risks. Without these elements, characters feel static and unengaging, reducing them to mere gameplay mechanics rather than individuals players can invest in emotionally. Comparisons to games like XCOM highlight the importance of storytelling in fostering player attachment to characters.

    • “If you want us to care about the characters at an individual level, then there really needs to be a narrative, there needs to be growth, there needs to be risk. Reference XCOM for character development; if the goal is character development without a story, or if specialists really don’t matter, then don’t make them any different than colonists with extra benefits. But as they are now, they are just elements of a non-existent story, and they are a constant that never change, and that is boring.”
    • “If you want us to care about the characters at an individual level, then there really needs to be a narrative, there needs to be growth, there needs to be risk. Reference XCOM for character development if the goal is character development without a story. If specialists really don’t matter, then don’t make them any different than colonists with extra benefits. As they are now, they are just elements of a non-existent story, and they are a constant that never change, and that is boring.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

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Play time

15hMedian play time
23hAverage play time
5-30hSpent by most gamers
*Based on 28 analyzed playthroughs

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