Afterimage Hands-On: A Hand-Drawn Metroidvania Worth Watching Next Week

Last updated: October 12, 2026

Afterimage, a hand-drawn 2D Metroidvania from Aurogon Shanghai, hits PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, and PC on April 25, according to Game Informer. The latest New Gameplay Today episode ran roughly 15 minutes of fresh footage, and the visuals do most of the selling.

If you've been craving a side-scroller with real art direction, this is the kind of project where the trailer earns your attention before the gameplay questions start.

At a glance:

• Afterimage releases April 25 on PS, Xbox, Switch, and PC.
• Developer: Aurogon Shanghai.
• Genre: 2D action-adventure Metroidvania.
• Hand-drawn art style is a major selling point.
• 15 minutes of new gameplay shown in Game Informer's New Gameplay Today.

What the footage actually shows

Game Informer's preview leans heavily on the visuals, calling Afterimage "a pretty game to play through." Hand-drawn 2D work is its own flex in the Metroidvania space, where pixel art and atmospheric 3D tend to dominate. The 15-minute New Gameplay Today segment gives enough footage to spot gimmick windows, dash mechanics, and how much of the map is interactable on first contact. Whether the combat and traversal back up the art style is the question the full game has to answer.

The same episode queued up previews of Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster Collection, Sea of Stars, and Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania, among others. That context matters. Afterimage is not landing in a vacuum; it's competing for attention against a stacked 2023 slate of side-scrollers and remasters.

Our analysis

Game Informer has a long track record of previewing Metroidvanias, and their New Gameplay Today format usually keeps the hype in check by showing the game in motion instead of parroting press releases. That makes the 15-minute window useful: it filters out the trailer polish and lets you see whether the moment-to-moment play feels responsive. Aurogon Shanghai is a smaller studio, and the art is the obvious hook. Smaller teams often win or lose on map design, ability gating, and how clean the checkpointing feels when you die in a boss run.

There is a real trade-off here. A pretty game with a thin ability tree and forgettable bosses will still look good in screenshots but won't hold a Metroidvania player for more than a long weekend. The genre's loyal audience has been trained by Hollow Knight and the Dead Cells expansions to expect real depth behind the art.

Why this matters for our readers

If you typically bounce between console and PC, day-one multi-platform release is a quiet win. You don't have to wait for a port or pick a side. For Android readers, this is a no-fly zone: Afterimage is not on mobile, and that's a reminder that the Metroidvania revival is still almost entirely a console and PC story. If you want a similar fix on Android, you'll be waiting a while.

The wider signal is that the Metroidvania cycle is still healthy. Game Informer's preview lineup, which included Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster Collection and Sea of Stars alongside Afterimage, shows that side-scrollers and remasters are pulling more editorial oxygen than they were a few years ago. That is good for players and good for smaller studios willing to take the risk.

A practical example

Say you finish Sea of Stars on launch week and you're looking for the next side-scroller. Afterimage is the cleanest pickup. Wishlist it now, watch the Game Informer footage for a sense of how the dash and combat feel, and if it clicks, buy it April 25. If you're chasing Hollow Knight-tier depth, park the buy until day-one reviews land and tell you whether the map design rewards backtracking.

What to watch next

Watch for review coverage closer to April 25. The 15-minute preview is enough to know the game looks great; the question is whether the traversal, combat, and map design hold up over a full run. Bottom line: it's a beautiful game launching on every relevant platform next week. Worth wishlisting if you like the genre, but don't pre-order on art alone.

Key takeaways

• Afterimage is a hand-drawn Metroidvania launching April 25 on PS, Xbox, Switch, and PC.
• Developed by Aurogon Shanghai.
• 15 minutes of new footage appeared in Game Informer's New Gameplay Today.
• The hand-drawn art style is the standout visual feature.
• No Android version is announced.
• Wait for reviews if you want a Hollow Knight-depth Metroidvania.