Afterimage Cheats and Tips
Exploration Is Key
As with most Metroidvanias, exploration is a crucial aspect of Afterimage and will give you access to unique and powerful gear, equipment, and items if you leave no stone unturned.
The tricky thing is that, as the genre suggests, you will not be able to explore each area to its fullest until you acquire specific abilities, which can come several hours later in your adventure.
Fortunately, exploring each area will almost always get you to where you need to be and will clue you into what sort of abilities you can expect the further you progress.
There are tons of NPCs you can stumble into that can offer unique rewards or even open up shop for you to get your hands on valuable items that otherwise are incredibly rare to come by, and much more.
You should explore each area to its fullest, then revisit it later when you have new abilities to gather everything you missed on your first pass-through. Everything from weapons to Talent Points to boss encounters and everything in between can be found off the beaten path, and we encourage you to seek them all out when possible.
Complete Quests
Speaking of NPCs, as touched on above, you will run into many of them throughout each area of the game, most of which will offer unique rewards for completing their Quests.
These rewards can range from valuable resources to unlocking a shortcut to lending you a helping hand by offering their skills and expertise by opening up a shop in Resting Town, giving you access to purchase unique and powerful items.
In the world of Engardin, you will stumble across Blacksmiths, Chefs, Shopkeepers, strange sentient Fungi, and much more, all willing to help you reach your goal by making you stronger in the process.
Revisit Resting Town Often
By completing these Quests, you will slowly start recruiting more and more people to Resting Town, the hub world of Afterimage. At first, Resting Town won’t have much going for it, but it can quickly become one of the most crucial spots in the game.
When you first start your journey, you will have no access to shops that sell HP or MP Potions, making them one of the more sought-after Consumables as they are finite and crucial to your survival in boss encounters.
However, completing the Quest “Rescue” in Field of Geo will grant you access to Tark’s Shop, which has Heath and Mana Potions, and even Refined ones, allowing you to stock up on all the Potions you can carry to never be in a sticky situation again.
During your exploration, keep an eye out for NPCs and speak with them, then view their Quest by opening the Menu and tabbing over to the Quests page. From there, you can see what you need to complete the Quest, allowing you to prioritize it above anything else you’re doing.
Filling Out The Map
Filling out the Map is a crucial aspect of every Metroidvania, as you will get to see more and more of the Map expand and become uncovered as you learn more abilities and can reach new areas.
While that remains the case in Afterimage, there is one minor caveat to note: the Map will not update unless you rest at a Confluence, activate Memory Fragments, or talk to some NPCs.
This means your Map does not “live update,” so you cannot see where you are in a new area unless you reach a Confluence, Memory Fragment, or NPC. Confluences will always update your Map (old or new), while Memory Fragments and NPCs can be hit or miss.