Afterlife

Afterlife was a city building game (similar to games like SimCity and Caesar) developed and published by LucasArts for the PC and Mac in 1996. The central conceit of the game was that the player had to build functional and efficient versions of both heaven and hell in order to service the souls of a local (non-earth) planet.

Gameplay

Like other city building games, the player in Afterlife must build structures and link them efficiently with infrastructure. However, in keeping with the heaven and hell theme, the player places punishments and rewards (for the seven deadly sins and the seven virtues), and facilities such as reincarnation centers. The player is monitored by an angel and a demon named Aria Goodhalo and Jasper Wormsworth, respectively. Like the advisors in other city building games, Aria and Jasper provide warnings and advice, helping the player to progress throughout the game.

The main resources in Afterlife include vibes (good and bad) which are produced by their respective buildings and serve to evolve buildings into bigger and more efficient versions. Buildings themselves cost pennies (as in pennies from heaven), which the player receives in a yearly stipend from The Powers That Be. This is a similar system to taxes in other city building games, but unlike those games, the player cannot manually increase their tax rate. The penny stipdend depends on various factors of the player's success in managing both heaven and hell.

Religious Connections

While Afterlife clearly references core concepts from Christianity and related western relgions (such as the traditional Christian imagery for heaven and hell), the game explicitly does not refer to Christianity. Instead, the titular afterlife services a non-earth planet (known only as The Planet) inhabited by non-humans (known as EMBOs, or Ethically Mature Biological Organisms). As EMBO's die, their souls go to the player's afterlife to be rewarded or punished.