Abelina is a strange, platforming romp through a natural afterlife from a former League of Legends animator and the composer of Zach Cregger's Resident Evil

Would that make what we're currently in the beforedeath?

I have no particular thoughts on what the afterlife may look like, namely because if there is one, and I'm allowed to hang out in it, I don't want to be disappointed. What if I have the expectation that it's a hedonistic paradise and am met with only having a guy named Gary who only eats cheese sandwiches for company? How embarrassing! No, I'll leave the imagining to others on this particular front. Doing so bears some ripe fruit for me occasionally, too, as is the case today with Abelina, a surreal platformer about a man who died and finds himself tending to gardens and carving masks and trying "not to think about what this place might really be."

My immediate reaction upon seeing Abelina is that it has the vibe of a Soviet stop motion film only Letterboxd users have heard of, which is perhaps the highest compliment I can give to a game graphically. In it, you play as Vasily, who "died a while ago." He finds himself in the titular Abelina, an odd, nature-filled afterlife, where he's been trying to find happiness again with a small handful of other folks doing the same.

I don't think Abelina is a puzzle game, but it does look like you have to put some thought into your platforming at points. There is flying to be done, dungbeetle-esque rolling, precise jumps to be made. It seems the entire thing is about navigating this otherworldly locale, and hopefully finding some truth amongst it all. You may not always find the correct path, with branching paths and open vistas seemingly offering a multitude of ways forward, all while being led by a "mysterious rabbit-cat."

It's also a game with some skill behind it, being led by Gabe Askew, who's worked on CG cinematics for the likes of Valorant, League of Legends and Love, Death + Robots. Sonically we should be in for a pleasant time too, as Weapons and the recent Resident Evil movie's composer Ryan Holladay is on the soundtrack for Abelina. I'm curious about what else it has to offer and am keen to get my hands on it to see how that platforming feels. In the meantime, you might join me by wishlisting it on Steam ahead of its release in 2027.