The waves billow and grumble, rotted wood creaks, and the sail above whips against the salted winds. Rusted chainmail clinks against itself with every movement, a rusted mace stands upon its head, and Duke Alcedor grimly stares at the ruin that’s become of his duchy. Demons. It always has to be demons, doesn’t it?
In today’s current market, there are dozens upon dozens of games that attempt to mimic the success of another title, and most of the time it doesn’t go well. In contrast to that sentiment however, Infernax, the latest title developed by Berzerk Studio and published by The Arcade Crew, distinguishes itself in more ways than one. Not only does Infernax hit every checkbox that is required from the Metroidvania genre, but it also does it in spades. It must be said though, even as much as I personally adore this game, there are some glaring issues within the mechanics that do hinder the possible longevity and reception towards this title.
First and foremost, the gameplay; you play as Duke Alcedor, or Duke Whateveryoulike since you can name the character any thing you like, who returns home from crusading only to find his land wrought with demons and banditry. Like what was stated earlier, Infernax is a metroidvania, which regulates it into being a 2D side scroller with an emphasis on exploration and boss encounters. While metroidvanias typically have repetitive combat, Infernax does offer different ways to approach a combat scenario. For example, since Infernax allows the character to allocate points into Mana, Health, and Power, depending on how the player chooses to build their character, the combat scenario will play out mostly how they like. Before continuing however, the leveling system does not offer much in the way of RPG “builds” as by the end of the game, you will most likely have all stats maxed out. You will also, at some point, gain power ups that allow for further exploration and more in depth combat: This includes more spells and weapon strikes.
Now, onto the other niches that Infernax finds itself comfortably dug into. As you are a crusader, you are armed with a mace and shield, and these are the only weapons you get in the game. However, much to my enjoyment, when you get an upgrade to your gear, whether it be armor or your weapon, it shows on Duke’s sprite; if you upgrade from the rusted mail to silver plate, then your once drab and rustic pauldrons now gleam against the morning sun. While this is not something that is as momentous as I make it out to be, it is definitely a detail I appreciate, as most metroidvanias rarely alter their protagonist’s appearance.
Another niche that does more favors to Infernax is its excellent choice of interactive narrative. This is the only time I have really seen it done in this particular fashion; Infernax allows the player to augment questlines and completely alter the quest’s result and reward. SPOILER: For example, there was a quest that I had been doing for an helpless elder, and she had requested that I expel a vile monster dwelling within her basement. When I arrived at the home, I was met with a putrid looking skeleton, oozing viscous green globs, pleading for his life, and much to my chagrin (damn you Witcher 3 and your humanizing of monsters!) I let him go since he seemed harmless. Well, that unfortunately wasn’t the case. I returned to the elder only to find them ripped to shreds with green residue caked upon her remains. I was then later rewarded demon conjurer spell, instead of the gold I would have originally received. END SPOILER.
This also has consequences regarding the good and evil possible game endings (at least from what I can speculate, as I did my first playthrough relatively neutral and it led to me being barred by the baddies’ and the good guys’ respective questlines.) The latter half of the previous statement leads into another point I adore about Infernax: it is gory, but not over-gratuitously gory, but just the right amount that it maintains the charm that the game also boasts. I have not talked about it yet, but Infernax is also exceptionally funny, but like the gore, it is never overdone but perfectly done. The best way to describe Infernax is to think what if Shovel Knight and Blasphemous fostered a bastard child, who was then raised on wit alone. It is a great entry onto a budding genre, however as it must be said it does not hold much of a candle to masterworks like Hollow Knight and Bloodstained.
What I primarily mean by this statement is that there are some glaring issues within Infernax, and it mostly revolves around the level design and the movement. While Berzerk Studio did exceptional jobs regarding the pixel art, gameplay, and interactive narrative, it did impact the way the map is laid out. The dungeons and story-based castles the player must navigate through often prove to be more infuriating than challenging because the Duke moves so clunkily. There is no short hop, so tapping or holding the jump button results in the same jump height, which is criminal in metroidvania. It bottlenecks the player into behaving so frugally in dungeon scenarios as any mistake can have them spiraling back to the beginning of the level.
This leads to another issue that Infernax has: the AI pathing. While the AI could make the combat feel more rewarding, especially if you compare the skeleton mob with the cyclops zombie one, the fact that they often hug the edge of any platform proves to be infuriating beyond belief. It frequently feels cheap because you will, most likely, not be able to jump over them and be punished with an instant death, which transitions into another complaint I have with the game. The level design is far too punishing for this game, and it often left me feeling more frustrated than rewarded after clearing a room. Do not get me wrong, I love difficulty, I’ve played through every Dark Souls game and beaten every boss with no help, but none of those games had levels with absurd/near impossible level designs (except maybe Anor Londo). There is a life mechanic, however, and it does wean out the difficulty curve later on in the game, but it does make the early game a lot more difficult since a death on “Classic” difficulty sends you back to your most recent save point. I have forgotten to mention, there is an easy mode, so the difficulty argument I have is easily circumvented (if you’re not as stubborn as I am)
Ultimately, Infernax is a great game that looks gorgeous, especially in a market that is moving away from the 8 bit style to more comprehensive 16 bit. It is great fun with massive amounts of replayability.
I give Infernax a solid 9.5/10.
Check Out the Infernax Trailer:
For more information, visit: https://www.thearcadecrew.com/games/infernax/
Whether it be diving deep into uncharted oceanic depths, wading through knee-deep pools of demon blood, or taking a leisurely walk through a fictional western frontier, I am always eager to explore previously unknown sectors of the creative space, impatiently overturning every stone begging to be flipped over. Dabbling in both speculative and realistic fiction, with a sprinkle of journalistic fanaticism, I enjoy any game that displays narrative magnificence, or if it's just plain fun!
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