Infernax has been a pleasant surprise. The art style made me expect a linear experience, so I was delightfully thrown off guard when I discovered how open the world is. It’s a loving homage to Castlevania 2 and improves upon many of the shortcomings found in that game.
The game has light Metroidvania elements and exploration, but where the game excels is the player choice and morality system. Most games suffer from presenting superficial choices that only nudge the player toward a specific ending at most. Infernax truly shines when choices lead to interesting consequences, and morality has an impact on gameplay.
For example, the first choice the player is presented with is to slay or help a possessed villager who is in pain. Mercy killing the villager results in the game continuing as normal. Try to help the villager, however, and he transforms into the first boss monster of the game. The decision may seem obvious; put the man out of his misery and avoid the apparent punishment of a boss fight. But things aren’t as clear as they first seem. Killing the villager ends the questline then and there. Trying to help him will introduce the player to the combat system and nets them XP for success. Later, the player can continue the questline and learn more about the boss they fought.
The morality system is highly impressive. Not all choices are vague, and it’s possible to deliberately make evil decisions. Do enough evil deeds, and Alcedor will switch weapons and gain access to new variants of spells. The endings also provide a nice reward in the form of cheat codes, which add fun modifiers to the game, as well as surprisingly fleshed-out alternative characters with their own choice of weapons.
The graphics, music and overall style of the game are fantastic. Infernax truly captures the classic elements of NES/8-bit games with modern conventions. There is a dark twist running through the game, with excessive gore and body horror. The shrieking sound effects are surprisingly effective in how disturbing they can be. The death screens are brilliantly done, with an ominous tune that halts when the silhouette of Alcedor meets a grizzly end. The environments have a nice variety to them, and every location feels like it has its own story.
Do I have any gripes? A few, but they are admittedly petty, given how much I’ve enjoyed the game. The potion system is weird, not broken, but weird. Upon death, HP and mana are fully restored but potions aren’t restocked. I found it better to spend mana to drag out my current life until I reached zero lives where I would crack out the potions to continue on a boss. I couldn’t help but feel that potions should be bought like spells and restocked at a save point for gold, instead of tediously going to an inn for a restock.
Progress felt a little confusing at times, but not massively so. The key system felt hit and miss, with the somewhat cruel punishment of a locked door for daring to go the wrong way the first time. Getting rewarded with a key for story progress made something of a mess early game, as it’s possible to spend it in the wrong dungeon. This forces the player to backtrack for an additional key so they have the correct amount. Love the exploration, dislike the punishment for exploration. On that note, a certain keep is summoned with a spell, this would’ve been great as a secret rather than a mandatory dungeon.
But as I said, this is petty when compared to the enjoyment I got from the rest of the game. It’s a fun experience with lots of replayability to get the alternative endings and fill the Demonology book. Wholly recommended for fans of Castlevania and folks looking for a gruesome Metroidvania to tear through in a week.
The game has light Metroidvania elements and exploration, but where the game excels is the player choice and morality system. Most games suffer from presenting superficial choices that only nudge the player toward a specific ending at most. Infernax truly shines when choices lead to interesting consequences, and morality has an impact on gameplay.
For example, the first choice the player is presented with is to slay or help a possessed villager who is in pain. Mercy killing the villager results in the game continuing as normal. Try to help the villager, however, and he transforms into the first boss monster of the game. The decision may seem obvious; put the man out of his misery and avoid the apparent punishment of a boss fight. But things aren’t as clear as they first seem. Killing the villager ends the questline then and there. Trying to help him will introduce the player to the combat system and nets them XP for success. Later, the player can continue the questline and learn more about the boss they fought.
The morality system is highly impressive. Not all choices are vague, and it’s possible to deliberately make evil decisions. Do enough evil deeds, and Alcedor will switch weapons and gain access to new variants of spells. The endings also provide a nice reward in the form of cheat codes, which add fun modifiers to the game, as well as surprisingly fleshed-out alternative characters with their own choice of weapons.
The graphics, music and overall style of the game are fantastic. Infernax truly captures the classic elements of NES/8-bit games with modern conventions. There is a dark twist running through the game, with excessive gore and body horror. The shrieking sound effects are surprisingly effective in how disturbing they can be. The death screens are brilliantly done, with an ominous tune that halts when the silhouette of Alcedor meets a grizzly end. The environments have a nice variety to them, and every location feels like it has its own story.
Do I have any gripes? A few, but they are admittedly petty, given how much I’ve enjoyed the game. The potion system is weird, not broken, but weird. Upon death, HP and mana are fully restored but potions aren’t restocked. I found it better to spend mana to drag out my current life until I reached zero lives where I would crack out the potions to continue on a boss. I couldn’t help but feel that potions should be bought like spells and restocked at a save point for gold, instead of tediously going to an inn for a restock.
Progress felt a little confusing at times, but not massively so. The key system felt hit and miss, with the somewhat cruel punishment of a locked door for daring to go the wrong way the first time. Getting rewarded with a key for story progress made something of a mess early game, as it’s possible to spend it in the wrong dungeon. This forces the player to backtrack for an additional key so they have the correct amount. Love the exploration, dislike the punishment for exploration. On that note, a certain keep is summoned with a spell, this would’ve been great as a secret rather than a mandatory dungeon.
But as I said, this is petty when compared to the enjoyment I got from the rest of the game. It’s a fun experience with lots of replayability to get the alternative endings and fill the Demonology book. Wholly recommended for fans of Castlevania and folks looking for a gruesome Metroidvania to tear through in a week.