Infernax Review (Xbox One)

STAFF REVIEW of Infernax (Xbox One)

Friday, February 11, 2022.
by Adam Dileva

Last month we were lucky enough to get our hands on an early PC preview build of Infernax, an 8-bit adventure that fans of classic NES Castlevania and Zelda II should quite enjoy. I’ll admit though, I was a bit apprehensive at first given that I’m not much of a classic Castlevania fan (I know...) or even Zelda II, so I figured Infernax would suffer the same fate from my genre tastes. I’m happy to report that I was not only wrong, but the early access build that we got to play left me wanting more, waiting for this day when Infernax releases for the masses to enjoy some classic retro gameplay filled with tons of 8-bit blood and gore for good measure.

Set in the Crusades era, a knight returns to his homeland only to find it overrun with monsters, ghouls, beasts and dark magic. Armed with just his mice and shield, Alcedor does what he must to cleanse the lands of these atrocities. While there’s not too much story within for an overarching narrative, there’s a handful of side quests that are somewhat interesting, and to solve some light puzzles you’ll need to pay attention to what certain NPC’s say or mention.

Developers, Berzerk Studio, stated they wanted to create a game that looked and felt like a genuine NES game from the era, from what made them captivating, the challenge, yet added some modern mechanics and design choices that I would argue makes for a better experience overall. It’s clear that Castlevania and Zelda II were heavy influences, and not only did they nail the classic 8-bit visual aesthetic and audio, but they’ve also somehow managed to nail the ‘feeling’ and essence of those classics as well, but with their own twist.

Before Mortal Kombat, blood wasn’t all that common in games, at least not in any significant way. Well, those days have long passed, and Infernax takes classic retro gameplay but turns the blood and gore up to eleven, and not just gratuitously without reason. For example, finally defeat a massive boss and his guts will spray all over, leaving Alcedor and the ground covered and dripping. Even with 8-bit styled visuals, there’s plenty of smaller details that don’t go unnoticed.

One of the first events that take place after arriving by boat is you having to make a choice. You encounter someone that looks like something bad has happened to them, asking you to kill them and put him out of his misery. Do you abide by his request or Pray and hope that he’ll be fine. There’s consequences for your choice, one that ends up in a mini-boss fight basically from the start of the game, setting the tone going forward. Choices you make will have consequences later down the road, and with multiple endings based on your decisions, there’s enough replayability to warrant a couple playthroughs.

You have a map in the top corner, highlighting where you’ve been and where else is yet to be explored, which is qhite handy later in the game when you’re trying to solve a puzzle and unsure if you’ve been somewhere or not. You’ll eventually meet branching paths, sometimes unsure where to go, so exploration will help you as you kill monsters and earn experience points. Sometimes these pathways will bring you to secret or currently inaccessible areas, meaning you’ll need to come back later at some point, most likely with some upgrade or ability that you’ll find within the handful of dungeons.

With a few dungeons to find and clear of a massive boss, these are quite challenging and will require patience and enemy memorization. You’ll have to find keys to unlock doors to progress, eventually culminating in a very challenging boss battle. These dungeons usually house another secret or two to find, and to complete everything Infernax has to offer, you’ll have to be quite thorough to find all of the spells and skills needed.

Killing enemies with your mace will earn you XP and they usually drop gold as well. You’ll come across a couple towns along your journey, able to spend your gold on equipment upgrades, potions and more. XP is spent at shrines that act as save points and refill your health and mana. You’re able to upgrade your Might, Health or Mana, depending on your playstyle, with each tier costing more XP than the last. Health and Mana upgrades add more to your vitals, and while it seemed Might upgrades made me dish slightly more damage, I couldn’t really tell even when it was maxed.

Shrines are also where you can input optional codes to help you progress in the game if you become stuck or frustrated, adding invincibility or infinite jumps. There’s even a cool code that was given after seeing my first ending that was awesome, but I won’t spoil what it unlocked. They’re also used as teleportation points, so you can quickly fast travel from one Shrine to the next, which is quite handy when you finally earned an ability upgrade and now can access a new area way back on the other side of the map.

If you want more challenge, there’s an option for Casual or Hardcore modes. Casual allows you to begin in the room you died in with all your gathered XP and gold up to that point, where Hardcore brings you back to the last shrine you prayed and saved at. I really appreciated this option and the optional cheat codes that should appease both types of fans.

Combat is simple with one button for attack, another for jumping and one more for your magic spells. It’s basic in premise yet works quite well. Controls are very tight, as I never once had a death that wasn’t my fault, though some enemies are much harder or trickier than others. With a handful of different enemies, you’ll need to approach each one with a different strategy. Zombies for example walk towards you slowly, floating eyes come at you at weird angles and all enemies required a different approach. While your mace simply extends out slightly in front of you, you also have a shield that can block some attacks. This is done simply by doing nothing and not moving. Not all attacks can be blocked but knowing which ones can will make a world of difference, especially when it comes to skeletons lobbying lances or throwing axes in your direction.

I grew up in the NES era, so of course I have a soft spot when it comes to 8-bit nostalgia with games like Infernax. The retro pixel artwork is done wonderfully, as are the smaller details with enemy design, blood and gore, and the massive bosses. The death animations when you do die are fantastic as well and worth a mention. The audio has that classic retro chiptune style to it as well with a great soundtrack and some ‘oomph’ to your attacks and hits.

I honestly didn’t think I was going to enjoy Infernax as much as I did, as I was unable to put it down once I got the hang of its challenging gameplay. Sure it frustrated at times with numerous deaths, but I learned. It’s obvious when a game is made as a passion project, as it simply has that ‘something special’, and Infernax is one such game. Pucker up buttercup because it’s about to get gory.

**Infernax was provided by the publisher and reviewed on an Xbox Series X**

Overall: 8.5 / 10
Gameplay: 9.0 / 10
Visuals: 8.5 / 10
Sound: 8.0 / 10

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