Infernax review

Save for some rudimentary ports, Konami doesn’t seem to be doing much with the Castlevania license. But there’s a very strong chance that Infernex might be better than a new entry that the lackadaisical publisher might put out.

Thanks to the labors of indie developers, there’s probably a Metroidvania game for almost any taste. Want one with Street Fighter II-style controls? There’s Demoniaca: Everlasting Night. Fancy a title that’s smitten with delicate, melancholic beauty? You might want to give Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights a try. But what if you are seeking something closer in spirit to the first two Castlevania games? Well, Quebec-based Berserk Studio has you covered.

Just make sure you appreciate a vigorous amount of viscera before heading into Infernax. While the game channels an 8-bit visual style, cutscenes get startlingly gory. Yet with predicaments that branch the plotline in different directions, the game’s balances it’s entrails with a refreshing amount of ingenuity.

Mace to the Face

You’ll play as Alcedor, a war-torn duke who has returned from the crusades. But a year earlier, a diabolical cult and their demonic minions invaded, pillaging your own homeland. Instead of Castlevania’s customary whip, you’ll begin the game armed with a mace and shield. Clearing the land of evil will require taking down a quintet of monstrosities before gaining access to a stronghold safeguarding the source of all this malevolence.

Interestingly, Infermax’s action channels Zelda II: The Adventure of Link just as much as it does the non-linear trek of Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest. With your loadout, you’re able to smash from a standing or squatting stance, with the latter suitable for slaughtering shorter foes. Pleasingly, there’s a healthy bit of knockback when facing off against subordinates. That’s especially useful since nighttime brings out additional, tougher creatures who gang up on Alcedor. Your mana pool is used to power magical abilities, offering everything from restorative healing, triggering injurious storms, or even summoning a familiar.

Beware of Casual Casualties

There are several aids to make your pilgrimage slightly less punishing. There’s a mini-map that shows your immediate location. When NPCs send you trekking into different territories, there’s a larger scale one that’s viewable from the in-game menu. Liberally placed save points refresh your health and mana, but they also allow for stat upgrades as well.

And make no mistake, Infermax’s Classic difficulty can be infuriating; miscalculating a single jump can lead to a game over. ‘Casual’ difficulty is even a misnomer, offering a slightly mitigated challenge, but it will still kick your ass repeatedly. If you’re too proud to use the game’s Konami-style cheat code, the game does permit a bit of role-playing grinding. Spend some time wandering and butchering basic foes, and you’ll earn enough currency for extra lives or to beef up your power, health, and mana. Alternatively, you can save some coin and purchase new items from several of the game’s shopkeeps. Likewise, Alcedor gains new moves that range from like ground pounds, uppercuts, which help balance the odds and offset frustration.

Decisions and Incisions

Arguably, Infernax most ingenious component are intermittent dilemmas. Early on, you’ll meet a mutilated NPC who begs you to kill him, as a screen-filling image fills the screen, providing two responses. On my first playthrough, I showed him benevolence. In return, Infernax demonstrated that its morality was wonderfully capricious and I faced an unforeseen battle. On my next playthrough, I choose differently, and the game delighted me by not providing an immediate consequence. Instead, the game occasionally feels like a well-written visual novel where repercussions occur much later and ultimately influence the game’s ending.

The game’s other remarkable trait is the amount of impish grand guignol-style bloodshed. Sure, there a lot of game that coat the screen with carnage. But Infernax adapts a playful approach to its barbarity, repeatedly coating the protagonist’s sprite in a variety of bodily fluids. While standard enemies are fairly rudimentary, bosses are large atrocities of misshapen appendages and bloated, free-flowing organs. Occasionally, admiring the depraved artistry led to more than a few deaths. Sonically, Jason Létourneau, Jules ‘FamilyJules’ Conroy, and Olivier Couillard’s, 47-song chiptune soundtrack is both massive and massively well done. Some of the game’s riffs are undeniable ear worms.

Conclusion

Although Infernax’s default difficulty might put some players off, especially if they resent devious platforming sequences. And to a lesser extent, there’s some repetition across some of the game’s zones, which can introduce a bit of tedium. But if players can tolerate these two traits, Infernax’s blend of engaging action and moral dilemmas should delight fans looking for some innovation in their retro-rooted pursuits.

Infernax was played on PC with
review code provided by the publisher.