Infliction: Extended Cut Review – Low Production Almost Spoils The Fun

After the likes of brilliant horror experiences expressed by Resident Evil 7, Outlast and a few others, even the short yet memorable P.T. demo, I found that there is something truly compelling about overcoming your worst fears within a haunted relatively confined setting. So, upon discovering that Infliction with its relatively one-man development effort, aims to offer a similar yet unique take on the horror genre, I was all in.

Infliction introduces players to a tormented home where the dead are troubled and obliged to stalk you. Within this complex and emotional narrative developer Caustic Reality has crafted a light yet intriguing puzzle design forcing players to carefully scour their surroundings for clues, oftentimes needing to retrace their steps as unassuming intel becomes a matter of needing to remember where you last saw that valuable information to drive the story forward.

With obvious inspirations, Infliction offers a valiant attempt at submerging the player in its hopeless and dreadful world. Impressively, the canvas asserts itself with accessible attachments to the gameplay. Most of the doors can be opened, from cabinets, refrigerators, dressers, closets, as well as items that can be inspected for interesting clues. Sometimes previously locked doors have a way of mysteriously opening allowing access. In this way, and as players learn more about the details surrounding the games tormented family of interest, the narrative has a way of tugging at your emotions.

Early on players are equipped with a flashlight and eventually a camera. For Infliction, your camera becomes your sword and shield against the games’ more unsavory elements. Within this chilling environment players are made to feel vulnerable without the option of protecting themselves in any combative form, which is quite reminiscent of Outlast, yet with camera in hand players are forced to engage the enemy spirit if you want any chance of getting away. By taking a photo, the flash repels the evil spirit for the time being. Also, photos reveal key insight with images otherwise not seen with the naked eye.

With light sources as your allies, aside from your camera, I found myself looking for light switches within most rooms upon entering.

I would not consider Infliction a frightening experience, however, throughout my four and a half-hour romp to its conclusion, the tension certainly raised a few hairs on my neck, despite the games seemingly low-budget production value.

Assisting with the game’s building of anxiety, the sound design supported elicits perilous atmospheric pressure. Continuing down this path, your surroundings seem to become a character all there own as weird and bizarre sounds are heard from all around. Sometimes there are nearby footsteps, even faint whispering which can barely be understood, but you know its there.

Infliction will not have you scratching your head trying to figure out some of its more ambiguous puzzles, yet from time to time you may sense an increase in stress to complete the task which could involve evil and aggressive pursuers.

Yet, after a while, once you have taken in all that Infliction throws at you within the first hour or so, you may not find yourself scared at all, as you may get used to the scare tactics on display. This decrease in tension is attributed to the games’ flat character designs and overall production value. With technical issues, as well as dated animations among other caveats, the games’ impressive ambition and the story might begin to take a backseat as you near its conclusion.

Aside from its glaring shortcomings, Infliction certainly kept me intrigued throughout. While there is much to could elaborate on involving the games compelling narrative approach, I feel it is best to allow players to experience the story revelations on their own, without spoiling the fun.

Taking into consideration that Infliction has been developed mainly by one person, overall the game has great potential.