Infernax (Switch) First Impressions

I’m going to let you in on a little behind-the-scenes secret. I’ve mentioned in an article or two here on Phenixx Gaming that I was born with a neurological disability known as cerebral palsy. This condition affects my body in numerous ways, but only one of them is relevant to the scope of this article. In many cases, cerebral palsy can cause seizures, especially in response to patterns of rapidly-flashing lights. Personally, I don’t think I’ve ever had that happen, but I’ve certainly had several tests performed in various doctors’ offices throughout my twenty-six years to see if it might be possible.

While none of those light-based tests managed to induce a seizure, they all had one thing in common: they gave me a monstrous headache that took quite some time to subside. Because of that, I’ve never been able to play any video games that also feature similar patterns of flashing lights because that terrible headache will quickly return if I dare attempt it. That brings me to the game I’ll be discussing within this piece. It’s an indie title by the name of Infernax, developed by Berzerk Studio and published by The Arcade Crew.

Before I dive into my first impressions of this title, I want to take this opportunity to clear a few things up. Since Infernax just released on Steam, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox Game Pass on February 14th, 2022, this article was originally going to be a full review. As you’ve no doubt discerned by now based on this article’s title, that plan has not come to pass.

I requested and received a Switch review code for Infernax well in advance of its release date, so I ordinarily would have had plenty of time to get acquainted with it. Unfortunately, the game features sequences of those dastardly flashing lights that I would describe as extreme in both their intensity and frequency. I’ll bet you can guess what that means – Headache City, population: me.

To their credit, however, developers Berzerk Studio have stated that they’re working diligently to address this potential issue for the sake of players like myself. I absolutely don’t expect you to just take my word for it, though. Let me present you with a quote from the developers:

“Please note that Infernax contains imagery of flashing colors, including full-screen flashes between brief patterns of red and white. While it’s not currently possible to toggle the game’s flashing sequences off, an option to [m]inimize these flashes is available in the game’s Options menu under Accessibility, and Berzerk is actively working on improvements to this feature to be included in a future update.” There it is, straight from the proverbial horse’s mouth. The only snag is that I tried using that option the devs mentioned in the game’s Accessibility menu, and it sadly didn’t help me much.

I want to emphasize that I honestly don’t blame Berzerk Studio for this. I probably wouldn’t have requested the opportunity to cover the game if I had known beforehand that the “Demon of the Flashing Lights,” as I call this situation, was going to rear its ugly head again. Heck, if I were physically capable of dealing with those red-and-white flashing patterns, I’d think they were great for adding to the game’s atmosphere.

Unfortunately, things didn’t work out that way for me, but at least Berzerk is working on that so I can actually play, enjoy, and (hopefully) fully review the game in the future. I hope my story can serve as a lesson to not just Berzerk, but every game development studio, about the importance of having accessibility options of various types in their games. You never know who might need them, or how those players might be seriously negatively affected if those options aren’t present.

I just want to say one last thing before I get to the “meat and potatoes” of this article, so to speak. As I mentioned earlier, the game launched on Switch, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox Game Pass, and Steam. I specifically requested to cover it on Switch because I wanted more reasons to use my new Switch for work purposes, as I alluded to in my first Switch review. With that in mind, I’m actually quite glad I made that decision rather than requesting a Steam key, because of that whole “flashing lights” issue.

You see, I purchased a Switch Lite rather than a “regular” Switch because that fit more neatly and more easily into my budget. Due to that, I’m playing on a much smaller 720p display as opposed to my 32-inch 1080p primary computer monitor. I fear that if I had seen any of the flashing light sequences present within Infernax on that PC monitor, something worse than a splitting headache may have happened. At least it’s much easier for me to look away from my Switch’s screen when I need to.

With that out of the way, let’s get into what I’ve played of Infernax thus far. The only catch is that I probably can’t tell you all that much. Because that dreaded headache set in fairly soon after I started playing Infernax, I was only able to play about 45 minutes of it up to this point before I had to stop and rest my eyes. Aside from the bits that gave me that headache in the first place, I greatly enjoyed what I was able to experience.

According to the aforementioned email that Berzerk Studio sent over, the developers describe the game as “a demon-bashing quest inspired by the most enthralling elements of classic adventures like Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.” Judging solely by the game’s visual style, especially that of things like text boxes, I definitely picked up on that early Castlevania influence. Certain elements of the game’s art style heavily remind me of Shovel Knight, as well, which I most assuredly consider being a point in the game’s favor.

Moving on from what struck me visually, let’s go over the basics of the plot to some extent. You play as Alcedor, a legendary knight who returns to his homeland from a battle and is quite unpleasantly surprised to find that a mysterious, antediluvian evil has overtaken the vicinity. Despite the fact that the word “ax” is part of the game’s title, Alcedor is instead armed with what looks to me to be a morning star in addition to his trusty shield. With his armaments in tow, Alcedor vows to eradicate the unholy presence that has his home in its foul grip.

That’s just about all the exposition I can provide because that’s virtually the entirety of plot-related information the game itself gives you. Beyond that, you’re dropped straight into the action and expected to find your way to the nearest enemies who need their skulls bashed in. I know that sentiment is rather graphic, but in fairness, so is the game. You’ll find that out pretty quickly once you start playing.

Infernax seems to take pride in filling your screen with pixelated blood and guts. Considering the game’s art style, it’s going to take a lot more than that to turn me away from a title like this. You folks probably know by now that I rarely take issue with what I see as obscenity in games. However, I will admit that some of Infernax‘s bosses may haunt my nightmares for some time.

As you slay enemies, you can collect gold from them that you can spend in various ways at any of the shops you’ll encounter on your journey. I’m afraid that’s virtually all I can tell you on that front as well, since I hadn’t accumulated enough gold to buy anything at the only shop I visited before I had to stop playing. However, Berzerk Studio mentions that you can purchase such things as new weapons and other equipment with gold, as well as acquire and strengthen new skills through the game’s level system.

Speaking of gold, that brings me to my next noteworthy talking point. If you find Infernax’s gameplay too challenging, it features a difficulty mode that allows you to keep all your gold and other progress upon death as opposed to losing all of it as you would on so-called “classic difficulty.” The only catch is that if you select this easier difficulty setting, you’re locked into it from that point forward. You can’t switch to the easier setting just to get past a single portion of gameplay that’s giving you trouble before returning to this title’s default difficulty mode.

Honestly, though, I started on the supposedly harder Classic mode, and I haven’t found Infernax to be all that difficult thus far. I didn’t even really have any trouble to speak of with the platforming I’ve encountered up to this point, and I’m normally terrible at that. Again, that may well be because I’ve barely scratched the surface of what this game has to offer due to those dastardly flashing-light sequences. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if the game’s challenges ramp up as I progress once the game is updated to allow for the disabling of such sequences.

There are two final notes I want to pass along to you before I wrap up this article. The first is that Berzerk Studio estimates that the entirety of Infernax’s story campaign can be beaten within an average time frame between five and seven hours. However, the game reportedly also features several different, unlockable endings, so it sounds like there’s quite a fair bit of replayability to keep interested players coming back for more.

I do believe that’s about all I can tell you about Infernax for now, dear readers. I hope the game is updated in such a way that I’m physically able to progress sooner rather than later. I actually have a burning desire to experience the rest of everything this title has to offer. Alexx and I have let Berzerk Studio and The Arcade Crew know that we would like to be notified as soon as the game’s accessibility options have been updated; once that happens, I’ll dive right back into it and produce a full review for you!