Infliction: Extended Cut Review

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Fast Facts

Infliction: Extended Cut

Developer: Caustic Reality
Publisher: Blowfish Studios
Website: https://www.causticreality.com/
Genre: Horror
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Age Rating: PEGI 16
Release Date: 02/07/2020
Price: £16.19

A code was provided for review purposes.

Who Said Halloween Was Just For October?

Infliction: Extended Cut has you playing through and unravelling the mysteries surrounding an idyllic family home; it does tackle topics that lean towards a mature audience and the odd jump scare here and there. So, if you’re easily afraid or one of our younger readers, this may not be the title for you.

You’ll be spending your time exploring different areas of the protagonist’s family home in order to piece together the missing elements from the story. From the very outset it’s clear that something terrible has happened. There are lots of different memories you can find during your play through which will give you further insight into what has happened there, they’re optional but given I’ve always been a fan of this style of gameplay it was a big positive for me. These are usually in the form of family items, notes and audio recordings.

There isn’t any combat involved and in the few hours it’ll take you to finish the game you’ll mainly be exploring the family home, with a few extra locations littered on the side. There are some moments of peril involving a ghostly apparition and this will either leave you retracing your steps because you’ve panicked, thrown your controller across the room and died. Or you can find different areas throughout the house where you’re able to hide. These moments can be a bit hit and miss as I found there were times when I’d sense something was approaching, I’d run and hide but then I’d be left with the image of the ghost’s feet waiting for me to come out of hiding; no matter how long I waited she would not move from the room so I’d be forced into dying just to restart that section.

Creepy Clues Lead To Frightful Finds

The game is split into small chapters. If you do meet your untimely death, you’re never having to retrace your steps a huge amount. There is some really creepy imagery and fantastic horror locations on offer here as well. Combine that with the atmospheric music and you can have yourself a really spooky evening with Infliction. I’d recommend playing handheld with your headphones on as I found little difference between playing on the bigger screen of a TV.

One feature I found worked really well was the tiny sound of your heartbeat throughout your exploration of the house; when the apparition would be near you’d hear this get faster and the screen would start to stutter. Much like those old TVs in the 90s where you’d just get static on the screen! It’s incredibly unsettling to know that it’s close and frantically trying to run in the opposite direction to find a hiding place. I’ve been a huge fan of horror in both gaming and film so having watched a fair few in my time, I couldn’t help but notice there are definitely similarities to old classics such as The Grudge and The Ring, as well as other fantastic horror titles like Outlast and the Project Zero series.

I noticed some great nods to gaming’s past as well, with some retro looking NES consoles and a lot of “B Rated” horror films on VHS. However, I find the performance felt a little lacklustre in places; particularly in moments when you were greeted by the apparition and the visuals lacked polish. As with a lot of the horror genre, the more you see of that aspect the less scary they become. Despite that, there are some subtle differences which you’ll notice throughout your time here with the decor in the home so keep your eyes peeled.

Infliction: Extended Cut provides some small jump scares and tackles some very mature content. As a stand alone title, it’s not going to set your world aflame. But, if you’re a fan of horror and are looking for an atmospheric, story driven mystery title, it’s not half bad. The visuals aren’t the greatest but with fantastic inspiration and some really neat post game content including behind the scenes videos and artwork presented in an “alternative” gallery, it’s clear there has been a lot of thought and effort put in by Caustic Reality.

Rapid Reviews Rating

You can purchase Infliction: Extended Cut on Nintendo Switch from the eShop link below:
eShop