REVIEW: Infinite - Beyond the Mind


Title	Infinite – Beyond the Mind
Developer	Emilie COYO
Publisher	Blowfish Studios
Release Date	May 7th, 2020
Genre	Action-Platforming
Platform	PC, Switch
Age Rating	E10+
Official Website

Sadly, I didn’t grow up during the arcade era. I wasn’t even introduced to most arcade games until later on in my life. As time goes on though, more and more people are starting to get back into making old school arcade games. Enter Emilie COYO and their latest title, Infinite – Beyond the Mind, a side scrolling action platformer. I’ve never been really interested or drawn to these sorts of games before, but I was almost immediately drawn in by the style, so I figured I’d give it a shot.

Like I’ve stated before, this game is very arcade inspired, so the art style follows suit. It’s a very pixelated, chibi-esque style, and most of the game revolves around small and simple characters, fighting on really detailed backgrounds. For the most part, the game is really pretty, even if some of the scenery and enemy designs start to look really dull after a while. After the first couple stages, I was sick of seeing cityscapes and military men, and just wanted something different. Thankfully the latter parts really picked up the slack, and showed off some amazing backdrops. Overall the designs are cute, but they do get a little repetitive.

The music, however, is just okay. It has a chiptune-like sound, and is made to emulate the arcade games that it’s based on. It works fine for the most part, but to me the tracks are kind of unremarkable. They serve their job, but they’re not something I’d remember or purchase a soundtrack to. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the music, I just wish that it had a bit more “oomph” to it. If it was just a bit more dynamic, I think it would do the game much more justice.

Since this is an arcade-style game, gameplay is a huge part of it. Seeing as how the story is very minimal, most of the focus is on making the game fun to play. And it really is, at least to a certain extent. The basic pattern of the game is that you go from one end of the stage to another, and defeat enemies. You get the choice between either Tanya or Olga, who both play nearly the same. At first you only have a dash ability and a sword. However, over time you get new abilities that make clearing out enemies feel much more satisfying. These abilities, such as the overhead slash and previously mentioned dash, use stamina, but that recharges quickly so there’s not really a need to notice. My biggest problem with the game is probably the sense of urgency. I never once felt like I needed to actually stay and clear the enemies, and it was much better just to run past them. Especially if you die to a boss at the end of the stage. Every 3 levels or so you fight a boss. These have their own unique attack patterns to memorize, and I only really had trouble with a few. When you die to one, it sends you back to the beginning of the stage. So you have to go through everything again for another shot at it. This wasn’t a huge deal in the long run, but added to me choosing to just run past most encounters towards the end.

However, despite that I think this is a great game to buy, especially for the price of just $9.99. It is rather short, clocking in at just about 3 hours, but it was more than enjoyable for that price. There isn’t a whole lot of replay value, but it’s a fun experience to try if you have some time to kill. You can even invite a friend along for some couch co-op if you’d like.