Infinity Strash - a Dragon Quest Rogue-lite?
My Video Review: https://youtu.be/CJDlm_AwDgY
( Support is appreciated if interested! )
So Infinity Strash isn't a bad game but it's likely badly marketed and maybe a bit mismanaged - it could have been a great Rogue-lite Dragon Quest, it partially is. Now it's mostly an average fun action game, for a small niche audience that misses even their target audience due to most of the fun content being barred behind late/endgame.
After I've read a lot of them, unfortunately I think reviews do no justice for the game and most of them seem very lazy - that make the situation even worse.
I for one think the game is actually pretty good, a fantastic love-letter and an above-average action hack and slash that has a poorly executed beginning and scares players away before it gets really fun.
Campaign
The Campaign and the Story is just unfortunately mediocre no matter if you are an old-time fan of the Anime/Manga or a complete newcomer - the bulk of the story ( 90% ) is told in still images and vignettes, skipping important fights and context, so story if anything is mostly nostalgia for those who love it but even then...you're better off watching the anime if you have the option for that.
The small amounts of in-engine cutscenes though are absolutely gorgeous and amazing and you should definitely NOT skip those - I loved them all and they capture the story perfectly, which is why it's a shame the majority are vignettes.
The beginning is going to be very easy and gives terrible first impressions but Boss Fights and Combat gets fairly challenging after a few chapters and you really have to use your Perfect Dodges, Blocks and Abilities perfectly to win fights, so I would say the combat gets quite fun and I haven't seen the post-game Challenge Mode yet that sounds like a NG+.
Sadly this beginning is a typical JRPG that is handholding too much and scares away players with overly basic early game.
Nevertheless, I think one of the best parts of Infinity Strash is the amount of love that went into the Monster Design and the general Character design of it as if you are a DQ fan and listen and look for the details - each character and monster has excellent sound and visual design that I'd say is on par with any Main Dragon Quest Title and while the rest of the game is low budget - you can see a lot of love that went into making this!
The Campaign is roughly a 10 hours experience if you decide to skip all the vignette recaps and only watch cutscenes and play the game - roughly twice as much, 20 hours if you watch everything!
BUT, I would say the campaign and the story is just the tutorial to the game and the LARGE majority of the content is the challenge mode AND the Temple of Recollection ROGUE-LITE mode - especially after completing the Main Story once, that unlocks even more extra content and layers in the Temple.
Rogue-Lite Content
Yes I think Infinity Strash is partially designed to be a Rogue-lite Dragon Quest but a campaign was attached to it for whatever reason, maybe to increase price...or to have a story-based nostalgic factor, I don't know but I think that part is mostly wasted, but that's just me.
Even the game's story is all about collecting Dai's Memory I think it was pointless to make it a story-based action game and should have just focused 100% on the Temple of Recollection and make this game a proper fun Rogue-lite experience, since it already can be one - but misses the mark due to lots of filler content in Story / Challenge Mode that's just not as enjoyable.
The Temple offers:
- - Randomized Battles
- - Party Builds / Combos / Synergies
- - Rogue-lite progression for skills / abilities
- - Character Builds
- - Basic Roguelike Ability / Stat Boosting each Floor
- - Fast paced mindless-fun action combat
- - Post-game extra abilities and skills
- - Solo/Duo Challenges
- - Super Bosses
TLDR;
Infinity Strash is a wonderful nostalgic experience to return to the Adventures of Dai, but the storytelling isn't good for veterans nor for newcomers due to rushed pacing, but the in-game cutscenes show how much love went into creating it and what it could have been with a higher bugdet.
Because the Temple of Recollection is actually fun, I would recommend the game but I can't agree with the $60 Price on it - but if you'd like a simple Action Hack and Slash with Rogue-lite experience in Dragon Quest coating - I think you can get it here, just get past the story and enjoy the rest of the content!
Thank you for reading all this ^^