Bright Memory Infinite Review

At the launch of the Xbox Series X we were treated to a fun – but slight – taster for Bright Memory Infinite in its prequel (our review of that can be found here). TL,DR: it had potential but also plenty to improve upon ready for the big release. Nearly two years later, we’ve finally gotten our hands on the title that had people talking way back when the next gen system was announced. Has FYQD Studio used this time to improve and expand, or are we looking at a underwhelming realisation of what could have been?

Truth is, it’s a little bit of both. Infinite is far more detailed, fleshed out, and simply fun than the brief slice we got before, though there’s still room for improvement that mean it’s not quite the balls to the wall blockbuster we were hoping for.

Let’s start off on the high notes, shall we? Instantly, it’s apparent that the visual make up of Bright Memory Infinite is far better than the previous outing. I felt that previously some of the effects were a bit overblown at times, but here I think they are seamlessly integrated on top of the ridiculously fast action. All sorts of technical buzzwords could be used here to describe it but to keep it simple – it looks bloody fantastic. Running at a smooth 60fps with Ray Tracing is a sight to behold, and more than makes up for some repetitive asset use or fairly simply designed combat arenas. A 120 fps mode without RT is available for those lucky enough to have such displays too, though I am not such a person unfortunately.

It’s not just how good it looks on its own though. All the flashy visuals and effects serve to make the actual combat feel ferocious and impactful. Sparks fly, enemies explode into chunks, armour and shields whittle down, and gun and sword impacts feel meaty and devastating as a result. Even the lowly pistol does some damage and looks and feels satisfying to use.

It’s also not just how good the action looks that makes it impactful. Protagonist Shelia is a nimble bugger, able to double jump, strafe dodge roll, and close gaps between her and enemies with ease. Combined with a handful of easily accessible weapons she is a force to be reckoned with. Outside of the pistol, shotgun, rifle, and sniper – themselves all with secondary ammo types to find and use, including a frankly ludicrous explosive shotgun shell that made light work of some of the bosses – we get what amounted to my favourite part of her arsenal – her blade and EXO glove. The former is capable of dealing massive damage to enemies and even suspending her and them in the air for sustained attacks. The latter meanwhile is a versatile bit of kit, with a force blast, pull, and more later on that can turn the tide in our favour in a pinch. These were my go to bits of kit before and they remained so in Infinite.

All of the above can be upgraded with new moves and powers using the collected totems in each stage. It’s worth hunting these out as they bestow some cool new toys for us to play with, including an explosive punch and a tornado sword attack that both absolutely slayed. Using these can still be a bit fiddly as they were in Bright Memory mind. Often a combo of button presses and holds, it’s too easy to get mixed up in the action and pull off the wrong move. I ended up resorting to just a few moves and eschewing the rest in favour of simplicity.

We’ve got the toys then, but how does the competition fare? Well, it’s a mixed bag if I’m honest. The average grunts are easy enough to take down in a few hits and don’t really put up much of a fight, whereas we’re slowly introduced to newer foes that use shields or rapid melee attackes. We’re able to parry these which is needed to reduce their defences and open them up for an attack, but some of them felt far too bullet spongy to really be engaging to fight. Often we’re up against several of the same types, and I felt that when there were too many of these at once it slowed to combat down too much as I was focussed on hitting one enemy very specifically rather than blasting my way through several at once.

The same could be said of the boss fights but they more than make up for it in sheer scale and wow factor. It’s here that the effects really pull their weight in combat, with flashy fire, sparks, and more all giving them a larger than life feel. The encounters even on normal were pretty tough too, and one giant one in particular was a tough challenge thanks to him being able to encompass the entire combat arena almost all at once.

It’s in the small details that Bright Memory Infinite starts to trip up though. Invisible walls block off what could have been some sizable wide-linear areas. An early stealth section fails to get the fundamentals of stealth right, with the end result meaning that for all it matters we may as well charge headlong in swinging our machete. A few technical hiccups throughout, including breakable boxes not actually breaking properly when we hit them (and they can only be broken by the sword from close range which is a little annoyance, but an annoyance all the same). A plot so po-faced and blandly delivered I’m honestly not sure I could tell you the first thing about what was happening or why. Combat areas that must be cleared before we can continue, but some enemies would be stuck almost out of shot at times. One late game example had a sniper on tower above me, but he couldn’t see me and I could see him, so I ran around aimlessly for a few minutes before I happened to sneak into a small window of his vision and he shot at me, allowing me to see where he was hiding.

These niggles don’t ruin the experience per se, but they stand in contrast to some good old fashioned FPS gameplay delivered in some stunning fidelity. It’s also still incredibly short, with my first run taking just shy of two hours. There’s some replay value in harder difficulties and chasing a better overall grade – and just the simple fun in the combat – but already after a few levels on a second run I’m losing the drive to continue. We can transfer our unlocks over so we can power through early levels at least, so some of the tougher foes go down much easier this time.

Conclusion

All in all, Bright Memory Infinite might not quite live up to the hype it built up two years ago, but it’s still a solidly made and presented shooter. The action is fast and hectic, and the sword and glove powers are great fun to use and upgrade. A few niggles aside, you should consider checking this out if you’re after a bit of fun but brainless shooting.