Bright Memory: Infinite Reviews
Bright Memory: Infinite has a nascent vision of what it wants to be. And honestly, that vision is kind of good. With the right elements around it, Bright Memory: Infinite’s combat could have shined. Unfortunately, everything else is an incoherent mishmash of undeveloped ideas, lazy design, sloppiness, and technical problems. Even at the budget price of $9.99 I can’t recommend this mess.
Forget the utterly nonsensical story, the unbalanced combat mechanics, the aggravating insta-deaths, the glitches, bugs, translation errors, and so on. Bright Memories: Infinite's biggest issue is that it's not a complete package. It's a two-hour tech demo, and not even an impressive one. The general idea behind it is great (one-woman army who is both a gunfighter, a ninja, and a high-tech wizard), but the execution is subpar to say the least.
While I can appreciate the wonderful gameplay and can truly be impressed by the fact the game was made by one person, it's simply not enough of an experience to justify a purchase. The game's nonsensical story is extremely hard to follow to the point where I just stopped caring. It might be impressive looking, but frequent glitches, enemy desponds, and broken checkpoints frustrate the experience. It's also over way too soon. Maybe if it goes on sale and more of the major glitches are fixed, then I would say try it out if you're interested in first-person shooters and action games. For everyone else, it might be best to leave Bright Memory Infinite alone.
Bright Memory: Infinite feels like a tech demo someone made just to prove they could do it. It’s not a bad game, in fact it looks and feels great to play. It just doesn’t feel like a completed game, as you will reach the credits before the 2 hour mark. Sure, short games aren’t a bad thing, hell Journey was awesome. However, as I completed BM: Infinite, it left me feeling rather confused at what just happened and why it just abruptly stopped. The length is made a bigger issue by the lack of nuance in all the other aspects of the game. Lots of flash and sizzle, with no lasting impression and very little depth. It’s a bummer really, because with just a little more time paid to the story, characters, extending the game just a few more hours, and adding some location variation, this could have been so much more. I commend the developer for putting together a good looking game with solid combat, but it’s hard to recommend shelling out money to play this.
Bright Memory: Infinite for Nintendo Switch is a perfect example of so called "impossible port" that really isn't worth it.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Bright Memory: Infinite is a very short-lived game. The game has its imperfections, but comes with a lot of interesting aspects. It has a lot of potential, but it doesn't quite come out well. The game seems more like a long demo. So a mediocre game with enough variety for a one-time entertaining playthrough.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
Bright Memory Infinite is a gorgeous, stylistic shooter that comes across as rather lackluster in terms of length and replayability.
Bright Memory: Infinite is serviceable entertainment if you go in with low expectations. The environments are very impressively made, but the characters, not so much. Don’t even try to understand the story because it’s very much not worth it.
Bright Memory: Infinite is a shallow action piece consisting of great gunplay with awesome graphics, but every other aspect of this game is heavily underdeveloped.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Bright Memory Infinite's tight gunplay is simply spread too thin to make up for an otherwise uninspired experience.
Albeit wrapped up in a story about a black holes and mystical ancient nonsense stuff.
Bright Memory: Infinite is a short but could-be-much-sweeter shooter, and a hard one to recommend. It's glitchy, it has an incoherent story that ends abruptly, the AI is inconsistent, and the whole thing is over in just about two hours. And yet, in spite of all of that, we still had fun due to its strong core gameplay and frankly, ridiculous story and setpiece moments. For a game made by just one person, it has a really solid foundation and some impressive production values despite the glitches. However, it desperately needs further iteration to be worthy of recommendation for anyone outside of a select few.
While it's hard to be too critical, considering the entire project was developed by one person and a small staff, it's also hard to even call this a full game. It's a shame because its graphics rival tentpole AAA productions and there's clear passion to deliver a satisfying gameplay loop. But a lacklustre story and repetitive pacing coupled with unnecessary additions such as the skills make Bright Memory: Infinite an uneven and jarring experience. Perhaps in the near future, given a bigger budget, developer FYQD Studio could make a more fully realised version.
Bright Memory: Infinite is a matured version of the original Bright Memory, stripping away some of that game's excesses for a more put-together experience. That said, the story is still complete insanity (that's barely acknowledged by the characters), and it's clear that this solo production cannot match its boundless ambition.
Bright Memory Infinite may seduce you with the amazing graphics, but unfortunately its good ideas have literally no time enough to shine.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Bright Memory: Infinite looks great, and the combat is fun. Everything else, like its platforming and story, fails to captivate and leads to an overall poor experience.
Bright Memory: Infinite is, ultimately, a demo, one with slick gunplay that deserves to grow into something more than a teaser with a painfully ironic subtitle.
Bright Memory Infinite turned out to be a game that can go either way on the scale for the average player but nonetheless impressive work for what is essentially a one-man studio.
Bright Memory: Infinite doesn’t overstay its welcome, but with a lengthy of only an hour and a half to see the credits, feels like it only just got started. And because of that, it still feels like a tech demo that should be something more – a criticism shared by its predecessor. It’s style over substance, but respectful of your time, and that’s hard to find. Bright Memory: Infinite is nothing short of impressive by FYQD-Studio, regardless of anything else. Bright Memory: Infinite’s ambition is never fully realized, but that doesn’t stop it from being a gorgeous, flashy, and entertaining game.