#611: Infernax
Castlevania meets Evil Dead in blood-drenched joy
Initial release: Feb 14, 2022
Platform: PC, PlayStation 4, XBox Series, Switch
Developer: Berzerk Studio
Oh, we like Castlevania around here, don’t we? We like it so much that we named an entire genre after it and Metroid. Personally I think the term “metroidvania” is a terrible one, an indicator of anglophone gamers’ irritating tendency to define genres by the first or most important examples of same — see for example roguelikes, “soulsbournes” (arrgh) and musou. I much prefer the Japanese term for the genre, “search action,” which I feel is much more descriptive of what the genre actually is. Of course, all this is academic, whiny nerd bullshit on my part. Where was I? Oh right, Infernax rules and I’m gonna tell you why you should play it.
Infernax is a 2D side-scrolling action/adventure in the vein of Castlevania — specifically Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest — and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s noted the similarities between those two games and how they were big changeups to the formula following the success of their respective predecessors; certainly, while Infernax isn’t a sequel to anything, it seems to follow in these games’ footsteps, though it’s definitely significantly less opaque than either.
Set during the time of the Crusades, Infernax tells the story of Alcedor, the young Duke of Upel (no idea where that is, though some of the place names suggest a Slavic or Balkan locality.) He’s returned despondent from the disastrous wars in the Holy Land only to find his duchy in trouble: demons, zombies and monsters stalk the land, with the human survivors shutting themselves up in their towns and cities. Nowhere is truly safe as possession seems to be a problem even inside the city walls. And behind it all appears to be a sinister cult in possession of a malevolent book, the Necronomicon, which looks curiously like the prop from the Evil Dead movies.
In the course of stopping the demonic invasion you’re presented with a series of moral choices; the results of those choices are tracked and have an affect on how the characters treat you. While on the individual level there are smaller choices, the narrative generally splits between two paths, good and evil (though if you’ve gone down the evil path, if you haven’t gone too far you can find redemption, which has its own ending.) While you start out with a mace, the evil path affords you a greatsword and a cool change to your armor colors; and if you know where to look, there’s a path that takes you to the future, changing the game to a Contra-like dealie — look, you’re just gonna have to see it for yourself, it’s bananas in pajamas.
That Evil Dead connection is more than just a cute visual reference, by the way. As you would expect from the makers of cult Flash horror hit The Breach, the body horror is on full display in this game, with copious amounts of blood and guts to boot. Demons, especially bosses, are amazingly gross-looking — reminiscent of monsters in Kentaro Miura’s classic manga Berserk, appropriately enough — and their death animations are rendered in full 8-bit gory glory. I struggle to think of a similar game from the 8 and 16 bit eras that are even remotely this messy — maybe Splatterhouse?
Whatever the case, Infernax just really nails the 8-bit vibe. You could honestly be forgiven for mistaking it for some obscure Castlevania spin-off with its gloomy gothic horror aesthetic and soundtrack of crunchy chiptune bangers, drawing influence from the likes of Konami, Capcom, and more.
It’s pretty hard, too, though perhaps not the hardest game I ever played. This too is in keeping with its forebears, but save points and free health potions take some of the sting out of it. The controls aren’t as clunky as you’d expect, though if you’ve played Castlevania you’ll have a good idea of what you’re getting into, with Alcedor’s weapon having a single-frame windup with every swing. And if you struggle too much there’s always Casual Mode, which lets you keep a portion of your gold and experience when you game over and puts a few more save points around the game world.
A while after the initial release, Berzerk Studios put out the Deux or Die update, which added a co-op mode that dramatically changes the game to suit two player characters. The narrative is changed in subtle (and occasionally humorous) ways to acknowledge the new character, Alcedor’s trusty squire Cervul; playing with two people, the monster count jumps up dramatically to better suit the extra strength. Cervul throws axes in an arc, making him kind of useless for enemies right in front of him, but later gets access to a crossbow. Like Alcedor, he also gets different weapons and a different look if you head down the evil path. You have your choice of playing with a second person, the two of you playing one character each, or you can swap between them, Donkey Kong Country style.
I wouldn’t go so far to call Infernax a true search action game. While a lot of the base ingredients are here, the world map and most of the dungeons are deceptively uncomplicated, not that different from the relatively flat expanses of Castlevania II. Your progress is pretty linear, you can ignore most of the sidequests, and so on — though it certainly helps to do so, especially insofar as getting the ultimate good or ultimate evil endings. It certainly has a lot of nods to its predecessors: the wall meat cutscene is a winking commentary on the absurdity of Castlevania’s most common dish, and the (amazingly gory) death scenes are rendered black on red, much like what happens when you die in Zelda II. But as much as it’s a love letter to these forebears, it still manages to forge its own path, possessed of a willful comedy-horror identity that probably would never have flown in 1987 but fits in just fine with an industry that allegedly makes its artists reference real-life gore to model that fatality or that killshot just that much more realistically.
I guess what really makes Infernax so special is, it might just be a reiteration of old ideas with added gore, but dammit it’s fun. It got me saying “cool!” or “oh that’s so fucking gross, I love it” every fifteen minutes or so; it’s engaging in the way that the classics were engaging, while also feeling a lot more accessible than Castlevania II or Zelda II ever were — after all, both of those games are famous for their extreme obtuseness, especially with their original translations. If you were always frustrated by the unreached potential of those games and don’t mind a little Berserk in your Castlevania, you owe it to yourself to play this thing.
-june❤
Infernax is available on Steam.
