Infliction: Extended Cut | PS5 Review
Updated: Nov 19, 2021
Infliction: Extended Cut, developed by Caustic Reality and published by Blowfish Studios, is a first person, psychological indie horror. Infliction is currently available on Windows PC, XBox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch. For the purpose of my review I was playing the PlayStation 5 version.
Without giving too many spoilers, the story revolves around main protagonist Gary Prout who essentially ends up trapped in a nightmare happening in his own home. The story is set in 1999 however you're taken through time on a number of occasions as the chilling, haunting story is revealed to you. Very quickly you discover that there is a very angry entity in the house and that perhaps your character hasn't been the kindest or nicest husband that the world has ever seen. I feel like it should be noted that the story deals with potentially triggering themes for some such as depression, addiction, mental health, and domestic violence. These themes aren't handled particularly tastefully and at times it feels like there's an air of victim-blaming present and they're mostly used to advance the story without much understanding or compassion shown towards the subjects. So if these areas could potentially trigger you, I'd heavily advise you to avoid this game.
Infliction was a decent game, not mind blowing, but decent. I feel like it quite clearly took inspiration from other games which is absolutely fine however it just didn't feel like it had a unique fingerprint that allowed it to define itself. There was plenty to enjoy though. The level design was good in the sense that whilst the majority of the game took place in the same building with a few other locations thrown in randomly, the goals you had to accomplish were all taking part in different times so there was always something different happening or new memories filled with lore to find. I think it was in these all important moments of exploration that this game was best for me in the sense that the soundscape was excellent, building a really tense atmosphere and immersing me in the game however the actual scripted moments felt very contrived and mediocre so I guess what I'm saying is that the game was best when it wasn't actually "trying".
Your general aim in Infliction is to banish an unwelcome spirit from the house and whilst exploring, investigating, and fetching the various things you need, you'll get a few minutes to look around before the lovely ghost appears and you then need to use some Stealth and deception. Eventually you get the ability to turn lights on and off meaning you can deceive the ghost and quickly make a run for it however I generally found this not to be particularly effective.
The graphics in Infliction were positively average. When walking around the areas the graphics were nice and clean and detailed but then a cut scene would happen or you look at a CCTV camera and suddenly I was transported back to my childhood with some PlayStation 3 or XBox 360 style graphics.
Overall, Infliction: Extended Cut is a decent story that will provide you with a few hours of tense horror gameplay - it's nothing overly remarkable. It felt like it was trying to be too many different things all at the one time instead of simply being itself and its own game. In saying that though the atmosphere and tension was well built, there were some decent jumpscares and certainly filled my afternoon, perfect for a spooky Sunday!
Lj's Rating: 3 empty beer cans out of 5.
For more information on Infliction: Extended Cut please use the following links...
Caustic Reality - Developer | Facebook | Twitter | Website
Blowfish Studios - Publisher | Facebook | Twitter | Website
Many thanks to Blowfish Studios for the Review Key.
Infliction: Extended Cut | Steam Store | PlayStation Store | XBox Live | Nintendo eShop
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