Bright Memory: Infinite feels like an interactive sci-fi action movie, for better or for worse. It boasts incredible – and improbably fantastic – action sequences fueled by a story that barely qualifies as narrative. Infinite even has the same screen time as some movies. Unfortunately, Bright Memory: Infinite sold out before it fizzled out, peaking early and showing a lot of promise before ending sooner than expected.
Bright Memory doesn’t have much of a story as it has a sequence of events that just happen. You are Shelia Tan, an emotional but capable wooden soldier who specializes in supernatural phenomena. A black hole appeared in the sky, consuming anything in range and causing catastrophic weather. This void is somehow connected to an ancient mystery in which an evil-looking organization – led by the most bland villain in years – has a vested interest. Your goal is to stop these guys and find out what the heck is going on. When you’re not clashing with high-tech soldiers, you’re fighting centuries-old warriors and otherworldly demons for reasons not fully explained. The plot barely tries to make sense of its events, just telling you that the enemy is the bad guy and must be shot and/or stabbed in the face. Even after telling my brain that its services weren’t necessary for this story, I was still dismayed by its abrupt ending. Just when it looked like the second half had begun, the story wasn’t over yet. The whipping was so shrill, and I still shook my head in disbelief.
I’m less interested in ending the story quickly and more frustrated that I can’t play more games. Playing Bright Memory: Infinite is thrilling thanks to its smooth, fast-paced mix of swordplay and gunplay. Cutting enemies in half with Shelia’s sword felt extremely satisfying. So a shield deflects projectiles and stuns enemies, allowing you to launch and juggle them in the air Devil May Cry style. Even better is an upgrade that fires energy beams with each swing, essentially turning the sword into another ranged weapon. The four types of guns – assault rifles, shotguns, shotguns, and sniper rifles – feel good in their own right, and each has a fun alternate shooting mode, some of which are very silly. I don’t know why a sniper rifle also fires a sticky grenade, but I like to use it to blast multiple targets.
Shelia’s Exo Arm offers another cool tool, allowing you to manipulate gravity to pull enemies towards you, then blow them away with an EMP blast. This is great for dealing with remote threats and becomes practically broken (in a good way) after a full upgrade. Thanks to the huge cooldown, I’m constantly taking down enemies from the other side of the map, sometimes with no consequences. Odds are you’ll get this power and others much sooner. The game introduces the player to collectible upgrade points that are easily found across linear environments. I fully upgraded half of the available capacity within the first 90 minutes. Parkour-style traversing and grappling hooks make exploring fun, but the platform challenges themselves are basic and don’t make full use of your maneuverability.
As entertaining as Bright Memory: Infinite, the action peaks early. Expect to confront a limited combination of a small variety of enemy types in an adventure that lasts about two and a half hours (you read that right). Some of the battles took place in the temple grounds, others atop a passenger plane plunging into a black hole. Regardless of the absurd context, the confrontations are ultimately stable because the enemy encounters do not have enough time to develop. In return, I also did not reach out after a while, which is a pity. I enjoyed combining my abilities in amazing ways but eventually settled into a familiar rhythm, despite the entertainment boss fighting against equally capable swordsmen or a god statue Phone offers the challenge I want. Bright Memory: Infinite ended as soon as I mastered my basic abilities; a disappointing bonus for its interesting learning curve.
In many ways, Bright Memory: Infinite is like an expansive tech demo. Thrilling action and stellar graphics would be a great selling point for any new platform, and it almost seems too good to be true. Developer FYQD Studio demonstrated some killer concepts but didn’t develop them into a more complete adventure. The short game isn’t inherently bad, but Bright Memory: Infinite left me wanting more and full of unrealized potential.
