Bright Memory: Infinite is a single player first person shooter with melee combat brought to us by FYQD Personal Studios. Players take the role of Shelia, a special agent from the SRO who is sent to the site of a major incident to save the world. A black hole has appeared in the sky, and many strange events are triggered as a result. I’m going to resist taking a deep dive into the story of this game, as it doesn’t meet the minimum depth requirements for safe diving. Ultimately, this is an action game with some decent combat, and the story is just a conduit to keep things moving along.

One aspect of Bright Memory: Infinite that is worth a deeper dive is the combat. Starting off with the assault rifle, katana, and Exo arm unit, eliminating bad guys is quick and brutal. The rifle can zoom in and pop off heads in the most satisfying of ways. The sleek and futuristic katana can be used to deflect incoming bullets, parry melee attacks, and slice up foes.The Exo arm gives Shelia a few neat abilities that set Bright Memory apart from other games. You can zoom around with a grapple beam, pull enemies in and stun them, or fire an EMP blast to lock down foes for a few moments. Heavier enemies may have shields that require clever combinations of Exo arm abilities and weapons in order to break their guard, creating a fairly dynamic combat flow.

As progress through the story is made, other armaments are found lying around including a shotgun, pistol, and sniper rifle. All of these feel powerful and there is never a shortage of ammunition. In fact, fields of ammo boxesare often found after most encounters. To keep combat fresh through the game’s roughly hour and a half adventure, skill points are used on combat upgrades.

Either through experience points earned from combat or by finding tiny green statues, skill points can be spent in the game’s multiple skill trees. Improvements can be made to each weapon type: damage increases, elemental effects, and even new abilities. After unlocking a few key skills, I was able to decimate bosses and trivialize most encounters. That doesn’t mean the game wasn’t fun, but I do mean to say that some upgrades are potentially overpowered.

Speaking of boss fights, they were a nice addition to the journey. A few big, beefy, bullet sponges mark the end of each major chapter. Mixing up the mechanics and being thrown into a dangerous duel with a monster or super samurai was genuinely exciting. There were even stealth and drivingmissions that broke up the first person action. Controls felt awkward while driving and the sense of speed wasn’t great, but at least an attempt at variety was made.

The driving level wasn’t the only part of Bright Memory: Infinite that felt a little strange. The character animations in cutscenes were robotic and unconvincing; despite the fact that the graphics in general were very well done. Unlockable outfits and skins for Shelia’s weapons felt out of place and unnecessary. There were also a few quick time events that popped up right in the middle of cutscenes that had no real action to speak of. They required specific, timed button presses or you were met by a game over screen, forcing you to watch the cutscene all over again.

Ultimately, Bright Memory: Infinite is a short game for a low price. I went in with no expectations or knowledge of this game, and I came out having a genuinely good time with it. If the game was double the length, my overall opinion may have worsened due to the repetitive combat or lack of enemy variety. As it stands, I may revisit this game on the highest difficulty if I’m looking for another quick playthrough of a generic, but competent, shooter.

~~Ian Voegtle~~