Infernax Review: A Bloody Throwback To Old-School Gaming

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Developed by Just Shapes & Beats’s Berzerk Studio and published by The Arcade Crew, Infernax aims to combine the gameplay of the old-school Castlevania titles with narrative choices that will allow players to be as good or evil as they desire. Infernax was first announced last fall, with its launch date revealed in a brief trailer that showed off Infernax’s blistering side-scrolling gameplay and 80’s-era pixel art style.

Infernax puts players in the role of Alcedor, a young duke returning home from the Crusades to find his homeland overrun by an evil cult and their demonic army. With a mace in his hand, it falls to Alcedor to restore peace to his kingdom by tracking down and defeating five great monsters to unlock the castle where their master resides. The game's plot is fairly basic, but there are a few sprinklings of self-aware humor to keep things interesting.

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Infernax plays like a classic 2D side-scroller, with players moving Alcedor from left to right, pummeling enemies with his trusty mace, and jumping across pits and hazards. When Alcedor is struck by an enemy, players lose health as indicated by red squares in the upper left-hand corner of the screen. Should these run out completely, the player will lose all their progress and return to their last checkpoint. Players can cast powerful magic like protective force fields to save themselves or deadly lighting storms to obliterate enemies, but these use up Alcedor’s Mana, which is represented by a collection of blue squares below the Health gauge.

In true Metroidvania style, players will find various alternate routes on their journey, some of which can't be accessed until unlocking