Explore a home plagued by tragedy and uncover the heartbreaking secrets hidden within messages, artwork, household objects, and other vestiges of domestic life. Uncover clues and use items to unlock new paths and make discoveries while doing everything possible to avoid the malevolent presence inhabiting the residence. Hide under tables or beneath beds and harness light sources like camera flashes to stun the spirit and momentarily elude its pursuit.
From the first frame of the game, it’s incredibly obvious that Infliction is yet another P.T. clone in the vast tsunami of P.T. clones after the popularity of that demo spiked. And once you know that, you know exactly what to expect from the game. Looping rooms, a ghost woman, and blatantly obvious hints as to what the twist of the game is. I don’t even have to expand on what the game is about because P.T. clones have become such a cliche at this point, like with the the Amnesia and Slenderman: The 8 Pages clones before it. But let’s take a dive into the game anyway, shall we.
Unfortunately, Infliction comes with a lot of small niggling problems. At one point I assumed that I had to move a hospital gurney to get into a vent, since it was clearly in the way of an open vent. But I actually had to move some boxes in another room that were completely covering a vent that I didn’t even know as there until I looked up a walkthrough. The ghosts/monsters/demons that appear throughout the game can’t actually kill you. You either die and respawn, possibly wasting your time with trying to get passed them depending on how you’re doing at the game, or one of them kills you to progress the story.
There have been a few times where merely opening a door knocked me into the wall, disorienting me for a few seconds before I realized what had happened and reorienting myself. I also got stuck in another area where I thought that I had to click the interact button with a pair of doors, but I had to walk through them. I don’t know how the game expected me to suddenly know to push up against the door to open them instead of just pressing the interact button.
Plus the walking speed feels like walking through molasses. I’m not expecting a Olympic sprinter, but being able to walk faster than an arthritic 80 year old would be nice.
All of these tiny problems add up and take what would have been a thoroughly tedious but forgettable experience and make it feel annoying and like you’re wasting your time.
But the game is not without some good qualities, as the game received a huge update to the game called “Inflicted: The Extended Cut” (which is the version that I played). It adds New Game+ that makes the game harder by increasing the amount of times the ghost appears and her difficulty, changes up the puzzles and adds new ones, and even adds another area to explore, and even a chapter select for players to jump into an area and replay it.
It also adds bonus content which includes concept art and videos of unused content that never made it into the game. It’s nice to see some of the behind the scenes stuff for the game, since it’s such a thing for games is a rarity, but even that doesn’t do much for the game.
There is an alternate ending, but I felt no need to go back and play through the game again on New Game+.
This is equivalent to one of those Direct-To-DVD or Made For TV movies that jump on a popular trend, but are poorly made generic. I’m so sick of P.T. inspired games with slow walking, looping rooms, and predictable plot filled with predictable scares. The only good thing that I can say about Inflicted is that I’ve played worse games. I know that’s and incredibly backhanded compliment, but it pretty much sums up my experience with the game.
https://www.gog.com/game/infliction_extended_cut
https://store.steampowered.com/app/692100/Infliction/
Cult Classic Corner - Video Games 