Infini sees players controlling the winged personification of Hope, exploring near-infinite layers of an abstract universe with their canine pal, Poetry. Along the way they’ll encounter other bizarre characters, including War, who sports an AK-47 for a head. This trippy puzzler boggles the mind, both with its mind-melting labyrinths and an often incomprehensible plot. Unraveling Infini’s mysteries can be fun at times, but uncomfortable controls and laborious gameplay make for a disappointing reality check.
Solving puzzles involves guiding the unsettling protagonist through seemingly impossible mazes to an exit. Manipulating the camera, either by rotating it or zooming in and out, makes new paths based on the current perspective. For example, walls disappear when clipped from view, creating new entry points. This clever mechanic does a good job promoting out-of-the-box thinking, forcing players to experiment with various angles. Fiddling with viewpoints to concoct seemingly unintended shortcuts regularly raises the question of “did I just break the game?” but in a good way.
With 100+ levels across 10 worlds, Infini continually mixes up its formula in largely interesting ways. The cream of the crop includes side-scrolling segments with Poetry the dog. Another strong puzzle tasks players with guiding two characters simultaneously to reach separate exits. Other concepts drop the ball, however, such as wandering a massive forest in a desperate search for a way-too-cryptic exit. Unfortunately, while the ideas are varied and the logic is sound, the act of actually moving Hope from Point A to Point B presents its own share of headaches.
Bumping against barriers results in game over, forcing players to restart puzzles from scratch. There’s nothing more frustrating than spending ages carefully inching Hope through narrow aisles only for an errant slip to throw it all away. This annoyance reaches its zenith in the many stages where Hope automatically moves on his own. While that’s meant to be a fun challenge, holding down a button to halt or slow his progress can be flat out uncomfortable. This is especially true in instances when he needs to be held in place in order to study the map (which is basically all of the time). Infini soon becomes an uncomfortable exercise in maintaining awkward hand positioning by holding down a “stop” button while simultaneously fiddling with camera controls. Sure, the game can be properly paused, but that usually means quickly removing a thumb to unpause Hope’s movements and stop the game before he sails into a wall. Pausing a game shouldn’t be that hard or involved.
Camera positioning feels too finicky for its own good, and paths make or break if things aren’t lined up just right. Ideal routes get completely erased with even the slightest adjustment. Unfortunately, it’s rarely clear how moving the camera will change things until it's done, and recreating correct paths can be a chore. That initial fun experimentation soon becomes a frustrating exercise in trial and error more often than not.
Combined with its movement woes, Infini frequently devolves into long sittings of feathering camera buttons, nailing a desired view, messing up said view after moving Hope a degree or two incorrectly, and backtracking several steps to get things back to square one. Either that, or everything goes well until players accidentally bump their heads in front of the finish line. The clever design gets undercut by the tedious gameplay and the high cost of failure. The lack of a hint option means players will likely decide the stress isn’t worth it for them.
The unappealing art direction makes studying screens for an escape all the more unpleasant. The bonkers plot feels like it’s trying too hard to be profound and winds up being more confusing than anything else. Infini definitely has some things going for it, but after traversing several, maddening layers into insanity, players may not want to endure the hardships that come with that potential.
Infini is available now for Nintendo Switch and PC. Screen Rant was provided a digital Switch code for the purposes of this review.