Ad Infinitum

Koltuklarınıza yaslanın ve derin bir nefes alın. Çünkü bu bir oyun incelemesinden ziyade, zihnin en karanlık dehlizlerine, barut kokulu siperlere ve bir ailenin sessiz çöküşüne doğru yapılacak puslu bir yolculuğa çıkmak gibi olacak. I. Dünya Savaşı’nın o amansız, çamurlu ve kan kokan cepheleri geride kalmıştır. Ya da en azından, takvimler öyle söyler. Genç bir Alman askeri olan Paul von Borchert, Berlin’deki görkemli aile malikanesinde gözlerini açar. Dışarıda kuş sesleri olması gerekirken, içeride duvarlar çatlamakta, tavan arasından feryatlar yükselmekte ve koridorlar adım attıkça uzayıp gitmektedir. Paul kapıyı açtığında kendini bir anda evinde değil, savaşın tam ortasında, tel örgülerin ve patlayan bombaların arasında bulur. Genç asker, kabus ile gerçeklik arasında sıkışıp kalmıştır. Bir yandan siperlerde hayatta kalmaya çalışırken, diğer yandan bu tekinsiz malikanenin odalarında saklanan mektupları toplar. Ve anlar ki, cepheye birlikte gittiği erkek kardeşi, fabrikasında orduya silah üreten katı babası ve acıdan deliren annesiyle olan bağları, savaşın gölgesinde kalıp çürümüştür. Karşılaştığı her canavar, aslında silahlarla vurulabilecek yaratıklar değil; ailesinin trajedisinin ve kendi vicdan azabının etten kemikten birer yansımasıdır. Gelin şimdi bu yolculuğun ışıkları gözümüze hangi güzellikleri yansıtıyor bir bakalım. + Oyun seni içine öyle bir çekiyor ki, siperlerdeki o klostrofobik çamuru üstünde hissediyor, malikanenin gıcırdayan parkelerinde nefesini tutuyorsun. Görsel ve işitsel tasarım, korkuyu aniden karşına çıkan bir şeyle değil, tekinsiz bir beklentiyle iliklerine işliyor. + Karşına çıkan yaratıklar sadece korkutmak için orada değiller. Her biri Paul’ün ailesinden bir parçayı; açlığı, öfkeyi ya da gerçeklere gözünü kapatan bir körlüğü simgeliyor. Tasarımlardaki bu metaforik derinlik, hikaye anlatımını adeta bir sanat eserine dönüştürüyor. + Canavarlarla karşılaştığında oyun senin önüne bir ayna koyuyor: Onları nefretle yok edecek misin, yoksa acılarını anlayıp onları teskin mi edeceksin? Bu seçimler Paul’ün kaderini ve oyunun sonunu doğrudan belirleyerek hikayeye güçlü bir tekrar oynanabilirlik katıyor. + Adamlar resmi olarak dilimize de destek vermişler. Daha ne olsun? Şimdi de gülün dikenleri diye tabir edeceğimiz bu yolun çamurlu kısımlarına göz atalım. - Bir süre sonra oyunun mekanik döngüsü kendini belli etmeye başlıyor. Sürekli bir yerlerden gizlenerek geçmek, mektup okumak ve benzer mantıktaki bulmacaları çözmek, hikayenin o büyüleyici temposuna bazen ket vurabiliyor. - Eğer eline bir tüfek alıp canavarları avladığın, yüksek tempolu ve bol aksiyonlu bir macera arıyorsan, bu malikanede aradığını bulamayabilirsin. Oyun, yavaşça akan ve senin sindirmeni isteyen edebi bir anlatıma sahip. - Bazen canavarların yanından bir gölge gibi geçip giderken seni fark etmemeleri, bazen ise en ufak sesinde imkansız şekilde seni bulmaları, o yoğun gerilim atmosferinden seni bir anlığına da olsa koparabiliyor. Son söz olarak; Ad Infinitum, sadece cephede bitmeyen, eve dönüldüğünde bile zihnin kuytularında devam eden o bitmek bilmeyen savaşı anlatıyor. Eğer Amnesia veya SOMA gibi psikolojik derinliği olan, yürüdüğün yollarda sana felsefi ve insani sorular sorduran tekinsiz hikayeleri seviyorsan; Paul’ün zihnindeki bu karanlık döngüye adım atmak isteyebilirsin. Yoksa topuklarını popişine vura vura uzaklaşmanı öneririm, çünkü sevmeyeceksin.

The spooks are spooky. I do like the concepts within the game. The puzzles in this game are easily the most annoying part. If you play in anyway like me, you will find yourself walking in circles without direction, trying to find what needs to be interacted with, or unkowingly stumbling upon items that are part of the puzzle.

A tragic setting, a tragic story, disturbing enemy designs, a very unique style of boss fights, stunning graphics, incredible sound design (especially for Despair), an insanely beautiful soundtrack and superb voice acting (in three different languages!!!). Hard to believe this game was developed by such a tiny team. Huge props to Lukas Deuschel who was in charge of it all; main developer, writer, composer and sound designer. I played Ad Infinitum on my PS5 about one and a half years ago and got the speedrun world record there with a time of 1h 24m 30s. I'm so glad I now got to experience it all over again on PC!

Игра которая стоит денег, но не стоит человеческого внимания! Давно лежала у меня в желаемом и даже хотел брать в день выхода за 2 касаря, но че то одумался и забил ♥♥♥, и вот сейчас увидев конскую скидку решил купить за 200 рублей. И уж лучше бы шаурму купил, это игра не прошла проверку временим уже в день выхода, чего стоит открывания дверей как в Амнезии и чтение бесконечных записок, что как по мне устарела. Геймплей завязан как я понял за этот час вокруг той самой легендарной ходьбы, чтении записок, и беготни от монстров, все как в той же Амнезии, но это игра своего времени с довольно неплохой атмосферой, а Ad infinitum это то что должно было выйти лет 8 назад, и умереть в тот же год что и вышла. Бог уберег меня от покупки этой игры за 2к, хотя все равно волноваться не стоило бы, больше чем 2 часа я в "это" играть не стал был, а так за 200 рублей пусть в коллекции полежит. Я конечно все понимаю, что типа наиграл часок и уже жесткие выводы делаешь, но раз игра за этот час заставила бодрого меня впасть в уныния, мне кажется говорить тут не о чем!

You play this one for the story above all else, and that won't be everyone's cup of tea. If you're expecting a fast-paced WW1 shooter, you're better off in a BF1 lobby, or maybe NecroVisioN for a more action-oriented horror experience. While Ad Infinitum has tense moments that require quick thinking/reflexes, it rewards the patient gamer more than anything. Exploring the environments, reading documents (some of these are optional, but they all add to the narrative and worldbuilding), and absorbing the atmosphere are where the game truly shines. The grotesque yet beautiful visuals, memorable soundtrack, and attention to period-accurate detail make it clear that this was a passion project. The gameplay itself is fairly straightforward, revolving around puzzles, stealth, quick-time events, and survival. It doesn't reinvent the genre, but it doesn't need to. The real strength lies in its narrative, one of the most hauntingly beautiful I've experienced in a while. Beneath the monsters and supernatural (or maybe hallucinatory?) imagery lies a story about guilt, trauma, PTSD, family, blind patriotism, dishonesty and the psychological scars left by war. The true horror isn't the creatures you encounter, but ordinary human cruelty and the damage it leaves behind. Despite its darkness, the game never completely abandons hope, challenging both your morality and the choices you make throughout the journey. With three distinct endings, the game offers meaningful replay value, each path leading to the same final message through different choices. Its ending is especially poignant if you can empathize with those who lived through the turmoil of the first World War. It left me reflecting on how easily we take the people and moments in our lives for granted, and on the complexities of human nature itself. A gripping experience that will stay with me for a while. The Great War killed 20 million people, a lot of which would not be old enough to play an M-rated game today, but old enough to pick up a rifle in 1914. May they rest in peace.

A glorified "hidden object" game, but you're running around in a house with nothing but locked doors. No wonder this was 90% off. Ran around for 30 minutes and gave up. Glad I only spent $4 on it.

Ad Infinitium is a World War 1 horror psychological horror walking sim/run and hide hybrid simulator developed by Hekate, an independent Berlin video game studio that was founded in 2019 with about “forty years of combined experience” and contributing to “the success of over 30 boxed titles”. This is all from the website of course, as there isn’t much else in the way of information out there. On a Reddit AMA about the game, Lukas Deuschel (Silence, Pillars of the Earth and apparently EVERSPACE 2: Wrath of the Ancients, which he had joined recently. Perhaps as side work unless that’s a different guy) they talked about how this game was their passion project and how they meticulously brainstormed and researched every aspect of psychological horror and the first World War they possibly could for historical accuracy. Influences for the game include Silent Hill 2, SOMA, Layers of Fear, All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, Storm of Steel by Ernst Jünger and the movies Johnny Got His Gun alongside Jacob's Ladder. For most of the review: https://backloggd.com/u/gamemast15r/review/4936149/ So for the most part, the gameplay for Ad Infinitum is split up into two-three sections. The first part here is the “Walking Sim” gameplay, where you explore the family manor as you collect all sorts of documents, witness horrific hallucinations and at times solve some puzzles. There isn’t anything scary chasing you in these sections unless it’s your own shadow, so for the most part this would be the gameplay I don’t really have much to say about. It’s solid, works well with the story like a lot of horror walking sims do and for the most part is inoffensive. The only thing I could really think of at this moment is that you can pick up matches to light up nearby lanterns but truth be told there’s either so many or you don’t even need to actually pick them up to the point I forgot about it until now. The next part of the game is when you reach the “War Zone”, the areas filled with barbed wire and trenches covered in mud. The general gist for these areas is that you walk down a set path and can pick up collectibles (documents and both German/French Dog Tags) as well, but they usually add a run & hide from monsters segment as well. Each chapter does this a bit different, like the first one is either just sneaking or causing distractions in order to run away from some. The second chapter I remember [spoiler]being chased down a trench by one big monster who I activated in a quick time escape before hiding in a nearby cubby hole to escape them. This will happen repeatedly and it doesn’t matter whether or not you get seen by this giant monster figure.[/spoiler] The third chapter is a lot more involved and has you [spoiler]dodging multiple monsters in the dark, cutting down barbed wire one piece at a time and navigating tight corridors before eventually moving into segments where you can use a gun for all of five minutes and flipping switches to block pigeons (via killing them with giant gates) from knocking you off of ledges.[/spoiler] Does that last one sound weird? Yeah it pretty much is but I guess it symbolizes [spoiler]feeling trapped in a cage or something.[/spoiler] At the end of each chapter (of which there are 4 but the fourth one is more so an epilogue) you’ll encounter a run around tense and small arena where a giant monster will be chasing you around (often in a giant circle or square) while you have to turn on or move left/right an item or a pipe or something. For example at the [spoiler]end of the first one you’ll be chased by a creature representative of the character’s mother in a circle but you need to make a beeline from one end to the other, which the creature can’t move past. From there you need to turn on vinyl record players towards a certain color which represents the Karmic playthrough you’re going for (Green = Good, Red = Bad and etcetera) all while avoiding her.[/spoiler]The same one happens in the second chapter where you [spoiler]have to avoid a big scary monster representative of your father while spike traps in the arena move around and section off pieces of the area, while you run to one of four pipes or so and either move it left or right (which signifies deadly gas I think or knockout gas).[/spoiler]Chapter 3 has you [spoiler]cut off barbed wire holding one of four switches around the four corners of the arena, with the Good karmic choice being to push the switch down in order to deactivate spikes or push it up to activate them, and then lure the bird creature (representing your brother) into crashing into each pillar. [/spoiler]They’re not bad set pieces in any way and I appreciate them making it obvious and letting you know that “hey this is a moment where your choice impacts the story” but also they feel kind of uninspired puzzle design wise? The most inspired that I felt puzzle wise was before the Chapter 2 boss fight where you have to walk around and match which direction the steam is going in through pipes based on a graph on the wall. That being said, most of the puzzles in this game are pretty easy to figure out and you won’t need to read Greek to figure it out so that’s always good. Finally, my final thoughts gameplay wise. For the most part I feel that Ad Infinitum has a solid gameplay loop that’s easy to recognize and figure out without, and I actually appreciate a lot of the variation that each of these set-pieces have through the game. That being said, there’s no switch up in the order of the variation as much as it is “Walking Sim-Run and Hide-Boss Fight” between each chapter which can be a bit overdone. Some of the later sections in the game tease at the potential of actually shooting creatures with the rifle but you don’t really get that which I feel is kind of a bummer in terms of that variation, which I also kind of feel adds to that feeling of “could’ve been a bit more”. As I also stated in during the boss battle section, the game can be very hand-holdy in regards to the games mechanics and there isn’t anything in the way of difficulty that actually gives a challenge (that I remember). If I were to give one final dislike, I’d say that the game really needs a Chapter Select because grabbing collectibles and then missing 1 dog tag because it’s hidden right at the end in the dirt somewhere with no way to go back actually sucks. I hated that and it also doesn’t help that the guide I was using was kind of weirdly worded. What this means is that if you miss one dog tag, one collectible through the lack of a manual save is that you’ll need to play through the entire game all over again as there are no “takesy-backsies” so to speak. Despite those issues and some of the jank surrounding certain animations (like trying to clip a moving barbed wire has you wrapped up in it, and after completing the quick-time event you’ll have to look away and walk off or else it’ll star the animation back up), I actually felt that there was a lot of promise in what this game delivered psychologically even if perhaps the gameplay felt a bit simplistic despite promising what I felt was a bit more. Links: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3339593351 https://gg.deals/games/developed-by-hekate/ https://www.hekate.games/work https://www.reddit.com/r/HorrorGaming/comments/16gt9k4/ama_with_developer_hekate_and_publisher_nacon_on/ https://www.ign.com/games/producer/hekate https://x.com/adinfinitumgame https://www.imdb.com/title/tt29897315/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUcJ8hIFEms (Soundtrack) https://open.spotify.com/album/1IHaOvoxtp2RFqd8iyKekF https://downloads.khinsider.com/game-soundtracks/album/ad-infinitum-2023 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mP3KF50_yiZioZ4OdSqHvDQXMKxjkxPsg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Dix https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_Infinitum_(video_game) https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/VideoGame/AdInfinitum

I bought this game for practically nothing but the real cost was the time it took to complete it. I don't mind "walking sim" games usually but this one is particularly dull. The story can be summarised by "war = bad". There are not many games where I can't wait for it to end so I can uninstall it knowing I gave it a fair chance, but this was one of them.

I recommend this game because i bought it for €3.50. I wouldn't recommend it because of some of the puzzles. It has several puzzles where the challenge comes less from solving a logical problem and more from finding a small, interactable object in a very dark environment.