Minimalism taken to the next level, Circa Infinity is one of these games which takes one premise and iterates over it again and again each time adding new conditions and restrictions to it, the general setting albeit stays the same. You're playing a trapped human always proceeding to an never ending cycle of circles
By touching a circle, you zoom in into the next layer, you will always start by running across the surface of the circle, as long that's the case you cannot jump, the goal is to find a loose piece on the circle and dive into it, after that, the process repeats. You are in the circle and have to touch a the smaller one inside of it, zooming into the next layer. Both the piece to dive in and the circle can move around or don't. its as different as the plethora of enemies you encounter throughout the game.
While the environment always stays the same the collection of enemies is what hinders you of just proceeding thoughtlessly. At first the game starts by placing immovable ones at at you, you simply have to jump over them, later on, they will start to move, fly and change layers. That's where it becomes tricky. Some enemies can even influence you although they are a layer above you, by having an extraordinaly large body, or simply phase outside the circle you are just about to move in.
This goes on after a while until you beat the chapter, yes this game is not endless, although the name and look might imply.
There is another game inside the game called "Circa Affinity" this in fact IS an endless highscore game, like super hexagon where you have to dive in to as many layers a possible, this game fits too well in a highscore premise, so I suppose the developer patched that in later. It's good for longevity and definitely you can't stop once your started, it's pretty addicting.
After beating a chapter the game throws something entirely new at you, the concept extends slightly. The further you come, the more you have to think about your next step and eventually the game slowly turns into a puzzle-like game, where your approach becomes more important than your reflexes.
The game absolutetly stays true to that concept till the end and so each time you think you accustomed to the overall premise which requries highest concentration, the game will only make your brain hurt more.
Since I don't wanna spoiler the surprise I'm not going to tell you what exactly changes, all I can say is, if you think the game might become less complex over the time, nope. That's why perhaps some people could be turned off after the first 2 chapters of the game, it really comes down to preferences here, I appreciate the brave approach of the game becoming more convoluted without ever demanding highest precision over the course of the campaign. It becomes more complex, but not more demanding in its execution, maybe this is reassuring to hear for people that struggle.
One thing I have to mention I completely played each level deathless because the game rewards you for clearing levels without dying. The actual game is pretty forgiving, by dying you just have to replay the previous, however this can repeat if you die quickly in a row becoming more and more pushed back, but the game features layers without any enemies inbetween 4 or 5 circles in a row, which works like a safety net, so definitely it's not the hardest game for a normal playthrough, for a deathless playthrough however, it was definitely exhausting once I reached Chapter 3.
This is generally a game that shows how achievments can be implemented positively, working as incentives playing the game in odd fashion. There are creative achievments that restrict you to certain action like beat a level in chapter xy without stop moving, or beat a level without moving (only jump), accumulated times for each chapter, diverse circle affinity challenges and so on.
It's as fun as it's difficult trying to earn as much achievments as possible and it further adds to longevity.
All in all there is nothing I can really criticize about the game, it takes its concept, knows exactly what it wants to be and executes it in the most fitting way, exhausting all its potential, while never outstaying its welcome.
The unbelievable catchy music and mesmerizing visuals are just the icing on the cake and giving this game an unique identity.
So I can safely say, this is probably one the best and most fleshed out indie games on steam and I would consider it an artistic masterpiece.
