INFRA as a game is suited only for a specific audience, as it does a few things amazingly and everything else terribly. The atmosphere of the game is phenomenal. It's hard to find a game that truly can capture the emotion of being alone in a massive world full of life. It's like walking outside in a big city during Covid lockdown, no bustling action, no cars, no noise, just a strange ambiance of peace and quietness. But the place is not abandoned, you always see a light in the distance from the houses, which perfectly describes the phenomenon which the internet has described as "The night feeling" seeing signs of life in the distance whilst you sit in loneliness in the background, being able to only observe but not have to interact. Towards the end of chapter 9 there is a short moment in which we must cross a bridge and take a small hand-cranking device to take you across a ravine. But if you look up during this part, you will see in the not so far distance, a small house in the middle of the forest, with the lights on emanating from the windows. What is that person doing? Probably a mundane everyday task that none of us save in memory due to it's valuelessness. But after a long day of experiences loneliness and pain, simply knowing that another human who has an entire story to tell full of interesting details, just like all of us, is currently simply existing, awakes a feeling of wistfulness in the human mind, longing for nothing more than to do a simple task without any meaning, making you feel sad about how you do such things everyday and yet never truly appreciate how bewitching they can be. How despicable of us humans, to not live every second and appreciate the beauty of simplicity and how simply being, is one of the most complex emotions that we can feel. Growing complacent is one of the most devastating things the human mind can do, for we fail to see the beauty of things we witness on the daily, even something like the sun that rises everyday and gives life to all, we take for granted and never stop to truly understand how unique this encounter is in the vastness of the universe. What a great beautiful star it is ! But what would it's happiness be if it had not those for whom it shines.
Apart from the a great atmosphere, INFRA's writing is very well done. Though it hides a lot of it's lore from the average player who is not intent on googling every detail and crawling into every corner. This serves a specific audience who do enjoy such things, but gatekeeps a larger one from truly understanding the detail that was put into this game. If there was a game that has a true iceberg of lore, each layer being more obscure and less known than the other yet terrifyingly important, it is INFRA. The game starts off very simple and slowly transcends into more weird stuff. From a simple survey, to a story of corruption, a story of misunderstanding, a story of strange geological activity in a specific region, a story of unknown gods and entities that serve an unknown purpose that is very important to the continued existence of the country. A story about death and suffering. Shame about that accident, but it was always going to end like this. This once again ties it into the atmosphere of INFRA, how it tries to tell the player that simplicity is in fact very complex. At first it just seems like a concrete wall that should hold water, but deep down, there is a bigger larger story that led to that concrete wall being built and why it is currently falling apart.
But in the end it is a GAME. Though when all resources of a small team are focused on writing, details and atmosphere, the gameplay aspect has to be cast aside and simplified so that it merely works. It is not the first walking simulator out there, but just like with the rest of them, you have to be ready to experience tedious tasks, a slow pace and uninteresting mechanics. I was glad to have finally finished it so that I can stop experiencing the tideum but, I was also glad to have played it, as that allowed me to experience the atmosphere and story. Yet due to how tedious it is you put off replaying it, which leads to you not being able to experience all of the great hidden story moments which you missed the first time, which is a shame as THAT'S where the game shines. I started using a guide about halfway through to not miss anything after realizing how many amazing things were being hidden from me and I am so happy for doing so and only regret not doing so from the start. Experiencing all that the game has to offer is what makes it great and unforgettable, due to many mysterious remaining unsolved.
I can only hope that the DLC that they are working on is heavily improved due to the devs now having more experience than before and thus made more engaging. Or atleast that development ramps up for Obenseuer as that one has much more engaging gameplay mechanics, which mind you still need to be ironed out A LOT, and thus the player can experience the good writing in a much better pace and enjoy the gameplay whilst doing so.
One last thing I wish to say is how sad I feel about the fact that neither of the two games was heavily successful financially, I would argue that compared to many much more successful walking simulators INFRA outdoes many of them. Obenseuer despite having very early access mechanics is still a good game if you take the time to learn it and even got a lot of free marketing from some big YouTubers who enjoyed the chaotic nature of it, which is how I found out about it. Despite all of this the sales of both titles are only mediocre. Enough for such a small studio, but considering that Steam also takes 30% of profits, the studio has no resources to expand and ramp up production, letting us players wait several years for updates. This is simply a case in which both sides wished they had more but reality simply says otherwise. Only thing I can suggest is the hard to swallow pill that the games need to cater to a larger audience by becoming easier to experience, but then that may lead the devs to make the games not how they want them to be. In the end it is their choice to make, I am part of the audience that enjoys the games, the only reason I even mention this is because I want more. But getting more, more quickly, costs money and resources.
