{"id":183,"date":"2021-03-08T05:07:41","date_gmt":"2021-03-08T05:07:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/?p=183"},"modified":"2021-03-08T05:07:41","modified_gmt":"2021-03-08T05:07:41","slug":"savior-or-false-shepherd-infliction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/2021\/03\/08\/savior-or-false-shepherd-infliction\/","title":{"rendered":"Savior or False Shepherd: Infliction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This article originally ran under a different banner\/website in November of 2018 and is now being here re-uploaded for purposes of convenience and consolidation. Please enjoy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GATHER ROUND, MY FOLLOWERS!!!\u00a0 GATHER ROUND!!!\u00a0 We are finally getting into the thick of October, meaning the scary games are coming out of the woodwork.\u00a0 I will admit, I initially planned on reviewing Project Warlock<\/em> instead of a horror game.\u00a0 It is a two-and-a-half-dimensional shooter faithful to the Doom <\/em>and Wolfenstein<\/em> games.\u00a0 While it is competent as a 90\u2019s shooter and adds to the formula by adding RPG upgrades and spells, it is just not grabbing me right now.\u00a0 Please check it out on GOG if you long for an old-school shooter.\u00a0 While I continue to play Project Warlock<\/em>, I can\u2019t ignore my desire to have my heart beating so loud it sounds like it is in my ears.\u00a0 I need some scares.\u00a0 Infliction<\/em> just came out, Steam whispered, knowing I would take the bait.\u00a0 A PT <\/em>inspired horror game?\u00a0 Oh Steam, you know me too well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Infliction<\/em> opens like many standard horror games.\u00a0 You, Gary, come home to your big empty house in the attempt to find your wife\u2019s airplane tickets.\u00a0 You slowly explore the ominous still house, picking up objects, spinning them around, and even triggering voiceovers from Gary\u2019s wife, Sarah.\u00a0 During this opening, I couldn\u2019t help but notice how much detail was put into objects like CD and video cassette tapes.\u00a0 My hopes begin to grow.\u00a0 Will my hunger for an eerie horror experience finally be sated?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After exploring the house and finding a code for the art room, the game finally kicks off.\u00a0 After picking up the plane tickets, the door slams shut and a video of your wife being stabbed by a masked figure plays.\u00a0 You race through the halls of the house, doors slamming all around you, as you head to the garage.\u00a0 You get into the car and drive out of the house with a bruised and beaten Sarah chasing after you.\u00a0 You look down to see a mask and knife in your car and blood on your hands.\u00a0 Suddenly, you crash the car into a tree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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You awaken, lying on your side.\u00a0 Eyes flickering open.\u00a0 Flashlight lying at your side.\u00a0 My first thought was, wait a minute, didn\u2019t PT<\/em> open like this?\u00a0 Nevermind, I thought, let\u2019s focus on the task at hand: finding a way to vanquish the spirit.\u00a0 Funny, the objective is in a text box in the corner when you have voicing acting for Sarah, but that\u2019s just me nitpicking.\u00a0 I explore the house, find more notebooks giving backstory, and finally finding a mirror that took me to a reflection of the house with an open door to the basement.\u00a0 I venture down to find the remains of a cult ritual including a book that completes my objective.\u00a0 I turn around to find Sarah blocking the way upstairs.\u00a0 Her silhouette blackened by the lighting.\u00a0 I was unable to get a good glance at her before she ducks into the shadows.\u00a0 Creepy, I thought, probably need to sneak by her, but before I could take a step towards the door, Sarah jumps me and snaps my neck.\u00a0 I assumed I messed up sneaking by her, but before I could formulate a new plan, I awoke in the same room as before with a new objective.\u00a0 Oh no, I said aloud as my jaw dropped to the floor, I am playing a PT<\/em> clone.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For those who aren\u2019t as enthusiastic about horror games as I am, let me tell you a little bit about PT<\/em>.\u00a0 PT<\/em> was a \u201cplayable teaser\u201d for a new Silent Hill<\/em> game, directed by Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro with famed actor Norman Reedus doing voice acting and motion capture for what appeared to be the main character of the game.\u00a0 The playable teaser took place over a looping hallway, that slowly pieced the backstory of the main character\u2019s descent into madness while solving puzzles along the way.\u00a0 Each time you enter the hallway, something would change.\u00a0 It could be something as subtle as the radio saying something strange or as different as the chandelier being replaced with a swinging refrigerator dripping blood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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With the internet collaborating together on the playable teaser\u2019s secret, the game was finally cracked and the trailer confirming PT <\/em>was a teaser for the new Silent Hill <\/em>game.\u00a0 Unfortunately, due to a falling out between Kojima and the publisher Konami, the teaser was pulled from the PlayStation store, Silent Hill <\/em>was canceled, Kojima was fired and Konami continued turning their licenses into glorified gambling machines known as Pachinko machines.\u00a0 The only way to experience PT<\/em> now is to watch YouTube videos or get your hand on a PlayStation 4 that has the teaser on the hard drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Now I am sure your thinking: DOOMSAYER, SURELY YOU MUST BE HAPPY TO HAVE A CLONE WHEN YOU CAN\u2019T GET THE REAL THING.\u00a0 Well, my followers, I can see why you would think that, but Infliction <\/em>makes many mistakes that PT <\/em>was able to avoid.\u00a0 For starters, as I mentioned before, Infliction <\/em>will have Sarah kill you most of the time you complete an objective.\u00a0 This creates two issues for me.\u00a0 First, it makes it hard to tell if Sarah killing you is progressing to the next section of the game or killing you is suppose to signify a failure state.\u00a0 Whether you are failing or progressing, the screen will have blood texture along the side, making it impossible to tell if you’re doing what the game wanted.\u00a0 Sarah\u2019s constant exposure while progressing and failing, feels like it is taking a page out of the Layers of Fear\u2019s<\/em> playbook which does it no favors.\u00a0 Layers of Fear<\/em> also confused player by having the monster kill you while progressing through the story.\u00a0 Just like in Layers of Fear<\/em>, <\/em>the constant exposure to Sarah makes her less terrifying as the game goes on.\u00a0 Towards the end of the game, I was just rolling my eyes as Sarah screamed in my face with green goo oozing from her mouth.\u00a0 PT\u2019s <\/em>monster, Lisa, was much more effective because she lurked in the shadows and only attacked once or twice.\u00a0 More often than not, the player in PT<\/em> would have to walk closer to Lisa, only for the light to go out and she disappeared.\u00a0 Much more effective at building tension than having Sarah constantly drool on you.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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She is especially not scary after this one hallway, I deemed the hallway of hell.\u00a0 I have to get down to the end of the hallway, but Sarah is blocking my path.\u00a0 I have a camera that is used to solve puzzles and can harm Sarah.\u00a0 Unfortunately, taking her picture does cause her to vanish, but she will immediately respawn in one of the nearby rooms in the hallway.\u00a0 Numerous times, I took her picture only to have her walk out of a door next to me.\u00a0 She would immediately attack before I could get out the camera, leaving me staring at her face before getting kicked back to the start of the hallway.\u00a0 A game that seems to be slow-paced, since it lacks a sprint feature and camera that requires you to shake the photo for it to develop, seems ill-equipped for the famed monster chase scene similar to games like Outlast.<\/em>\u00a0 While PT<\/em> threw you into a never-ending hallway, it never killed you over and over again in such a sadistic manner.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I find it very ironic and a bit fitting that I played both Infliction<\/em> and Project Warlock<\/em> this week.\u00a0 Infliction<\/em> wants so desperately to be PT<\/em>, it even has a young baby boy who repeats a line similar to the famed \u201cDad was such a drag\u201d line from PT<\/em>.\u00a0 The only difference being they substitute drag with a drunk.\u00a0 Infliction <\/em>constantly repeating \u201cDad was such a drunk\u201d feels similar to a young brother trying to quote his cooler older brother.\u00a0 A \u201cwe can be PT<\/em> too\u201d attitude is thicker in the atmosphere they try to imitate and my Darksiders<\/em> review should let you know what I think of clones.\u00a0 While Project Warlock <\/em>does seem similar to Doom <\/em>and Wolfenstein<\/em>, it never feels like a genuine clone.\u00a0 It feels like it wants to be home in the \u201990s.\u00a0 Ironically, after beating Infliction<\/em>, I immediately booted up Project Warlock <\/em>to play a few levels and frankly, had more fun with Project Warlock <\/em>than I did Infliction<\/em>.\u00a0 Keeping with the Zelda<\/em> clone <\/em>analogy, if Infliction <\/em>is similar to Darksiders, <\/em>then Project Warlock <\/em>is similar to Dark Souls<\/em>.\u00a0 Heavily inspired by older titles, but builds upon them, rather than try to wear the mask of those older titles.\u00a0 If you truly want nothing more than a quick PT <\/em>fix, then sure Infliction <\/em>can do a pretty good job, but if you want something a little more original, then give Project Warlock <\/em>a try.\u00a0 You just might be surprised like I was.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article originally ran under a different banner\/website in November of 2018 and is now being here re-uploaded for purposes of convenience and consolidation. Please enjoy. GATHER ROUND, MY FOLLOWERS!!!\u00a0 GATHER ROUND!!!\u00a0 We are finally getting into the thick of October, meaning the scary games are coming out of the woodwork.\u00a0 I will admit, I… Continue reading Savior or False Shepherd: Infliction<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-reviews","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":193,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183\/revisions\/193"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}