In March 2020, FYQD studio released Bright Memory, a short game that advanced the possibilities of a one-person development team. It showed a female protagonist, who wields firearms and swords her way through all sorts of enemies in a futuristic world. Why is that important? Well, because Bright Memory: Infinite, the one-person developer’s FYQD’s next adventure, has already officially been released and I’ve already tested it thoroughly to see if it lives up to its predecessor in this first-person shooter thing.
Bright Memory continues the story of the first by placing us in the shoes of Shelia, a skilled warrior tasked with entering a dangerous environment to find the cause of an anomaly (a black hole) that marks the first phase of. seems to be a global catastrophe. Shelia fights various enemies in this story, from army soldiers to ancient warriors, and I must confess that the story doesn’t make a lot of sense until the end (we won’t go into details though so as not to weed out the plot). With that in mind, Bright Memory: Infinite is a linear story in which players must dedicate themselves to shooting as they advance through a visually stunning world. Basically a short Call of Duty campaign.
While the title is basically reduced to this brief summary, it’s still great fun to play, and a pretty well-made game, especially for a single development project. I’m not going to lie, for me the story, despite its visual impact and so much explosive plot, is confused and uninteresting. It looks a lot like a Michael Bay movie. The chaos and graphics are of such a quality that they repeatedly obscure the empty and nondescript story behind it.
That’s why the fact that Bright Memory: Infinite’s first-person shooter system is so good is even more important. If you take snippets of this game and overlook its futuristic design, you could mistake the shootouts for a scene from a Call of Duty or a Battlefield, that’s the quality level. And even the game is like that. Shooting is agile, accurate, satisfying, and very fast, and whether you’re using your assault rifle, shotgun, sniper, or pistol, the weapons are well balanced and rewarding to use.
Then there is hand-to-hand combat, which is designed to be incredibly useful and not at all overwhelming, as is the case with many shooters today in hand-to-hand combat. You can draw Shelia’s sword to unleash a barrage of swords and blast your way at the expense of enemies, or block and dodge blows to make them even harder to defeat. You can also use various Exo skills that will help you move around the battlefield more easily and annihilate the many enemies that stand between you and your ultimate goal.
And to maintain the illusion that it is an AAA, the game features absolutely stunning graphics and its performance is top notch too, with a sense of fluidity from the moment it started until the abrupt end of the short season.
But that is exactly what this game is, an illusion, because despite its strengths, it is clear that it is an indie title. The opponent’s AI is pretty simple (regardless of the difficulty you’re playing), the variation in opponents and the skills they use against you is pretty limited, the levels are incredibly linear (there’s practically nothing out of the box) . and worst of all, the improvements are pretty simple and not very ingenious.
The upgrade system works by collecting relics, jade statues scattered across each level in obvious and easily accessible places. Each reliquary equals one upgrade point, and you can earn additional points by defeating ancient warriors who occasionally appear during the levels. Reliquary Points can be used to upgrade exo-weapons, sword, and skills in a variety of ways, but the process is unsatisfactory and the reward you get is only reflected in the small additional damage your team does as a result. .
This system also reflects the degree of customization that Bright Memory: Infinite offers, which is perfect could be excluded from the game. As you kill with your guns, you will progress through a challenge where you can unlock skins to wear. Right now there are only two for each piece of gear in the game itself (the others are paid DLC) and by the time you finish the story you will likely have one or two without which you can give a lot more reasons to use them, be it because, you intend to repeat on a harder level of difficulty.
It’s also worth noting that while it offers good gameplay and looks, Bright Memory: Infinity is not perfect at all. It seems that the enemies are following you behind the walls and even shoot you through them many times, the levels are a bit rough; In fact, I’ve managed to accidentally cross the boundaries of a level a couple of times, and the gripping mechanic killed me more times than the enemies themselves because they just didn’t tell me I could use the ability.
In short, I have a very mixed opinion about Bright Memory: Infinite because it has really impressive aspects: the graphics and dynamics of the shooting are really fantastic. But at the same time it’s very disappointing in many ways, especially in the story which is strange and difficult to follow; the design of the levels, linear to overwhelming; and improvements and adjustments, with little dedication. It’s a game of extremes and while it’s noteworthy that it was made by one person and it can be a lot of fun to take the boredom away for a while, I find it hard to see it as anything else.
