Infliction: Extended Cut [Nintendo Switch] | REVIEW

After launching on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One earlier in the year, Infliction: Extended Cut has now brought its eerie horror-fuelled first-person escapade over to the Nintendo Switch – now you can play it under your blanket in bed at night where you’ll be snug and safe from all of the creepy entities that are stalking you in the game…

However, Infliction: Extended Cut did come with some technical issues when it launched on those other platforms, so I was a little concerned as to how well it’d play on what is technically inferior hardware. Thankfully, a lot of those issues have been ironed out in time for the Nintendo Switch release, though it has certainly taken a hit in the visual department when compared to its console counterparts.

We reviewed Infliction: Extended Cut on the PlayStation 4 in February and what we said about the narrative and gameplay still applies here – you can check that out down below or read the full review through this link:

“I don’t really want to dive into too much detail as far as Infliction: Extended Cut’s narrative is concerned, with the unveiling of its many horrors and dark themes one of the core elements of the experience. It explores the tragic relationship shared between a man and a woman, which you’re able to learn more about by uncovering items and documents in the environment and re-living the memories of the house. To some extent it’s all typical horror-story stuff, but it actually did more than enough to keep me hooked in and there were plenty of little details included to flesh the tale out.

The main gameplay of Infliction: Extended Cut revolves around exploring the environment around you to unravel the mystery… nothing too scary about that, right? Well, we’ve all played games like Layers of Fear and PT so we know JUST how frightening even the most normal of corridors and rooms can be, especially when they’re constantly changing and throwing countless scares your way as you work through them. Remember that door you just walked through? Well, it’ll be gone the next time you turn around… spooky.

It helps instil a real sense of fear into the player as they explore, with even the simplest of things such as hearing a phone ring or a door open catching you off guard in Infliction: Extended Cut ­­– of course, it has its share of genuinely creepy sights to be seen too, but I’ll leave them for the player to discover. There are also some small puzzles thrown in the mix along the way to keep your brain at work… and also a ghostly figure of a woman that’ll kill you if she touches you.

So Infliction: Extended Cut isn’t always subtle with its scares, which is something that’s particularly obvious when you first encounter this vicious apparition who’ll continually stalk you. Fortunately, you’ve got a couple of tricks up your sleeve: you can hide like a coward, or you can stop the ghost in its tracks with a quick shot from your trusty camera. It’s kind of like Project Zero in that sense (or Fatal Frame as it’s more commonly known outside of Europe), with your camera protecting you from the ghostly threat if you catch her in your lens.

Your camera can also be used to solve puzzles in the game, with it revealing items that are hidden in the environment that you’re not able to see with the naked eye. It’s a neat mechanic that’s straightforward enough to understand, but also has players work to ensure they uncover everything that they need – don’t get me wrong, you’ll never find yourself stumped by any of the game’s puzzles, but there is an extra layer of suspense to them given that you can’t always see what you need to use.

It all makes for a simple setup, but one that manages to feel fresh throughout with the introduction of new environments and additional threats. It’ll only take around three-hours or so to beat Infliction: Extended Cut, but it never feels like it really runs out of ideas or has filler content in place to flesh things out – it’s a constant stream of frights and story progression, which is something I really appreciated. It’s also worth noting that this is the ‘Extended Cut’ which brings with it a ‘New Game Plus’ mode post-completion with new puzzles and an additional ending, so there’s something extra for anyone who played the original release on PC or who fancy another playthrough.”

One area where the Nintendo Switch version of Infliction: Extended Cut does feel different is with its visuals, with the resolution taking a hit and a slight drop in quality to be found across both the environments and its objects. In fairness, nothing in the game ever looks bad by any means and it can actually look quite impressive in places, but you will notice a little bit of blurriness and jagged edges in the environment here and there – especially when playing on the Nintendo Switch’s handheld mode. I’m sure it won’t bother Nintendo Switch gamers too much, but I just think that the drop in visual fidelity felt a little bit more obvious to me after already spending time with the game on the PlayStation 4 where it did look and feel better to play.

At least it has launched with less technical faults though, with the audio issues that plagued the PlayStation 4 version of the game completely fixed this time around. Sure, it still has the occasional graphical glitch (I actually got stuck in a door this time and even had the in-game camera freeze up on me at one point), but they’re few and far between and don’t cause as many problems as they did for me previously. The frame rate was consistent too, with no obvious drops to be found that made the game stutter at all. Overall, it’s a pretty impressive port, even if it does have some imperfections.

Developer: Caustic Reality
Publisher: Blowfish Studios
Platform(s): Nintendo Switch (Reviewed), PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
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