Developer: Grahfmetal, Komi Games Inc
Publisher: Komi Games Inc
Platforms:
Release Date: Out Now
Key Provided: Yes
Sci-fi horror has a long and distinguished history, going back to the black-and-white movie that allegedly inspired Alien, It! The Terror From Beyond Space (1958). When videogames exploded in the Eighties, we had further examples, most notably the official adaptations of the aforementioned film series, plus Project Firestart (on the Commodore 64) and the arcade game Xenophobe. Infested DX, a shiny new update of the developer’s original from 2016, takes its cue, plot-wise, from those latter two games, mixing the themes and horror with a late-Eighties point-and-click engine.
Infested begins with the player approaching Space Station Alpha-5, a scientific facility that’s been sending expeditions down to the surface of a nearby planet, Pink Behemoth and its moon, Warlock. In the horror tradition (think Aliens, for starters), contact has been lost with the scientists on Pink Behemoth, and with many of Alpha-5’s staff evacuated as a precaution, it’s up to you, as a military shuttle pilot, to lend what assistance you can.
When you arrive, a nervous scientist fills you in. The station’s infested with a mysterious plant that no doubt hitched a ride back on one of the scientists returning from the planet. Your first task is to help them, but you soon find the scientist collapsed, a glutinous creature attached to their face. As the situation worsens, the plan changes to ‘escape’, via the shuttle you arrived on. Only, the key’s gone missing…
Throughout Infested, the player unlocks more and more of the space station, even venturing outside to faff about with an antenna. The game’s presented in a classic retro RPG style, with a small window displaying a static image of your location. To the right is your inventory (with several pages), while below sits the control panel and a mini map. You move your character by clicking the squares on this, or the relevant direction on the main screen. All the commands are self-explanatory: Exam, Open, Use, and Take, while Self enables you to perform actions such as donning a spacesuit and so on. As the game portentously warns, you’ll die often, and in most cases, nastily too, as the alien menace quickly takes over the station.
Infested DX has a resolutely old-school feel to its gameplay, and that may feel counter-intuitive to modern audiences. For example, the game’s opening screen walks you through getting a multi-tool for your colleague. This involves ‘using’ the small latch on the red storage box, before ‘opening’ the box and finally ‘taking’ the multi-tool and ‘using’ it on the scientist. That’s as clumsy and long-winded as it sounds, especially when movement requires its own specific button tap before the desired directional click. Fortunately, you can right-click to cancel any current command, enabling you to click-move instantly; but even as we closed in on Infested’s conclusion, we were still trying to ‘open’ walls or ‘take’ doors. It adds up to a slow-burner of a game that requires a considerable dash of persistence before you get the hang of it. There’s also a good twist early on, that’ll come back to haunt the player.
Another aspect that modern gamers may dislike is its sudden deaths, often without warning—although you could argue that clicking on that slobbering demonic monster is obviously going to get you dissolved and eaten. But as far as we’re concerned, it’s all part of the fun, and Infested’s gleefully graphic descriptions only make it more so. You’ll need decent observation skills and a keen sense of logic to progress, but even then, some of the game’s puzzles seem perversely nebulous. Again, modern gamers, yada, yada, yada.
Charmingly retro, yet laced with a dash of unpleasant nastiness, Infested DX is a superb update of the original, frustrating in places, but an atmospheric and formidable game that should appeal to fans of point-and-click and alien horror.
Pros: Beautifully presented; a compelling story and narrative; decent runtime; lots of locations.
Cons: Frustrating at first; abstruse puzzles.
CONCLUSION
Not the easiest game to get into, but if you can persevere with its slightly unwieldy control scheme, Infested DX has an intense, evocative story at its heart.
