Ad Infinitum

What I expected and wanted: An intriguing blend of horror and action as you play a soldier who has nightmares during the war that bleed into reality and soon he rationalizes his terrible acts by seeing the enemies as monster from his dreams, dehumanizing them until he suddenly realizes what he's done an it haunts him. A story-heavy game with a fair amount of action and horror mostly through it characters and psychological aspects. What I got: uh...wander around a house or some trenches and read notes about how war sucks. Sometimes run from monsters. Ad Infinitum could have been something very special, and it sells itself as that through marketing, but in reality, it is generic horror game walking simulator slop. In Ad Infinitum you walk around, perform basic, limited interactions, and get jump-scared. Wow, thrilling. Also: I dropped this game much earlier than I normally would have, but I had to restart areas three separate times due to getting completely stuck on parts of the environment and being unable to move or progress. I am not willing to put up with game-breaking issues in a game so mediocre, sorry.

Great game, I did a presentation on it for my intro to the creative arts class. Fantastic creature designs, solid puzzles, level design and atmosphere was on point. And as an autistic guy whose special interest is the first world war, I can appreciate the symbolism and references. I bought this on sale for like $3 but I also bought the art book because I love the visual design and all the intricate detail and symbolism behind it, and wanted to support the devs. My ONLY major gripe with this game is the soundtrack. The music itself is fine, good even, but it absolutely does not fit the tone of the game at any point. However I just played it with the music off and it was fine. Music in survival horror games is tricky to pull off because it can very easily break immersion if the sound is not diegetic (plausibly occurring in-universe and audible by the characters), so in my opinion survival horror soundtracks should contain mostly ambient sound, and if there are conventional instruments used (piano, orchestral) they should be used sparingly to exemplify certain areas/scenes, such as safe rooms in Resident Evil. A composer who does this fantastically in my opinion is Mikko Tarmia who did the soundtracks for the Amnesia and Penumbra games. Besides that, this is one of my favourite games about WWI, and I love the characters who symbolise the different types of people who were affected by the war (those who were horrifically disfigured, those who lost children, those who were raised to be nationalist and idealise war and went on to learn the uncomfortable truth, etc). I cannot recommend it enough to people who love artsy puzzle psychological/survival horror games, it will confuse you at first but will leave you thinking for weeks about the implications of it all. GREAT GAME 👍 EDIT: Also!! Go to settings and switch the dub to German. The lip syncing is synced to the German track but it's set to English by default.

A word war themed horror game. Involves a lot of puzzle solving and stealth but mixes in plenty of action. The story is a little confusing but interesting.

[h1]A review that turned a full 180...[/h1] Originally I gave Ad Infinitum a negative review after 90 minutes of playtime... [b]I was wrong. [/b] This is a game that should be experienced. Thank you to the developers for making this game. I needed it. Perhaps more than I would have liked to admit at the beginning. As someone whose family (and myself) have been tragically affected by war, this game was very emotional for me. But it took a while to let those emotions be. I know the game won't have the same effect on everyone. There are things people who haven't been through the destruction and tragedy of war won't understand in the same way. But perhaps that's why it should be played, to give that little bit of perspective. This part is more about the game itself [h2]The gameplay and story[/h2] The beginning 1.5 - 2.5 hours are a dull to an extend, but trust me keep going. I'm glad I did. The writing starts drawing you in, the level design starts to make more sense and the gameplay gets a lot more intersting. It felt like a walking simulator, especially at te beginning with lmited level design but it connected really nicely in the later levels. And the scares get up by a lot, in a quality way where the writing, music, incredible sound design and design of environments all lead to a very unique conceptual dread and terror that is not comparable to many other horror games. The story needs to be played completely to have the full effect. Lots of it gets lost in the confussion in the beginning but the game manages to incorporate so many emotional and though-provoking ideas into what is essentially a not so long game. At times I would have likes to have more interactability like Amnesia and freedom in movement, but wasn't a major hindrance in the end. In the end even some lmiting level design made sense later when you knew the reasons behind it. Generally, a game that keeps getting better the closer you get to the end. Once more, a shoutout to the devs. It really was a passion project and I'm happy to have played it!

Incredibly slow and boring, if I would have known this was a walking sim I wouldn't have bought it. 90% of this game is walking around looking at stuff and reading endless notes about how your parents don't get along.

This is one leans to the better side of the realm of Survival horror walking sim type games. Now that said it definitely isn't perfect, it drags on a bit here and there but if you are a fan of these style of games I would recommend this one as at least it't not hot garbage like a majority of the genre is these days.

A very solid horror experience. The story telling was marvellous and had me engaged form beginning to end. Creature design is really intricate and environmental design is beautiful. Also need to give some extra love to the soundtrack: it really lifts the entire experience and I can not imagine the game without it.

This game is a truly hard game to review. This game is basically a walking sim like alot of other reviews say it is , but with a story that deals with Survivors Guilt, PTSD and other things that soldiers faced at the end of The Great War. This game is truly not for everyone but i highly recommend it for anyone interested in it. It is a truly special game that I absolutely loved.

It's a game like Layers of Fear but with a WW1 story and a couple of boss fights. The story is dark, dramatic and sad. Good game 👍👍

This game is GOOD. Like, REALLY GOOD. It's gritty, it's dark, and it doesn't gloss over the realities of war and the horrors a soldier in WWI was likely to have faced. There are no rose colored glasses. History meets fiction for a phenomenal story of a [very] misguided family, war, PTSD, moral issues, grief, and so much more. The atmosphere is a thing of beauty, and the monsters are just dangerous enough to be scary without being overwhelming. This is a game that doesn't rely on cheap jump scares, but instead a well-developed environment and tension to bring the fear level and immersion to the max. This story is going to live rent free in my brain forever now, and I am okay with this. What a phenomenal game. I put it up in the top ten on my horror shelf, next to a classic: Amnesia, The Dark Descent. This game is so gritty though that I would caution any veterans who saw wartime to proceed carefully with this game, it may not be for you.

At first I just didn't want to keep playing the game, somehow I wasn't able to get attached emotionally to the main hero but today I decided to continue from where I left off and oh boy was that the best decision about this game. To be short, this game truly deserves every penny and don't let initial experience be deceive, the endings are amazing and developers send STRONG MESSAGE which is valuable. Be sure to play and support developers as they really put heart into this game crafting it. Thanks developers for such an amazing experience

ok so im not one for games like this, but im not really sure how to describe this game. for the most part it's a walking sim with a really good atmosphere, when there are Munsters its great. most of what you do is walking, but it has a good story. the only thing that holds it back for me is the puzzles, not that they'er hard but im not good at them. i went into this game unsure but im leaveing fairly pleased.

Great game with an awesome story!

good

7.25/10

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