This might come from a barrage of bullets or a rapid salvo of sword strikes, but Shelia also comes equipped with a cutting-edge Exo Arm. Time it right and you can also stun enemies and tear a big chunk out of their armor bar, leaving them open to a devastating combo. The sword functions as a defensive tool as well, letting you deflect melee attacks and send projectiles right back at your foes. There's still a limited range so this doesn't negate the need to use firearms, but it does make it easier to juggle enemies once they're suspended in midair. The sword can also be upgraded to the point where it flings cleaving projectiles of its own with each swing, giving you the opportunity to utilize the deadly blade without having to be within touching distance. The Devil May Cry style ratings might be gone, but you can still use Shelia's light blade to launch enemies into the air and then blast them out of the sky with all the gusto of Dante. Headshots are met with a lofty blood spurt and a satisfying slow-motion flourish, while combining Shelia's firearms with her assortment of other abilities is a genuine treat. The shotgun is a bit of wet squib, but the rest of Shelia's modest arsenal is fun to use. The specifics of the story will be the last thing on your mind once you start slicing and dicing your way through Bright Memory: Infinite's enemies. Thankfully, keeping track of all this sci-fi gibberish isn't entirely necessary. Whether this is intentional or due to something being lost in translation is unclear, but it's difficult to care about anything that's happening either way. Trying to glean any of this information from the opaque narrative is an impossible task. If this sounds like complete nonsense, it's worth noting that the only way I know all of this is because I looked up the game's synopsis. It doesn't take long for Shelia to discover that this strange phenomenon is also connected to some mysterious history between two interconnected worlds. You play as Shelia, an agent for the Supernatural Science Research Organisation, who's sent in to investigate. The reworked story revolves around a strange phenomenon occurring in the skies around the world that has scientists baffled. It's still a fairly short experience with some glaring caveats, but the journey to its conclusion is more enjoyable than the original game.
Instead, Bright Memory: Infinite feels less like a derivative fan game and more like something entirely its own a frenetic FPS with satisfyingly punchy combat that mixes both gunplay and melee abilities into one audacious whole. Gone are the Devil May Cry-esque style ratings and blatant allusions to Dark Souls. Only tangential elements like character and organization names remain the rest may as well be an entirely new project-which can only be a good thing. That's where Bright Memory: Infinite comes in, and it's a vastly different game from the 2019 original. A sequel was due to follow, but these plans were scrapped when Xiancheng opted instead to remake the original game and expand on both its gameplay and story.
Zeng Xiancheng created Bright Memory in their spare time, and considering what a huge undertaking that is, it wasn't too surprising when the game clocked in at around 40 minutes in length. The original game-simply titled Bright Memory-gained some traction when it launched on Steam Early Access in 2019 for having flashy visuals that rivaled triple-A games in graphical fidelity, despite the fact that it was the work of a single developer. Beginning a review with a history lesson is usually a bit of a faux pas, but in this case it's integral to understanding what exactly Bright Memory: Infinite is.