Inferno - Beyond the 7th Circle Reviews

Finished the game Pros: -Enjoyed character customization and the control given to me for said character growth. -Enjoyed RNG rolls for gear. -Enjoyed combo build up in combat. -Enjoyed utilizing spells and status ailments for a varied combat experience. -Enjoyed the 1st 2/3rd of the game in terms of difficulty. -The setting is very unique and I feel it will likely become the new sensation as cyberpunk dies down. -Enjoyed punching out demon lords and the duke of hell with my bare hands 10/10 would fist hell spawn again~ Cons: -I only have a few complaints. Crafting is hardly worth pursuing. Regardless of armor type you will hit the armor cap long before hitting level 30 armor. -Previous point makes Heavy armors level 30 passive moot. -About 2/3rds of the Talents are fairly useless in terms of reliability, a handful easily out-perform the rest(My final talent had me just going for the exp per step as that contributed far more than anything that was left.). -Difficulty in the game is fun and well designed. I would have liked for demons to throw spells at me similar to what I threw at them. -Seems like Str/Speed never rolled on Legs/Torsos(I believe they're a myth.). -And last(and this is my most petty complaint/Personal flavor.) edge weapons are completely represented with axes <:O

I wanted to like this game. The art is good but the game itself is all over the place. The Magic system is cool. The crafting system is a disaster, nobody needs cluttered resources on a dungeon crawler map. The combat music is some of the most unfitting music I have ever heard in my life, I had to legit turn off the music in the menu because I could not stand the insane mood clash between the hellish monsters and generic "your step uncles rock band" music. The character creation tries to fool you that its deep but it could not be any simpler.

I was about to refund the game at exactly 117 minutes played, but I stuck with it and I'm glad I kept going. Inferno Beyond is like a grid-based, heavy metal love letter to the era of the early Ultima games with a level-by-doing system akin to Morrowind. If you want to get better with a skill from weapons to the magic system, you need to use it more. This lends itself to a painful first couple experiences, so you first few attempts might end in death, but the game has auto save systems which default to a save every 100 steps, so you'll never be sent too far back even if you go hours without saving. The first hour or two might seem really rough, but once you get a feel for how the game wants you to interact with it, it really can become a power trip. Keep your stamina high and defend before enemy attacks and you'll get by with some early-game rationing. Enemies won't respawn, but you can get a random encounter by resting without a campfire in the wild. From there, it becomes a demonic dungeon crawler with an enjoyable sense of progression! It isn't very clearly explained early on, but your current stamina and your speed stats have a direct effect on how often you or the enemy will get to take an action. If you are letting yourself run low on stamina by attacking over and over, the enemies will get the opportunity to attack you multiple times in a row. If you let it bottom out, you will get debuffed which makes you even less effective in a fight. Take your time, take the rest/defend as needed as not only do you recover stamina this way, but using defend decreases the chance for enemies to hit you by 20% With herbs respawning every midnight and other materials respawning somewhat randomly, a shop to buy and sell extra resources, and the ability to safely rest once you reach Shelter, the resource starvation of the first area or two can be mitigated entirely by using hunting traps to pass time outside of Shelter and gathering the nearby herbs and water. Keep what you need, sell off some excess, and head out into the world again with all the water, food, and campfire kits you need to press on! It took me somewhere around 25 hours to see the end screen for the first time, and I'm excited to get back in and try it on harder difficulties.

Awesome old school rpg with survival mechanics. There a couple clunky things with the ui but the game itself is pretty sweet. Been getting into an old school crpg mood lately and this fits the bill. The combat system is really cool and the game is very difficult (which is great). I like it!

Inferno: Beyond the 7th Circle is a 1st-person dungeon crawler in the style of games like Wizardry and older Might & Magic titles. There are also some light survival elements that can be a bit daunting when first starting the game, but get easier to manage as you go further along. It may be a bit hard for more modern gamers to get into this style of gameplay, especially if you've never delved into these types of games before; however, Inferno does a lot to at least create some quality of life improvements to make the game a bit easier to swallow. PROS: +A fantastic atmosphere with some great art direction and enemy designs +Character creation has a lot of depth. You can create several types of builds, from tanky, heavy-hitting melee types, quick and powerful unarmed combatants, spell-casting classes with several different magic schools to choose from, or any combination of the above +Your character improves skills through use, so there are no strict classes; your character can be built in whatever way you see fit +Detailed auto-map always displayed and can be expanded at any time by casting a low-level spell +No random encounters, enemies and bosses are visible on the map and can be prepared for in advance or avoided altogether +Some very clever puzzles that require just enough sleuthing to solve, but never feel overwhelming in their complexity. +Has an old-school charm that will please fans of older dungeon-crawlers CONS -While there is a story, it stays in the background for a lot of the game. -Combat, while enjoyable, can get repetitive due to lack of enemy variety. I was fully expecting some range-users or spellcasting enemies in the later parts of the game, but every enemy including bosses are melee attackers -The survival elements can be overwhelming in the beginning of the game, yet by the end you'll be flush with resources and that part of the game just becomes a minor annoyance that breaks up your exploration. OVERALL: I very much enjoyed this game. I can see myself going back to it to play through with different character builds and to use Hereditary points, which are bonus points you get by completing achievements within the game (Kill 100 monsters, so on) to give an extra boost to new characters you create. I loved the dark atmosphere and enemy designs. I just wish there were more attack varieties among the enemies and that the survival elements were a bit better balanced throughout the entire play through. Highly recommended for dungeon-crawl fans PRO TIP: [spoiler]If you're struggling in the early game, the Speed stat is your best friend. I played an unarmed character boosting speed and strength and was overpowered by the mid game.[/spoiler]

I really wanted to love this game, swear to God, but just can't. The first Inferno game was fairly... bad. There are no better words for that, but this one is a definite improvement over the first game. Still, falls short in multiple areas. It is atmospheric for sure, looks nice, plays fairly well, but jeez, it has some very serious issues. Quality of life and control wise. First and foremost it's too heavy on RNG. To the extent, that a single, medium tier enemy is going to wreck your face or at least drain 50-60% of your HP. Or you just kill the enemy with barely any scratches. The RNG works to such an extreme that it can seriously fuck up your gameplay. Sometimes I had an enemy getting 7 moves before I could do something. The whole initiative system is super obfuscated, I don't doubt that there is logic behind it, but it's never explained. If you are unlucky, after resting you can immediately get a bleed debuff during a fight, which means extra HP loss during combat. It can be treated only by resting again, which consumes precious resources to the level, that you can stuck and won't be able to progress. Even if you come over this issue by save scumming, issues are dime by the dozen. The levels are literally labyrinths (which is fine, here comes the but ->), but the minimap is so small that it is super easy to get lost. So you always have to conjure the map, like every minute or so. I used the word conjure, because seeing the map is a spell. Which requires you to get into casting mode, then type the codeword for it, then you can see it. Fun for the first few times, then it becomes a pain in the ass to get into casting mode and cast the spell. Especially that it wastes mana, which you can spend on healing yourself. Other parts of the game are severely clumsy as well. If you gain a new level, you are not notified, have to manually check your status screen. Or memorize the next XP level and remember it. Loading a game requires you to confirm it, by clicking to the rightmost corner of the screen. Super uncomfortable and redundant. Comparing obtained and equipped gear is a pain in the ass, there is a 3-5 seconds long loading screen between menus (WTF, on a high-end gaming PC). Resting requires fireplace, which you can craft from wood (moderately rare resource) and flint (quite rare). You can place a fireplace anywhere, but when you try to rest, you may be notified that an enemy is nearby. Which means, that you just wasted precious resources (even if there is a wall between you and the enemy, seemingly the code is only looking for the number of squares between you and the foe). Lockpicking gives you a very short timeframe to read strings of up/down/left/right symbols on the screen and type it on your arrow keys. I have lower arm muscle issues/injuries and even with maximum level of lockpicking, I literally had pain to unlock locks. Which is random generated as well, so you can end up with walk in the park combination or pain in the ass. In all fairness, it's not a bad game, but feels like someone wanted to reproduce golden era dungeon crawlers with happily reproducing their issues and lack of consideration for playability as well. It's a shame, since the game is clearly a labor of love.

Oh my God. I love this game. It is a love letter to the classic dungeon exploring rpg games from way-back-when. It's dark, atmospheric, and the monsters are just grotesque and creepy. I love the spell casting system and how the battles work, you have to decide what will help you in that battle - should you strike, or should you defend? Of course I've died plenty of times in the game, but that was from my own user error. My only complaint is that I had no idea that you didn't have to camp in order to rain health and magic, I didn't even notice the rest button until someone pointed it out in one of my videos. Other than that, phenomenal game, 9/10. Speaking of! If you want to see my first run of the game, check it out here: https://youtu.be/ZQtHyndVjUU

The Idea is good but the food and water restriction gives you just a few extra steps making it impossible to search every thing... (not good for a compleation-ist style play) Running out of food forces you to keep pushing forward into stronger monsters you Will have difficulty with, Just doesn't allow me to play the way I'd like to.

I am really enjoying this! I've just lost most of the day playing, first the demo, then buying the full game. I'm a fan of classic blobbers/gridders such as Eye of the Beholder, Lands of Lore and more recent titles such as Legend of Grimrock, Operencia and Undercroft. I just love this genre, and this developer has created an awesome familiar, yet fresh experience with this game. There are a few issues: A loading screen pops up when you hit escape after looking at inventory or any other screen, yet does not pop up when you use the mouse to minimise the screens. Odd, and probably a bug that will be fixed. The gameplay is good and classic and will be familiar to gridder fans, yet it does have a few twists. You need to plan, otherwise you will find yourself running out of rations and water and dying. But you get the hang of it, and that's part of the fun. It reminds me a little of undercroft (originally by rake in the grass), one of my all time faves. Enemies are a bit repetitive, but combat is interesting and unique. I'm really enjoying it. Two thumbs up.

The sequel to "The 7th Circle" is an improvement in every imaginable way. "Inferno..." adds a variety of above ground and underground areas and all new grotesque inhabitants to combat. The game is a strategic crawler where every battle needs to be thought out and resources need to be intelligently utilized. The progression system is pretty unique. Leveling up gives you a combination of skill points and a deck system with random stat increases. You can shape your character any way you want to cater to your preferred play style. My favorite part about the gameplay? NO CONVOLUTED PUZZLES! It seems many newer crawlers are unnecessarily filled with maddeningly gimmicky puzzles. The art style in the game really sets it apart from others in the genre. If you're sick of anime and enjoy dark horror/gore, you're in for a treat. The audio is perfectly mood setting and fits the dark, grotesque world to a "t". Needles to say, I highly recommend "Inferno" to all fans of the dark and morbid!