Almost 14 years ago, a young nine year old me begged my mum to let me purchase a game on the (at the time) beautiful iPhone 3GS, and little did I know how much that game would still mean to me to this day. That game? Infinity Blade.
At the time, I still frequently played on my beloved PS3, running LittleBigPlanet for hours on end as I explored various user-generated levels. However, I also played various games on the iPhone, which were mostly small indie titles that you could waste hours on, but kept the gameplay loop simple enough for the iPhone to handle.
I never really thought such a small device would be capable of jaw-dropping experiences. And, I really doubt most of the people at the time thought so either. However, one game stood out over the masses as proof that excellent, fun, and graphically mind-blowing games could be on iPhone.
Released in late 2010, Infinity Blade was originally made by a small team as a way to showcase Epic Games' Unreal Engine capabilities on an iPhone. At the time, you couldn't just pick up one of the best phone controllers and expect triple-A levels of gaming, unlike being able to play Death Stranding on the latest iPhone. Games were designed with the small touchscreens in mind, and Infinity Blade was a great showcase on what you could do.
The gameplay loop was simple, yet intense. It was practically a Dark Souls game before FromSoftware's epic franchise was at large in the gaming sphere. You were required to focus on enemy attack patterns in order to perfect your dodges and blocks, leaving your difficult opponent open for your various slashes as you made your way up to Raidriar, the God King.
It was fairly intense considering my experience with most games during that time period. Each time you played through the game, another descendant of the bloodline would attempt to defeat the God King in order to stop the cycle of revenge. Being low on health and dealing those finishing blows against strong opponents always felt so satisfying, and upgrading your gear to make things easier always felt so rewarding.
But that's not all, despite being a mere tech demo, Infinity Blade was oozing with lore and secrets to uncover, which was further expanded upon with the release of two sequels. Unfortunately, the series was removed from the App Store due to a lack of updates for the newer hardware, and the series was mostly forgotten, despite making a major appearance in Epic Games' Fortnite.
However, thanks to the work of some video game preservationists, Infinity Blade has been ported to PC using the source code for the original experience. It's not just a 1:1 creation of the game though, as the anonymous developer added the ability to change key bindings, enhanced the visuals, and more to make your trip back to Infinity Blade worthwhile.
There's no doubt that, after getting used to it on a big screen, that Infinity Blade's PC port is a lot easier than the original game. However, I'm just extremely happy to see the series in both a familiar and a new way. It's like being hit with a wave of nostalgia, like when Anton Ego from Ratatouille eats Remi's dish.
This is definitely the best way to play the first entry in the game as opposed to finding some sideloading workarounds. Using the mouse for slashing is a fairly strange way of playing the game, but it still has the same excitement that the iPhone version of Infinity Blade gave me, plus seeing Raidriar kill the first person of the bloodline is still an exhilarating start to the game.
It's such a shame that Infinity Blade met its fate after the third entry, as this series was phenomenal for the time. I actually think the major issue that later sequels suffered from is too much exposition and story-focus. Infinity Blade's simple story that was a shell for the lore and potential narrative at play was easier to digest in smaller doses.
I genuinely think this game could've continued on for years, but alas, Epic Games clearly didn't see enough profit from the iPhone exclusive to keep it going. Considering the success of the Souls series, I really would love an Infinity Blade 4, for old time's sake. At least we have this faithful PC port, since Epic Games won't do it.