We discuss Bright Memory, the short introductory chapter to Bright Memory Infinite, a visceral combination of first-person shooter and Hack n slash.
Without the slightest hint of doubt, one of the most shocking moments of the Inside Xbox Series X held on May 7, came from Bright Memory: Infinite. It is no coincidence that Microsoft chose this powerful title to open the event where for the first time we were shown real gameplay of the titles that we will be able to enjoy on its next new generation console. This spectacular hybrid of first-person shooter and hack and slash of visceral action and impressive technical finish was one of the titles that best captured the attention of the player eager for new-generation experiences. To open your mouth, we analyze this kind of introductory chapter to the aforementioned title available on Steam at a very tight price of 8.19 euros, known as Bright Memory.
And if this powerful fps appears to be portentous, even more so it turns out to be if we consider that it was made by a single person, initially during their spare time. Under the pseudonym FYQD Studio, a unique individual based in China has created this spectacular action piece. Initially conceived as a trilogy of short episodes, around 30-45 minutes which is what Bright Memory lasts for, and initially released under the format of early access or Early Access on Steam, the enormous success of this first chapter has encouraged its creator to discard the episodic format in pursuit of a single homogeneous release of longer duration and packaging, that Bright Memory Infinite with which Microsoft opened its show. The good news is that whoever buys Bright Memory before the launch of Infinite will be able to access it without having to pay an extra penny.
When describing what this first-person shooter game offers us, we are going to be ambitious, because we believe that the occasion deserves it. Bright Memory is a brutal and fresh fusion of the Firt Person Shooters genre with Hack and slash. Taking things from games like Doom, Shadow Warrior or that Bulletstorm that we liked so much at the time, adds to the mix the possibility of executing a good variety of sword shots, while trying to make the biggest and most spectacular shot and hit combos and we are rewarded for it. All this seasoned with a spectacular technical finish really high, especially if we can activate ray tracing by having a graphics card compatible with RTX technology. The only bad thing comes from what has been said that we are looking at a mere introduction to the final product, with a duration of around 30 minutes, although as we will already comment, given the attractiveness of its playable proposal, it invites to be enjoyed once after another .
Science fiction to the nth degree
The protagonist of the adventure is the seasoned Sheila, an agent of the SRO organization, which is dedicated to the investigation of the supernatural. The action takes place in the year 2020, when the SRO agency discovers a thousand-year-old sword known as Kanshou and Bakuya, which is imbued with a substance known as "The soul of Jiu Xuan" capable of bringing the dead back to life. This enormously powerful relic attracts the attention of the terrorist organization known as SAI, which uses a state-of-the-art device called the Quantum Transporter to infiltrate the SRO facilities.
In a vicious attempt to stop the attack, Agent Sheila confronts the invaders, but mistakenly causes the Quantum Transporter to send the agent and terrorists to a mysterious floating island located at the North Pole, which has remained in a hidden lethargy for a thousand years. Once there, our protagonist will realize that she will have to face a monstrous legion of beasts and undead revived by the power of the legendary sword that she must try to recover by all means.
As we can see, the history of Bright Memory bets on the most stark and past science fiction in the best Asian tradition. It is also true that once involved, it almost completely goes into the background, and in any case, in the half hour that this prologue lasts, there is no room for many flourishes either, although it is appreciated to have such an interesting background at the same time of crazy as an excuse for the visceral shot salad that we are going to enjoy.
Shoot and tear apart
In addition to its impeccable graphic finish, where Bright Memory shines the most is in a combat system full of possibilities and really effective and fun. Agile, full of options and varied, the combat of Bright Memory is a real joy that invites us to practice and improve our performance when it comes to smashing the waves of creature of the underworld that will face us. And as previously reviewed, here we will not only shoot everywhere, we will also have the possibility of executing our enemies with different stab shots, and not only that, since the game invites us to combine each other to perform devastating and lethal combos that increase our score and allow us to unlock new abilities.
Among others, the influence of that blessed wonderful madness that is Bulletstorm has been commented. Well, this comment is not trivial, since as in that one, in Bright Memory we have a kind of energy whip, which in addition to attracting enemies to us to be able to dispatch them over short distances, will allow us to move around the stage and perform various special actions. It goes without saying that this whip will be a fundamental tool in carrying out the most lethal combos.
For hand-to-hand combat we have a good variety of sword slashes, as well as special actions with energy waves deployed by the latest technology devices we have. Sheila's movement is tremendously agile, with a dash or side slide to get rid of our enemies, something really useful since many of them tackle us more in close combat than in medium distance shots. At older, we have a series of unlockable skills and character improvements with the points we get by playing based on our performance deployed in combat. Such skills include timing or attacking with energy beams, as well as strengthening our protagonist at various points.
Where the title does falter somewhat is in the arsenal that he puts at our disposal, this parco being too much. And it is that we only have three options, a pistol, an assault rifle and a shotgun, and although they do their job, some other possibility in this field would have been appreciated. In any case, the enormous range of combat possibilities that the title offers us manages to alleviate this arms shortage and make it so that once we are fully scrubbed we will not miss it.
In addition to the combat, in the half hour that this prologue lasts we have had to solve a small puzzle and face some light section of platform, so we assume that these elements will be present with greater load in the final title. Faced with the short duration, the truth is that the game invites us to play this little introduction over and over again, unlocking new combat skills and perfecting our combat performance, trying to maximize our combos and score obtained, in a very arcade approach that bets on a generous and very enjoyable replayability. The title only has texts in English, Chinese, Japanese and German, the absence of texts in Spanish not being a serious impediment to fully enjoy the game.
One Man Army
While we expect a lot more from the new generation, and in many ways Bright Memory isn't even a technically leading title by today's standards, the staging that the FYQP game boasts is surprising and always spectacular. Let us not forget that we are dealing with the work of a single person, who also while developing the first bars of his work did not even earn a living from it. Graphically we are facing a very competent title, and that knows how to hide its shortcomings to show a very successful graphic display on the screen and that always looks more than it is. The successful combination of artistic direction, lighting and textures makes the pyrotechnic show always really high. More quality is missing in the modeling of the characters, this being one of the aspects where the title makes its humble origin more noticeable.
The on-screen show reaches its peak if we own a card compatible with Nvidia's RTX technology, as the title makes more than generous use of ray tracing to elevate the visual display of Bright Memory to heights to some extent. they allow us to glimpse something of a fairly new generation. In short, we are looking at a visual gem that, although it looks more for how good it looks than on a technical level (except for Raytracing), it displays more than spectacular and convincing benefits on screen. At the sound level we have a cane music approach similar to the one that Capcom uses in the saga of his favorite demon hunter, with the music appearing with special emphasis in the moments of more action to enhance the direct and visceral focus of the title.
