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Infinity Blade

January 01, 1970

Infinity Blade was an action role-playing game developed by Chair Entertainment and Epic Games and released through the Apple App Store on December 9, 2010. It was the first iOS video game to run on the Unreal Engine. In the game, the unnamed player character fights a series of one-on-one battles in a derelict castle to face the immortal God King. When in battle, players swipe the screen to attack and parry, and tap the screen to dodge and block enemy attacks. Upon defeat, the player restarts the game as the character's descendant with the same items and experience level.

Infinity Blade
App Store icon
Developer(s)
Publisher(s)Epic Games
Director(s)Donald Mustard
Producer(s)Simon Hurley
Designer(s)Donald Mustard
Programmer(s)
  • Scott K. Bowen
  • Geremy Mustard
Artist(s)Adam Ford
Writer(s)
  • Donald Mustard
  • Simon Hurley
Composer(s)Joshua Aker
EngineUnreal Engine 3
Platform(s)iOS
ReleaseDecember 9, 2010
Genre(s)Action role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

The game was developed by a team of twelve people, who took two months to make a playable demo and three more to finish the game. Infinity Blade was intended to demonstrate the new iOS version of the Unreal Engine, and to combine the combat of Karateka and Prince of Persia with the loneliness of Shadow of the Colossus. The game received four free expansions that added new equipment, endings, and game modes.

Infinity Blade was the fastest-grossing app in the history of iOS upon its release. It made US$1.6 million in its first four days, and over US$23 million by the end of 2011. It was well received by gaming critics. Reviews praised the graphics and compared the mobile game favorably to console games. Critics also praised the swipe-based combat system, but split opinions on the cyclical gameplay as either addictive or repetitive. Chair later released an arcade port and two sequels: Infinity Blade II and Infinity Blade III. Author Brandon Sanderson also wrote two novellas set between the games: Infinity Blade: Awakening and Infinity Blade: Redemption.

The game, along with its two sequels, was removed from the App Store on December 10, 2018, due to difficulties in updating the game for newer hardware.[1]

Gameplay edit

 
A screenshot showing combat in Infinity Blade. The character's and enemy's health bars are at the top of the screen, while the dodge and shield buttons are at the bottom; the special attack buttons are not visible.

In the primary portion of Infinity Blade, the player character travels a mostly linear path through a ruined castle and fights one-on-one battles with oversized enemies. The path through the castle is a series of discrete locations where the player can pan the camera around the stationary player character to view a fully three-dimensional area. The player taps locations highlighted onscreen to trigger either a short cutscene as the player character moves to the next location, or a sword battle with an enemy.[2] During combat, the player controls the character's sword by swiping a finger across the screen. Players can touch icons at the bottom of the screen to dodge attacks by ducking right or left, or to block attacks with a shield, which has a limited number of uses during a single battle. Players may also parry incoming attacks with an intercepting sword move that, for example, parries an attack from the left with a swipe to the left. Each of these three counters can leave the enemy vulnerable to counterattack for a short period,[3] but incorrect counters result in damage to the player character, as reflected in the health bar.[4] When players fail in battle en route to the God King, the game resets to the location preceding the previous battle. Enemies can perform attacks that cannot be parried or blocked—such as a shield bash—that must be dodged. Players use two special abilities via icons atop the screen: the Super Attack temporarily stuns the opponent, and magic heals or attacks as indicated by drawing a given symbol. Both require time to recharge after use. When attacking, the player can swipe in any direction, and can do specific attack combinations to deal extra damage.[5]

In addition to combat, there is also a mild role-playing component. An experience point system levels up the player character and their equipment (weapons, armor, shields, helms, and magic rings). Equipment pieces have special properties and a predetermined number of experience points required to master them. Mastering a piece of equipment increases its sale value but decreases the player's experience gain by 20%.[3][5] Upon leveling up or mastering a piece of equipment, players gain attribute points that can be allotted towards four character attributes: health, attack, shield power, or magic. Each point can only be allocated once and is a permanent upgrade to the character. Players can purchase new equipment using in-game money from sacks and treasure chests found throughout the castle, defeated enemies, and sales of unused equipment.[2][3] In-game money can be purchased with real money within the game.[6]

The game follows a cyclical narrative structure in which the protagonist and his descendants individually explore a castle in a quest to battle the primary antagonist, the immortal God King. In the game's introduction, the non-playable protagonist has just finished this quest, but is slain by the God King. The player then assumes the role of the dead protagonist's descendant as he starts his journey at the beginning of the castle. This cycle, called a bloodline, continues after the player finally faces the God King and either dies or wins.[3] The player may also choose to join the God King and terminate the cycle; upon doing so, the game resumes at the checkpoint before fighting the God King. Enemy difficulty increases with each bloodline cycle.[5] Another bloodline ending is unlocked after purchasing the Infinity Blade item: the sword is placed into a pedestal in the castle's underground dungeons and three doors open. After then defeating each of the three "Deathless"—immortal beings like the God King—of increasing difficulty found within, a final fourth door opens, and the player faces a mechanized warrior guarding the high-tech chamber where the God King is reborn whenever he is killed. Upon defeating the mechanized warrior, the chamber is revealed to be controlled by an ancestor of the player character, who chose to serve the God King.[2] After fighting the ancestor, the player character is told that the Infinity Blade can prevent immortals like the God King from resurrecting after death.[7] The player is then given the option of either starting the next bloodline as they do when defeated, or resetting the game and starting New Game+ mode, which resets all gold and item progression but maintains the character's experience level, letting the player remaster the items and level up even further.[8]

Expansions edit

Chair Entertainment released four expansions as free updates to the game. The first, released December 20, 2010, added a new enemy, equipment, and microtransactions. It also removed an experience level cap.[6] The second update, titled Infinity Blade: The Deathless Kings, was released on March 2, 2011, and added the dungeons as a second branch to the game's path. This expansion also added new equipment, enemies, and the second ending where the player character defeats his ancestor.[7] The third update, Infinity Blade: Arena, was released on May 19, 2011. It added the player vs. player "Arena Mode", a tiered combat game progression where one player fights as the hero and the other as an enemy from the game.[9] The update also included new equipment and a single-player version of Arena Mode called "Survival Mode".[10] On October 4, 2011, a fourth update added a new enemy and new equipment to coincide with the announcement of the forthcoming sequel Infinity Blade II.[11]

Development edit

 
Chair co-founder and creative director Donald Mustard at the 2011 Game Developers Conference

Infinity Blade was created by Chair Entertainment, a subsidiary company of Epic Games. In July 2010, Chair had both recently finished the Xbox Live Arcade game Shadow Complex and been acquired by Epic. Chair was brainstorming Kinect and Wii games, including an idea similar to Infinity Blade,[12][13] and Epic was nearing completion of an iOS version of the Unreal Engine 3 graphics engine and in need of a "killer game" to show it off.[12] Epic had previously licensed the engine for use in numerous console and personal computer games.[14] They asked Chair to develop a game for the engine in five months, with a playable demo for the Apple Special Event conference in two months. The team decided within a few days to work on the Infinity Blade concept, codenamed "Project Sword".[12][15] Instead of normal initial game development, where working prototypes test gameplay ideas, Chair spent the first week of development refining the gameplay concept on paper before beginning to code. Many of the core gameplay ideas were developed in their first few hours. Geremy Mustard, Chair's co-founder and technical director, estimates that the team cut two-thirds of that initial design due to lack of time. Refining the complex touch-based interface was complicated due to the Unreal Engine's incomplete status and the native iOS code library's lack of support for fast touch-based gameplay.[12] The five-month development was completed by a team of twelve people from Chair, with assistance from Epic.[16] In addition to Geremy Mustard, the team was composed of Chair co-founder and creative director Donald Mustard; Simon Hurley as producer; Joshua Andersen and Scott K. Bowen as programmers; Adam Ford as art director; Orlando Barrowes, Bert Lewis, Mike Low, Scott Stoddard, and Nathan Trewartha as artists and animators; Joshua Akers as composer; and Brandon Raul Campos as lead tester.[17]

The game's swipe-based swordplay was based on Donald Mustard's desire for unique gameplay based on nuanced sword fighting and parrying.[12] He described the game's influences as the combat of Karateka and Prince of Persia combined with the "lonely epicness" of Shadow of the Colossus.[18] Chair sought to develop an experience that could be picked up and played for a minute (a single battle) or half an hour (a bloodline). They felt that many other developers accustomed to consoles were wrong to make iOS games that required long-playing experiences to feel meaningful, and so Chair developed the bloodline concept as a natural breakpoint.[12] They also felt that mobile games like Infinity Blade with constant action elements went too long without giving the player time to relax and resulted in player exhaustion, and so Chair kept their battles short with brief cinematic pauses in longer battles.[18] Chair showed their playable demo at the Apple conference on September 1, 2010, after weeks of rehearsal, and attracted much attention to the game.[12][15] It was released on December 9, 2010. While Chair itself spent little on marketing, Apple used the game extensively in advertisements for its devices.[18]

The music for the game was composed by Josh Aker, who had written the music for previous Chair games. The soundtrack was intended by Aker to be "intense" during combat, but to vary between "serene" and "otherworldly" outside battle. It is a mixture of live and synthetic instrument performances. Cello and nyckelharpa were the primary instruments used. Aker wanted to have "avant-garde performances" for the recordings. The soundtrack was sold as a digital album, Infinity Blade: Original Soundtrack, through several online music retailers.[19] Chair began to develop the game's first update before the initial game was released. They intended only to add new monsters and features, but added the ability to purchase gold due to customer requests. Chair did not rebalance the game to incentivize in-app purchases. Work on The Deathless Kings update began immediately afterward. Chair felt that releasing several large, free updates to the game would increase their overall user base and result in more total sales due to word of mouth.[18]

Reception edit

Infinity Blade was noted for its sales at launch, selling more than 270,000 copies and making over US$1.6 million in its first four days—the "fastest-grossing app" ever released for iOS at the time.[25] By the end of 2011, it had made at least US$23 million in revenue.[26] Around fourteen months after the initial release, Chair noted that half of the game's sales were for the iPhone and half were for the iPad and iPod.[18] After releasing the sequel, Epic Games noted in 2012 that the series was Epic's most profitable by measure of revenue against person-hours spent in development.[27]

Infinity Blade was reviewed by several major gaming sites in addition to mobile game-focused sites. Critics praised the game's graphics heavily. IGN reviewer Hilary Goldstein said that it was "an absolute stunner for any handheld device and ushers in a new era of possibility for high-end graphics."[3] GamePro's Ryan Rigney called the game "downright gorgeous" and said that the graphics were almost at the level of an Xbox 360 game, which was echoed by John Meyer of Wired, who claimed that it had the best graphics of any iPad game.[22][28] The reviewer for Edge further praised the art direction, especially with regards to the enemy and armor designs.[21]

The gameplay was generally praised by reviewers, who typically found the combat engaging, but were split on the repetitive aspects of the game. 1UP.com's Matt Clark said that the sword gameplay "just feels right", while Mark Brown of Eurogamer said that the combat had an excitement factor that pushed players to keep on going for one more battle.[4][5] Tracy Erickson of Pocket Gamer described the swipe-based combat system as "easy to understand, though tough to master", and Nick Chester of Destructoid said that although the combat was not very complicated, it was fun to play.[2][23] The role-playing game elements were praised—Destructoid's Chester called them "satisfying", and IGN's Goldstein said that they added to the game's difficulty.[2][3] Brown's review for Eurogamer, however, said that while good they were not as engaging as the combat, and the Edge review dismissed them as minimal.[4][21] Reviewers had mixed opinions on the effectiveness of the bloodline system's repetition: Destructoid's Chester described it as addictive, and IGN's Goldstein agreed, but Erickson's review for Pocket Gamer said that the game had problems with repetition and Wired's Meyer dismissed it as "repetitive ... as the title suggests".[2][3][23][28] J. Nicholas Geist, writing for Kill Screen, focused his entire review on the cyclical nature of the game, treating its nature of repetition with small changes between each bloodline as a metaphor for life.[29] Most reviewers found themselves between the two extremes, with Brown of Eurogamer simultaneously describing it as "alarmingly repetitious" but still addictive and 1UP.com's Clark saying that enjoying the game required getting past the repetition, despite being "stellar".[4][5]

During the 14th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Infinity Blade for "Portable Game of the Year".[30]

Sequels and spin-offs edit

On October 28, 2011, Epic Games and Adrenaline Amusements released an arcade version of the game, Infinity Blade FX. The game is played on a 46-inch screen rigged with optical sensors to mimic a large iPhone or iPad screen. Each arcade stand contains up to three screens, and players can play against each other or in the single-player game.[31] A sequel to the iOS game, Infinity Blade II, was announced on October 4, 2011, during the Apple iPhone 4S keynote presentation. It was released on December 1, 2011, and features enhanced graphics, a new storyline, and new fighting styles.[32] A spinoff game, Infinity Blade: Dungeons, was in development for iOS by Epic Games subsidiary Impossible Games, but was cancelled in February 2013 when Impossible Games was shut down.[33] A final game in the trilogy, Infinity Blade III, was released on September 18, 2013.[34]

A novella by author Brandon Sanderson was released before both Infinity Blade II and III to serve as a story bridge between the games. Infinity Blade: Awakening was released as an e-book on October 4, 2011, to correspond with the announcement of Infinity Blade II. The story gives the protagonist of the first game a name, Siris, introduces the idea that the God King was one of multiple Deathless in the world, as is Siris, and has Siris and the assassin Isa journey to find the Worker of Secrets in order to kill the resurrected God King and the other Deathless.[35] The second e-book novella, Infinity Blade: Redemption, was released on September 9, 2013, just before the third game. In it, Siris and the God King escape from their imprisonment by the Worker of Secrets, while extensive flashbacks show the rise of the Deathless in a future-Earth analog. While Siris disrupts the Worker of Secret's plans, the God King confronts and is killed by the Worker.[36]

A Chinese version of the game for Xbox One and Android was published by Tencent Games on November 28, 2015.[37]

A day after Epic Games removed the Infinity Blade trilogy from the App Store, the titular weapon made a crossover appearance in the winter-themed seventh season of Fortnite Battle Royale as a unique, very powerful melee weapon that can be obtained in a match, granting any player who finds it devastating abilities and extra survivability, at the cost of being unable to use other items.[38] Three days later, however, Epic Games later "vaulted" the weapon over concerns that it was too overpowered.[39] Epic Games later brought back the Infinity Blade in February 2019 as a restricted item that is only available in the limited-time mode "Sword Fight", reducing its power and allowing multiple copies of it to be found from loot chests.[40]

References edit

  1. ^ "Infinity Blade Trilogy Says Goodbye". Official Infinity Blade Website. from the original on 2018-12-11. Retrieved 2018-12-13.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Chester, Nick (2010-12-09). "Review: Infinity Blade". Destructoid. from the original on 2012-10-31. Retrieved 2010-12-14.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Goldstein, Hilary (2010-12-08). . IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on 2012-06-05. Retrieved 2010-12-14.
  4. ^ a b c d e Brown, Mark (2010-12-14). "Infinity Blade Review". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. from the original on 2012-10-07. Retrieved 2010-12-14.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Clark, Matt (2010-12-10). . 1UP.com. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on 2013-02-05. Retrieved 2010-12-14.
  6. ^ a b Totilo, Stephen (2010-12-20). "Infinity Blade Update Tomorrow Lets You Buy Gold, Adds Santa". Kotaku. Gawker Media. from the original on 2012-10-18. Retrieved 2010-12-19.
  7. ^ a b Reed, Chris (2011-03-02). . IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on 2011-03-09. Retrieved 2012-01-16.
  8. ^ Buchanan, Levi (2010-12-08). "Updated: Infinity Blade Review". Slide to Play. Archived from the original on 2014-05-02. Retrieved 2014-05-02.
  9. ^ Nichelson, Brad (2011-05-19). "'Infinity Blade' Gets a Reduced Price and We Dive into the Arena". TouchArcade. from the original on 2014-05-03. Retrieved 2014-05-02.
  10. ^ Nelson, Randy (2011-05-17). "Infinity Blade 'Arena' update adds multiplayer, survivor modes this Thursday". Joystiq. AOL. from the original on 2012-04-17. Retrieved 2012-01-16.
  11. ^ Davis, Justin (2011-10-05). . IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on 2012-01-10. Retrieved 2012-01-16.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g . Edge. Future. 2013-04-21. Archived from the original on 2013-07-08. Retrieved 2014-03-17.
  13. ^ McElroy, Justin (2010-12-14). "Infinity Blade conceived as a Kinect game". Joystiq. AOL. from the original on 2012-01-18. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
  14. ^ Totilo, Stephen (2010-12-14). "More iPhone Games Will Soon Look This Good". Kotaku. Gawker Media. from the original on 2012-10-18. Retrieved 2010-12-14.
  15. ^ a b McWhertor, Michael (2010-09-01). "Project Sword Is Epic's First Unreal Engine iPhone Game". Kotaku. Gawker Media. from the original on 2012-10-16. Retrieved 2010-12-14.
  16. ^ McElroy, Justin (2010-12-14). "First Infinity Blade update next week, multiplayer coming soon". Joystiq. AOL. from the original on 2012-01-18. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
  17. ^ Chair Entertainment (2010-12-09). Infinity Blade. Epic Games. Scene: Credits.
  18. ^ a b c d e Nutt, Christian (2011-04-11). "Infinity Blade: A New Era Of Games". Gamasutra. UBM. from the original on 2012-11-09. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
  19. ^ "Infinity Blade II – Interview with Composer, Josh Aker". Epic Games. 2011-11-28. Archived from the original on 2012-06-22. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
  20. ^ "Infinity Blade Critic Reviews for iPhone/iPad". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. from the original on 2011-12-05. Retrieved 2012-01-10.
  21. ^ a b c . Edge. Future. 2010-12-13. Archived from the original on 2012-06-29. Retrieved 2012-01-10.
  22. ^ a b Rigney, Ryan (2010-12-09). . GamePro. IDG. Archived from the original on 2010-12-16. Retrieved 2014-03-27.
  23. ^ a b c Erickson, Tracy (2010-12-09). "Infinity Blade Review". Pocket Gamer. Steel Media. from the original on 2013-09-01. Retrieved 2012-12-18.
  24. ^ Hodapp, Eli (2010-12-08). "'Infinity Blade' Review – It Doesn't Get Much More "Must-Have" Than This". TouchArcade. from the original on 2021-07-31. Retrieved 2018-07-04.
  25. ^ Parkin, Simon (2010-12-13). "Infinity Blade Becomes Fastest-Grossing iOS App". Gamasutra. UBM. from the original on 2012-11-09. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
  26. ^ Brown, Nathan (2012-01-05). . Edge. Archived from the original on 2012-01-09. Retrieved 2012-01-05.
  27. ^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (2012-06-27). "Infinity Blade is Epic's most profitable franchise ever". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. from the original on 2012-11-20. Retrieved 2014-04-05.
  28. ^ a b Meyer, John Mix (2011-03-02). "iPad's 10 Biggest, Baddest Games Reviewed". Wired. Condé Nast. from the original on 2013-09-10. Retrieved 2014-03-27.
  29. ^ Geist, J. Nicholas (2011-05-20). "Review: Infinity Blade". Kill Screen. from the original on 2013-09-16. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
  30. ^ "2011 Awards Category Details Portable Game of the Year". interactive.org. Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
  31. ^ Gaudiosi, John (2011-10-13). . IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on 2012-01-09. Retrieved 2012-01-16.
  32. ^ Gaudiosi, John (2011-10-04). . IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on 2012-03-30. Retrieved 2011-10-04.
  33. ^ Davis, Justin (2013-07-11). "Infinity Blade: Dungeons is Officially Canceled". IGN. Ziff Davis. from the original on 2013-08-12. Retrieved 2014-03-17.
  34. ^ Davis, Justin (2013-09-17). "Infinity Blade III Review- The Paramount iPhone Epic Concludes". IGN. Ziff Davis. from the original on 2014-01-16. Retrieved 2014-03-17.
  35. ^ Sanderson, Brandon (2011-10-04). "Infinity Blade Awakening". Dragonsteel Entertainment. from the original on 2013-01-16. Retrieved 2012-01-16.
  36. ^ Sanderson, Brandon (2013-08-20). "Infinity Blade: Redemption". Dragonsteel Entertainment. from the original on 2014-02-09. Retrieved 2014-03-17.
  37. ^ Jou, Eric (2014-11-24). "The Xbox One's Getting an Infinity Blade Game... In China". Kotaku. Gawker Media. from the original on 2015-12-08. Retrieved 2015-12-02.
  38. ^ The Fortnite Team (11 December 2018). "Fortnite v7.01 Patch Notes". Fortnite. Epic Games. from the original on 13 December 2018. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  39. ^ Thier, Dave (14 December 2018). "Fortnite' Is Vaulting The Infinity Blade, And Epic Is Sorry About It". Forbes. from the original on 20 January 2019. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
  40. ^ Binkowski, Justin (16 February 2019). "Infinity Blade returns to Fortnite in Sword Fight LTM". Dot Esports. from the original on 17 February 2019. Retrieved 16 February 2019.

External links edit

  •   Media related to Infinity Blade at Wikimedia Commons
  • Official website
  • Unofficial PC port of the game, via the Internet Archive

January 01, 1970
infinity, blade, action, role, playing, game, developed, chair, entertainment, epic, games, released, through, apple, store, december, 2010, first, video, game, unreal, engine, game, unnamed, player, character, fights, series, battles, derelict, castle, face, . Infinity Blade was an action role playing game developed by Chair Entertainment and Epic Games and released through the Apple App Store on December 9 2010 It was the first iOS video game to run on the Unreal Engine In the game the unnamed player character fights a series of one on one battles in a derelict castle to face the immortal God King When in battle players swipe the screen to attack and parry and tap the screen to dodge and block enemy attacks Upon defeat the player restarts the game as the character s descendant with the same items and experience level Infinity BladeApp Store iconDeveloper s Chair Entertainment Epic GamesPublisher s Epic GamesDirector s Donald MustardProducer s Simon HurleyDesigner s Donald MustardProgrammer s Scott K BowenGeremy MustardArtist s Adam FordWriter s Donald MustardSimon HurleyComposer s Joshua AkerEngineUnreal Engine 3Platform s iOSReleaseDecember 9 2010Genre s Action role playingMode s Single player multiplayer The game was developed by a team of twelve people who took two months to make a playable demo and three more to finish the game Infinity Blade was intended to demonstrate the new iOS version of the Unreal Engine and to combine the combat of Karateka and Prince of Persia with the loneliness of Shadow of the Colossus The game received four free expansions that added new equipment endings and game modes Infinity Blade was the fastest grossing app in the history of iOS upon its release It made US 1 6 million in its first four days and over US 23 million by the end of 2011 It was well received by gaming critics Reviews praised the graphics and compared the mobile game favorably to console games Critics also praised the swipe based combat system but split opinions on the cyclical gameplay as either addictive or repetitive Chair later released an arcade port and two sequels Infinity Blade II and Infinity Blade III Author Brandon Sanderson also wrote two novellas set between the games Infinity Blade Awakening and Infinity Blade Redemption The game along with its two sequels was removed from the App Store on December 10 2018 due to difficulties in updating the game for newer hardware 1 Contents 1 Gameplay 1 1 Expansions 2 Development 3 Reception 4 Sequels and spin offs 5 References 6 External linksGameplay edit nbsp A screenshot showing combat in Infinity Blade The character s and enemy s health bars are at the top of the screen while the dodge and shield buttons are at the bottom the special attack buttons are not visible In the primary portion of Infinity Blade the player character travels a mostly linear path through a ruined castle and fights one on one battles with oversized enemies The path through the castle is a series of discrete locations where the player can pan the camera around the stationary player character to view a fully three dimensional area The player taps locations highlighted onscreen to trigger either a short cutscene as the player character moves to the next location or a sword battle with an enemy 2 During combat the player controls the character s sword by swiping a finger across the screen Players can touch icons at the bottom of the screen to dodge attacks by ducking right or left or to block attacks with a shield which has a limited number of uses during a single battle Players may also parry incoming attacks with an intercepting sword move that for example parries an attack from the left with a swipe to the left Each of these three counters can leave the enemy vulnerable to counterattack for a short period 3 but incorrect counters result in damage to the player character as reflected in the health bar 4 When players fail in battle en route to the God King the game resets to the location preceding the previous battle Enemies can perform attacks that cannot be parried or blocked such as a shield bash that must be dodged Players use two special abilities via icons atop the screen the Super Attack temporarily stuns the opponent and magic heals or attacks as indicated by drawing a given symbol Both require time to recharge after use When attacking the player can swipe in any direction and can do specific attack combinations to deal extra damage 5 In addition to combat there is also a mild role playing component An experience point system levels up the player character and their equipment weapons armor shields helms and magic rings Equipment pieces have special properties and a predetermined number of experience points required to master them Mastering a piece of equipment increases its sale value but decreases the player s experience gain by 20 3 5 Upon leveling up or mastering a piece of equipment players gain attribute points that can be allotted towards four character attributes health attack shield power or magic Each point can only be allocated once and is a permanent upgrade to the character Players can purchase new equipment using in game money from sacks and treasure chests found throughout the castle defeated enemies and sales of unused equipment 2 3 In game money can be purchased with real money within the game 6 The game follows a cyclical narrative structure in which the protagonist and his descendants individually explore a castle in a quest to battle the primary antagonist the immortal God King In the game s introduction the non playable protagonist has just finished this quest but is slain by the God King The player then assumes the role of the dead protagonist s descendant as he starts his journey at the beginning of the castle This cycle called a bloodline continues after the player finally faces the God King and either dies or wins 3 The player may also choose to join the God King and terminate the cycle upon doing so the game resumes at the checkpoint before fighting the God King Enemy difficulty increases with each bloodline cycle 5 Another bloodline ending is unlocked after purchasing the Infinity Blade item the sword is placed into a pedestal in the castle s underground dungeons and three doors open After then defeating each of the three Deathless immortal beings like the God King of increasing difficulty found within a final fourth door opens and the player faces a mechanized warrior guarding the high tech chamber where the God King is reborn whenever he is killed Upon defeating the mechanized warrior the chamber is revealed to be controlled by an ancestor of the player character who chose to serve the God King 2 After fighting the ancestor the player character is told that the Infinity Blade can prevent immortals like the God King from resurrecting after death 7 The player is then given the option of either starting the next bloodline as they do when defeated or resetting the game and starting New Game mode which resets all gold and item progression but maintains the character s experience level letting the player remaster the items and level up even further 8 Expansions edit Chair Entertainment released four expansions as free updates to the game The first released December 20 2010 added a new enemy equipment and microtransactions It also removed an experience level cap 6 The second update titled Infinity Blade The Deathless Kings was released on March 2 2011 and added the dungeons as a second branch to the game s path This expansion also added new equipment enemies and the second ending where the player character defeats his ancestor 7 The third update Infinity Blade Arena was released on May 19 2011 It added the player vs player Arena Mode a tiered combat game progression where one player fights as the hero and the other as an enemy from the game 9 The update also included new equipment and a single player version of Arena Mode called Survival Mode 10 On October 4 2011 a fourth update added a new enemy and new equipment to coincide with the announcement of the forthcoming sequel Infinity Blade II 11 Development edit nbsp Chair co founder and creative director Donald Mustard at the 2011 Game Developers Conference Infinity Blade was created by Chair Entertainment a subsidiary company of Epic Games In July 2010 Chair had both recently finished the Xbox Live Arcade game Shadow Complex and been acquired by Epic Chair was brainstorming Kinect and Wii games including an idea similar to Infinity Blade 12 13 and Epic was nearing completion of an iOS version of the Unreal Engine 3 graphics engine and in need of a killer game to show it off 12 Epic had previously licensed the engine for use in numerous console and personal computer games 14 They asked Chair to develop a game for the engine in five months with a playable demo for the Apple Special Event conference in two months The team decided within a few days to work on the Infinity Blade concept codenamed Project Sword 12 15 Instead of normal initial game development where working prototypes test gameplay ideas Chair spent the first week of development refining the gameplay concept on paper before beginning to code Many of the core gameplay ideas were developed in their first few hours Geremy Mustard Chair s co founder and technical director estimates that the team cut two thirds of that initial design due to lack of time Refining the complex touch based interface was complicated due to the Unreal Engine s incomplete status and the native iOS code library s lack of support for fast touch based gameplay 12 The five month development was completed by a team of twelve people from Chair with assistance from Epic 16 In addition to Geremy Mustard the team was composed of Chair co founder and creative director Donald Mustard Simon Hurley as producer Joshua Andersen and Scott K Bowen as programmers Adam Ford as art director Orlando Barrowes Bert Lewis Mike Low Scott Stoddard and Nathan Trewartha as artists and animators Joshua Akers as composer and Brandon Raul Campos as lead tester 17 The game s swipe based swordplay was based on Donald Mustard s desire for unique gameplay based on nuanced sword fighting and parrying 12 He described the game s influences as the combat of Karateka and Prince of Persia combined with the lonely epicness of Shadow of the Colossus 18 Chair sought to develop an experience that could be picked up and played for a minute a single battle or half an hour a bloodline They felt that many other developers accustomed to consoles were wrong to make iOS games that required long playing experiences to feel meaningful and so Chair developed the bloodline concept as a natural breakpoint 12 They also felt that mobile games like Infinity Blade with constant action elements went too long without giving the player time to relax and resulted in player exhaustion and so Chair kept their battles short with brief cinematic pauses in longer battles 18 Chair showed their playable demo at the Apple conference on September 1 2010 after weeks of rehearsal and attracted much attention to the game 12 15 It was released on December 9 2010 While Chair itself spent little on marketing Apple used the game extensively in advertisements for its devices 18 The music for the game was composed by Josh Aker who had written the music for previous Chair games The soundtrack was intended by Aker to be intense during combat but to vary between serene and otherworldly outside battle It is a mixture of live and synthetic instrument performances Cello and nyckelharpa were the primary instruments used Aker wanted to have avant garde performances for the recordings The soundtrack was sold as a digital album Infinity Blade Original Soundtrack through several online music retailers 19 Chair began to develop the game s first update before the initial game was released They intended only to add new monsters and features but added the ability to purchase gold due to customer requests Chair did not rebalance the game to incentivize in app purchases Work on The Deathless Kings update began immediately afterward Chair felt that releasing several large free updates to the game would increase their overall user base and result in more total sales due to word of mouth 18 Reception editReceptionAggregate scoreAggregatorScoreMetacritic87 100 20 Review scoresPublicationScore1Up comB 5 Edge8 10 21 Eurogamer8 10 4 GamePro5 5 22 IGN9 10 3 Pocket Gamer9 10 23 TouchArcade nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 24 Infinity Blade was noted for its sales at launch selling more than 270 000 copies and making over US 1 6 million in its first four days the fastest grossing app ever released for iOS at the time 25 By the end of 2011 it had made at least US 23 million in revenue 26 Around fourteen months after the initial release Chair noted that half of the game s sales were for the iPhone and half were for the iPad and iPod 18 After releasing the sequel Epic Games noted in 2012 that the series was Epic s most profitable by measure of revenue against person hours spent in development 27 Infinity Blade was reviewed by several major gaming sites in addition to mobile game focused sites Critics praised the game s graphics heavily IGN reviewer Hilary Goldstein said that it was an absolute stunner for any handheld device and ushers in a new era of possibility for high end graphics 3 GamePro s Ryan Rigney called the game downright gorgeous and said that the graphics were almost at the level of an Xbox 360 game which was echoed by John Meyer of Wired who claimed that it had the best graphics of any iPad game 22 28 The reviewer for Edge further praised the art direction especially with regards to the enemy and armor designs 21 The gameplay was generally praised by reviewers who typically found the combat engaging but were split on the repetitive aspects of the game 1UP com s Matt Clark said that the sword gameplay just feels right while Mark Brown of Eurogamer said that the combat had an excitement factor that pushed players to keep on going for one more battle 4 5 Tracy Erickson of Pocket Gamer described the swipe based combat system as easy to understand though tough to master and Nick Chester of Destructoid said that although the combat was not very complicated it was fun to play 2 23 The role playing game elements were praised Destructoid s Chester called them satisfying and IGN s Goldstein said that they added to the game s difficulty 2 3 Brown s review for Eurogamer however said that while good they were not as engaging as the combat and the Edge review dismissed them as minimal 4 21 Reviewers had mixed opinions on the effectiveness of the bloodline system s repetition Destructoid s Chester described it as addictive and IGN s Goldstein agreed but Erickson s review for Pocket Gamer said that the game had problems with repetition and Wired s Meyer dismissed it as repetitive as the title suggests 2 3 23 28 J Nicholas Geist writing for Kill Screen focused his entire review on the cyclical nature of the game treating its nature of repetition with small changes between each bloodline as a metaphor for life 29 Most reviewers found themselves between the two extremes with Brown of Eurogamer simultaneously describing it as alarmingly repetitious but still addictive and 1UP com s Clark saying that enjoying the game required getting past the repetition despite being stellar 4 5 During the 14th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards the Academy of Interactive Arts amp Sciences nominated Infinity Blade for Portable Game of the Year 30 Sequels and spin offs editOn October 28 2011 Epic Games and Adrenaline Amusements released an arcade version of the game Infinity Blade FX The game is played on a 46 inch screen rigged with optical sensors to mimic a large iPhone or iPad screen Each arcade stand contains up to three screens and players can play against each other or in the single player game 31 A sequel to the iOS game Infinity Blade II was announced on October 4 2011 during the Apple iPhone 4S keynote presentation It was released on December 1 2011 and features enhanced graphics a new storyline and new fighting styles 32 A spinoff game Infinity Blade Dungeons was in development for iOS by Epic Games subsidiary Impossible Games but was cancelled in February 2013 when Impossible Games was shut down 33 A final game in the trilogy Infinity Blade III was released on September 18 2013 34 A novella by author Brandon Sanderson was released before both Infinity Blade II and III to serve as a story bridge between the games Infinity Blade Awakening was released as an e book on October 4 2011 to correspond with the announcement of Infinity Blade II The story gives the protagonist of the first game a name Siris introduces the idea that the God King was one of multiple Deathless in the world as is Siris and has Siris and the assassin Isa journey to find the Worker of Secrets in order to kill the resurrected God King and the other Deathless 35 The second e book novella Infinity Blade Redemption was released on September 9 2013 just before the third game In it Siris and the God King escape from their imprisonment by the Worker of Secrets while extensive flashbacks show the rise of the Deathless in a future Earth analog While Siris disrupts the Worker of Secret s plans the God King confronts and is killed by the Worker 36 A Chinese version of the game for Xbox One and Android was published by Tencent Games on November 28 2015 37 A day after Epic Games removed the Infinity Blade trilogy from the App Store the titular weapon made a crossover appearance in the winter themed seventh season of Fortnite Battle Royale as a unique very powerful melee weapon that can be obtained in a match granting any player who finds it devastating abilities and extra survivability at the cost of being unable to use other items 38 Three days later however Epic Games later vaulted the weapon over concerns that it was too overpowered 39 Epic Games later brought back the Infinity Blade in February 2019 as a restricted item that is only available in the limited time mode Sword Fight reducing its power and allowing multiple copies of it to be found from loot chests 40 References edit Infinity Blade Trilogy Says Goodbye Official Infinity Blade Website Archived from the original on 2018 12 11 Retrieved 2018 12 13 a b c d e f Chester Nick 2010 12 09 Review Infinity Blade Destructoid Archived from the original on 2012 10 31 Retrieved 2010 12 14 a b c d e f g h Goldstein Hilary 2010 12 08 Infinity Blade iPhone Review IGN Ziff Davis Archived from the original on 2012 06 05 Retrieved 2010 12 14 a b c d e Brown Mark 2010 12 14 Infinity Blade Review Eurogamer Gamer Network Archived from the original on 2012 10 07 Retrieved 2010 12 14 a b c d e f Clark Matt 2010 12 10 Infinity Blade Review 1UP com Ziff Davis Archived from the original on 2013 02 05 Retrieved 2010 12 14 a b Totilo Stephen 2010 12 20 Infinity Blade Update Tomorrow Lets You Buy Gold Adds Santa Kotaku Gawker Media Archived from the original on 2012 10 18 Retrieved 2010 12 19 a b Reed Chris 2011 03 02 The Deathless Kings Haunt Infinity Blade Update IGN Ziff Davis Archived from the original on 2011 03 09 Retrieved 2012 01 16 Buchanan Levi 2010 12 08 Updated Infinity Blade Review Slide to Play Archived from the original on 2014 05 02 Retrieved 2014 05 02 Nichelson Brad 2011 05 19 Infinity Blade Gets a Reduced Price and We Dive into the Arena TouchArcade Archived from the original on 2014 05 03 Retrieved 2014 05 02 Nelson Randy 2011 05 17 Infinity Blade Arena update adds multiplayer survivor modes this Thursday Joystiq AOL Archived from the original on 2012 04 17 Retrieved 2012 01 16 Davis Justin 2011 10 05 App Store Update October 5 IGN Ziff Davis Archived from the original on 2012 01 10 Retrieved 2012 01 16 a b c d e f g The Making Of Infinity Blade Edge Future 2013 04 21 Archived from the original on 2013 07 08 Retrieved 2014 03 17 McElroy Justin 2010 12 14 Infinity Blade conceived as a Kinect game Joystiq AOL Archived from the original on 2012 01 18 Retrieved 2012 01 04 Totilo Stephen 2010 12 14 More iPhone Games Will Soon Look This Good Kotaku Gawker Media Archived from the original on 2012 10 18 Retrieved 2010 12 14 a b McWhertor Michael 2010 09 01 Project Sword Is Epic s First Unreal Engine iPhone Game Kotaku Gawker Media Archived from the original on 2012 10 16 Retrieved 2010 12 14 McElroy Justin 2010 12 14 First Infinity Blade update next week multiplayer coming soon Joystiq AOL Archived from the original on 2012 01 18 Retrieved 2012 01 04 Chair Entertainment 2010 12 09 Infinity Blade Epic Games Scene Credits a b c d e Nutt Christian 2011 04 11 Infinity Blade A New Era Of Games Gamasutra UBM Archived from the original on 2012 11 09 Retrieved 2012 01 04 Infinity Blade II Interview with Composer Josh Aker Epic Games 2011 11 28 Archived from the original on 2012 06 22 Retrieved 2012 01 04 Infinity Blade Critic Reviews for iPhone iPad Metacritic CBS Interactive Archived from the original on 2011 12 05 Retrieved 2012 01 10 a b c Infinity Blade Review Edge Future 2010 12 13 Archived from the original on 2012 06 29 Retrieved 2012 01 10 a b Rigney Ryan 2010 12 09 Infinity Blade Review from Gamepro GamePro IDG Archived from the original on 2010 12 16 Retrieved 2014 03 27 a b c Erickson Tracy 2010 12 09 Infinity Blade Review Pocket Gamer Steel Media Archived from the original on 2013 09 01 Retrieved 2012 12 18 Hodapp Eli 2010 12 08 Infinity Blade Review It Doesn t Get Much More Must Have Than This TouchArcade Archived from the original on 2021 07 31 Retrieved 2018 07 04 Parkin Simon 2010 12 13 Infinity Blade Becomes Fastest Grossing iOS App Gamasutra UBM Archived from the original on 2012 11 09 Retrieved 2012 01 04 Brown Nathan 2012 01 05 Infinity Blade series grosses 30 million Edge Archived from the original on 2012 01 09 Retrieved 2012 01 05 Yin Poole Wesley 2012 06 27 Infinity Blade is Epic s most profitable franchise ever Eurogamer Gamer Network Archived from the original on 2012 11 20 Retrieved 2014 04 05 a b Meyer John Mix 2011 03 02 iPad s 10 Biggest Baddest Games Reviewed Wired Conde Nast Archived from the original on 2013 09 10 Retrieved 2014 03 27 Geist J Nicholas 2011 05 20 Review Infinity Blade Kill Screen Archived from the original on 2013 09 16 Retrieved 2014 04 06 2011 Awards Category Details Portable Game of the Year interactive org Academy of Interactive Arts amp Sciences Retrieved 20 November 2023 Gaudiosi John 2011 10 13 Exclusive Infinity Blade FX Interview IGN Ziff Davis Archived from the original on 2012 01 09 Retrieved 2012 01 16 Gaudiosi John 2011 10 04 Chair Entertainment Talks Infinity Blade II IGN Ziff Davis Archived from the original on 2012 03 30 Retrieved 2011 10 04 Davis Justin 2013 07 11 Infinity Blade Dungeons is Officially Canceled IGN Ziff Davis Archived from the original on 2013 08 12 Retrieved 2014 03 17 Davis Justin 2013 09 17 Infinity Blade III Review The Paramount iPhone Epic Concludes IGN Ziff Davis Archived from the original on 2014 01 16 Retrieved 2014 03 17 Sanderson Brandon 2011 10 04 Infinity Blade Awakening Dragonsteel Entertainment Archived from the original on 2013 01 16 Retrieved 2012 01 16 Sanderson Brandon 2013 08 20 Infinity Blade Redemption Dragonsteel Entertainment Archived from the original on 2014 02 09 Retrieved 2014 03 17 Jou Eric 2014 11 24 The Xbox One s Getting an Infinity Blade Game In China Kotaku Gawker Media Archived from the original on 2015 12 08 Retrieved 2015 12 02 The Fortnite Team 11 December 2018 Fortnite v7 01 Patch Notes Fortnite Epic Games Archived from the original on 13 December 2018 Retrieved 14 December 2018 Thier Dave 14 December 2018 Fortnite Is Vaulting The Infinity Blade And Epic Is Sorry About It Forbes Archived from the original on 20 January 2019 Retrieved 19 January 2019 Binkowski Justin 16 February 2019 Infinity Blade returns to Fortnite in Sword Fight LTM Dot Esports Archived from the original on 17 February 2019 Retrieved 16 February 2019 External links edit nbsp Media related to Infinity Blade at Wikimedia Commons Official website Unofficial PC port of the game via the Internet Archive Portal nbsp Video games Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Infinity Blade amp oldid 1210915881, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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