Ahead of jumping into a new single-player game sometimes it’s pertinent to ask the question of “how long is it”? A phrase heard ahead of many a bedroom activity. In the land of videogames it’s also a question about length or duration. Of a digital adventure you see, which for many can be the deciding factor before spending money.

Of course, when it comes to quality gaming, hundreds of hours of things to see and do and push and poke doesn’t mean all that much if the game itself is just plain bad. It’s what you do with the length that matters. Ahem. Anyway, this is all an unexpectedly dirty way of saying that Bright Memory: Infinite is a game that clocks in at well under two-hours.

And in terms of the time spent it’s... well, fine for a spell.


In many ways playing this is like watching a cheesy and borderline indecipherable random action movie from the days of straight to VHS or DVD flicks, where the runtimes always sat within the 90-minute to 120-minute range. Bright Memory: Infinite presents a blend of shooting with the sort of melee action you’d find in something like a Devil May Cry or even Shadow Warrior. Albeit wrapped up in a story about a black holes and mystical ancient nonsense stuff.

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In many ways playing this is like watching a cheesy and borderline indecipherable random action movie from the days of straight to VHS or DVD flicks, where the runtimes always sat within the 90-minute to 120-minute range.

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A lot of the melee combat here is fun, as is dashing around, using the force-like powers of protagonist Shelia’s suit, and slicing and dicing modern soldiers and, err, doing the same to ancient soldiers.

But, a lot of what makes Bright Memory: Infinite impressive or at least interesting is its origin. A sequel or expanded version of a one-person developed tech demo meets action game from FYQD Studio, this time with high end visual effects from Unreal Engine including real-time ray-tracing and NVIDIA DLSS support. An RTX On slice of impressive spectacle, with realistic reflections and all manner of lighting and material goodness on screen.


With the right rig, powered by say a GeForce RTX 3080, Bright Memory: Infinite often has the sheen of a slickly produced computer-generated movie.

That whole comparison to the days of movies on tape or optical disc rings is true for this side of the experience too, the character models and animation on display is a pretty basic approximation of how to do it right. Or, at least a generation or two behind the motion-capture style animation seen across major blockbuster releases. Case in point, Shelia’s chest region has what some might refer to as ‘boob physics’.

So then, what you’ve got is an admirable attempt from a tiny studio looking to make a Kojima meets Capcom-like spectacle with the resources of an indie outfit. On that front FYQD Studio is aiming high, and that’s commendable.


Like any small budget project trying to look like something that James Cameron directed, you can spot the cuts. Enemies that always wear helmets or have their faces obscured. Environments being limited to a handful of lookalike locations. Thankfully you get the impression that most of the time was spent on the action itself, with the combination of standard shooting with sword-based melee combat working well. That said the controls are a bit of a complicated mess using keyboard and mouse.

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So then, what you’ve got is an admirable attempt from a tiny studio looking to make a Kojima meets Capcom-like spectacle with the resources of an indie outfit. On that front FYQD Studio is aiming high, and that’s commendable.

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There’s an upgrade system to offer up replayability and variation, but there’s just not enough about the world, characters, and story, to elevate it above anything more than a fun tech demo to put your new GPU through its paces.

Coming in at under two-hours though it’s hard to form any sort of lasting opinion good or bad, Bright Memory: Infinite is fleeting. Even when it mixes things up with a silly and pretty bad stealth section that has you stealthily taking out baddies with a meat cleaver, it’s over before you know it. A handful of enemies to learn how to fight and boss fights that are more about finding a cheese-spot to chip away rather than provide any sort of mechanic or challenge. Roll credits. Be kind, rewind.