I Miss Infinity Blade

 I miss Infinity Blade. I really do.

“What was it?” You may ask? Well, I’ll tell you.

Back in 2010 (oh God, that was 13 years ago), a subsidiary of Epic Games – Chair Entertainment – released the first entry of the Infinity Blade series, which was essentially Punch-Out!! but with swords and magic, where you play as a bloodline of warriors who set out to slay the God King to end his tyranny.

It’s… a lot harder than I’m making it sound, given the fact the first person who tried will die no matter what. And so will their son. And then their son. And then their son. And then their son. And so will their son. And then their son. And then their son- you get what I’m saying.

The story gets a lot more complicated than that, involving futuristic technology (like the iPhone 4) and immortality through cloning (where characters will actually immolate themselves to skip the trip back to base). The first game didn’t even use a real language, making you rely on subtitles. Only released on iOS platforms, it boasted amazing graphics for the time and stellar gameplay that was easy to understand but hard to get good at. The cutscenes were amazing, although, admittingly, you tended to look out for coins and secrets while you watched. And the fights themselves were spectacular, and many of them were really hard. The greatest challenges reward you with amazing equipment, but if you get to that point, you prove that you never needed it in the first place.

Every game was fun, even though it had pay-to-win microtransactions, which made poor kids like me back in the day struggle and simmer with envy. Infinity Blade was one of the reasons I fell in love with videogames in the first place… which becomes a serious shame considering you can no longer play these games in any official capacity.

The Infinity Blade series had three games and two novellas written by Brandon Sanderson. There was supposed to be a spin-off called Infinity Blade: Dungeons, but it was cancelled. Then, on the 10th December 2018, the entire series was taken off the App Store. The only evidence of Infinity Blade’s existence afterwards was in Fortnite Season 7, where the titular Infinity Blade was obtainable as a special weapon. It only lasted for three days before being removed from the Core Battle Royale playlists and can no longer be obtained. It’s still in the game and can be used in Creative Mode, but that’s it.

I don’t play Fortnite, so I had to look this up, and it was a kick in the teeth to learn that the sword was implemented the next day after all the games were taken off the App Store!

It feels sad knowing that there won’t be a game like Infinity Blade, and that no one really talks about it anymore, wanting a remaster or something. Once, it was a beloved trilogy, and part of why mobile gaming was legitimised (before companies learned how to milk as much money out of people as possible). Now, it's been reduced to just a fancy sword in Fortnite.

However, it ended in grace with just three games. The last cutscene in Infinity Blade III was the main protagonists on the beach with the reincarnated villain as a toddler.

I miss Infinity Blade. I really do. But I think it’s best for some things to stay dead.