Survival Action RPG

Rising from the darkness, ready to do battle on the Nintendo Switch is Inferno Climber Reborn, an interesting Survival Action RPG from Arc System Works.

Inferno Climber Reborn starts you off as one of 8 playable characters in a dark medieval fantasy world. After a short intro where you are defeated by a powerful dragon, you sign a contract with the reaper who resurrects you to do his bidding. You are charged with the quest to hunt down the 5 purgatory stones that will grant great power to whomever brings them all together. Players can choose from mighty knights to sorcerers but each character ends up being equipped with no weapons or armour when they are resurrected. If a character dies, a new character must be chosen and any equipment you had on you is left on the previous corpse. To gain the ability to resurrect the previous class you must make your way back to the location where you died and collect the characters soul.

Inferno Climber Reborn feels like a cross between Dark Souls and Ocarina of Time, feeling very dark and gritty but with a far more stylised approach to characters, enemies and objects. Enemies will quickly overwhelm you if you are not careful and a very slow and methodical approach is required in most areas, making the survival aspect of the game readily apparent. Switching out weapons and equipment is complex, requiring you to scroll with the D-Pad, hold down the trigger and select from 3 actions. In the heat of battle this can prove to be fatal as weapons, equipment and even things such as health potions are all activated this way. In addition to managing Health, Mana and Stamina, players must also be wary of hunger. Not eating regularly can quickly result in a weak warrior unprepared for tough battles.

In the main hub area there are trials to help you hone your skills and it is highly recommended to give all of these a try as they also act as extra tutorials for various equipment. Actions and movement can take a bit of getting used to and from time to time the game can feel a bit clunky. Numerous times I have found myself stuck on geometry and when starting up the game initially, language settings defaulted to Japanese. Apart from these issues, Inferno Climber Reborn feels like a real diamond in the rough. There is some solid gameplay and mechanics to be found hiding just beneath the surface that just take a little patience and perseverance to unearth.

If you are up to the challenge, give Inferno Climber Reborn a go, while not perfect there is certainly a lot on offer in this quirky and unique survival oriented action RPG.

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Mat Panek
Retromancer – Collector, repairer & fan of retro games & tech. Atari to Amiga, Nintendo to Sega! LD, Zip, Beta and a proud dad! One half of the TiredParents on Twitch.