In Subdivision Infinity DX, the latest game from the Russian indie studio Mistfly Games, you are an independent pilot, Rebel 1, attending to an assignment to reestablish communication with mining facilities on Alpha Tyche asteroid fields. By reaching your destination, you open-world by intense fire coming from spaceships from a facility believed to be abandoned. Unable to contact your contractors and send out a help message, you and AV-2, the AI controlling the mining stations of this sector, will need to investigate who are the ones responsible for this attack and discover what’s going on in this corner of the galaxy!
Published by Blowfish Studios, Subdivision Infinity DX is a 3D space shooter that puts you in an exploration mission throughout outer space packed with a lot of action! Engage in massive battles against enemy spaceships, face huge bosses and explore the secrets of space in search for resources that can be used to upgrade your ship. Now get in the cockpit and take control of your fighter while we debrief you with everything this game has to offer, pilot!
- Visually stunning: Lesson learned. If anyone from Mistfly Studios ever says something about stunning graphics again, you better believe it! Subdivision Infinity DX has some of the most beautiful and impressive space-themed graphics of this generation (sorry about you, Mass Effect). I dare to say you won’t find similar immersion like the one provided by the universe of the game.
- Outstanding gameplay: My experience with space shooters may not be vast, but the titles I remember playing were far from friendly when it comes to gameplay. Subdivision Infinity DX, on the other hand, aims for easy maneuverability of your ship. Seriously! Controlling your ship in a fully 3D open-world may look a little complicated at first sight, but when you understand how to correctly maneuver your ship, hunting your enemies between asteroids will become natural! And now we mention hunting enemies, your ship can equip up to three weapons (two in the main slot that can be used at the same time – smart move – and one in the secondary slot), what’s enough to take care of most of the threats you will face. There’s also an interesting mechanic of evolving your ships and weaponry that requires you to harvest resources in specific missions, the expedition, giving you an opportunity to venture through space at a slower pace.
- Your arsenal: You start the game with only a pair of weapons, but soon (and with enough credits) you will have an array of weapons at your disposal to wreak havoc in enemy fleets. As you can select your weapons at the hangar before each mission, try them all to find the combination that best suits your playstyle or needs in a specific stage.
- Upgrading your ship: Your ship can be upgraded in your base of operations. There you can install upgrades that increase two of its attributes (that goes from armor strength, shield strength, shield restore rate, default speed, maximum speed, acceleration energy, acceleration restore rate, weapon slots and cargo hold capacity – useful for your exploration missions) and buy new weapons. Each weapon can also be upgraded, increasing its damage, fire rate or maximum capacity.
- …and your fleet: You can also buy new ships available at the store, but the best ones will need to be unlocked: first you will need to find its blueprints (scattered in story missions or well-hidden in expedition missions) and harvest enough resources to create them. Trust me: it’s worth and can make all the difference between life and death in later missions, depending on what difficulty level you are playing.
- Audio: Yeah, yeah. Everybody knows that sound does not propagate in space. But it hasn’t prevented Mistfly Games to implement great sound effects and an immersive soundtrack to their game. So, deal with it and enjoy the adventure!
- Have I done it before? Your assignments vary between eliminating enemies or bases, destroying relays, recovering data, protecting comrades and mining for resources. Though there’s a little variation in the formula, they still feel fresh up to final chapters of your adventure thanks to minor details in each mission or the amazing visuals of its stages. But inevitably the ‘I’ve already done it before’ feeling will hit you.
- Slow story: The development of the story happens through dialogs between your pilot and other characters (especially AV-2). But the interaction between then is only by text. I really missed someone dubbing these dialogs, what would give the game more appealing and emotion. But it’s ok.
Bugs: Every game is susceptible to bugs. I know that and you know it too. Anyway, some players have very low tolerance for bugs. During my time reviewing Subdivision Infinity DX, I ran into one of the worst possible bugs: my save got wiped out. When I was reaching the end of the game. I notified the developers and they must be probably working on a patch or something, so I give them credit for taking my feedback. So just consider it a warning that it can happen to you too.
CONCLUSION
Score: 80%
Boy, I don’t feel that excited for a space game since I played Elite Dangerous in the distant year of 2015! And here I am, enjoying my time with Subdivision Infinity DX. Mistfly Games delivered a game that’s so beautiful and fun that I doubt this generation will see something of similar quality. Challenging in the right measure, this is that kind of game you always want to go back for another dogfight – or better saying, another space-dogfight. Although the problems I believe will be solved really soon, this is a game I personally recommend for all space-games fans!
Developer: Mistfly Games Publisher: Blowfish Studios
Played on: Xbox One X Also available on: PC, Switch, PS4
Time to beat: Between 8 and 10 hours if you’re aiming for 1000G
Achievement difficulty for 1000 Gamerscore: You will need to grind a lot to fully upgrading your weapons and spaceships and it may take some time.
Perfect for: Space games fans!
Xbox Game Store link: Click here