The game is OK, for a while. Never really great. The scale of the environment, and the look of the run-down industrial buildings is a strong positive. There are 2-3 interesting puzzles, but too often tedious is mistaken for "hard": most puzzles come down to searching, searching, searching for a valve wheel you know you need. Too many interesting puzzles are skippable completely, sometimes by accident, when you think you will be able to go back but cannot.

The best way to think about the game is more like a 3-D maze, and some of these maze "puzzles" were interesting and challenging. But far too often, it was a "try every.single.door.again.and.again". It doesn't help that many doors are designed so you can still interact with them, yet you will never use those doors. Another design annoyance is that many of the computer panels etc that cover the walls are non-interactable, except when they are, and the visual look of those elements is not strongly differentiated enough. It is the type of game design problems that the Stanley Parable makes such good fun of.

The game is long, partly to give a sense of industrial scale, but more is not always better. The quality of the play declines greatly towards the end of the game, with puzzle mechanics repeating themselves and super boring elements are added, like a part where you have to collect a ton of bottles.

The story, which is learned slowly over the game, is really nice for world building, but the details of the actual story are ultimately really forgettable. Honestly, I forgot who was who even while playing the game, because we would learn (not that amazing) details so slowly.

In the end, I enjoyed the game for a while, but my enthusiasm got lower and lower until the end of the game.

I finished this game over a year ago but still think about it from time to time, so it's clearly had an impact on me.

The game is a cross between leisurely urban exploration, puzzles, and environmental storytelling. Similar to Half Life 2 but without combat and set it in a Scandinavian city instead of City 17. The same nostalgic, isolating vibes of HL2's environments apply here in a more grounded fashion.

However, like the decaying infrastructure of Stalburg, Infra has it's share of flaws. As a structural analyst named Mark, you are tasked with inspecting and taking pictures of these flaws in infrastructure. These flaws can be pretty obscure and are easily missable, but they directly influence the ending. I think this mechanic conflicts with the feeling of exploration the game wants to give, and turns it into a checklist a bit. Various interaction elements integral to progress also feel half-baked and difficult to parse, but depending on your mood you can interpret this as amateurish design or imperfect indie charm.

Overall though, the game has an atmosphere that I haven't encountered very often in other games, and scratches an almost zen-like urban explorer itch. Maybe this is why I still think about it fondly, long after I've played it!

not for me, i respect the hustle.