It's been awhile since I found a Pokémon title that genuinely kept me engaged and interested for nearly this long. Pokémon Infinite Fusion is a fangame that I've heard of for around a decade through the grapevine, but I waited until now (as it gains more traction) to really sink my teeth in, and I am not disappointed in the slightest. Besides bringing it's own unique flare to the genre with the Fusion mechanics, Infinite Fusion, despite it's growing pains, is an exemplary mod for Pokémon that has got me knee-deep in wanting to play the games all over again.
Before I get into it, I'll address the elephant, I have not finished this title as in 2 days as of writing this, a game I've been anticipating all year is coming out and my mind will be focused on that, so that's why I've stopped for now. I got up to just past Sabrina for those intrigued.
Pokémon thrives in it's combination of simple JRPG tropes and monsters, and Infinite Fusion knows that. The story itself is a fun twist on Red and Blue with the addition of Jhoto and the Sevii islands, but doesn't shove this down your throat. Infinite Fusions (IF going forward) works to make what a modern Pokémon title should aim to be: Fun, Engaging, Unique, and Different. I also love the freedom of choice in this title, being able to choose which starter trio you have, the FOUR different gamemodes (technically 8), the unique fusion mechanics, and the new quest system. Never in adding all these functions does the game feel overwhelming or foreboding, truly just being a "go your own pace" title.
To get more into the fusion mechanics, they remind me a lot of Cassette Beast's style of fusing, albeit a little altered. You buy an item to fuse two Pokémon together which can have two different forms. Say you fuse Pikachu and Charmander, you could have a Pikamander or Charchu, Fire-Electric type with an averaged base stat total. There is more complexities to this like which way you fuse them changing types and stats, but that's less important for me to cover and better experienced. I do think the downside of this system is the amount of choice can seem daunting in a lot of ways. Say I want a Milotic fusion with a fire type, well do I go for a fire-type that plays to Milotics strengths or one that is more nuanced and averaged, and will that effect their battle performance and most importantly, how will that effect their LOOK. Yes, the designs fuse and morph, but some of them look much cooler than others (being about half of the Pokémon fusions are AI generated that makes sense). Overall though, it's a mechanic that gets me interested in gameplay a lot more, no more can I memorize every individual movepool of every fusion or the types and stats. While I can deduce it with some thought, it's a lot more fun to figure it out as I go, which put me into some really tough situations from time to time. The most fun gameplay-wise I've had in a Pokémon fangame period.
While there is a lot I like about the game, there is obvious pains that plague the title too. The overworld mimics gen 5, which is mostly fine, but nothing is animated at all. The doors never open or close, they are static, some of the map's grid-layouts don't make entire sense (in a surfing race the opposing NPC was on completely separate tiles than me), and playing on the Steam Deck, I did have some optimization issues here and there, most particularly in Fuschia City. However, these are things that are quite easy to overlook and get around in a majority of cases, however, they do make the game feel quite unpolished in a majority of my time playing.
TLDR: Besides the minor glaring issues and bugs, the game is the most fun I've had in a Pokémon title in the last few years, and the best orignal-ish Fangame I've played. Very fun, will be coming back to finish.
Before I get into it, I'll address the elephant, I have not finished this title as in 2 days as of writing this, a game I've been anticipating all year is coming out and my mind will be focused on that, so that's why I've stopped for now. I got up to just past Sabrina for those intrigued.
Pokémon thrives in it's combination of simple JRPG tropes and monsters, and Infinite Fusion knows that. The story itself is a fun twist on Red and Blue with the addition of Jhoto and the Sevii islands, but doesn't shove this down your throat. Infinite Fusions (IF going forward) works to make what a modern Pokémon title should aim to be: Fun, Engaging, Unique, and Different. I also love the freedom of choice in this title, being able to choose which starter trio you have, the FOUR different gamemodes (technically 8), the unique fusion mechanics, and the new quest system. Never in adding all these functions does the game feel overwhelming or foreboding, truly just being a "go your own pace" title.
To get more into the fusion mechanics, they remind me a lot of Cassette Beast's style of fusing, albeit a little altered. You buy an item to fuse two Pokémon together which can have two different forms. Say you fuse Pikachu and Charmander, you could have a Pikamander or Charchu, Fire-Electric type with an averaged base stat total. There is more complexities to this like which way you fuse them changing types and stats, but that's less important for me to cover and better experienced. I do think the downside of this system is the amount of choice can seem daunting in a lot of ways. Say I want a Milotic fusion with a fire type, well do I go for a fire-type that plays to Milotics strengths or one that is more nuanced and averaged, and will that effect their battle performance and most importantly, how will that effect their LOOK. Yes, the designs fuse and morph, but some of them look much cooler than others (being about half of the Pokémon fusions are AI generated that makes sense). Overall though, it's a mechanic that gets me interested in gameplay a lot more, no more can I memorize every individual movepool of every fusion or the types and stats. While I can deduce it with some thought, it's a lot more fun to figure it out as I go, which put me into some really tough situations from time to time. The most fun gameplay-wise I've had in a Pokémon fangame period.
While there is a lot I like about the game, there is obvious pains that plague the title too. The overworld mimics gen 5, which is mostly fine, but nothing is animated at all. The doors never open or close, they are static, some of the map's grid-layouts don't make entire sense (in a surfing race the opposing NPC was on completely separate tiles than me), and playing on the Steam Deck, I did have some optimization issues here and there, most particularly in Fuschia City. However, these are things that are quite easy to overlook and get around in a majority of cases, however, they do make the game feel quite unpolished in a majority of my time playing.
TLDR: Besides the minor glaring issues and bugs, the game is the most fun I've had in a Pokémon title in the last few years, and the best orignal-ish Fangame I've played. Very fun, will be coming back to finish.