Infernax

There are some games that, when you start them up, instantly transport you to a different era of video game history. The minute you fire up Infernax, it's hard not to feel like you've uncovered a classic from the heyday of the 8-bit era of the Nintendo Entertainment System. The gameplay mechanics are pretty basic. Jump, attack, magic, and items are all controlled with a single button each. You'll fight your way through a variety of gruesome monsters, making short pit stops in small villages along the way. Here is where you'll pick up side quests, restock items, and build an arsenal of options to take on wave of evil infecting the land.

While you might be forgiven for thinking the game is a long lost chapter in a certain whip-cracking vampire hunting franchise, Infernax does just enough different to stand its own ground. For starters, the game takes the pixelated violence and cranks it up to an eleven. Enemies explode into meaty and bloody chunks, oftentimes coating the player in a crimson veil. There are also moments where players are forced to make a choice that not only affect the immediate event, but can alter the entire course of the story through to one of its multiple endings. While these choices do add a bit of replayability to the otherwise short game, the darker story and oddly paced plot development make it difficult to ever figure out just how any of those choices will ultimately play out.