I have now been into Infinity for some time and I feel to share the FIVE THINGS that I love most about this game!
1. Order pool and Automatic Reaction Order (ARO) mechanics
I am grouping both these things in a single item as the point is to praise the ruleset of this game. It is something you do not find anywhere else in the miniature gaming space where it is really hard to go beyond the I Go - You Go (IGYG) Vs Alternate Activation (AA) debate and the occasional "group activation" or "interrupt" mechanic. Booooring!
The Infinity mechanics are so well fit to a sci-fi high tech skirmish setting, keep both players engaged all the time and support cinematic actions / objective based games in which specialists are trying to push buttons as the firefight/infowar rage. You have the option to spend on a single model as many "orders" (read "activations") as you like. Don't be fooled, from great power comes great responsibility: resource management and decision making are not easy things in Infinity!
If you are skeptical and think Infinity is too complicated give it a serious chance. There are several online resources you can tap into, just go to YouTube and type "how to play Infinity N4". You will be rewarded with a game experience no other game can (currently) provide.
2. Grim dark... NOT
In a gaming and nerd pop culture highly inflated by zombies, macabre esthetic, freaks and gothic nonsense the Infinity cyberpunk-manga mix is too good to be true. Leave the zombies for the once-a-year Halloween Special and enjoy the crispness and the sharp edges of the not-so-near future.
Awesome artists, illustrators and miniature painters, are daily contributing to bring this universe to life!
3. Scalability
Infinity is a "skirmish" wargame, i.e.,
A wargame in which units generally represent single individuals or weapons systems, and are rated not only on weaponry but may also be rated on such facets as morale, perception, skill-at-arms, etc...
Let's say the full game experience can be played with 15-20 figures per side (of course you will end up owning and collecting a vastly larger number of toy soldiers 🤓) on a 4'x4' table during 2/3 hours (including set up and depending how well you know the game). Still, it can be scaled to a kitchen table size retaining an intact game experience with full support of official rules and missions.
4. Geometric scenery look cool!
Let's not go around this: in most games, pre-painted and paper scenery are garbage. They just don't work. They fail to deliver the minimum requirements to make the table believable and consistent. You need rubbles and ruins and texture and flock and details. Not in Infinity. Neatly illustrated, modular, prismatic paper/cardboard/mdf/plastic buildings are perfect and guarantee a full and rewarding game experience. I know there are people in the hobby who are into terrain crafting and I appreciate their work immensely. They still can have their go at Infinity with a remote mining outpost on Dawn or a lush jungle on Paradiso but it is undeniably nice to be able to set up a dense and good looking table in an easy, quick and cheap manner!
Are just a few examples. Not to mention the many manufacturer of gorgeous gaming mats:
5. Consumer fair business model
Corvus Belli (CB) is currently either not able or not willing (hopefully 😊) to implement the Games Worskshop (GW) rules bloat and insane release peace (interesting videos about video games "seasons" and micro-transactions business models for miniature wargames here and here).
Still, CB has managed to get one maturity step beyond the indie game developer and they are able to maintain a healthy enough community for both competitive and casual gamers while staying in business.
Rules are free as well as the list building app. Recently (Adepticon 2022) CB confirmed full commitment to digital "living" rulebook. Miniatures and fluff (graphic novels, comics, background manuals, ecc) you have to pay for. CB will still do its best to make the latest releases "more interesting" to foster sales but it seems with some decency and without throwing the game balance out of the window, at least so far... 😉
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