Infinite Lives Review Summary

A hilarious, chaotic emergent sandbox beloved by players, but thin content, murky progression, and unfair combat can leave you feeling lost and frustrated.

High Praise for MDickie Fans: Longtime fans consider this the best or one of the best MDickie games, often comparing it favorably to Wrestling Empire. The familiar charm and improvements resonate strongly with those who love the developer's style.

Overwhelmingly Positive Player Reception: Many reviewers describe the game as great, amazing, or outstanding, with strong affection for the overall experience. This broad positivity spans both casual praise and detailed appreciation.

Hilarious and Fun Sandbox: The game is widely praised for being funny, enjoyable, and amusing, often providing laughter through its absurd emergent moments. Reviewers highlight that the humor and fun are central to the experience.

Chaotic Emergent Storytelling Sandbox: The sandbox freedom leads to unscripted, personal stories and spontaneous creativity that make each playthrough unique. Players love the lived-in world, random encounters, and dramatic moments that arise from the chaos.

Superpowers and Transformation Abilities: Reviewers enjoy gaining superpowers, using multiple powers, and experiencing unpredictable transformations. These abilities add to the chaotic fun and make the player feel powerful.

Lack of content and direction: Reviewers feel the game has very little content, no clear direction, and becomes boring after a few hours. Many describe it as unfinished and lacking incentive to progress.

Confusing progression and mechanics: The game lacks explanations for core systems, such as how to get powers, how to escape submissions, and how to interact with NPCs. Many mechanics feel random and poorly explained.

Unbalanced and unfair combat: Combat is completely unbalanced, designed for the player to get beaten up or run away. Getting knocked down often leads to a death loop, and the player is frequently ganged up on.

AI-generated assets undisclosed: The game contains AI-generated images and other assets that are not disclosed on the Steam page or in the game, leading to disappointment and accusations of lack of integrity.

Horrible camera system: The camera is widely criticized for being clunky, having bad angles, moving without input, and causing nausea. Many consider it the worst camera in any third-person action game.

Wrestling-inspired combat system: Combat uses a wrestling-inspired system with strikes, grapples, environmental interactions, and submissions. Players can grab opponents, pop off heads, and use weapons.

Superhero sandbox with powers: The game lets players gain superhuman abilities and play as custom superheroes in a superhero simulation. It includes a superheroes mode and a superhuman form unlockable.

Zombies included as key feature: Zombies appear as enemies, and there is a dedicated zombies mode that unlocks after completing superheroes mode. Players can also return as a zombie after dying.

Factions: heroes, villains, civilians: The game includes factions such as civilians, villains, and heroes, with alliances and faction-based conflicts. Players can join factions and influence territory control.

Custom characters with abilities and factions: Players can create or customize characters, choose from various characters, and assign powers, relationships, and factions. Character creation and roster customization are supported.

Xbox Controller Layout Issue: When an Xbox controller is connected, the game persistently displays keyboard prompts and does not switch to controller icons. This forces players to refer to keyboard controls despite using a gamepad.

Decent PC Requirements: The game's system requirements are considered reasonable and not overly demanding for modern PCs. This allows a wide range of players to run the game without high-end hardware.

Technical Instability and Bugs: The game suffers from various technical issues, including bugs and occasional instability. These problems can disrupt gameplay and affect the overall experience.

Recommended for MDickie fans: Fans of MDickie or Mat Dickie games will likely enjoy this title, with some calling it the best MDickie game ever or a masterpiece.

Mixed recommendation for newcomers: Newcomers expecting a cohesive, realistic, fair experience will be let down, and the game is mainly for those already familiar with the developer's style.

Not recommended for most: A number of reviewers explicitly advise against buying the game, with one glad that not many people bought it and others saying it is not worth buying.

Positive recommendation: Many reviewers simply recommend the game, with one stating they would save the world again, indicating a strong positive experience.

AI usage concerns: Some reviewers cannot fully recommend the game due to its use of AI-generated content, though others say it should not deter buyers.

Community fair range: $9.99 - $14.99.

Story completion: 3.5h.

Session length: 1.0h.

Reports conflict: some players find immediate conditional dumb fun, while others report tedium or emptiness after four hours. The strongest progression claim is that the game starts to shine only after completing a playthrough and unlocking everything, though controls, camera, and learning-curve friction slow that path.

Friction: Bigger learning curve than the developer's other games; Slow, clunky controls and erratic camera; Unskippable mid-combat NPC dialogue and cutscenes; Random deaths that derail long sessions; Painstaking unlock process for full character customization; Story mode overwrites character data.

Unlock drivers: Completing a playthrough; Unlocking everything.

MDickie Franchise Loyalist: Dives into the new title, compares it with earlier MDickie games, and enjoys the familiar chaotic systems. Motivation: To experience the latest MDickie game and support the developer's evolving sandbox formula. Stance: buy.

Chaotic Emergent Storyteller: Embraces random events, roleplays bizarre character arcs, and replays to see how each run differs. Motivation: To generate unpredictable, absurd, and memorable emergent stories through repeated runs. Stance: buy.

Old-School Progression Purist: Prefers a straightforward career loop with classes and activities, and dislikes low meta progression or reliance on overpowered runs. Motivation: To build a character through clear, structured progression rather than random roguelike runs. Stance: sale.

Comparisons to Other MDickie Games: The game is frequently compared to other MDickie titles like Wrestling Empire, Super City, Extra Lives, Hard Time, and Old School, often favorably but sometimes unfavorably. These comparisons highlight both strengths and areas where the game falls short.

Criticism of AI-Generated Assets: Multiple reviewers criticize the game's use of AI-generated art, music, and posters, with some demanding disclosure. This is a significant and frequent complaint across clusters.

Overall Rating and Quick Summary: The game is rated 6.5/10 with good graphics and gameplay, bad audio, and easy difficulty. It has some lore and is suitable for teens and adults.

Positive Reception as MDickie Game: Many reviewers consider this a typical or top-tier MDickie game, with some calling it the best since Wrestling Empire. It meets expectations for fans of the developer.

Mod Support Enhances Experience: The game supports mods, which some players use to improve their experience, such as making themselves overpowered. Mod support is seen as a positive feature.