There's something very refreshing about discovering a game like Infection. In an age where the phrase 'hardcore' is used to refer to titles like Halo, finding a title that mixes stylish immersion with balls-out difficulty is quite a chore. Luckily, Infection has arrived to transport you back to earlier days, when men were men and games were hard.

Infection is the story of a man (Jonathan) and a woman (Michelle) trapped in the city during a generic zombocalypse. Forced out of their building by the entire basement exploding out from underneath them, they take to the streets, crowbaring and baseball batting their way to freedom.

Sort of.

Gameplay in Infection revolves around two critical mechanics. The first is scavenging for supplies in unmarked objects on the map, in the hopes that Schrodinger's magnum is buried deep in whatever dumpster you're trying to root through. There is no tutorial anywhere in this game explaining what is and what is not typically searchable, and this can sometimes create conflicts with the second critical mechanic. The second critical mechanic is running the hell away from things.

Combat in Infection feels surprisingly realistic. Damage values are low (ten is a very solid hit), and enemies have very modest pools of hp. Focus-firing on one zombie, it will take you about two to three turns with both characters to bring it down. Enemies come in groups of 2-4, and hp recovery is mostly dependent on a very limited pool of scavenged items, so the considerable risks of combat outweigh the very slight (exp only) gains from it.

Combat encounters are touch-based, and most zombies move pretty fast. Moreover, the world map is littered with dead-ends, Jonathan waddles along like he hasn't a care in the world, and there is no way to run from combat. The focus here is on carefully planned movements, and dodging between zones, pushing crates, and maneuvering so that enemies hang on obstacles are all fundamental strategies in progressing through the early game.

Over time, as you get caught in combat, you will begin to level up. For the most part, these levels come with minor stat gains and nothing else, but occasionally you will develop a 'survival' skill. These skills include things like accelerating your ATB, healing status conditions, and inflicting conditions on enemies. Because all the damage values are so low, poison-type effects are especially viable in Infection. The developer seems to be well aware of this, and has included a host of them. Grappled, diseased, burn, fracture, and bleed are among the ones that I noticed. They can all be layered onto a target, and nothing seems to be immune to them. At one point, I fractured a swarm of flies.

There are a few bugs in Infection, and they're all of the type that will force you to reload. While the game does an excellent job of remembering when zombies have been killed and removing them from the map, some zombies will lock you into an endless cycle of touch-encounters instead of dying when you kill them. There were only two that I encountered during the course of play, and one was very remote, but they were still extremely unwelcome.

Another issue that I had with Infection was its difficulty curve. It starts off extremely brutal, with poorly-provisioned, ill-equipped, and unskilled characters. Things get even worse from there, as a player's resources inevitably run out, and he's forced to scrape along on whatever paltry healing items he can find. But then, by about the 75% mark of the demo, Michelle learns a skill that allows for an honest-to-god combat heal. This flips the difficulty on its head.

Overall, Infection is a satisfying challenge, even in its current state. The limited options and minimalist black-and-white graphics are charming in their own way, and give the game a stylish feel that contradicts its 2k3 origins. The plot is quite sparse, but--like a good B-movie--the game's focus is on the visceral realities of being stuck in a horrifying situation. It doesn't ever lose its pacing, and the stakes remain high all the way through. If you're looking for a burgeoning title that could very easily grow into something incredible, you could do worse than giving Infection a shot.