Good evening,
and welcome to a review of a game that despite being a demo, it's long enough to deserve an entire review. This game is Infection: Kessler's Run, a name that may sound familiar, because it's a spin-off of another complete game, Infection, a 2010 Rm2k3 survival horror I reviewed last year (look here!). Kessler isn't obviously related to the Kessler twins, and was a survivor briefly encountered by the protagonist Jonathan during the events of the main game. Adrian Kessler is, o better was, a russian hitman that worked for a crime boss, until the unnatural epidemic transformed the world in a decadent wasteland overrun by psychotic feral infected like in the popular movie 28 Days Later (and sequel). Infection: Kessler's Run is a prequel to Infection in wich we play as Kessler and his associate Torres, as they try to move through the city and survive.

Ok, first thing: the game is a demo, so I guess a lot of content was left out, anyway it plays more or less like Infection, except for some little differences. First there is no lockpicking minigame, all locks encountered are electronic and will require finding the numeric password, second the game is no longer greyscale but it's in technicolor... well more or less, since due to the grim nature of the setting, this is not a colorful, beautiful world at all!
The game is divided into episodes, each one finishing in "to be continued" but in reality the story goes on, until you are sent to the main menu. There are various sections: a city block, a sewers segment, other city block, a subway segment, and a final city block.A This is a very linear game, an it took me about an hour and a half to finish, but there is a lot to explore, many optional places you can visit and scavenge, so you may take even two hours or more exploring the city.
But it's not easy at all because you know, there are the infected! (technically they are crazed but alive, so I won't use the term zombies, ok?).


Looks like we are surrounded! Better go inside the building and search shelter from the horde (not that inside there will be a safe haven!).

The game is basically divided into exploration and combat. Exploration is quite simple, you have just to figure out how to exit the level (there is no indication for the direction, do not listen to Torres that speak about looting the nearby clinic, you can totally avoid that since there is no real mission besides escaping) while you go around, avoid feral creatures (whenever it is possible) and loot everything. You can search cars, dumpsters, desks, trash cans, vending machines, everything! And you have to do that since in the decadent world of Infection there is no money and no shops. Some items are also on the grounds, in fact when you see some bottles, just grab them! They may be water (that heal), soda (that heal but not much) or alcholic beverages (that gives other assorted effects).
In any case remember that, exactly like in Infection, most consumables can be used only outside of combat, so be always prepared. Various equipment can also be scavenged, and I also liked how, like in the first game, stun guns and firearms are inventory items (with limited used due to ammunition) and not equippable like melee weapons, so you can use them both.

But let's talk about combat: like in Infection all enemies are visible and avoidable, but once they reach you (and some enemies are rather fast, like the dogs) it's impossible to escape combat! Enemies are also quite strong and do not let you earn tons of experience points (even if I was able to reach level 4, earning an extra ability for each character) nor you can improve a lot your characters (there are some consumables that let you upgrade some characteristics) even if apparently they seemed to become better at fighting. Anyway I may be wrong abut this, since during the game I also changed the weapons equipped with some I was able to scavenge. This is an interesting part, because weapons not only have different bonuses and malus that affect attack, defense and speed, but they also come with skills attached. A blunt weapon may have a special "crushing bones" attack, while the bladed weapons have some special attacks that cause bleed. These abilities add to the characters' personal ones and do not cost any mana/action/stamina points... because there is no mana/action/stamina bar! Simply you can choose between standard attacks or more precise attacks that can cause some effects, or heavier attacks that can cause lot of damage but they can miss the target... your choice!
Both characters have also two extra abilities in common: the first is the ability to break grapples, but it also restored ten health points, so technically you can use it to heal during combat, besides escaping the from the infecteds' grasp. The other ability is the skill to bandage and clean wounds and it's used to remove the Infected status, it's very handy but can be used only outside of combat and does not restore lost hitpoints. On the other hand this reduces the utility of the antibiotics, that are used to restore life AND remove the infected status.

In any case game isn't too hard if you take the time to scavenge and heal after each combat encounter, there are enough consumables (even if I was running low during the final parts of the game and I never had plenty of them) and you can also save and reload anytime, anywhere, so you can take also advantage of this freedom!


Looks like that even a lonely girl is dangerous for our team of hardened criminals!

Visually the game is more or less like Infection... just with colors! Mapping is pretty good in the first part, later there are some imprecisions and passability errors but nothing really problematic (you can walk over some desks, but chairs will be an obstacle!). I like how maps are realistic and well made despite some parts look a bit imperfect (like the library) probably due to the demo status of the game. There is an unexpected variety of visitable places (and I like how in the hospital you will find infected doctor and patients, infected policemen populate the police station and young infected boys and girls are found in the school, infected dogs can be found in the animal shop. No, I'm kidding, there is no animal shop but all the rest is correct! Clearly all of them can be found on the city streets, of course!) and the different number of enemies, considering that this is an incomplete game! So the graphics are good, I do not mind too much the lack of facesets (even if both characters have a distinctive look, the two protagonists could be interpretated by Vin Diesel and Danny Trejo! Were these two the source of inspiration for the protagonists?), maybe there could have been more than a charset tyme for the infected, but I do not mind too much. Music is also pretty good, and contributes perfectly to the atmosphere of tension.

The game has only a couple of problems, besides the little passability errors I mentioned before: first there is no indication of where you are supposed to go, and this may be a problem in the part when you have to find a generator in order to oper the doors of a train and be able to proceed. So be prepared to search the city block and try to find the password that will let you access the unnamed warehouse where it is kept. Second, during the underground section Kessler uses a torch and moves slowly in the subway tunnels, but later after turning of the torch and emerging to the new city block he retains the slow moving speed!
This is rather bad because if normally he isn't already exaclty a fast sprinter, the slower moving speed becomes especially annoying in a game where you must escape enemies to avoid confrontation and there is no way to leave combat once initiated. Anyway this happens during the final quarter of the game, so I was able to endure this until the end, despite my hate for slow moving characters.


I got the combination of the safe from the dead cold body of that guy, and now I have his gun! Well, looks like he does not need it anymore!

Final Verdict
Compared to Infection this is a bit "more of the same" but being a demo I cannot obviously judge what wasn't implemented yet (because there was for example indication of spending the "AP points" but those are never gained or seen in the game), anyway it provides about two hours of survival horror and a coherent story and gameplay, even if it's just going from point A to point B (we've not a lot of story except for the "survive and leave town!"). Not too different from the old game, anyway the bestiary is really varied and believable.

In the end this is a pretty good experience, even if it does not add a lot to the first game I appreciate it equally despite being a demo. For example I like some changes like the more colorful graphics, and how this time we play as a criminal (not a new background for horror games, as we saw in some of the games I reviewed in the past), a choice that motivates the presence of a battle hardened protagonist (and not a civilian survivor that goes from zero to hero in a couple of hours! That's not new, but it's pretty unrealistic). There is not a lot in terms of story and dialogues, but a decent game that becomes really nice if you like survival horror adventures.