“Is it wrong to try to pick up girls in a dungeon?” may not be a question you or anyone else in this world will likely ever ask sincerely, but that sole query is the driving force behind the Japanese light novel, anime, and manga series of the same name. Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Girls Up In A Dungeon? (or “Danmachi” for short) follows the adventures of a young boy trying to find love in the most unlikely of places in a fantasy RPG-like universe. So, how well did this video game anime translate to an actual game?

Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon? - Infinite Combate’s clunky name is only the first of a series of problems that plague this mediocre visual novel and sluggish dungeon crawler.

Finding Love In A Dungeon

Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon? - Infinite Combate follows the story of a young rookie adventurer named Bell Cranel who was once told by his grandfather that if he truly wanted to meet a girl and fall in love, then becoming a hero was the best way to go. Unfortunately for Bell, his first chance encounter with a girl doesn’t go exactly the way he had envisioned, and he ends up getting saved by the beautiful and impressive Ais Wallenstein after a Minotaur nearly kills him. Following this embarrassing encounter, Bell perseveres to become the strongest hero he can be to muster up the courage to properly ask Ais out.

The game features a dual narration, with select chapters from Bell’s perspective, with the other’s from Ais. Those who are familiar with the franchise will recognize Bell’s chapters as a direct retelling from the main Danmachi series, while Ais’s chapters are from the On The Side: Sword Oratoria side story. Upon completion of the canon story, players can unlock additional content, such as relationship-building mechanics that allow players to romantically pursue other characters beyond the main ones.

Gameplay-wise, the Infinite Combate is both a visual novel and a dungeon crawler with real-time hack-and-slash mechanics. The story is told through traditional VN format while Bell and Ais’ various missions take place in the eponymous dungeons from the title.

No Time To Waste!

Just like how Bell is determined to level up as quickly as possible to impress Ais, Infinite Combate’s story is efficiently paced, with no lagging moments or additional filler sequences during the main story. Considering the 13-episode length of the anime, this isn’t necessarily surprising, but considering other anime-to video game adaptations’ tendencies to deviate from the source material to add content, this accurate approach is refreshing.

Speaking of the original anime, it’s clear that the developers created this game with the fans in mind. Hardcore advocates of the Danmachi franchise will appreciate seeing every aspect of the story integrated into the game in some fashion, especially with the post-main story features that shed light on background characters from the anime.

Nothing Special Here

Unfortunately, beyond accuracy and catering to fans, Infinite Combate’s ridiculously long name may be the most interesting thing about the game.

Firstly, the game is pretty average as both a visual novel and even worse as a dungeon crawler. The gameplay is nothing special, and it’s abundantly clear by the dated visuals and mechanics that the game’s budget was pretty low. Perhaps if the game had been released five years ago, this would’ve been impressive. But in 2020, when visual novels have the potential to be gorgeously rendered, with impressive detail and animations, Infinite Combate’s completely static images feel dated (and not in a cool nostalgic way).

Even if you’re not particular about visual novels, the dungeon crawling feature is even worsely executed. The top-down gaming perspective isn’t inherently a bad choice, but coupled with its uninspired graphics and even more simple hack-and-slash fighting mechanics, playing through the dungeons feels like running through a cheesy mobile game. It’s as if the developers weren’t thinking about the consoles this game was supposed to be released on.

And even though the actual battle mechanics are simple in design, dungeon crawling itself is a slow and monotonous grind. Every dungeon looks nearly the same, the monsters are suspiciously easy to beat (except for the random moments when they’re suddenly difficult without warning), and utilizing grinding to improve character bonds feels repetitive.

A Missed Opportunity

Earlier, I mentioned that the game’s story follows the original Danmachi plot faithfully. But maybe that’s not a great thing? Reviews from the anime’s first season are pretty mixed, with many positive reviews praising its fanservice and wish-fulfillment plot points. Infinite Combate could have improved upon the story by adding additional content throughout the main story, rather than at the end. It might have been a nice surprise amidst the average visuals and inferior gameplay.

Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon? - Infinite Combate asks a question that the protagonist deems to be of the utmost importance. But when it comes to the actual question of whether or not to buy this game, you’re better off leaving the dungeons, the story, and (of course) the girls alone.

A PlayStation 4 version of Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon? - Infinite Combate was provided to TheGamer for this review. Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon? - Infinite Combate is available now for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Microsoft Windows via Steam.

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