InFamous First Light (DLC) review

A dark ray of light.

PlayStation 4 tested version.

Abigail "Fetch"Walker. A fragile girl, abandoned by everyone, even by her parents. Only one person has always remained by her side: Brent, her older brother, who protected her to prevent her conduit powers from ending her in Curdun Cay, the terrible prison of the DUP (Department of Unified Protection) where the "bioterrorists Captured are kept segregated by the fearsome Brooke Augustine.

After these and other interesting hints to his story present in inFamous Second Son, in First Light Fetch now becomes the protagonist of inFamous. sucker Punch has in fact decided to create this standalone DLC just to deepen the background of one of the most intriguing conduits in Seattle, in our opinion, as well as to allow you to live the "Second Son experience" without the need to have the full game. An in-depth study for those who have lived through the history of Delsin, an introduction for those who are still evaluating their purchase.

Let's find out what the creators of Sly and Cole have prepared for us in this first, and not necessarily last, additional “experimental” content. 

Tell your story, control your powers!

Fletch has been locked up on Curdun Cay for nearly two years and Augustine, the director of the DUP, is questioning her about her past. The girl appears exhausted, still upset by events too painful to be remembered, but the screams of her jailer of a trafficking shake her. Thus begins a long flashback that brings Abigail, and the player, back to the events of two years ago, when she and Brent were still together, about to start a new life ...

This is where the adventure of inFamous First Light, with a continuous journey between the past in Seattle and the present of imprisonment and training, between the sufferings of blackmail and the exportation of incredible powers to neon. In the scarce 4 hours of storytelling, the guys from Sucker Punch were able to delve into the unstable psychology of our "heroine" very well. Differently from what we were used to, however, this time we found ourselves being passive spectators of the character evolution of our main character, with a linear growth path that runs smoothly towards the only possible ending. Although the discovery of powers is gradual, then, we were surprised by the absence of karmic branches in the strengthening of the powers themselves.

In short, the developers have decided to focus on a single narrative strand that would bring the story to an ending as consistent as possible with the Fetch known in Second Son. This decision, however, partially distorts the gaming experience of inFamous, which has made good / evil ambivalence one of its predominant distinctive features. All obviously at the expense of a not excellent longevity, which ends up making all the replayability of the title weigh on the shoulders of a well-conceived new mode. Sand. The game, in fact, almost completely lacks secondary quests: we just collect Lumen and create artistic neon graffiti only to access new upgrades, with a sense of repetition that is almost immediately boring. The Seattle map has also been heavily reduced and the explorable neighborhoods are more or less what one would expect in a Second Son demo. For this reason, the price of 14.99 euros for the digital version, and 19.99 for the retail release on 10 September, although perfectly in line with the console market for additional content, seems to us to be excessive.

Challenge yourself

To counterbalance this general lack of content in the "campaign" mode, however, we have numerous and stimulating new challenges, which we will be able to subject both Fletch and dear old Delsin. The mode Sand which, together with the peculiar powers of Abigail - in part different from those that Delsin can develop - represents the real novelty of the DLC in terms of gameplay, it allows us, in fact, always without the aid of the game disc, to connect to the Second save Son and to face the training of the DUP also with "our" Delsin. We can thus exploit all the powers unlocked in our rescue and face the holograms, created by an old nerdy acquaintance (he works for his jailers in exchange for an extra hour on the pc ... we can all understand it, ed), to always reach scores major.

Specifically, the DUP training center confronts us with two different types of missions: rescue, where we are called to free as many hostages as possible, e survival, where living as long as possible carrying our demons into the afterlife becomes the primary goal. Each of them then offers different levels of difficulty - with increasingly complex arenas - and the possibility of impersonating Fetch, Delsin good or Delsin bad (if we have carried out Second Son with both), with specific scores that are then sent to a online world rankings to allow us to compare them with players from all over the world. Not to forget, then, the possibility of obtaining a challenging one platinum trophy, which will appeal to all trophy hunters and whose difficulty is mainly linked to this mode.

At the level technical, we don't have much to add to what is reported in the review of inFamous Second Son (link): excellent particle effects, even as we move at the speed of light through clouds of neon gas scattered around the city, as well as the expressive capacity of the characters. Impressive sceneries (with snowy landscapes captured and "acted" during a real snowfall in March) and excellent general fluidity, which from a stable 30fps can in this case also oscillate upwards. There are still some problems of polygonal interpenetration that occasionally creates difficulties, both for the NPG and the player. Excellent sound system, with some arena music that pays homage to the first chapter of the series (and also listen to the ringtone of Fetch's cell phone); the dubbing remains discreet. Finally improved the already spectacular Photo Mode, with the addition of three new filters and the ability to adjust the opacity of captured images.

Final comment

inFamous First Light brings an undoubtedly well-made DLC to PlayStation 4. The cinematic narrative of the title is again a great effect and allows us to have a very valid psychological insight into one of the best characterized characters among those appeared in inFamous Second Son. An excellent base from which to face, why not, the difficult past of other conduits. 

On the other hand, however, those who expected a long-lived campaign will certainly be disappointed, especially for the impossibility of replaying the title following a different karmic vocation. A "flaw" offset in part by the new and well-made Arena mode, which we hope to find, with greater variety of maps, also in the next titles of the series.