- The new port makes the previously unavailable game playable on PC
- Infinity Blade was the first iOS game to use the Unreal Engine
- It raked in millions for Epic Games and Spawned two sequels
Infinity Blade, Epic’s 2010 RPG hit, has received an unofficial fan PC port. The game, which was one of Epic Games’ most successful titles on smartphones, and a major groundbreaker in terms of graphical fidelity and gameplay, will now be playable on PC thanks to the efforts of the Infinity Blade Studios fan project.
You can check out the trailer below!
What is Infinity Blade?
Set in a techno-fantasy world in the far future, Infinity Blade blends fantasy and sci-fi to create a world of its own. The gameplay is relatively simple, with the player moving between pre-set locations on a linear path. In combat with enemies, which is mostly one-on-one, you need to time your strikes and dodges to evade enemy attacks and ensure that you manage to get hits in before your enemy does.
Infinity Blade was groundbreaking at the time, primarily because it was the very first iOS game to run on the Unreal Engine. Aside from raking in millions of dollars, it was also considered Epic Games’ most profitable title in 2012, a real surprise considering Epic were, at the time, the creators of another mega-hit, Gears of War.
We lavished praise on Infinity Blade, and for good reason, it was proof that mobile could be capable not just of stunning graphical fidelity but also of amazing art direction and an engaging story. It would go on to receive two sequels, Infinity Blade II and III, with two spin-off novellas bridging the stories between the games.
However, it was not to last, as the original and its two sequels were unceremoniously pulled from storefronts in 2018. Likely, with the success of Fortnite and the need to support a mobile port of the mega-hit battle royale, maintaining Infinity Blade was simply not on the cards for Epic Games.
Since then we haven’t really heard anything about Infinity Blade. Not a sausage. But suffice it to say that for those tracking the history of smartphone gaming, Infinity Blade has a significant place for pushing graphical fidelity forward and – alongside other titles like Clash of Clans – proving that games on phone could be big business.
The game preservation problem
Infinity Blade only now receiving a reliable way to play after it was delisted is perhaps one of the most emblematic of the problems with preservation on phones. It’s all too easy for a game that isn’t supported or updated quickly enough to become unplayable, and in the case of Infinity Blade eventually, you have to deal with a lot of finicky emulation just to get the chance to play it again even if you own it.
We’re hoping that, given this is a non-profit port purely done to preserve the game, we won’t see Epic Games come down on the Infinity Blade fan port. But if they are concerned about their IP, we think there’d be a lot of players happy to see Infinity Blade return to mobile. Whether that be as revamped versions of the old games or, better yet, a whole new title in the universe.
If you want to find out more about RPGs on mobile, you can check out our top lists of the best games on iOS and Android to grab some of the newer, amazing titles released in Infinity Blade’s wake!
