inFamous First Light review for PS4

inFamous Second Son (our review here) was not only an enjoyable super power-infused action adventure game, it also told an interesting, and sometimes surprisingly dark, story. Delsin was initially dismissed as a smug, cocky jerk, but once players understood some of the reasoning behind his actions, his attitude and worldview sorta made sense. inFamous First Light (which is a standalone PS4 release that does not require a copy of Second Son) delves deeper into one of that game’s more interesting supporting characters — Abigail “Fetch” Walker, and helps to further flesh out the inFamous universe.

inFamous First Light can be described as side story DLC or a prequel expansion for inFamous Second Son, and even though it’s highly recommended that you play the original game first, it’s not a requirement. Fetch’s story, which mostly takes place before the events in Second Son, still makes sense by itself. Either way, unlike Second Son, there is no karma system or moral choices to be made in First Light. If you remember the character’s plot points in Second Son, you would recall that she has seen, and been through, a lot of shit. Fetch, along with her brother Brent, was homeless, drug addicted, involved with all the wrong people, constantly on the run, and to make things extra complicated, struggling to control her new found conduit powers. First Light explores Abigail’s dark past and allows her to come to terms with her neon light powers and not-so-bright situation. Needless to say, there are no puppies and rainbows when the credits roll.

First Light plays like a subset of inFamous Second Son. A good chunk of the game’s virtual representation of Seattle exists, although the layout seems slightly different in places. Fetch’s story unfolds throughout roughly 3 – 5 hours of missions and is told through in-game and motion comic story scenes, complete with voiceovers. Even though there’s not as much of it, the quality is right up there with Second Son’s and it does a nice job wrapping up some of the character’s loose ends. The missions follow the standard inFamous template for the most part — investigate something, defeat some enemies, rescue a hostage, take down a vehicle and so on. Along the way Fetch can earn skill points to enhance her abilities via a simple upgrade tree. Completing optional goals, such as chasing down lumens or drones in Seattle, dispatching enemies in a certain way, or reaching specific milestones in the battle arenas also earn Fetch some points. Completing each and every game challenge, which isn’t a requirement to beat the story mode, is the only way to unlock 100% of her powers.

Mixed in with these more typical missions are arena battle challenges which are utilized during parts of the game when Fetch gains new powers. The arena battles, which take place at the DUP Curdun Cay detention/training center,  also serve as a separate mode within the game, which if you’re an inFamous completionist like me, will likely suck up another few hours of play time (at least). Let’s just say I refused to write this review before earning my Platinum trophy. On a side note, the game’s story mode is exceptionally easy for any inFamous veterans out there so I definitely recommend playing it on expert.

inFamous First Light looks just as pretty as Second Son, with slick rain coated streets and gorgeous lighting and effects. The framerate is still variable and usually jumps above 30fps, though you can certainly still lock it down in the options if you choose to do so. Fetch is fun to play as, and her neon light-infused powers are put to good use though the game and especially in the battle arena mode. Even though I enjoyed the variety of powers at Deslin’s disposal in Second Son, being locked down to one power sort of made me appreciate Fetch’s skills a bit more. When fully upgraded, being able to zip around and over the city is pretty damn liberating.

I really enjoyed inFamous First Light on a number of levels, and if I had to compare it to The Last of Us? Left Behind expansion, I would give the edge to First Light just for its additional challenges and replayability. Hopefully Sucker Punch and Sony have plans for some of the other inFamous conduits such as Eugene and his video powers or Celia from Paper Trail.