It seems a long time since - but I recall the Infamous games well. The karmic choice system, the increasing plethora of unlockable abilities and having to collect a bucket-load of shards which was, pardon the pun, Infamous in trophy-hunting at the time, and possibly still is. Despite a new direction for the series in multiple ways, not much of that has actually changed.
It's been over 8 years since I grabbed the Infamous 2 Platinum, and over 10 for the original Infamous title, which was one of my earliest ever Platinum trophies.
Infamous : Second Son, following up as a non-sequel to Infamous 1 and 2, but still technically the third game in the Infamous timeline, sees you take control of Delsin Rowe, the successor to Cole Mcgrath from the first two Infamous titles.
Delsin resides in Salmon Bay, home of a fictional native tribe called the Akomish. Nearby, a group of conduit prisoners are being transported across the country by the D.U.P, a specialist force whose purpose is to eliminate the conduit presence in the country. The convoy is destroyed and the conduits escape, and whilst rescuing one of them amongst the wreckage, a struggle ensues and the conduit transfers his powers into Delsin's body, thus also transforming him into a conduit being.
Delsin works closely with his brother, Reggie, who is a police officer, to use this to their advantage, and take down Augustine, the leader of the D.U.P, and the mastermind at the forefront of the extermination of the conduit race.
I was never massive on the original Infamous titles. They were solid, but ultimately just OK. It's a series, that, for me, could have benefitted from radical change and a degree of reinvention, but Second Son doesn't do that, and staleness ultimately sets in here. You end up just getting a game that feels exactly the same as the original Infamous titles, only with a much less likable main protagonist. I think Delsin is a weak character whose depth only runs as far as a few quippy one-line exchanges with his brother throughout the game.
You still have 2 clear karmic paths to follow, with the same set of in-game actions dictating which one you're steered toward. The same cluster of side quests are repetitively plastered across each of the whole open world districts and you still have to collect shards to upgrade an extensive list of abilities via a loose skill-tree system. Combat, movement and gameplay all look and feel exactly the same, and even the trophy list has a very familiarly recycled look to it.
There are new powers at your disposal that you'll discover throughout the story, in the form of Smoke, Neon, Video and Concrete (the latter is only briefly presented at the end of the game though). These are fun to use and alternate between, though I did end up heavily favouring Neon purely for how easy it is to get around with the dash ability, but the variety and effects from special powers do keep the game feeling somewhat fresh, and they are a graphical treat. Each special power has it's own set of abilities too, but a projectile attack in Neon moves the same way as a projectile attack in Smoke, and a bomb in Video still moves in the same way as a bomb in Concrete. You ultimately still feel like you're driving the same car - It's just the car has different paintjobs, but it is the still the stand-out mechanic in the game.
However, the overall lack of reinvention also extends out to the trophy list too. The game contains 48 trophies, all earned through the Single Player, story-driven experience, and these follow the exact same template of the previous Infamous games.
Just straight off the bat, there is a minimal challenge to be had from this list, and the roadmap is very clear. Beat the game once, ensuring you choose the good or evil karmic path, then beat it again on Expert difficulty, choosing the opposite karmic path you didn't choose first time round. This should take you through to the very end of the list, with a very linear methodology that doesn't require any deviance away from this route.
The karmic trophies account for 23 trophies within this list, which is just shy of half the overall total. To further break this down, 12 of them are awarded for making the relevant good/evil choice with specific branches along the way in the main story, and the remainder are for fulfilling karmic-specific actions within the open world setting through side activities, but these can be easily achieved within either playthrough, regardless of whether you're going through your good or evil path.
The story is also a fairly short experience, spanning across a total of 25 missions for roughly 8-10 hours of gameplay. The Infamous titles have never been renowned for their length, but this is the shortest story by a considerable distance in comparison to previous games.
Outside of this, there are a host of trophies related to the side quests within the game. The open world element is a still a big focus within Second Son, as it was within the previous Infamous games, and Seattle, which is where the game's open world is based upon, is split into 14 districts, each controlled by the D.U.P. The other half of this game, away from the story, is all defined around taking back control from each district by fulfilling a number of side objectives which will gradually reduce the total control the D.U.P hold to 0%. This will clear that district from D.U.P influence.
These include disabling security cameras, tagging graffiti messages onto billboards and destroying radio towers, amongst other things. This will take a while, and quickly becomes fairly monotonous once you realise the objectives required to clear each district are all the same. The big positive is, you won't need to do all of this twice - Some open world games will only allow progression through clearing a certain amount of side content, but Second Son will allow you to go through the main story path and leave the side content untouched to whatever extent you so wish, which is a massive plus point in a game that struggles with justifying it's replayability, but will still require you beat the game twice in order to achieve the Platinum trophy.
The "Unstoppable" trophy, awarded for Finishing the game on Expert difficulty, is the only trophy of any reasonable note here, and even that is a stretch. The only condition that changes on Expert difficulty is the fact enemies hit a little harder, and thus, your health will deplete at a quicker rate. However, the dash ability is the ultimate equaliser, turning out to be perfect for running away from fights and allowing your health to automatically regenerate when you remain outside of conflict for a short period of time.
To the naked eye, the difference between Normal and Expert difficulty was barely noticeable, and even on the toughest difficulty mode, this game doesn't do alot to stand in your way.
To further cement the case for Second Son being the easiest Infamous Platinum trophy to date, there is no longer any collectible-based requirements contained within the trophy list either. Blast shards still exist, and you'll still need to collect them in order to upgrade abilities for Delsin, but they are no longer incorporated into the trophy list. Collecting all 350 blast shards from Infamous 1? Gone. Collecting all 305 blast shards from Infamous 2? A thing of the past.
The requirement has been reduced to an absolute zero for Second Son, and given the fact these games are so similar, this is a big difference maker in the conversation around whether this is the easiest of the three infamous Platinum trophies as a consequence of this exclusion.
The list does also contain a host of miscellaneous trophies to make up the remainder, though these are incredibly easy and much less grindy than some of the trophies within previous lists. It really is one of the most straight forward games I've ever played.
To conclude with a final answer, I do feel as though this is easiest Infamous Platinum trophy to date, though the bar was never set terribly high to begin with. Infamous 2 peaked at a 3/10, so would it feel fair to rate this the same, whilst claiming it to be the easiest Infamous Platinum trophy simultaneously?
I am going to follow up with what makes the most amount of sense though. Despite having to beat the game twice, as well as regain 100% control over every district on one of these playthroughs, you can still comfortably earn this Platinum trophy within 25 hours. The lack of necessity of having to collect every blast shard is a huge differentiating factor, and is ultimately the reason I can't justify scoring this the same as Infamous 2.
Even beating the game on Expert difficulty level was a low touch challenge, and the game practically rolls out a red carpet for you on your way towards it's Platinum trophy. I barely came away with a scratch here, and neither will you.
Notable Trophies -
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| Unstoppable - Finish the game on Expert difficulty. |
Hardest Trophy -
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