Lords of Infinity
By Paul Wang
(10/10)
Woof. If I wasn’t a mega fan of Paul Wang’s work before, now I am. Lords of Infinity is a monster of ambition, an epic, sprawling saga that blends deep political intrigue, moral complexity, and the relentless weight of legacy into one of the most ambitious text-based experiences I’ve played. Actually, one of the most ambitious games, period. This is the third book in the Infinity series, and it is a step up from the two previous books in so many ways. You were once a soldier, once an officer, and now you’re a lord! A lord of a rather small barony, sure, but a lord nonetheless. Of course, you can’t spend your time happily growing cultivating your land; a bitter political battle between two factions drags you to the Capitol. Your prize for surviving two wars is, essentially, responsibility. And the moment you think you’ll get to quietly fix your roof and plant potatoes, the political powder keg in the capital drags you straight into the heart of history. Not to mention there’s a rather large empire with their eyes on your little nation. You have the power to change history. What will you do?
Pros:
Writing. Again, Wang’s writing is terrific. In Sabres and Guns of Infinity, the prose often felt clipped, almost militaristic—short, precise sentences that mirrored the mindset of a soldier or officer under constant pressure. There was a steady, sullen tone, perfectly suited to the battlefield and rigid hierarchies. I did like it! In Lords of Infinity, that changes dramatically. The prose becomes elegant, almost literary, without losing the sharpness and clarity that defined the earlier games. Not only does he manage to track your idealism or ruthlessness, but both flavor traits have just beautiful monologues or lines on power, or honor, or duty.
Choices that actually matter. Gosh. Your choices will literally make or break a nation. You can side with an upstart Duke trying to reform the kingdom or the young Queen, the first female ruler. And if you side with one side, you can also act as a spy and betray them. The text always reacts to your choices, big or small. You can even decide which club to join in your free time, or what skills to improve, which leads to great replay value.
Moral complexity. It’s hard to make two sides equally viable, but here, I agonized over my choices. Of course, it’s easy to put a modern persona and side with the Duke and his reforms. He’s a charming, charismatic figure, more so than the Queen (though I love her too). But you are allowed to have an opinion about each side. Just because you side with the Duke or Queen doesn’t mean you have to agree with them. Each side has its pros and cons. You can fight for justice and still commit atrocities, or uphold the system only to realize how rotten it is. Even a “good choice” forces you to live with the fallout of your ambition, compassion, or cowardice. You just have to do the best you can.
Worldbuilding. There’s a timeline history, maps, and character indexes in the Stats Sheet. And in-game, there’s more on society’s view on baneless and women, a lot of political and economic talk, etc. You actually feel like a lord living in this universe, trying to survive. One of my favorite scenes is where you’re dining with royalty, an ambassador, some fancy generals, and two fantastic female romance options. You get a chance to express your feelings about women being soldiers—and my answers had the table of men howling and pounding the table. Excellent stuff!
Length. Plenty of bang for your buck!
More romance! There’s more romance scenes, including a path to agree (or not!) to an arranged marriage, if you’re on the Estate path. You can even choose to have a romance with a man (though it’s not very long). It’s still a slow burn for Katerina and Welles, but for Welles, you can confess, at least. Katerina pls I love you…
New gameplay mechanic: house debt/estate management. This builds off the debt mechanic from the last book. If you choose the Estate path, you’ll have to balance your expenses, estate upgrades, tenant loyalty, tenant contentment, and tenant rent. Every choice about what to repair, improve, or maintain on your estate affects your finances. Overspending can leave you vulnerable to crises, while underspending risks tenant discontent or reduced productivity. If you ignore your tenants, their dissatisfaction can snowball into political or economic problems. Conversely, attentive management can earn their loyalty, creating a foundation of stability and power. It’s super cool.
Mixed:
Quite heavy, in tone and in content. I swear, Sabres and Guns weren’t this dark, were they? I found the two previous entries to be brisk, gripping readers. While Infinity is also as gripping, there’s a lot to unpack in this bad boy. There’s a lot of worldbuilding, a lot of grey area, and a lot of “well, well, if it isn’t the consequences of my actions.” On my first readthrough, I struggled to understand exactly wtf was going on politically, so this is probably not the best entry for someone just reading for fun.
Cons:
Too much branching? I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I feel like there’s too much branching. My biggest quibble is choosing between managing your estate or going to the city. To me, it was pretty much a given you should go to the city: all the political threads are there, all the important characters are there, you can get wealthy there, etc. But you’ll be missing out on quite a lot of the estate management content, and vice versa. I don’t see why we couldn’t spend summers at the estate or something. I’m a person who only plays through games once, maybe twice, so my reaction to all the estate content I missed was “bummer, wish I could’ve seen it all in one go.”
While the ideals of either the Royalist or Wulframite path were solid, I feel like the narrative leans slightly toward being a Royalist. I say this because both the main romance options are staunch Royalists, the Queen is more interesting than the Duke, and a vast majority of the cast, I believe, are Royalists as well. The Duke’s side doesn’t really get any cool characters to prop him up.
I feel like stat checks were much tougher than in past entries.
Super slow burn romance. I’m going to be so real, half the reason I’m so invested is because I’m waiting for my marriage and children to Katarina. Even though romance is not a main part of the story, there’s just a lot of longingly gazing into each other’s eyes. I NEED a domestic happy ending ASAP.
I’ve been waiting for The Winds of Winter for years. I don’t want to wait for the Infinity series to be finished for years either 