Critical Games’ recently-announced Infinite Alliance, available to wishlist on Steam, looks to take characters from thirteen different indie RPGs and put them into a turn-based RPG collaboration. These characters are pulled from their worlds and stranded on a dead one, having to work together to redeem a hero and vanquish the dark forces for the chance to return home. Critical Games’ Lead Developer Josh Hallaran took some time to answer questions about the upcoming game.
Ryan Costa (RPGamer): When it came to selecting characters from other games to appear in Infinite Alliance, were there any who led to surprisingly good synergy while being integrated into the story?
Josh Hallaran: When I was originally conceiving the project, I tried to choose characters that would synergise with each other, and with the themes of the story. So everyone involved gels by design!
One surprising example, though, was the villain Montam (from Venaitura), as it was only when I started writing that I realised he had very organic parallels with all of the characters facing him. He’s sort of like a twisted Pokémon trainer, so it also occurred to me that he’d see Whoopis (from My Familiar) as a monster to control due to that character’s strange appearance. So it was fun to play with that idea.
But in general, I think players will be surprised at just how well all of these characters bounce off of each other and relate. It really feels like a cohesive JRPG party by the end.
RPGamer: Conversely, were there any characters whose originality made it a challenge to tie in to the cohesive narrative?
JH: Yes! I love Geo Mythica, and really wanted to include its lovable main character Gio, but the tone of that game is very comedic compared to the other titles involved. So finding a spot for Gio which felt true to his original game was a challenge. He doesn’t appear until the end of Infinite Alliance, but it’s in a really fun way which caps off the game and doesn’t alter his personality for the sake of fitting in.
The villains were all a little challenging, since they’re introduced later than everyone else. Obviously they’ve all got world-ending plans in their own games, but the tricky part for Infinite Alliance was figuring out what they want on this dead world, and why they’d be in opposition to our heroes.
RPGamer: Working with a lot of creative talents takes a lot of collaboration, how does fitting in the diverse set of composers work within the confines of the game?
JH: We’ve been fortunate to get the involvement of several composers who made music for the games featured in Infinite Alliance. So Eddie Marianukroh does the music for the dungeon which involves Chained Echoes, Tyler Mire does the music which involves Quartet and My Familiar (he composed both those games), and Sebastian Cruz does the music for the dungeon which involves 8-Bit Adventures 2.
Because the dungeon and battle themes in Infinite Alliance combine songs from multiple games, it was important that we had some of the original composers involved. But then for the original themes, we branched out, with Sam English and Mushra contributing completely fresh tracks, alongside additional work from Sebastian (our main composer who’s handling the largest number of tracks).
RPGamer: What is the rough percentage of new songs created for Infinite Alliance compare to the remixed ones for the soundtrack?
JH: It ends up being around 50/50, with a slight advantage towards new songs, simply because we didn’t want one game to get too much spotlight with the remixes. But there are plenty of remixes!
RPGamer: Earlier works of yours (8-Bit Adventures 1&2, Tales Across Time) use a smaller-sized sprites, particularly while traversing. Was it difficult to create and program for the larger on-screen characters and the additional movements that it entails?
JH: Truth be told, we’re still working out some of the challenges with this haha. Because you’re right, it changes the way you handle some aspects of collision, as well as the way maps are made and scenes are framed with the camera. So it’s definitely a learning experience for me!
RPGamer: Are you able to swap party members during combat like in your previous games?
JH: Yes! The ability to swap characters without wasting a turn seemed really popular with players of 8-Bit Adventures 2. So for a crossover project with a nine-character party, it felt natural to incorporate this again.
However, a chunk of Infinite Alliance is spent with three sets of three-character parties; so swapping only becomes a major mechanic once everyone’s reunited.
RPGamer: Will any more titles appear in this collaboration, as NPCs, say?
JH: Yes, absolutely! While I don’t want to overload the game with too many inclusions, we’ve still got some really exciting announcements that have yet to be revealed. They’ll be a little more than just NPCs, though!
RPGamer: With so many moving parts, are there any particular gameplay aspects that you’re excited to show off?
JH: With so many characters for players to use, and a relatively short play time (five hours or so), I didn’t want to reinvent the wheel. As such, gameplay will feel pretty similar to anyone who’s played 8-Bit Adventures 2.
However, each character brings their own abilities and specific mechanics to combat, inspired by their original games. For example, Dustin (Kingdoms of the Dump) has his Boil gauge to boost his attack power, Whoopis can use timed hits (ala Mario RPG), and Vera (Eternal Remnant) fights with her little brother Arin (who periodically unlocks a devastating magic attack when he gains control of his powers). So there’ll be a lot of variety within the characters.
RPGamer: In the trailer there’s a short clip of who looks to be The Fateshifter from Ephemeral Tale swooping down to attack the Warrior from 8-Bit Adventures 2, will there be other story-scene moments like these to look forward to? Is there a hint to one in particular that was memorable to create that can be shared yet?
JH: Yes, absolutely! While they can be expensive to implement, I love set-piece moments in games and I think they can really sell major moments between the characters. Plus, since we already had the environment, a fight on top of a moving train was too much fun to pass up!
There’s a moment I love involving Whoopis, Alexandra (Quartet), and Rio (Shrine’s Legacy) in a clash that I think will surprise people. I was actually a bit surprised I was allowed to do that sequence haha!
RPGamer: There’s a villain that is unique to the collaboration. Is there an original protagonist that counteracts this villain in the game? Is there any chance that original characters will be utilized in a stand alone title down the road?
JH: There’s not an original protagonist per se, as the protagonist vacuum is what our heroes have been summoned to fill. But the being which did that, and who kicks off the events of Infinite Alliance, is definitely an original main character. So you’ll see her throughout the story.
There are no plans for them to reappear in future (assuming they even survive this story, haha), but it’s not impossible. I just try to write stories which are complete in and of themselves, so right now I’m not thinking too far beyond Infinite Alliance.
RPGamer: What is something that you would love to share about the game not discussed above?
JH: Infinite Alliance exists to showcase and celebrate the work of the indie JRPG scene (albeit a small selection of games). That’s why it’s completely free-to-play, with some optional purchases on console due to platform requirements, the proceeds of which will be going to charity. I didn’t want any barriers to entry, as we’re hoping that players will discover some new favourite games through this collaboration.
Because of this, Infinite Alliance has been written as an introduction to the characters and their games, so no prior experience with those titles is necessary. The goal is to connect new players to these characters through strong story-telling and gameplay, just like any RPG would.
So I really hope that everyone checks it out when Infinite Alliance launches in 2026! Wishlists on Steam are sincerely appreciated too.
RPGamer would like to thank Josh Hallaran for joining us and answering these questions about Infinite Alliance. The crossover RPG will be releasing in 2026 on Steam, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2. In addition to those characters already mentioned, other titles confirmed to be included in the collaboration are For a Vast Future and Jack Move, which have playable characters, as well as Beloved Rapture, which has a villain included.
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