[Review] The Invincible

The unknown has always played a major part in media surrounding outer space, and The Invincible does an amazing job utilizing feelings of emptiness to create a breathtaking experience. Unfortunately, things feel drawn out, with the pace at which the main character moves becoming a major deterrent for those who get sucked into the story.

The first thing that caught my eye when booting the game up was just how gorgeous the scenery was. The planet of Regis III is introduced as a barren wasteland, covered in dust and sand. Within the first few moments, we see Yasna, our main character, traverse dangerous landscapes in order to reunite with her crew. I often found myself stopping to admire the scenery, fully taking in every drop of the atmosphere before moving on. Since the game plays from a first-person perspective, I was able to fully immerse myself in the world and events taking place.

I would find myself walking up to the edge of large cliffs and looking out into the distance, anticipating what lay beyond the mysterious mountains, while finding myself filled with the excitement of seeing just how far I could explore and what I could uncover. The amount of detail put into every aspect of the world Yasna and her crew inhabit on their mission had my heart in a chokehold. Utilizing a tool that showed the location of important objects, I was treated to Yasna’s insight on the tool and its importance. This explained the device’s mechanics without interrupting the deeply immersive experience.

The story introduces us to a crew that is entangled in a space race and finds themselves on the planet of Regis III. It seems as if we have crash-landed here and Yasna has suffered some sort of memory loss during the impact. As she struggles to get back on her feet, we are given some information on her companions, with the most important one being the Astrogater named Novik who also serves as the assumed commander of the Dragonfly, the ship the crew came to the planet on. While the game never outright tells you what his title means or what his position is, you are able to determine this based on the interactions he has with the rest of the crew. Novik will serve as our support as we navigate Regis III and the conversations he has with Yasna shape how the rest of the story plays out.

The invincible boasts a total of eleven different endings, brought about by a plethora of choices made throughout the expedition. These narrative choices are subtle and are not thrown in your face as crucial decisions but are instead scattered throughout the dialogue between Yasna and the commander. Some dialogue choices will have a time limit, while others will allow you to carefully consider your next few steps. I loved seeing a multitude of dialogue options as well as seeing them play out over the course of the story. After choosing to save two members of my crew, I strapped them into the rescue vessel and sent them off, only to realize I made a major mistake of not backtracking to get one more member. When the game told me about their status later on, I felt a pain in my gut, knowing that I was the reason one member didn’t get a chance at survival. Options like these are scattered throughout your journey and will definitely make multiple playthroughs feel engaging and fresh.

One of my major issues found with the game can easily be explained away by use of narrative or scientific explanation, but I felt as if Yasna moved entirely too slow. I would find myself holding the stick in a direction and zoning out due to the stretch of silence as I moved from point A to point B. She has the ability to perform a sprint, but it is probably one of the shortest sprint cycles I have ever seen in a game, rendering it almost useless. I get that it would have pulled away from some of the immersive storytelling to have our protagonist able to sprint for an unlimited amount of time, but this movement speed definitely made the time I spent here feel like an eternity. I would get so wrapped up in the story only to realize that it was time for me to slowly walk to the next point, and this was the biggest reason I was unable to play for long periods of time in one sitting.

Besides the slow walking speed and a sprint that would make Sonic feel like a turtle, there is an abundance of positive points that I pulled away at the end of my playthrough. When you boot the game up, you are given the backstory in the form of a comic strip that you can access from the main menu. As you progress through the game, the comic gets updated, and you can get yourself up to speed before diving back in. I thought this was an interesting way to relay information I may have forgotten without tying it to a loading screen or unnecessary information in the form of a HUD, which the game lacks. We see everything through the helmet that Yasna wears and as dust storms blow through, her visor will get dirty. his was a nice touch. An even nicer feature is the ability to change how we view the world around us by allowing players to turn off the visor, helmet, and microphone in the accessibility menu as well as turning off the added motion when moving. This makes the game playable for people like myself who tend to struggle with first person games. I was hesitant about my journey alongside Yasna, but after seeing the options available from the start, I felt a lot more confident going into it. One other feature that blew my mind was the implementation of the photo mode. While it isn’t anything too ‘feature heavy’, I was excited to see that I could take even more screenshots of the mysterious planet without having to rely on the screenshot button on the controller. You can also pose Yasna in a multitude of poses and move the camera around to create some really dramatic shots.

The Invincible is a beautiful story about what lies in the unknown and humanity’s ability to put ourselves in the middle of things we should not be in. Looking at the flora and fauna of Regis III and not recognizing it  or knowing what function it should have, put me in a state of unease and managed to pique my curiosity at the same time. While I wish movement went a little faster, I definitely enjoyed my time on the barren planet and can recommend this to anyone who is a fan of science fiction. Since there is no combat here, those who are seeking an action-filled journey filled with firefights and blasters will feel disappointed, but for players seeking a deep, philosophical journey that plays in the same narrative space as its novel counterpart, this is the place for you.