The Invincible from developer Starward Industries and publisher 11 Bit Studios is one such walking simulator. Wholly embracing its source content, it unabashedly adapts famed Polish science fiction writer Stanislaw Lem’s 1964 novel of the same title in video game form. You play Yasna, an exobiologist whose team has landed on a planet an alien planet called Regis III at the end of a long mission and things have gotten rather strange. Those of you who have read The Invincible will immediately know that this is not how the novel plays out either. The game instead blazes a new trail using the source material and complementing Lem’s work, providing new experiences for fans of the writer and gamers alike.
As this is a heavily story based game, too many spoilers would destroy the experience but Yasna is not particularly well-suited to the mission and things definitely aren’t working out for her team. Several of them have had traumatic incidents and at least one has gone missing leaving Yasna stuck figuring out what’s going on. Her Astrogator (i.e. mission commander) is stuck on the orbiting ship with a broken leg from a previous incident and she’s on her own. Worse yet, there’s an opposing force coming to the planet and a definite risk of combat with enemy forces who are significantly better kitted out than your small team of scientists. There’s a lot of drama going on here and the alien world is just as dangerous as you might expect as well.
The main vehicle for the game’s story is Yasna herself, initially talking through her broken comm unit and eventually strategizing with her Astrogator in order to figure out what to do next. The game offers a number of options for communication with timed responses. Select the responses in time and you get to choose the approach Yasna’s dialogue takes. Skip the discussion entirely and things may go a different way. The options are entirely open and it’s a matter of deciding what approach you prefer, which means that there are multiple endings that will flesh out the plot more thoroughly for you.
Think of The Invincible kind of like the prequel movie ‘The Thing’ (2011). It expands what happens on Regis III, takes some of the elements of the original story and makes something entirely new, but sets up the story for the original. If you end up reading Lem’s novel (and you should), then it dovetails nicely into the game and completes the storyline. Some of the endings for The Invinicible seem remarkably abrupt, but that’s because the game is intended to lead into the novel, something that is definitely not made clear during gameplay. Regardless, most of the game consists of Yasna talking, looking around, deciding which pathway to take, or choosing which actions make the most sense to her. There’s enough leeway here for most personality types, which means that regardless of how you want to play things, there’s likely an approach you’ll vibe with.
Actually playing the game is another story however. The first thing you’ll notice about The Invincible is how clunky the overall gameplay is. This is not a smoothly controlling game by any means. Sure, you’re in a spacesuit but you’re walking about 75% of the time and Yasna is rather slow. You can look around while you’re walking and the environment is beautiful, but the speed of movement has a significant impact on the story’s pacing as well, artificially extending the length of the game. Looking around is slow. Highlighting interaction points takes some time and the cursor is very small and hard to see occasionally.
Actually interacting with things is slow as well and there are semi-cinematic moments where Yasna climbs in and out of various places and vehicles that take up a lot of time. All of this results from a methodical approach to storytelling of course, trying to ensure that the gravity of the situation and events impact players, but it all ends up coming off as pacing issues. Yasna can’t run for long and you’re help back by her physical fitness. She isn’t the best climber either and every time you have to get up something it takes longer than it should. Additionally, it’s hard to read the map and figure out where to go. That’s not a bad thing since you’re lost on an alien planet and actually feeling lost is kind of the point but due to the slow pacing, randomly walking about and trying to figure out what to do makes events feel even slower than they actually are and can lead to a bit of player frustration.
In addition to walking around, Yasna has a map she can utilize, binoculars, a scanner, occasional access to rover-style vehicles, and not much else. You can use any of these at any time but it won’t necessarily help you get anywhere and the game actively prompts you when most things are needed. The great thing about the lack of inventory is that you’re not fumbling about trying to figure out what to do but there are more than a few moments when it would clearly be possible to problem solve with the available materials and you are simply unable to. Climbing cliffs and rugged terrain is equally non-intuitive as short barriers will sometimes entirely stop your motion while you can climb tall walls at other times. The game does try to maintain the illusion of a free choice environment and you usually feel like you can go anywhere but trying to walk off a cliff for example and you’ll hit an invisible wall since it won’t actually advance the story.
Regis III is a stunning planet to experience while playing The Invincible. The sweeping vistas are reminiscent of an alien version of Arizona or New Mexico with suitably out-of-this-world ringed planets and other neat visual effects. The space technology has a noticeably 1960s design to it as well, a nod to the age of the content that it’s based on. The vintage science fiction style really adds to the atmosphere of the game and you’re probably going to want to take at least a few screenshots of The Invincible because there are a remarkable number of capture-worthy scenes throughout the game. A lot of care and love went into visual design here and while the detail level isn’t the same as some AAA titles, it also isn’t meant to be. Hyper-realism would ruin the effect of the game and make some of the tense moments in the game less impactful. Texture mapping is still excellent though and the breath and moisture effects are especially cool, as are the airborne particulate effects.
To go along with those visuals, you need a suitably powerful soundtrack and The Invincible doesn’t disappoint there either. Music is limited to key scenes but has a strong impact on the stress levels of the player when it is utilized. Most of the soundscape here is sound effects and dialogue however and both are done well. The voicework in The Invincible is excellent and everything is fully voiced, leaving players immersed in the characters as they struggle to survive on Regis III. There is no huge ensemble cast here but Yasna and the Astrogator in particular are extremely well complemented by their respective voice actors. Sound effects are solid as well with cracks, rasps, noises, breathing and other effects blending seamlessly into the environment. Later in the game, one of the buggies we were driving had a strange glitch in the driving sound but it’s entirely possible that it was a flat tire. The story was in a key moment during that point and there was no stopping to check!
As you play through the game, The Invincible also denotes that more story is being added to the digital comic. By the time you finish the game, the complete story will be available to you from the start menu in graphic novel form. This is an interesting way to approach recapping the game since it allows players to read the story. The artwork in the comic has a clear 1960s vibe to it as well and emulates the science fiction comics of the era, which is refreshing and fun and the dialogue clears up any ambiguity there may have been concerning the story you’ve just played through. The comic is a nifty little addition to The Invincible that was entirely unnecessary and remarkably enjoyable at the same time.
That’s not to say that there are no issues with The Invincible though. Pacing is clearly an issue as is the lack of resolution at the end of the game, leaving players to either source a copy of the novel or be left wondering how it all turns out. The Xbox Series X had a few sound issues with the game as well and several times while using Quick Resume, the game resumed with no sound whatsoever. Fixing this proved to be an issue of closing the software entirely from the home menu and restarting the game. Fortunately The Invincible autosaves as you progress, so not much progress is lost if this happens. The game also froze entirely once during play. It’s safe to assume that if these are common occurrences, Starward Industries will patch the issues but they were minor and infrequent.
The Invincible tells an interesting story and is backed up by complex characters but clearly suffers in terms of pacing in relation to open design, walking speeds, and clear direction. For a game that will take you around 6 hours to beat that can be a bit frustrating, as can the clunky feel of controls that replicates the feeling of being in a spacesuit just a little too well. But beneath that thin layer of frustration lies a solid and engaging narrative that keeps you interested in what’s happening until the very end. The plot itself is solid, the hard science fiction aspects of the story are believable, and the entire setting is one that pulls at players looking for adventure. The walking simulator approach to gaming certainly isn’t for everyone of course and the explanations at the end of the game are a bit heavy-handed but The Invincible is a uniquely interesting game despite its minor issues. At $30, you’re not spending an outrageous amount of the game and there is a fair bit of replay value here with the multiple endings that the game provides. The Invincible is definitely well worth your time and for a game that can be completed in a day, will stick with you for a fair amount of time afterwards.
This review is based on a digital copy of The Invinicible provided by the publisher. It was played on an Xbox Series X using a Sony 55” 1080p TV. The Invincible is also available on PS5 and for PC on Steam.
Nate Van Lindt has been a gamer since the days of yore (aka Commodore 64), and has played a bit of virtually everything out there. He's also an avid comic book collector, both vintage and current, and reads a fair amount of sci-fi and fantasy. On top of that, he watches a fair number of movies and TV shows as well. Oh, and he has a family, a full-time job, and lives somewhere in the urban wilds of Southwestern Ontario, Canada, foraging for old video cables and forgotten game soundtracks.