The Invincible Reviews
“The Invincible” really is a mixed bag, and it might not be your cup of tea if you’re looking for something with a bit more action and interaction.
The Invincible is ultimately a sub-par experience. While it delivers flashes of quality in its cast and its attention to some details, the narrative is ultimately weighed down too much.
The Invincible might have a strong inspiration in the 1964 novel, but every time it attempts to make it more interesting as an interactive experience it ends up doing the opposite.
The Invincible plays much like I would imagine the book feels. Its heady exploration of evolution, adaptation, and the nature of life wraps around the video game shell. The game drags on just a little too long. Ultimately, the game part of the equation just doesn’t do enough to make the experience fun to play. The ideas presented while compelling, fall apart in multiple of the game’s endings leaving me feeling baffled at some of the design decisions made. The Invincible feels like a palette cleanser of a game. It attempts to be literature in a marketplace surrounded by bombast. Somewhere along the line though, Starward Industries lost sight of the fact that interacting with the world has to be engaging and not just a canvas upon which to paint a story.
For a walking simulator, you’d think that Starward Industries would have at least nailed down the walking. Instead, it’s arguably one of the worst parts of The Invincible. Walking sims can be great if they have an interesting story (which this one does, in fairness) but with such laborious, sluggish mechanics to accompany that, this is way more of a chore to get through than it should be.
The Invincible is a walking simulator that, starting from a good story, fails to adapt it to a video game in a satisfactory way. It's a slow game, with accessory and sometimes unnecessary mechanics that at times feels more like a visual novel with playable "globs". And that's a shame, because there was potential in its atmosphere.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
The Invincible lacks imagination in its gameplay, which is pretty much walking in a straight line, and fails to capture any potentially interesting mechanics. However, The Invincible‘s compelling narrative, strong themes, and great characters make this an experience well worth playing. If you are a fan of science fiction, this is a must-play, assuming you can get past the lacklustre gameplay.
Perhaps best described as Firewatch in Space, The Invincible is a narrative game that weaves a compelling mystery, but not compelling gameplay. The slow-burn story takes a little while to get going and the ending leaves something to be desired, but everything in the middle tells a thoughtful, traditional sci-fi story of people, evolution and what mysteries we might find in the universe should we ever be able to travel through the void of space. I’d recommend this one only to the more die-hard walking sim and sci-fi fans who have the patience needed to fully enjoy The Invincible’s narrative.
Once we stop sharing in Yasna’s discoveries, the storytelling never quite clicks. Apart from a few stiff flashbacks, players simply don’t get to know enough about Yasna’s fellow researchers to get invested in how their fate drives her search for answers. Yasna’s quest feels detached rather than desperate, with all the game’s themes coldly laid out in dialogue choices. The Invincible does remain reasonably engrossing through to the end, but it never recaptures the interactive vigor of its first half, eventually becoming a bout of scientific calculus on autopilot.
An intriguing story of exploring new frontiers and an easy gateway into retro sci-fi literature, The Invincible is a powerful, engrossing cosmic drama that's held back by a lack of variety and innovation, rough edges around its core mechanics, and a supporting cast that can't quite match the energy of its stars.
The Invincible is a spectacular adaptation of Stanisław Lem's book, but it's limited in terms of what you can do in it, and the impact on the story you have.
The Invincible absolutely looks the part, jampacked with stunning alien vistas and a brilliant retrofuturistic aesthetic, but its premise can't quite maintain the momentum of suspense and intrigue generated in its opening act
The Invincible offers up plenty of sci-fi intrigue, but even as a fan of walking simulators, the gameplay just falls too short of the mark. I still enjoyed my time on Regis III, but there were definitely ways to improve the experience.
The Invincible is fantastic, but it’s still little more than a story. As a game, it pushes the idea of a novel into a new realm, bringing it to life around you for those who might not have the imagination to make that happen while they read. I love that it sets the baseline for how good basic narrative-driven games need to be moving forward, but I wanted more from it. I wanted a few more mechanics, maybe some extra opportunities for exploration and collectibles, and to feel like I had a bit more onus on the events I played through. The Invincible comes so close to hitting the ethereal idea of truly ascended movie and novel narrative experiences and is very much worth playing, but there’s room for improvement.
While it may not be for everyone, The Invincible is nonetheless a brilliant sci-fi journey that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
The Invincible does a great job of establishing its retro-themed space journey that feels surreal. It follows a strong premise that feels original and unique. However, it is plagued by its repetitive campaign activities, tiresome exploration, and technical issues. If you are looking for a space-faring experience, this might just be your next pick. Just be mindful of a sale.
The Invincible takes the player on a scientific journey of mystery and discovery. It’s a trip worth taking despite some frustrations.
The Invincible is hard to recommend on the basis of its gameplay alone, as its walking sim core doesn't always feel like the best use of its potential. Its best features can be found elsewhere, however, with a competent take on a great story and a truly staggering success in the looks department keeping the engine running across a modest runtime. Branching possibilities may not be enough to incentivize a second bout of slow exploration, but as a one-time dip into a mysterious tale of beauty and danger, The Invincible might just do the trick.
The Invincible is a story-driven walking simulator with beautiful graphics, but bugs and some decisions in terms of gameplay unfortunately killed the potential to present an interesting adaptation of literature from Stanislaw Lem.
Review in Polish | Read full review
The Invincible is a story about surviving an unforgiving planet brimming with the unknown. The slow-burn takes a while to get interesting and you should be ready for a lot of exploration with minimal gameplay elements. The voice acting does a great job of keeping you immersed in the world, and the story ultimately The visuals may not be the best, but they're decent enough to set the pace for a decent story.