Review The Invincible

The sci-fi adventure game The Invincible is a prequel to the 1967 Polish novel of the same name written by Stanislaw Lem. It is absolutely not necessary to know the original source, but believe me, after finishing this game you will definitely want to re-read the work of the Polish author. The main character of the game from the Starward Industries studio is biologist-astronaut Jasnah, who goes to the planet Regis III, also featured in Lem’s novel. However, the name of the planet and the mention of “Invincible” are the main things that connect the game with the novel. Otherwise it's a completely new story.

After starting The Invincible, you will have about 6-7 hours, during which you will walk, run, drive an all-terrain vehicle and gradually lift the veil of secrecy, which I will certainly keep secret for you.

After starting the game, you will see a stylistic comic, which contains brief information on the successfully completed expedition. The team goes into cryo-sleep, but after Jasna suddenly awakens on the surface, Regis III. The woman is forced to act alone, although it doesn't take long before she finds signs of life. By the way, if you played the demo version of the game, you will be surprised in the future at how late its events unfold. Jasna is trying her best to find the crew members. The curator Novak, who remains n, helps her in this.and orbit. The relationship between Nowak and Jasnaya, as well as Jasnaya's attitude towards the task at hand, is the cornerstone of the game's plot.

Jasna and Novak have excellent voice actors, and the story is based on a fantastic script. What you'll get is exactly what you'd expect from a genre like this - a powerful narrative, several moral choices, and rare moments of deeper gameplay mechanics. Under Novak's guidance, Jasnah will attempt to save her comrades, make a series of life-changing decisions, and discover why there is no life on the surface of Regis III.

This is an incredibly high-quality prequel to the novel by Stanislaw Lem. In the fictional universe of the Polish science fiction writer, people have invented advanced technologies, quietly move to distant parts of the galaxy, and at the same time they do not have those devices that are considered indispensable today. For some reason I remembered the Soviet feature film “Alice from the Future”. There is not a single device in the game that plays or records video. All equipment is analog.

You will have to walk a lot, but this is not a drawback of the game. The Invincible is focused on storytelling and making important, morally difficult decisions. Has simple and well thought out puzzles. EatingThere are completely unobvious, optional moments that allow you to earn secret achievements and find out more information about the events that happened on the planet. It is impossible to die here.

The gameplay was as smooth and productive as possible. Around the middle of the game, you will discover an all-terrain vehicle on which you will travel until the final part. This makes it easier to move around the surface of the planet and allows you to explore additional locations. The first-person perspective never changes, which makes it difficult to see while driving and forces you to use maps. The latter are hand drawn but feature your location and landmarks. The game's commitment to science fiction is evident in the careful design of everything you touch or interact with. At the same time, the developers try not to burden you with any terms, do not force you to solve complex cosmic equations, and so on. Jasnah periodically tells her where she should go or what she needs to do.

If you played the demo, you saw most of the gameplay. The main emphasis is the narrative and the decisions that will have to be made. There are optional priceswhether, forks. But, unfortunately, there is only one save slot, so the saves are constantly overwriting each other, so I could not go back and try other solutions. Perhaps this is the main point for which I can slightly criticize the game developers. But I understand perfectly well why this was done - replay value. And after my first playthrough, I really wanted to play The Invincible again, this time making different decisions.

Running on Unreal Engine 4, The Invincible looks every bit as stunning as the UE5 games, but there are occasional glimpses of low-resolution textures. The character models look solid, although the human faces lack realism. But everything about atompunk - robots, transport, environment - is a real masterpiece!

Jasna and Novak constantly communicate with each other, you choose how to conduct a dialogue with your curator. Depending on the decisions made in the conversation, the attitudes and perceptions of the characters towards each other change. The plot is fascinating and perfectly describes the events of the book. I would recommend playing the game first, as the mystery of the planet is taken straight from the novel.

There's not much music in The Invincible, but in those rare moments of its sound, do you realize how subtle and precise the composition is?The players feel the world of the game. Each melody corresponds to the mood and location of the action. The work on the sound effects is also excellent.

The only bugs I encountered while playing were graphical in nature and related to cut-down objects. Sometimes, during the ascent, hands could crawl through the stone, at other times the character got stuck in the textures and had to look for a way out of them for several seconds.

The Invincible is a great sci-fi game, full of wonderful storytelling and impressive solutions. Towards the end, the narrative slightly loses steam, but the adventure game will definitely be a gift for any connoisseur of the genre. Smooth gameplay, incredible surroundings and atmosphere of Regis III and everything connected with this planet. This is a truly valuable, high-quality prequel to the phenomenal work of Stanislaw Lem.