One of the scariest things to me is being alone on a planet. I’ve had a recent fascination with this, especially after reading The Martian by Andy Weir. It’s a different form of psychological horror. The human mind is a vast pit of emotions and an endless imagination. The fear of the unknown and the human mind running rampant combined is a scary combination that very few media tackle. The Invincible is one such story, and it’s done well.
First and foremost, this is a walking simulator, but with a bit more freedom. There’s really no gameplay, but you can interact with objects and control a vehicle a couple of times, but that’s about it. It does what walking simulators are supposed to do well, and that’s provide good characters with great writing and a story that keeps you hooked. The Invincible starts out slow and may come off as a typical space adventure with pretty colors and nothing more, but the story just gets darker and darker as you move along. The length is a couple of hours longer than a typical game of its kind, and it helps. There is more character development, more explanation of what is going on, and more of this planet, Regis III.
It’s a desert planet similar to Mars, but with an ocean. You play as Yansa, one of a small crew of scientists scouting out a possible Earth-like planet. You learn about two warring factions known as the Alliance and the Commonwealth. The space race to find a planet of paradise is very apparent. I don’t want to talk too much about the story, as I can easily spoil something. I will just say the story keeps going when you think it ends and gets darker and deeper, and the theories behind what is going on are very fascinating. There seem to be some choices you can make in the game, but I’m not sure if they impact the ending or not. Most of the dialogue is between Yansa and another crew member on her ship, the Dragonfly. The story has so many ups and downs, emotion-wise, as your fight for survival takes a back seat to a larger plot point, and the excellent voice acting helps suck you into this void.
You spend most of the game climbing ledges, dropping down ledges, and examining objects. There are a few large open maps, but you have a linear path you need to follow thanks to the well-designed map system. The interactions are always changing, and the pace is great after the first opening sequence, and things pick up. There is always something new happening, and I love that about this game. You aren’t just walking in a straight line in a borefest like Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, and it’s not a jump-scare-induced horror roller coaster like Layers of Fear. The terror of survival, death, and being alone is omnipresent in The Invincible. Just seeing a robot can make you feel less alone. The atmosphere is so well done in this game.
I usually start complaining about a lack of gameplay or that the story is so short that there’s no time for anything interesting to happen, but The Invincible does what walking simulators haven’t really done in a long time: make you want to walk through something and keep going. Between the 50’s art deco-style designs of the ships and equipment, the immersive first-person view, and the excellent voice acting, there’s so much to take in. Sure, the visuals aren’t impressive on a technical scale. There is also no ultrawide screen support, which is a real bummer, but it’s not enough to knock this game down. The Invincible makes you think and talk about the story to your friends because you want to theorize, and it entices you to think about life on other planets, which might make you go read a book or watch a movie like Apollo 13 or The Martian to continue experiencing this fear of being alone on a planet. Walking simulators aren’t this good very often. Enjoy it while it lasts.