Invincible VStakes theInvinciblefranchise into the fighting game space, with Skybound’s in-house video game studio Quater Up bringing all the animated superhero super-violence to life in gorgeously gory detail. The fighting game, designed as a 3v3 tag-team fighter is similar to the format seen in games likeMarvel vs. CapcomorDragon Ball FighterZ, takes the format and infuses it with the kind of colorful brutality fans of the Image Comic and subsequent Prime Video adaptation have come to love. However, it’s not just anInvinciblereskin of a traditional game.
From the ground up,Invincible VSis a love letter toInvinciblethat’s also plain fun to play, thanks to a tightly constructed fighting game mechanic. During a preview event attended by members of the press (including Screen Rant), journalists got the chance to get their hands on the fluid, fun, andabsolutely brutal fighting game. Screen Rant also spoke withInvincible VSNarrative Director Mike Rogers about choosing the right roster, the importance of the game’s unique touches, and the benefits of getting to produce the game alongsideInvinciblecreators like Robert Kirkman.
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Invincible VSwill feel familiar to anyone who has played a tag-team 2D fighting game before, forcing players to pick out a roster of brutal brawlers from across theInvinciblefranchise. The gameplay is tight, allowing each character to fly headlong into battle with ease. The brutal touches that separateInvinciblefrom other superhero media are on display here too, with bone-crunching punches shattering the background and leaving enemies bloodied.The game even incorporates a sort of automatic fatality in appropriately lethal combos, splattering the characters into pieces.
The preview included four playable characters: Invincible, Atom Eve, Bulletproof, and Thula. Each played with a unique combat mechanic, ensuring each quick-flowing round felt unique. Thula uses her knife-braid to string together combos and keep enemies at a distance, while Atom Eve’s ranged attacks make her excellent at cutting away at enemies without letting them ever get close. Even Invincible and Bulletproof, despite similar power sets, feel different enough to differentiate —Invincible’s hard-hitting bursts are different from Bulletproof’s ease in creating chain combos.
The inherently multiversal nature of the game allows the fighting to be brutalwhile still building off the established relationships and dynamics of the show and comic. “It’s really important to us that we would be able to have characters fighting each other and be able to have these unique interactions and intros and responses,” Rogers explained. “Being able to work with the creative team behind the show has really given us unlimited access to whatever we want. Mark will have unique interactions when he’s fighting Mark, when he’s fighting Eve, when he’s fighting anyone.”
“It’s been pretty fun to be able to customize it to that degree.” The vicious edge to the universe is on display throughout the experience, perhaps best summed up by the tie-breaker mechanic. Rather than allowing matches to end in a draw, players are placed into sudden death, with their health quickly dwindling as time goes on. Whenever the first player loses all their health, they are taken down. It introduces a sudden burst of urgency and harsh improvisation to the fights, which is very fitting for an adaptation of the animated series.
Invincible VS Is By Fans, For Fans
“This Is The Most Authentic Invincible Experience…”
As a long-time fan ofInvincible,Rogers was particularly excited about bringing the characters to life in game form. He was also quick to acknowledge there were challenges, such as translating Thula’s form of combat to a game. “Making it feel like hair and not something stuff, giving her a looseness to that movie, it was a challenge… we started with a variety of different characters and found all the ways that you’re able to fight and express yourself. I think strategy and variety are something that is really important to this team.”
A core group of the dev team is built out from developers and designers of Double Helix Games,who madeKiller Instinct. That experience is on full display with the gameplay, which is fluid but hard-hitting in a way that only the best fighting games can be. There are ample opportunities to set up devastating combos, but lots of little clever means of breaking them up.Invincible VSleans intothe classic “easy to learn, hard to master” mentalitythat will feel intuitive to anyone who has played a fighting game before.
According to Rogers, one of the most important elements of the gameplay that the team focused on was how variety and strategy could be the ultimate way to not just represent the characters in the game medium, but also serve as a natural form of player expression. “Because it’s a tag fighter, you don’t just pick one character when you start.You pick three, and that really expands what your kit can be. The assists and tagging people is so important to the gameplay. When you pick a team of three, that’s like a character in its own right.”
The full roster, which was not revealed but was teased to expand across the entireInvinciblefranchise, hints at a game that can incorporate a lot of different fighting styles and approaches.
Explaining that his role in the project was less focused on the game design and more rooted in making sure that “this isthe most authentic Invincible experience,” Rogers noted that the little details of the world were the key to that effect of replicating the show’s larger-than-life brawls. “These characters get bloody, they get beaten. When one character dies, when you reset, that triggers a sonic boom clash moment that causes all sorts of destruction in the background.It’s all very Invincible.”
The full roster, which was not revealed but was teased to expand across the entireInvinciblefranchise,hints at a game that can incorporate a lot of different fighting styles and approaches. “The good thing about the Invincible universe is there’s so much to pick from. There are so many options, so many characters that are there. I think it all comes down to passion and fun. The amount of passion that the gameplay and animation teams have for this series, they put what they thought was going to be fun in there. They put in what players want.”
What Makes Invincible VS Stand Out
“It’s About Making Sure It Feels True To The Characters.”
Mike Rogers has been a fan ofInvinciblesince the comic debuted over two decades ago, revealing that getting the chance to work withInvinciblecreators Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker, and Ryan Ottley was a dream come true. “Robert is a huge fan of fighting games, and so are Corey and Ryan. Getting to see them be delighted by what we’re building, watching their characters get their heads blown off or the limbs blasted all over the screen… they’ve been so helpful and such great contributors to this project.”
“The fact that they love this genre as much as we do makes this really something special. Getting to work with and talk to Robert about things, from story to character to art and how we’re expressing all of that in the gameplay, through combos and specific moves, he is very involved. He’s also given us a lot of room for creativity, which is great. Working with the creators on things like that is good because you respect the need to be able to transfer between mediums and explore what makes something the right creative choice for this game.”
That authenticity and love for the source material was a key element for the team behindInvincible VS. According to Rogers, it was crucial that the game didn’t just feel like any fighting game with anInvinciblecoat of paint on it. “One of the most important things for us was that this feels real. Being able to do it in-house, with the animation and comics team in the building, that gives us the opportunity to make it feel authentic in a way that I think you can’t necessarily replicate in any other sort of environment.”
To accomplish that authentic effect,Invincible VShas more than just the appropriate look and tone.The game incorporates combos and moves inspired by the original comic and the animated adaptation, something Rogers admitted was a serious boon for the team onInvincible VS. “It all makes it easier for us to pull directly from the [other versions], because they’ve done so many genuinely cool things before.”
“There are great panels that we can pull from, great shots in the show like how Thula uses her hair, and when she’s initiating the knife attacks. But then we also get to go wild with them. Even some of Mark’s super and special moves are pulled straight from the show or the comic. Even down to the posing, a lot of the animation references start with looking at the show and the comics.It’s about making sure it all feels true to the characters.”
That commitment to authenticity is present in every frame ofInvincible VS. While the preview shown to the press was still clearly in early stages, it’s genuinely impressive how much of the animated series the developers were able to infuse into the game. As a fan of both tag-team fighting games and theInvinciblefranchise, that combo made perfect sense on paper. In execution, it’s even better. I can’t wait to get my hands on the fullInvincible VSwhen it launches, a sentiment I’m going to be sharing with lots of fans as we approach the release date.
