When my hands-on preview of the sci-fi adventure game The Invincible opens, my screen fills with the view through the worn visor of my space helmet. It’s the kind of classic sci-fi paperback covers used by early Lego astronauts. I’m looking at a sandstone canyon on an alien planet, the one that apparently claimed the lives of my colleagues aboard our sister ship, the Condor.
Invincible is a direct adaptation of the novel of the same name by Polish writer and futurist Stanisław Lem. Published in 1964, this is a gripping story about the first encounter with extraterrestrial life. Unlike the familiar bipedal aliens often imagined by Lem’s contemporaries, the aliens discovered on the planet Regis III, completely unlike people It goes beyond not knowing the language: there are much more fundamental issues here than communication.
It’s a strangely prescient book that holds up well nearly 60 years later. In the approximately hour long demo, I play the role of astrobiologist Yasna and head into this canyon in search of a missing Condor convoy. So far we have found no survivors of the first expedition.
Invincible is surprisingly realistic in its graphics, yet totally committed to a retro-futuristic aesthetic. The glare from the alien sun refracts in my visor, and I have separate science instruments with huge ’60s-style LEDs and big buttons for each individual task. One lets me search for nearby suit transponders, the other lets me scan metal deposits in the nearby landscape, displaying what it sees on a glowing green screen on its back.
Regis III is a desert planet located in and around sandstone canyons. They form a complex maze, and as I explore them it becomes clear that the members of the convoy have been frustrated trying to find their way – it appears they used an antimatter self-propelled gun to dig a perfectly round tunnel through the canyons when it arrived. to a dead end. .
Jasnah relays her observations to a contact aboard the Invincible. His jokes don’t give sensations while he walks too solitary, at least until we stumble upon the mummified corpses of the Condor’s crew, one half-buried alongside the remains of the antimatter robot. His withered face peers through the same plastic visor as mine, and suddenly he feels very, very alone here.
The Invincible’s crew is made up of scientists, not Space Marines, and it’s a slow-paced forensic game. Each key area I encounter has points of interest, like the remains of a member of the Condor or a sign on a huge antimatter robot. Each one is highlighted with a little UI element that I can select to display a short list of options. Jasna can write down these findings and make some basic comments or remain silent.
Every interaction with the machine in Invincible involves physically moving large levers, turning large knobs, or pressing large buttons. Every time I turn the ATV door handle, I feel pleasure. snapping when it comes to the end of the action, the Regis III has an atmosphere, so there’s air in here for sound waves to pass through.
Between engaging and beautiful visuals, excellent sound design, and a deliberate sense of rhythm, The Invincible seems to strive for the right details, at least in most cases. At some point, I open the visual diaries of the broken robot and the photo essay appears as a series of hand-drawn illustrations. It’s a curious choice that stands out from the photorealism of the rest of the demo, as if the spider-like robot is carrying a courtroom cartoonist instead of an actual camera.
Yasna acts like she’s completely normal and the dissonance is a bit annoying. It’s certainly not a deal breaker, but it’s a choice that takes me out of the immersion that Invincible has painstakingly created so far.
Overall, though, Starward Industries’ take on Invincible seems like a great way to experience a groundbreaking sci-fi novel that’s worth watching in its own right. Having recently read it, I have always been struck by the relevance of its ideas: Invincible anticipates the discussions we have now, decades later, about inorganic life, AI, and nanomachines.
If you’re a big sci-fi fan who prefers thrillers to action-packed adventures, stay tuned when The Invincible comes out in 2023 – it’s out now on Steam. In the meantime, check out our list of the best space games on PC to quench your thirst as an explorer.
Source : PC Gamesn
