Firewatch in Space - The Invincible Short But Promising Demo Hands-on
Invincible reminds us of its existence with a new demo, which you can test on Steam from today. A short gameplay snippet will give you an idea of what "Firewatch in space from Starward Industries" will look like.
I am very much looking forward to finally play The Invincible. In 2019, I spoke with the creators (of, at the time, a secret and unnamed project) for the first time and since then, I've been as excited for the game as I am for the progress on the Artemis mission.
The specific release date hasn't been revealed yet, but the Polish studio reminds us of itself with a brand-new demo (available on Steam now). The demo presents a snippet of gameplay from the early stages of the game. The word "snippet" is key here, although in fact, the demo is so short that it's more of a glimpse that you can finish faster than it takes to say Jack Robinson.
But it is a demo and it finally shows us how it will feel to play The Invincible. I wrote about it a while ago, having tested a version of the game that wasn't available to the public – Invincible is Firewatch on steroids, with a bag of advantages and disadvantages. We will explore the strange and dangerous planet Regis III known from Stanislaw Lem's book, talk through the radio, solve puzzles and uncover the story.
Mom, play me something to sleep
The Invincible, Starward Industries, 2023
The plot, which – as everything indicates – will not so much recreate the story from the book as expand and nuance it. Instead of someone from the mighty Condor or Invincible heavy cruisers known from the literary original, you will play as Yasna, the heroine of the modest Dragonfly mission invented by the writers from Starward. Yasna has an accident and loses her memory shortly after arriving on the planet (if you have read the book, this should already offer grounds for speculation), and we must try and figure out what had actually happened, while also discovering, as I hope and believe, the fate of previous missions that arrived on the planet.
Adding apocrypha to the master's book may seem overly controversial to some lemologists, but remember that the writer born in Lviv created books, whose action was more often focused on reflections on humanity and endless scientific arguments, rather than battles and laser guns, hence the choice of a heroine that wasn't originally featured in the novel – it allowed the creators to make the events more dynamic, without infringing on the achievements of the author of Solaris. Anyway, if the demo proves anything, it's the meticulousness and love with which the studio approached the original material.
Atomic retrofuturism
The Invincible, Starward Industries, 2023
First of all, as Jerzy Jarzebski put it in the afterword to the Polish edition of Invincible, "all this junk" makes a really amazing impression. The art style, from tents pitched on planet surface, through suits, to gadgets we use, perfectly embodies the things that Lem wrote about. The specific retrofuturism stimulates imagination, referencing different works of the author of the Futurological Congress. The best thing is that it all fits together nicely, and anyone can quickly get the drift of the convention, even if they haven't read the book.
The maps look really good, which should be considered a particular achievement, as Regis III is mostly an empty, desert planet. The locations seem extensive, but that's because of the sheer graphical scale, rather than their actual size. Regardless of which path we choose, we will end up in predetermined places, because The Invincible is a role-playing game with a strong emphasis on the story.
The demo will get us to know the mechanics of this particular genre – we will select dialogue lines, use old-school, sci-fi gadgets, but most of all, we will explore. At one point, you will be able to name one of the rocks – in this old school way, you will navigate the planet (using a classic map and referring to landmarks), as the game doesn't display any markers that could show you the way.
The Invincible, Starward Industries, 2023
The demo hardly reveals anything else that I could discuss without spoilers – maybe except that it's very different from previous builds and looks more and more like a complete game. Remember that this is a snippet that's supposed to demonstrate the general premise of the ultimate product. The Invincible is an interactive and gamified story, but a story nonetheless, and the only way to judge its quality is by completing the whole thing. I really hope it will happen in 2023.
The Invincible, Starward Industries, 2023
