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Stanisław Lem’s Niezwyciężony (The Invincible) was first published in 1964. It is an engrossing tale of hard sci-fi that deals with the concept of “necroevolution”, and it explores a number of other ideas that were quite ahead of their time. When I heard that it was being adapted into a video game, I was over the moon. After finally playing through Starward Industries’ The Invincible, I am very happy to say that their take on Lem’s work does not disappoint.
It can be difficult to adapt a novel into an interactive medium like this, they are so different after all, plus you have to strike a fine balance between appealing to fans of the original work and accessibility for newcomers. The developers took an interesting approach here by creating something of a prequel to Lem’s book. This works well, as it means you need not have read Niezwyciężony to follow the plot, but if you have then you will notice plenty of familiar events (as well as direct references, such as a few lines that have been copied verbatim from the novel).
The premise remains almost the same, but the main characters are another crew entirely and the key thematic difference is the introduction of a political subplot. However, fans of Lem will be relieved to know that the focus of this game is still very much on existential musings about humanity’s place in the universe, along with the suspense of how things unfold on Regis III to keep you hooked in. The spooky soundtrack by Brunon Lubas, coupled with highly atmospheric sound design and visuals with fantastic first-person awareness, lends itself to creating a fascinating, retro, atompunk vision of space exploration that feels authentic and faithful to the author’s ideas.
When looking at the gameplay, the first comparison that comes to mind is Firewatch. It is an example of a so-called “walking simulator” done right, but The Invincible is even more interactive in the ways it allows you to explore its mostly quite linear, yet beautifully crafted environments. It also features another similar design decision to Firewatch, in that much of the storytelling and exposition of this thriller occurs via long-range conversations between characters in an otherwise very isolated setting.
Besides exploration, dialogue is actually the main venue for player agency here. Through conversation, you can make choices that affect the storyline and you are given opportunities to pursue optional scientific and philosophical discussions between the main cast. Those who enjoy hard sci-fi that deals with robotics, biology, geology, chemistry, and physics will love this too. At the same time, if you prefer to speed on, you can choose to follow more direct routes to your objectives and select the shorter options in dialogue, missing out on additional panels in the game’s wonderful comic book that chronicles Yasna’s findings as you play.
Some gamers always argue for more content and features, which is understandable given that you are spending hard-earned money on something and so you would like it to last. In this case I feel like adding anything more to artificially lengthen The Invincible would be detracting from it. It will take you anywhere from about 6 to 11 hours for a single playthrough, depending on how much exploration you do and the options you choose. In this time you get to experience something really special, especially if you appreciate the game’s setting and source material.
The lack of Polish voice acting seems bizarre at first, but this is something that Starward Industries has already commented on. They are a relatively small studio with limited resources, so they would prefer to wait until they are able to afford a cast of great actors that would do justice to Lem’s brilliance. For now, I am more than happy with the fantastic English-language performances, especially Daisy Doris May as Yasna the astrobiologist, allowing international audiences to enjoy this spectacular adaptation of an amazing novel.
My main complaint is that the game sometimes freezes for a bit when loading a new area. In my experience, this was not frequent or long enough to be a major disruption, but noticeable enough to be a little frustrating. More annoying was a glitch that stopped me from being able to interact with the gameworld and forced me to load my saved game. Fortunately, this happened only twice. For me the game ran with a smooth frame rate, though I know some people who bought it just after release had a bumpier experience.
Technical hiccups aside, this has quickly become one of my favourite games of the past few years.