Indivisible Preview

Created by the people behind Skullgirls, and very different from that, Indivisible is currently being crowdfunded by Lab Zero Games. They have two Prototype builds of the game, which are available on Windows, Mac and Linux here (and on Steam) as well as one on PlayStation 4, available here.

Indivisible is a metroidvania style game, which means progressing by upgrading and backtracking to bypass things you couldn’t before. Find a hammer to smash rock, locate an axe to cut vines -- that sort of thing. It’s 2D and largely hand drawn, giving it a very stylized look. At the moment the characters and enemies don’t really mesh seamlessly with the backdrops, but that is likely to change over the next couple of years before they release the proper game.

You control Anja and eventually joined by three other people: Zebei, Tungar and Razmi -- as she explores some ruins, chasing her pet. Of course, it’s full of monsters, so you have to fight them. As it’s still a demo, there’s no reason for them to join you, other than the fact the game says they joined you: but that’s not important as there will eventually be 27 characters.

Battles are fairly simple to comprehend, but difficult to master. Each of the four characters is commanded using one of the buttons on the controller, and annoyingly changes depending on which way you were facing when the battle began. You have to wait for each gauge to fill, reminiscent of Final Fantasy VII’s Active Time Battle system, and each character eventually upgrades from only being able to attack once, to attacking three times. Rather than give you a list of commands, pressing the button will make the character do an attack. However, if you hold a direction and press the same button, it will do a different attack.

Then there are special attacks, which differ from character to character. Healing or attacking, they cannot be performed without the special gauge at the top of the screen filling. It fills slightly for successful attacks, and a lot faster for a successful defence, which gives you an even bigger reason to block than preserving health. Since the special gauge is fairly easy to fill, it can get you out of a tight spot if you need it.

The metroidvania aspect is only explored a little in the Prototype, with the first thing you collect being an axe for Anja. It lets you cut through vines blocking the way, as well as climb up walls by swinging it into the wall and using it to leap up higher. It does well to show off what is to come in the full 30-hour adventure, which will have at least a handful of extra weapons.

It won’t take long to play through, with less than an hour of gameplay, but it is definitely worth playing. It’s free to download as mentioned at the start of this piece, and might just convince you to contribute to the crowdfund campaign.

Indivisible is due for release in 2017 on PC and PS4, following the end of their Indiegogo campaign.