Inside The Invincible

 

Inside The Invincible

Regarding the establishment of Starward Industries, game director Marek Markuszewski is working on all the points he expects from the new team. The company wanted to bring together a group of experienced yet passionate developers. All developers focused on the idea of ​​creating something ambitious, despite the small size of the studio. But the surprise comes from the studio's approach to the story. According to Markuszewski, when developing his first project, Starward was looking for a story that hadn't yet been "utilized" by the media. He wanted to tell a story like never before. Indeed, where Starward arrived is told almost 60 years ago in the novel The Invincible, written by Stanislaw Lem. In it, the crew of an invincible spacecraft investigates Planet Regis III for its missing sister ship. There they discover self-replicating machines that become more hostile over time. It ponders the question of what it means to live, the ever-increasing role of technology in everyday life, and has more than a fair share of retrofuturism, proper names, and jargon. I am. 

 For Starward, which previously consisted of developers such as CD Projekt Red and Techland,  it fit the ambitions of the story. And in terms of its value, the adaptation of novel video games is relatively rare. 

 At Starwards The Invincible, he plays the role of scientist Yasna. In typical video game fashion, the protagonist is a rather unreliable narrator. She knows she is a scientist. She knows she has since come here with a missing crew member. But much of her memory is vague. The voice of the "astrogator" on the other end of the earphone will help you on your journey. 

 The source material is an interesting starting point, but it's all pretty standard video game fares. Rem is known for her intense sci-fi approach and feels that the invincible world is fully realized and believed in its fiction. There is a good chance that it will be successfully converted into a video game. There, players are encouraged to explore, experiment, and discover the world around them. And for the next hour, you have the chance to get insights from the team and do just that.

Slides


My time to play Invincible's early pre-alpha builds begins with Yasna exploring her surroundings, noticing her discoveries, and reporting to the astrogator. I'm looking for a lost convoy-and maybe another survivor. Things aren't going well.  

 One of the most direct things about The Invincible is that it looks great in terms of fidelity. Textures have many definitions-I can really say they are all rocks-and when it burns the ground around Yasuna, the bright sun spreads a sense of warmth. Regis III  looks almost like Mars-red, dry and dull. But in a way that reflects the devastation of the area. At The Invincible, there's not much to do except to move forward and look around. The environment summarizes it. 

 So I will go. You can walk around in stealth or travel directly to your destination. Choose a direct route. After a short drive, I found one of the convoy's cars stuck under a rockfall. Yasna discovered high radiation levels in the area. Overcoming the vehicle and exiting the other side of the collapse, I walk on the machine that is trying to cause the problem: the mobile antimatter cannon. Well, there are exactly two. One is intact. One was destroyed. Nearby is a huge tunnel that blows up a rock wall. The last discovery is waiting for me: a corpse.  Yasna removes the onboard recorder from the antimatter cannon and begins to focus on the scene of the genocide in front of me. Yasna sees a missing convoy marching towards her destination. Things seem to be going well. But when he reaches Yasna's current whereabouts, his plan fails. 

 One slide shows how the team uses an antimatter beam to traverse rocks and retrieve material from a tunnel created by an antimatter cannon. The next slide shows the convoy rushing out of the new hole. The other shows the cannon firing into the hole. And the mayhem. One of the antimatter cannons fires at the other and wipes them out before directing the beam at humans. As you can imagine, it tears her apart. "It's ridiculous for an antimatter beam to give to the human body," says Yasna. Finally, she's just looking at her last slide and looking at her cannon. She was shocked but decided to continue her exploration and look at what was across the tunnel.

Dense


It doesn't take long to realize that The Invincible is a  game that is literally and narratively slow. Time to do almost everything until you walk to reach your goal (fortunately there is a sprint button in the menu, but after a while, it will appear in the menu) until you hear what Yasna and  Astrogator are doing. Will be charged. 

 According to Markuszewski, this is a conscious decision that makes sense. Stanislaw Lem's work is once again crowded. Rem is often classified as a "hard" science fiction writer. In short, he focuses on scientifically accurate and reliable works based on current technology and theoretical possibilities. "He was a kind of prophet, writing about The Matrix, ebooks, etc.," says Markuszewski. 

 "Internet" and art director Wojtek Ostrycharz add. 

 "Internet, mobile phones" intervenes in marketing manager Maciej Dobrowolski. "All of them, yes." 

 It will take some time for this information and expressions to be communicated to the player through images and dialogue. As Markuszewski points out,  you can use as many pages as you like in the book to explain what something looks like, or what your character's thoughts and emotions are. Video games aren't that extravagant. Transforming invincibility into something interactive was a challenge. 

 "If you take a much more traditional [video game] approach, such as real-time action, character leads, and given positions (normal tempo, normal speed), the moment of [visualization] stop is less attractive. No, it's part of the book, "says Markuszewski. "[I want to discuss] It's difficult to have a very short slot to explain all the emotions and concepts." 

 Based on my time in the game, I think Starward can work more on that balance. Contrary to what Markuszewski says, I spend most of my game time doing almost nothing, listening to characters and occasionally selecting dialog prompts. If there's one big problem I've had so far, it's the pace of the game. It's hard to know how much Starward can fix this before it goes on sale, but it's a shame that such an interesting story concept is often offered in a bland way.

Danger


At the end of the tunnel, there is a small robot with a box around the cave. Yasna later finds that the robot is stuck on that task. 

 Further down, she sees metal plants growing from the walls of the cave. Next, Yasna and  Astrogator discuss the nature of biology. If the membrane or organ is missing, it is whether the metal in front of us can be classified as alive. Anything that is a sci-fi fan's prey in theory and very intoxicating is slowly thrown away while you stand still and wait for the invincibility to give you the next purpose. On the way to my new point B, my little robot breaks the loop and starts walking from the cave for a reason not fully understood. I follow my example and return to that location with two antimatter cannons. An intact antimatter cannon comes back to life as my mechanical companions follow that new route and embark on a new adventure. It fires at the robot and completely collapses the cannon before pointing it at me. 

  I prepare my hands out of the way, then fight back, or save my life from sudden death. I remembered the slowly flipping slide, which reminded me of rushing through the convoy. I will take advantage of their failure for my benefit and save my own life from total destruction. On the other side of the line, Astrogator panics and knows I'm probably a few seconds after he died. "Fight," he shouts into my ears. 

 To not ruin anything, I stop revealing more about what I played. If you're looking forward to invincibility, or a fan of the novel, some of the story moments you're looking forward to will come next. After this initial setup and some further research, I  say I have a lot of questions about what's happening at Regis III and who is on the desolate planet.

Think


The main reason I ask so many questions is that I see the mission mostly out of context at a later stage. One conversation between Yasna and Astrogator stands out to me-previous conversations about metal plants, biology, and the human condition. 

  I don't think I'll say anything interesting at this particular moment-or there's nothing other games like 2017 NieR: Automata haven't looked into in detail yet, but I'm asking these questions. I like video games to play-and a rare example of a big-budget game where it takes time to explore more subtle and mature questions, even if the moment given just for that reason doesn't add much to the conversation. At the moment, invincibility struggles with how to tell the story structurally, but I have to feel that the theme is a welcome change. And I think that's what Starward wanted. Developers want players to think about new concepts and ideas. 

 "Playing Persona 5 made me feel great about this one. One and a half hours after the game, I actually stopped, went out, smoked, and said," What the hell is this? I couldn't do it. " This game, "says Starward Community Manager Michaela Napora. "Maybe people don't have to make it extreme-go out and smoke-but it would be cool given some things  they didn't think before when they quit the game. . "


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