This last point is a particularly effective way of controlling difficulty: at the ‘Normal’ setting, you can take back a move three times during the level, letting you correct mistakes and quickly make up for surprise guards that wander around corners. The game offers a delightfully broad control of campaign settings to fiddle with, adjusting everything from guard behaviour to amount of starting cash and how many ‘take backs’ you get. Since every level is procedurally generated, no two playthroughs are ever the same, and rather than just making for meaningless shuffling, each level layout poses its own unique challenges. The short story is more than made up for with the focus on replayability. Although the intro and closing scene make wonderful use of the animation that was showcased in Klei’s Mark of the Ninja, there aren’t any other cut scenes to flesh out the story (although it should be noted that the credits sequence is lovingly animated, and fun to watch on its own). For example, although there is a story, it ends up feeling a touch incomplete and on the shorter side. Invisible Inc has an interesting division between its flaws and strengths: the game’s core is rock solid, and it’s only in the trappings that players might find deficiencies. It’s very easy to make it halfway through the level with nary a scratch, only to get boxed in as you get spotted taking down a guard, and then two more, and then a whole camp of them.
Of course, that perfectly clean heist is a fantasy, and with each mistake you make, more guards and more cameras come online, compounding the trouble you’re already in. It’s a fantastic system, because it means that the ideal way to work through a level is the absolute clean getaway: never have a guard notice you, never trigger any alarms. Every five turns, the level difficulty turns up a notch, but get spotted by a guard and the difficulty timer will also automatically progress. The nice (or nasty, as your opinion may be) point about Invisible Inc is that it punishes you for failure. Your choice of starting agents can make a world of difference After a few levels of play, the mechanics become familiar enough that you’ll generally never feel that a key moment came down to luck rather than careful planning and strategy. One way or the other, Invisible Inc is tough, but wonderfully tough, deliciously tough. Maybe it’s all those darn camera drones milling about.
Maybe it’s the way they breach through doors. Maybe it’s the fact that you can only knock guards out for three turns at a time. Gameplay becomes more chess-like, more focused on careful planning and seeing several moves ahead.Īnd yet… for some reason, you’ll keep losing. It makes turns pass more quickly, but also lets you focus deeper on the intricacies of each individual move. In Invisible Inc, most of your time will be spent with only two agents in the level (three if you’re lucky, four if you’re excessive). In your standard squad game, you’ll need to cycle through five or six teammates one by one, which can sometimes drag out turns and lead to overcomplicated situations. It’s a system that has obviously been ironed over many times, making it very well balanced and intricate, and even an improvement on some standard grid-based, turn-based combat games. Turning cameras to your side helps you keep an eye on guards, while cracking safes grants more money (used for character upgrades) and databases give you slight edges in the level.
Generally speaking, the player will need to pick and choose what hacking targets are most important, and make moves that conserve energy. Hacking costs energy points, some of which can be gathered within the level itself, and some of which can be generated by special abilities. On top of that, Invisible Inc boasts a hacking system that adds a lovely layer of depth to the gameplay. Get a glance of a guard, and all it takes is a single AP point to accurately ‘observe’ him and plot out exactly what his next move will be. Guards generally have no peripheral vision: they will walk right past you if you stand by the door they’re coming through. When described on paper, the game might seem a bit too easy at first. Characters may move based on how many Action Points they have. The most basic aspects of Invisible Inc should be familiar: gameplay takes place on a grid board, with furniture objects acting as cover. Don’t turn around! Oh, please, don’t turn around!
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