Invincible Vs launched its closed alpha test this past weekend on consoles. This meant I had the opportunity to experience a game that pays great respect to two of the most respected game series of all time. The game takes inspiration from Marvel vs Capcom, as well as drawing from the work that Quarter Up did on Killer instinct. Here’s our Invincible Vs First Impressions from the Closed Alpha.
The game’s combat feels very free flowing much like Killer Instinct did. Most normals and specials seemed to link with each other seamlessly. This allows for a great deal of creativity within its combat system. There’s also an active tag system similar to Marvel Infinite allowing you to call in your partners to extend the combos continuously. This is of course assuming your opponent fails at breaking them.
Similar to Killer Instinct, a breaker system exists. In Invincible Vs this is in the form of assist breakers which will break mid combo and counter tags which will break when your opponent tries to activate tag. Much like Killer Instinct however, you have to be careful trying to break. If your opponent baits you on either option, it could easily be game over. The damage in Invincble Vs can get very high fairly quickly. Active tags can also be purposely feinted and if your opponent reads when you’ll try to assist break, you’ll be left open. This creates a strong two player interaction, which is something that Killer Instinct was very much built on.
This is also backed by the fact that mobility in the game feels great. A strong number of universal mechanics affects characters differently adding lots of variety. The fact that none of the cast (yes even the viltrumites) plays anything like one another makes for player variability.
For example, as someone who typically goes for heavyweight characters in fighting games, both Monster Girl and Battle Beast were no brainer picks to me. Even as they are both heavyweight characters, they have vastly different playstyles. Monster Girl will feel familiar to those who played Hulk or Juggernaut in the Marvel games. She has armor on her normals and she charges them and one of the universal mechanics, the boosted dash grants her armor on her dash which helps her get in. Attacks can also be boosted and both monster girl and battle beast have attacks that grant armor that use boosts.
Battle Beast on the other hand was all about commanding space. His war club allows him to control his preferred range with ease and just relentlessly pressure opponents. Although he has some armored moves as well, he’s not as reliant on it as Monster Girl was.
However being that this is a tag fighter, synergy matters. So far with the characters that were available, it seems like some form of synergy is present throughout every character. I ended up choosing both Omni Man and Rex Splode to cover Monster and Battle Beast as they both have projectile assists to help them get in. However to my surprise, the two of them also seemed to work very well together. Omni man is a balanced character that essentially has every tool and Rex is a highly mobile zoner. Characters who can fly in the series have both double jumps and air dashes. These dashes are also able to go do down diagonally. Great for getting into your opponent. Rex has an assist that creates multiple explosions and this created nasty synergy between him and Omni man. Especially if I found Monster Girl or Battle Beast down and out.
Even the characters who don’t have air dashes still have strong mobility options. Battle Beast’s boosted dash for example pretty much propels him full screen in an instant. Rex has a wall jump and attacks that naturally move him backwards.
Invincible Vs does feel a bit rough in some areas. Mainly it’s animations being a bit stiff and fighting without assist breakers may prove to be quite difficult. Overall though, the game feels very fun early on. It’ll be interesting to see the final product as well as who else they add to the game. Some notable characters like Allen the Alien and Angstrom Levy are still missing. With Thragg coming in season 4 he seems like a strong choice as well. Still no official date for Invincible Vs but the game has a release window of 2026. With season 4 of the TV show coming in March the wait shouldn’t be too much longer.
Were you able to get into the closed alpha? Do you agree or disagree with our Invincible Vs first impressions? Be sure to share your thoughts with us at the Gamer Social Club discord. Didn’t get in or aren’t a console gamer? Then let us know what you’re looking most forward to over at Discord. Don’t forget to keep coming back to GSC for all your gaming news.
