Written Review.
Hello, this is my Final Verdict and today we’re talking about Indivisible. It’s created by Lab Zero Games the devs who made Skull Girls and was one of the first games I backed on Indiegogo.
Indivisible starts with a big fight with 4 people trying to take down some unknown enemy and when that battle is finished it’s then that your journey as Ajna takes place. It’s set 16 years after the opening battle. You start in a peaceful small village called Ashwatt where Ajna’s Father is training her to fight, which acts as a tutorial on fighting and blocking enemy attacks outside of the more turn-based like battles. After this you get into your first actual fight, afterwards, the person you fight ends up joining your team although it’s not by choice for Ajna or your new companion. From here you leave Ashwatt and head to find and fight some person called Ravanavaar. The gameplay is very much a Metroidvania with a wide array of platforming abilities and power-ups being gained throughout the game you can, in typical Metroidvania fashion, go back to already visited areas to find more things you’ve missed out on, or explore previously inaccessible areas. The movement, controls and fluidity of this part of the gameplay is solid, everything is done to a very high standard and exploring the world is a joy. One thing that for me is an oddity with this game compared to other Metroidvania-styled games is the simple fact that you build a party, I’m used to these types of games where it’s a solitary experience, where you’re alone, and the atmosphere is at a point which you think something bad is lurking around every corner. With this, a lot of the world is beautiful, it’s lush greens and gorgeous colours all around, you do have more run-down areas, but there a people around, people to interact with, it’s more akin to an adventure than lonesome exploration… If that makes sense?
What does make sense is why the game is like this, you’re travelling the world seeking to take down the evil that threatens it, but each kingdom has their own issues along with the big bad. As you travel the world you meet more people and quite a few join your team. I’m pretty sure I even finished the game without getting every ally. The reason you have a team is the combat is closer to a turn-based RPG in which you take control of up to 4 characters in a fight. The combat system is pretty interesting, you have 4 characters layed out in a kind of diamond formation. You have 1 person on top, two in the middle with one at the front and the other at the back and then a fourth person at the bottom. The characters correspond with your face buttons, so the top person is Y or Triangle and the bottom person is X or A. Unless you play on a Nintendo pad then switch the Y to X and A to B. you start with 1 attack, but as you progress through the game and collect objects that are called Ringsels you can increase the number of attacks you do, you can also use them to boost your defence as well.
While in combat your characters have various attacks which consist mainly of directional buttons pressed with the corresponding character attack button. On top of that, you also get a bar called an iddhi meter that when it reaches certain points can unleash much more powerful attacks. The good thing about this is when it gets full if your team are really low on health or all bar 1 person is knocked out you can revive and heal everyone instead of using a really powerful attack. The bar get’s longer as you progress through the game, so reviving and healing takes longer to be able to do, but, as you progress you’ll get more characters some that heal, you’ll also get better at blocking and with the better blocking ability means you can earn health back on a perfect block.
As I said the combat is close to turn-based but it’s not quite after you attack your attacks fill up and you can attack again, characters attacks recharge at different speeds, but you can attack even if only one attack button is full, it’s handy if you want to do small damage or stall the enemy attacks, but you can’t do combos to increase damage this way. The combat is really cool, it’s a combat system that differs to the norm and I really like it, it’s very tactical and you have to think on your feet quite often to get the best results from fights. The only issue I had was certain bosses were big difficulty spikes. Though it’s more that you need to work out a legitimate tactic to take some down, some block to a certain extent so doing a particular combo with a particular person may be the way to break their blocking and allow others to pound the target.
Visually this game is glorious, if you know Lab Zero Games you’ll know that they make games that don’t just look really good visually, but have fantastic animations, character design, and world design. Everything is something great to look at, even the drab Iron Kindom you visit has unique aspects to it that make it a place you’d like to revisit. I can’t fault the game in this department, I like that it has a massive variety of its locations with a unique look to each place. The characters as said are all designed well, and with it being a game where you explore parts of the world you meet people are of many races. The team itself is also made up of people of different races and have different backgrounds, but they all come together to help Ajna and also be helped by Ajna. With the many characters come many varied types of attacks, some people heal and damage at the same time, others can attack head-on or lay a trap for an approaching enemy, some can fire off their attacks but the attack is delayed and it may even damage your team if used without caution.
There’s a varied amount of enemies to take on and with the different areas there are some pretty unique designs to them, not only that but the enemies have various attacks too, which when you are attacked and you want those perfect blocks you need to be aware of what type of attack they are doing as you may need to repeatedly tap the block button, press it once, or use a button that blocks with everyone at once. Remember though, blocking uses iddhi, the more people blocking the more iddhi used, if you perfect your blocks you gain a boost of iddhi if you don’t you lose iddhi and health.
Speaking of the characters the voice acting is really good in the game. Like the in-game characters, there’s a wide variety of actors and actresses which are from various races, which match up with the character on screen. It’s really good to listen to as the people line up well with their on-screen counterparts and with the world adventure aspect it makes complete sense that this would be the case. The audio is wonderful throughout, with musical themes fitting for each area, but not only that the battle themes are also great, but the music also is well made and it makes a game that looks amazing feel more prominent in that you hear all this wonderful music while your eyes are taking in these lovely areas and artwork that has been beautifully hand-drawn. The music helps to capture the game so you take it all in and indulge in its wonder.
After playing the game to the end I have to say I fell for the game, I enjoyed Ajna’s journey, it started with Ajna’s grief and anger at Ravanavar, and her first companion Dhar. While the story progresses you see Anja get more set in her ways and Dhar change for the better and the people that accompany Ajna learn and discover things about themselves with you along for the ride. It’s a well-told story of loss, but I also feel it tells the story of how anger and blind devotion, even if it’s to right the wrongs of others to a cause can be a dangerous precedent if done in the wrong way.
I’m truly glad I backed this when I first saw it many years ago, it turned out to be a brilliant game with great gameplay, music and story. and I am happy to say that I’m rating this 9 Pugsleys out of 10.