As a fighting game, Invincible VS’ bread and butter is its versus mode, but it will offer several destinations for fans and newcomers to sink their fists into. Players can learn the ropes in a training mode and challenge rivals worldwide in yet-to-be-detailed online play that boasts rollback netcode. However, fans of the source materials will likely be most excited about the game’s cinematic story mode.
This single-player offering lets players experience an original story penned by Mike Rogers, Quarter Up’s narrative director, and Helen Leigh, writer and co-executive producer for the TV series, with Robert Kirkman overseeing the process. Rogers, a lifelong comic book fan, tells us he’s always been drawn to Invincible’s more grounded take on the superhero genre and how it often examines the mental consequences of its world-shattering conflicts. “I always thought it was really interesting that they explored sort of like the psyche elements of things and what it does to someone to have their dad smash you through a bunch of people in a subway,” says Rogers. “You don’t come out of that fight, whether you win or lose, being like, ‘Yeah!’ You come out of it being like, ‘Oh no.'”
Atom Eve stands ready in the Invincible VS reveal trailer.
Rogers aims to capture Invincible’s complicated themes in the story mode. Although he was extremely cagey when I asked him to detail the story mode’s premise and whether it’s considered official canon, he does confirm that every playable fighter in Invincible VS will play a role in its events. As for when the story takes place, the best I can glean from Rogers is that it probably occurs during Season 3 of the show (something fans would likely deduce from the roster). However, Rogers tells me that Quarter Up is mindful that this will be some players’ first exposure to the world of Invincible and that the story is written so it does not feel dependent on prior familiarity with the show or comics, while still being additive for fans.
“If you’re a fan of Invincible, [it’s] absolutely going to be rewarding,” says Rogers. “It’s absolutely going to be something that you feel can slot right into your favorite parts of the show, your favorite timeline of the show, and the comics. And if you’re someone new to the property, I also think it’s going to be a really good point to jump in on.”
Although Rogers says Quarter Up looked to fighting games like Injustice 2 for inspiration in building the structure of Invincible VS’ story mode, the team is aiming to create something uniquely their own. Rogers also states that the story mode is designed to feel like playing an episode of the show and, as such, will take roughly the same amount of time to complete (one hour). He compared the story mode’s scope to the 2021 special Invincible: Atom Eve, which told a complete self-contained narrative in about an hour.
Mark faces his father, Omni-Man, in the Invincible VS reveal trailer.
Quarter Up has not officially confirmed how much of the show’s cast reprises their roles in Invincible VS, but we do know J.K. Simmons stepped back into the booth as Omni-Man. But based on what I heard from the other characters during the versus bouts, I’d be very surprised if any of them were recast, as the performances sound identical to their series counterparts. Although not explicitly designed to serve as a tutorial, Rogers views the story mode as a friendly destination for first-time players to get a handle on the mechanics while soaking in a new Invincible narrative.
Interestingly, the story mode’s cinematics retain the in-game art direction but are rendered in the stop-motion-inspired style popularized by the Spider-Verse films. You can get a taste of this animation style from watching the game’s original announcement trailer (posted below), as well as the subsequent roster reveal videos. Like everything else in the game, the cinematics were handled in-house with Skybound Animation, the studio that makes the Invincible show, working with Quarter Up to create the mode’s cutscenes.
Speaking to Skybound Animation head Marge Dean, she shares that while most of the Invincible animation team remained busy developing the TV series, a small group of them split off to assist on Invincible VS. Dean also shares that Skybound Animation enlisted famed South Korean animator/director Seung Eun Kim to direct the story mode’s cinematics. Kim is an Emmy award-winner whose directorial credits include popular animated series such as Jackie Chan Adventures, The Batman, and The Boondocks.
For the sake of consistency, Skybound and Quarter Up opted for the story mode cutscenes to sport the in-game art style rather than replicate the show’s aesthetic. This approach also helps maintain visual parity between gameplay and cinematics. “So many games, it’s like you see the cinematics and then you cut to the game, and it’s so different, and you feel a little ripped off sometimes,” says Dean. “But in ours, we were very intentional and worked very hard to make that as seamless as possible.” Quarter Up art director Dan Eder tells us the animation style was also born out of the cinematics not needing to meet the framerate demands of the gameplay – why not have some fun? “When you get to see our badass high octane action sequences, I think it lends itself to the style beautifully,” says Eder.
As a fan of the NetherRealm story mode template, I’m curious how Invincible VS’ story mode stacks up and look forward to experiencing some new storytelling from what’s become one of my favorite superhero universes.
Game Informer subscribers can read our full Invincible VS cover story here, and you can subscribe today to read the full issue and receive the print edition in the mail later this month as your first issue. Be sure to also read our exclusive feature detailing the gameplay for Dupli-Kate, and watch this video feature about how and why Invincible was turned into a fighting game.