The hit superhero animated show is adapted as a new cel-shaded fighting game with a temptingly low price tag.
Invincible VS is the latest entry in the now scarily long-running superhero franchise and a fighting game that’s trying to cater to everyone. It is a deceptively simple fighter, just teetering on the edge of Super Smash Bros. territory, but with clear aspirations of becoming a premier option in the fighting game community.
The game comes from new studio Quarter Up and is published by Skybound Games, the gaming division of the ever-growing Robert Kirkman empire. The edgy attitude from the comics and TV show is turned up to 11 here, with battles ending with characters exploding into gore and super moves that replicate some of the hardest hitting moments of the show. It’ll never not be fun to obliterate an opponent as Omni-Man, as he drives them through an entire city.
Invincible VS is a 3v3 game, which can be a difficult concept for a complete newbie to get their head around, since it means you have to have at least a working knowledge of three characters’ movesets to compete, although things are made easier by the very accessible control system.
The game is built so that the vast majority of inputs are the same by default, so anyone can hop on and pull off something in a match. Rather than a series of button presses, Invincible VS limits inputs to a singular direction and a button press or holding down the trigger. However, this can all be turned off, as there’s also classic style fighting game controls if you feel the need to quarter-circle-punch something.
This makes jumping into Invincible VS incredibly easy, even for a non-fighting game expert. You can barrel through an arcade ladder almost straight away, especially after fiddling with the training and practice modes. Those modes are quite well explained and not closed off to the layman, and if you’re a fighting game freak, you can turn on just about as much information as you can swallow in terms of stats and hitboxes.
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The energy of each fight is akin to Mortal Kombat or Killer Instinct, which isn’t a coincidence, as some of Quarter Up are ex-developers of the Xbox exclusive Killer Instinct reboot from 2013. As in that game, Invincible VS is a combo-heavy title, where trying to trap your opponent into a loop of damage is paramount.
Pulling straight from Dragon Ball FighterZ, there’s also a quick combo system. After building up a bar of a super meter, which goes up five levels, mashing the light attack button five times will automatically activate a quick and flashy combo. Getting deeper into the game and combining this with a launch into the air, while the commentator’s voice shouts ‘Whoa!’, is a great feeling.
The tag team action adds additional depth that the combat itself might lack, as you pull characters in and out of a fight to recover or extend combos for even more damage, but even without that there is more going on mechanically than it first seems, if you’re prepared to put in the time to main multiple characters.
Understanding the pros and cons of each character and then putting that to use is vital to success. Invincible himself is classed as ‘Balanced-Rushdown’, which thankfully is self-explanatory. Others, like Cecil, are ‘Range-Technical’, while Robot is classed as ‘Balanced-Balanced’, so putting together a team that compliments each other and suits your play style is vital.
While a lot of work has been done to ensure the game can sit comfortably in the pick-up-and-play category, it feels frightfully thin in parts. For a franchise lauded for its storytelling, Invincible VS is a bit maddening. The story mode is brief and the arcade mode endings could not exist and it’d amount to the same experience.
Despite being brief, the main story mode does its best to try to make excuses for why everyone needs to beat each other up, even if mind control seems a very lazy excuse. However, Invincible VS is priced lower than most new releases, so there is some excuse – even if it’s weird that the PC version is more expensive than on console.
The story mode swings through the action at a pretty decent clip and it takes less than two hours to finish it. There’s clearly a setup for future adventures, with the plot actually sowing some very small seeds of intrigue, but it ultimately feels unfinished. With the super-tight roster of just 18 characters, the story mode and arcade modes are also desperately searching for options to pit you against.
Unlocks come down to a mixture of costumes, which are mostly colour schemes or various bits of art to use on your online profile or concept art. It’s all very basic, but at least it doesn’t dump you into a pseudo-social space lobby and sticks solely to menus for its interface.
This thinness is also evident in the game’s roster. There are 18 characters overall, five of which are the villainous, Superman-like Viltrumites. A lot of work has been done to try to differentiate them from each other, but pulling from the wider Invincible universe seems like it would have been a better plan at launch. As with the many, many Gokus in Dragon Ball Sparking Zero and FighterZ, we didn’t need so many Viltrumites when there are so many more interesting picks from the wider franchise.
Each character does feel fairly unique. Which is surprising when you consider that each Viltrumite has a similar, if not the same, slice attack. It’s a neat lore touch, but not when variety is what a fighting game roster is after.
Much of the roster comes down to just a series of punches and kicks, with characters like Titan and Monster Girl both having a tackle move to get in close. More fantastical characters, like Atom Eve, are sensibly limited, but there surely had to be more fun to be had here. Eve is limited to creating her pink energy constructs as only blades, buzzsaws, and the like. Ella Mental can control the elements, and it’s the same tired tropes of fireball, water blast, and big rock. It’s all very obvious.
Special moves are by default confined to the A/X button, and even here, some of the character decisions begin to overlap. Yes, each Viltrumite is different, but both Omni-Man and Conquest have a similar air blast attack, with the same intention of disrupting an opponent’s move. Again, it plays it safe, with a perfect example being that one of Invincible’s special attacks is… a big kick.
Everything feels too grounded, in a weird sense. For a comic book franchise not known for holding back, it’s odd that Invincible VS does in this respect, but then it’s clearly quite a low budget title, that seems to be just feeling out the potential for a more expansive game. In that respect it’s a success, even if you should temper your expectations going in.
Invincible VS review summary
In Short: A fun and energetic fighting game that does its best to cater for both casual fans and fighting game veterans, although its roster has some strange priorities and the single-player content is very limited.
Pros: Solid combat system with an optional, Smash Bros. style control system that makes it very accessible. Deeper combat mechanics reward continued play and the visuals are on point.
Cons: Weak single-player content with a very short story mode. Limited roster with too little variety in the types of characters. Some unimaginative movesets that underplay the powers of each fighter.
Score: 6/10
Formats: PC (reviewed), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S
Price: £44.99
Publisher: Skybound Games
Developer: Quarter Up
Release Date: 30th April 2026
Age Rating: 18
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