Invisible, Inc - Review Roundup

The new cyberpunk game Invisible, Inc. gets some very positive reviews - some snippets:

Mark Brown (Pocket Gamer):

Ultimately, I think it can sometimes work even better than the traditional stealth games that inspired it, like Splinter Cell and Hitman, because you get time to think. You can plan your attack, and when your infiltration goes perfectly you feel amazing.

<no score>

Roger Hargreaves (Metro):

Regardless of its clever structure Invisible, Inc. is simply a well designed and addictive strategy game. We’re not great fans of randomly-generated levels but here they work well to ensure you never get complacent and you can’t win simply by learning the levels – even if some are more interesting than others and you do eventually get used to the basic building blocks of each. The other downside is the weak artificial intelligence for guards, who are far too mechanical in their movements and reactions and, predictably, appear to be stone deaf and severely short-sighted.

<8/10>

Rick Lane (BitGamer):

Yet even if your team is quieter than a shadow wearing plimsolls, your presence won't go entirely unnoticed. With every turn, the building's "Alarm counter" increases slightly, and at each new alarm level the game becomes slightly more difficult. New enemies are introduced, more cameras are switched on. The game gradually piles on the pressure, increasing your obstacles and reducing your resources.
This is a brilliant way of imbuing the tension of a heist movie into a turn-based game. Combined with the procedurally generated building layouts, Invisible, Inc transforms into an emergent delight. There'll be times when you're madly searching for the exit teleporter with a swarm of guards nipping at your heels. In other missions you'll find the teleporter within the first couple of turns, and then it becomes about how deep into the complex you're willing to go, how much you need to rescue that extra operative or raid those safes you pass on the way out. Invisible, Inc strikes that risk/reward balance perfectly. Playing it safe might work in the short term, but come that final mission, you might yourself lacking the necessary equipment to survive.

<90%>

Jon Newcombe (Gamereactor)

Invisible, Inc. has earned comparisons to Xcom, a game we're very fond of here at Gamereactor, and in a lot of ways the comparison is apt. Gameplay and presentation are similar, both are isometric, turn based strategy games. Both require careful planning and inventory management. Failure is a realistic possibility in both. But where Xcom was largely about combat, Invisible, Inc. is mostly about stealth, and where Xcom required a significant investment of time, Invisible, Inc. is snappy and can be run through in a few hours per campaign.

...

Both animation and audio are impressive. The voice acting is good. The swishes of doors, electronic hums of machinery, explosions, and thuds of falling guards all contribute to well-rounded audio presentation. The soundtrack, though a bit repetitive, suits the atmosphere and bops away completely unobtrusively. Animation and aesthetic design are sharp, angular and cartoonish. It's fair to compare it with some of the better television animation of the last three decades. Unfortunately environments do look a bit too similar. At one point a character called Decker commented: "All these buildings look the same." We don't disagree.

<8/10>

Metacritic user reviews are positive as well.