You play as George, an older music lover finally chasing his dream of opening his own record shop. The core loop revolves around discovering songs and turning them into records you can actually sell. Each track drops you into a colorful representation of George’s imagination where you play through rhythm-based stages. When you finish a song, you put it on the shelf, then help customers find records that speak to whatever they’re looking for. Before long, I found myself caught in the cycle of collecting songs just to see who they’d connect with next.

The rhythm gameplay starts off approachable. Like most rhythm games, it mostly asks you to nail basic timing, but it doesn’t stay there. New mechanics gradually layer on top of each other, introducing directional inputs, trickier patterns, and more demanding sequences.

What really sells the experience isn’t the rhythm gameplay, though. It’s the people who walk through George’s front door. Every customer arrives carrying something—a memory, a regret, a crush, a loss. Thus, finding the right record becomes less about making a sale and more about understanding who they are.

There’s a surprisingly wide range of musical styles on display, which helps keep things fresh. Not every genre was something I’d normally seek out, but that almost became part of the appeal.

By the time my demo ended, I was gleefully surprised at how much I got into the game. I was entranced by the game’s rhythmic element. Then, I became happy helping the people I’d met and the stories tied to the records sitting on George’s shelves. That’s what makes Mr. Records stand out. It understands that music isn’t just something we listen to—it’s something we attach pieces of our lives to.

The post Mr. Records Hands-On Preview – A Record Store Adventure That Hits All the Right Notes appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

Movement has a slight floatiness, but in a good way. Demi covers ground quickly, and that extra air time makes dodges, aerial attacks, and last-second adjustments feel surprisingly satisfying.

Combat is fairly straightforward. You have your basic combo attacks, charged attacks, aerial launches, ground slams, and a dodge mechanic that rewards good timing by powering up your Void abilities. There wasn’t much complexity in the demo I played, but it felt easy to pick up.

Not to mention, the adds are fairly easy to take down. Most of the mistakes I made came from mistiming dodges or attacks rather than the encounters themselves being particularly demanding. Once I got a feel for the rhythm, moving through combat became pretty effortless.

The final boss put up more of a fight initially, mostly because I needed a few attempts to understand what the game was asking of me. After the mechanics clicked, though, the encounter became much more manageable. If you’ve spent time with action-adventure games before, you’ll probably figure it out quickly.

The environmental puzzles don’t go out of their way to point you toward the solution, which I appreciated. A few had me wandering around for a minute, but the answers are usually hiding in plain sight. Paying attention to your surroundings goes a long way here.

Demi and the Fractured Dream launches February 2027 on PC, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch 1 & 2.

The post Demi and the Fractured Dream Hands-On Preview – A Modern Adventure with Classic Zelda DNA appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

Silent Hill: Townfall features the first-person perspective, but it’s not the first in the franchise to have that view; for example, Silent Hill 4: The Room and Silent Hill: The Short Message. And like Silent Hill f, the upcoming game is not set in Silent Hill, from what we can tell so far. It is set in 1996 and features St. Amelia, a fictional island in Scotland, and a new protagonist named Simon Ordell.

Let’s get the important info out of the way. I asked the dev team, Screen Burn, if the game would have any references to the town of Silent Hill. They were, of course, secretive about that. They weren’t secretive, however, about why they were excited to have the game set in Scotland, since the studio is based there.

Check out our reaction to the presentation below.

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Check out the release date trailer below:

Silent Hill: Townfall is a collaboration between Konami and Annapurna Interactive and is developed by Screen Burn Interactive.

About Silent Hill: Townfall

Synopsis: Simon Ordell is called back to the island of St. Amelia to ‘put things right’, encountering a town lying quiet beneath a heavy fog, seemingly abandoned but not at rest. Venturing deeper, and driven to understand his connection to the place and its inhabitants, Simon begins to discover fragments of a past rising to the surface.

The post We Asked How Silent Hill: Townfall Connects to Silent Hill, Dev Team Wouldn’t Say appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

Version 1.1 “Under Pressure” is now available, with the Dos Caminos update built around the brothers and features two connected in-game paths. Developed with Rocks production, the Moncada brothers in OneState are figures that players can follow and craft a story around.

“I’m excited to join forces with OneState, the open world Social RolePlay immersive mobile game. Now you can drop in the LA style city map with my skin character and become one of the most influential figures in town,” Daniel Moncada said in a statement. “The question is, do you want to be the friend of The Cartel? – See you soon!”

Players can unlock the two twin brothers and two exclusive outfits (Grim Specialist and Silent Professional) in the first release of the Dos Caminos update.

The Moncada brothers portray legendary criminal-world figures and recruiters, as they allow players to enter the more dangerous part of the city.

“I’m very excited to join the ChillBase family on this amazing game,” said Louis Moncada. “Can’t wait for everyone to see the final product. It’s amazing!”

The new update also includes Rock Production, a clan-level production system for synthetic diamonds, perfect for the black market. There are end-to-end cycle, multi-stage processing and equipment chains, and cooperative delivery runs in the city.

“We’re constantly expanding OneState and creating new opportunities for players. This update adds a whole new layer of advanced gameplay for our clans and gangs.,” said Matvei Lipatnikov, the founder and CEO of ChillBase.

The new version also includes new clan activities, motorcycles, a new city landmark, and 4-player cooperative runs.

Last week, ChillBase brought the OneState world to life at Santa Monica Pier in Los Angeles with a two-day offline activation. The event featured street artist Chris Riggs transforming a car into an art installation inspired by the video game. You can check out the festivities on Instagram here.

For more info, you can visit https://onestate.com/.

The post Breaking Bad Actors Behind the Salamanca Cousins Join OneState Mobile Game appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

The Cyberpunk 2077 Dex Glasses

With the collaboration with CD PROJEKT RED, the Cyberpunk Dex retails for $125 and is inspired by one of the first Night City fixers you meet in the game, Dexter DeShawn. The glasses aim to capture the feel of Night City, and feature blue-light-blocking technology. The shield-lens frame is brought to life, bringing the style of a cyberpunk future and also the persona of Dex.

It’s made of magnesium-aluminum alloy and plastic, and it features G-Shield protection to help with smudges, scratches, and glare. It also has a 0.2 diopter to help you focus. The lenses are available in Amber and Amber-Max, so those wanting the red color lenses similar to Dex in the game may be disappointed. However, that’s the price to pay for the glasses’ focus on blocking blue lights.

The Dex glasses come with Cyberpunk-inspired padded sleeve, microfiber cleaning cloth, and a 12-month warranty.

Alienware’s Bermuda Triangle

Alienware, known for offering PC gamers high-end, pre-built gaming computers, is teaming up with GUNNAR Optiks. Enter the Bermuda Triangle glasses, featuring a wraparound shield lens, angular lines, and a futuristic design, which fits right at home with the brand’s sci-fi aesthetic.

These glasses also feature blue-light-blocking lenses to help reduce digital eye strain during gaming marathons, streaming, or multitasking. The wraparound shield lens offers a panoramic field of view that’s perfect for gaming, and the frame is a lightweight polymer. The nose pads are adjustable, and the G-Shield coating helps resist smudges and scratches.

The Bermuda Triangle glasses include a white protective sleeve and a microfiber cloth.

The Cyberpunk 2077 Dex and Alienware Bermuda Triangle glasses are available at gunnar.com.

The post These Cyberpunk 2077 and Alienware Gaming Glasses Look Straight Out of the Future appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

The majority of Directive 8020 is set on a Space Colony ship called the Cassiopeia. The crew’s objective is to be the first people on Tau Ceti F and make sure it is okay for the colony ships following to settle there. One of the best parts of the game is the environment and its atmosphere. The game does a good job of making you feel trapped on a ship with the threat and the characters on board.

Directive 8020 Characters and Story

The cast consists of 10 characters total, but focuses on 5 of them. A couple of the characters stand out, but others are bland. A lot of the dialogue is stale with no chemistry between characters, and other times, the dialogue is compelling. So overall, it is a mixed bag.

Dialogue choices in the game matter as they are used to progress traits, which unlock destinies. Destinies are other outcomes for some scenarios that occur if the corresponding trait has leveled up enough. There is also an optional messaging feature, which is a nice added detail to help get to know the characters. During some parts of the game, the active character can message the other survivors, and sometimes the player can choose which message to send to help progress traits.

The story of Directive 8020, for the most part, is predictable as it follows a lot of horror tropes, especially since its main inspirations are Alien and The Thing. By the end of the game, the story does get better and includes some really memorable twists, which makes the 8-chapter story worth checking out. The game takes the approach of the player knowing a lot of elements that the characters do not. This both helps and hurts the story as some parts are predictable, but others lead to surprising outcomes.

A big example of this is the use of flashforwards, where the player knows what is going to happen when the story reaches a certain point. The story also does not change too much, as most outcomes are very similar. In a game where choices matter, not many parts feel like the player’s choice really matters.

Replayability and Exploration

The turning-points system is back, which is a good thing. It is a really good system that allows players to replay and change the story’s outcome at any time. Locked outcomes show requirements that are needed. These requirements are that either a character’s destiny be unlocked, a certain character be alive, or that a particular previous story branch be achieved. The game also shows total completion. It is easy for a completionist to track which scenes are missing, as well as find collectibles.

The biggest feature in Directive 8020 compared to Supermassive Games’ previous games is being able to walk around and explore parts of the ship. The levels are linear as it is a narrative-driven game, but there are parts where you can explore side rooms. These lead to finding more details about the setting and story, as well as finding secret collectibles. It makes the game more engaging, allowing the player to get to know the ship and its secrets. There is also a lockpicking minigame, adding to the exploration and the feeling of tension when sneaking around.

Stealth

The game features stealth sections where the player has to sneak around the current threat. However, the enemy AI could be heavily improved. The enemies always follow a set, predictable path, which makes it easy to evade if the player pays attention. But if the player gets caught, there is a second-chance mechanic that lets the character stun the enemy and get away. The stealth never changes, except that the setting becomes creepier as the game progresses. As the game goes on, some stealth sections feel repetitive. It is more of the same, which makes it feel lackluster.

Final Reaction

Overall, Directive 8020 is a fine game. Fans of this kind of game will enjoy it, and its added features help get new players invested. The story is worth experiencing despite some stale characters and uninspired gameplay segments.

The game is available now on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S/X. On PC, there is a lack of optimization that the developers hopefully will patch soon.

The post Directive 8020 Review: A Fine Sci-Fi Experience appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

The visuals of Deadhaus Sonata looked like a clean version of an early 2000s game. Even though it is simplistic compared to a lot of modern games, including some other indie games, it still had a particular feel that looked good for the most part. The biggest visual drawback is the rain visuals where it felt there was too much and too dense. There was also an issue where the character creator would not work so at this point could not make any new characters or customize appearance.

Players control a vampire with a focus on combat, which unfortunately felt stiff and was not enjoyable. The main attacks felt clunky, plus the dodge didn’t feel responsive and was hard to execute. The most promising aspect of combat is the use of ability cards, which can be assigned to any ability slot. The abilities themselves did help the combat feel a little better, but much like the base combat, it still feels clunky. The mechanics presented could be refined in future updates to create a good combat system.

Another major frustration with the game is the lack of explanations for how to accomplish tasks or what to do next. Normally, having to figure out mechanics is fine, but with the game in an early state, the bugs make it frustrating to do so. One example was the main narrator repeating itself constantly when looking at the celestial clock or other menus. Sometimes the voice repeats over itself and causes a headache.

The Celestial Clock is one of the systems in the tutorial that took a little bit of time to figure out how it works. The game does not fully explain its function, but it has a lot of information presented with it, such as the current time and weather. The clock also shows a solar system of planets and current positions, which is used for puzzles.

After the tutorial, the game has a focus on limited exploration, where you pick an area to go to. There’s no direction on what to do other than roam around and defeat enemies. I could tell there are other areas to explore, but it does not say how to unlock those areas. At one point, there was an event to defeat enemies attacking a tower, which felt like an unwinnable situation because while defeating waves of enemies, they still destroyed the tower anyway. After finishing the final map, I had no idea what to do next, as the main objective only said to go back to the hub, leaving me with no other direction and nowhere new to go.

Overall, Deadhaus Sonata’s initial early access release is a disappointment as it feels like a game in alpha. What the small team of developers made has the potential to become a game worth playing, given more time. There is a foundation of puzzles in the exploration, along with aspects of combat, such as the abilities or finishers, that show there’s a solid idea that needs time to be worked on and fleshed out. Hopefully, the game is more fun with friends when figuring out what to do next. Despite the game starting in a rough state, it could make a comeback just like No Man’s Sky.

The post Deadhaus Sonata Preview: A Pale Beginning appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

All definitions are official definitions derived from using the Major League Baseball Glossary and Baseball Savant. All of these stat categories appear in the Advanced Stats tab of the player profile for their respective categories (hitter or pitcher).

BATTER AND PITCHER ADVANCED STATS (NEW)

1st Row

• BIP – Balls in Play
• GB/FB – Ground Balls to Fly Balls Ratio
• LD% – Line Drive Rate
• GB% – Ground Ball Rate
• FB% – Fly Ball Rate
• IFFB% – Infield Fly Ball Rate
• HR/FB – Home Runs per Fly Ball rate
• IFH% – Infield hit rate
• BUH% – Bunt hit rate
• Pull% – Rate the ball is pulled
• Cent% – Rate ball is hit up the middle
• Oppo% – Rate the ball is hit opposite field
• Soft% – Rate ball is hit softly
• Med% – Rate Ball is hit with average power
• Hard% – Rate ball is hit hard (Exit Velocity equal or greater than 95 MPH)

2nd Row

• AVG EV – Average Exit Velocity of hit balls
• MAX EV – Highest exit velocity of hit balls
• AVG LA – Average Launch Angle of hit balls
• Barrels – How many balls are barreled. A barreled ball a ball must have an exit velocity of at least 98 mph and a launch angle between 26-30 degrees.
• Barrel % – Percentage of hit balls in play that are barreled.
• Hard Hit – Number of balls in play that are hit over 95 miles per hour
• xBA – Expected Batting Average is the likelihood that a ball in play will fall in for a hit
• xSLG – Expected Slugging Percentage is the expected rate at which the batter will slug the ball based weighted by each type of hit the player has tallies. The formula is (1B + 2Bx2 + 3Bx3 + HRx4)/AB)
• wOBA (For some reason there is no tracking of this in OOTP 27 but including it for you stat nerds because it relates to the below stat) – Weighted On-Base Average is a look at what kind of hits (and walks) a player used to get on base rather than just if they did or not.
• Determined via historical scoring data to get an average contribution to run production. This changes every season as new numbers are added to the data.

• Home Run: Worth approximately 2.037 runs.
• Triple: Worth approximately 1.252 runs.
• Double: Worth approximately 1.252 runs.
• Single: Worth approximately 0.882 runs.
• Walk: Worth approximately 0.691 runs

Looking at those numbers, it can be stated that the average homerun is a 2-run homer.

xwOBA – Expected Weighted On-Base Average uses the same factors for each kind of hit.

Batter Only

HITTER STATS

BATTER STATS YOU MAY CONSIDER ADVANCED IN BATTING STATS TAB (OLD)

OPS+ – Adjusted On-Base Percentage + Slugging Percentage
WAR – Wins Above Replacement

To find these change the view of the Career Batting Stats or Batting Splits tabs of the Batting Stats of the player card.

• wOBA – Weighted On-Base Average
• ISO – Isolated Power
• BABIP – Batting Average of Balls in Play
• wRC+ – Adjusted Weighted Runs Created
• WPA – Win Probability Added
• UBR – Base Running Value
• BsR – Total Baserunning Runs Value

Percentile Rankings (Batters)

Batted Balls

• Batting RV – Batting Run Value – This is the odds that a run will score during his at bat. In this case Gunnar has a 23.5% chance of having a run score during his at bats. It also shows the percentile for this stat. (Gunnar Henderson in this simulated season was in the top 4% of batting run value)
• Baserunning RV – Baserunning Run Value – This is the number of runs a player contributes when they are on base whether it is stealing bases or getting extra bases. In the case of Gunnar, when he was on base the Orioles were able to score 2.2 runs which puts him in the 90th percentile.
• Fielding RV – Fielding Run Value – This number is the amount of runs a player’s defensive performance (all aspects of it including holding runners from stealing in Gunnar’s case.) contributes to the team. In this case, Gunnar, who is typically not great defensively, causes his team to actually lose 1.5 runs per his defensive action putting him in the low 38th percentile of fielders.
• HR/FB – Home Runs per Fly Ball
• Soft % – Percentage of balls in play that are hit under 95 MPH.
• Solid % – Percentage of balls in play that are hit just under the definition of a barreled ball (See above for barreled ball definition)
• Barrel% – Percentage of balls in play that are barreled. (See above for barreled ball definition)
• Hard% – Percentage of balls in play that are hit over 95 MPH.
• Avg EV – Average Exit Velocity
• Max EV – Highest Exit Velocity achieved

Superstats

• xBACON – Expected batting average on contacted balls
• xSLGCON – Expected slugging percentage on contacted balls
• xwOBACON – Expected Weighted On Base Percentage on contacted balls
• xBA – See definition in Batter Advanced Stats (New) Section
• xSLG – See definition in Batter Advanced Stats (New) Section
• xwOBA – See definition in Batter Advanced Stats (New) Section
• K% – Percentage of strikeouts in at bats
• BB% Percentage of walks in at bats
• SB% – Percentage of stolen base success

Pitch Value

• Fastball RV – Run value on fastballs faced
• Breaking RV – Run value on breaking balls faced
• Offspeed RV – Run value on offspeed pitches faced
• Whiff% – Rate at which batter swung and missed at pitches
• O-Swing% – Rate at which batter swung at pitches outside the strike zone
• Z-Swing% – Rate at which batter swung at pitches in the strike zone
• Swing% – Rate at which batter swung at pitches thrown to him
• O-Contact% – Rate at which batter made contact with pitches outside the strike zone
• Z-Contact% – Rate at which batter made contact with pitches in the strike zone
• Contact% – Rate at which batter made contact with pitches thrown to him

Batter Spray Chart

• This shows where a batter has hit the ball. As you can see you can change what is shown. The legend contains:
• GO (Groundout)
• FO (Flyout)
• SI (Single)
• DO (Double)
• TR (Triple)
• HR (Home Run)

Pitcher Only

PITCHER STATS YOU MAY CONSIDER ADVANCED IN PITCHER STATS TAB (OLD)

• BABIP – Batting Average of batters faced when they put the ball in play
• ERA+ – Adjusted Earned Run Average – Earned Run Average that also takes into account ballpark factors. A full table of Ballpark Factors can be found here at Baseball Savant
• WAR – (See definition above)

3rd Row in Advanced Stats

• Pitches – Number of pitches thrown
• O-Swing % – Percentage of pitches thrown outside the zone were swung at
• Z-Swing % – Percentage of pitches thrown inside the zone were swung at
• Swing% – Percentage of pitches thrown were swung at
• OC% – Percentage of pitchers thrown outside the zone
• ZC% – Percentage of pitches thrown inside the zone
• Zone% – The ratio in percentage of balls thrown in the zone to balls thrown out of the zone
• RV – Run Value
• RV-FB – Run Value on Fastballs thrown
• RV-BR – Run Value on Breaking Balls thrown
• RV-OFF – Run Value on Off Speed Pitches thrown
• Close% – Percentage of pitches thrown in a 2-strike count
• Whiff% – Percentage of pitches thrown that resulted in a swing and miss
• Chase% – Percentage of pitches thrown outside the zone that batters chased at

Percentile Rankings (Pitchers)

Batted Ball

• GB% – Percentage of pitches hit that ended up as ground balls
• GB/FB – Ground ball to Fly ball ratio on pitches hit
• HR/FB – Homerun to Fly Ball ratio on pitches hit
• Avg EV – Average exit velocity for balls hit
• Soft % – Percentage of pitches thrown that were hit into play softly
• Solid % – Percentage of pitches thrown that had solid contact made on them
• Barrel % – Percentage of pitches thrown that were barreled
• Hard % – Percentage of pitches thrown that were hit hard

Superstats

• xERA
• xBACON – Expected batting average on contacted balls
• xSLGCON – Expected slugging percentage on contacted balls
• xwOBACON – Expected Weighted On Base Percentage on contacted balls
• xBA – See definition in Batter Advanced Stats (New) Section
• xSLG – See definition in Batter Advanced Stats (New) Section
• xwOBA – See definition in Batter Advanced Stats (New) Section
• K/BB
• K% – Percentage of strikeouts in at bats
• BB% Percentage of walks in at bats

Pitch Result

See other definitions in Pitcher 3rd Row of Advanced Stats except for Contact %, which can be found in the Batter’s Pitch Value Section.

Pitch Type

• Pitching RV – Pitching Run Value – Avg number of runs a pitcher prevented based on his pitching
• Fastball RV – Fastball Run Value – Avg number of runs a pitcher prevents when throwing a fastball
• Breaking RV – Breaking Run Value – Avg number of runs a pitcher prevents when throwing a breaking ball
• Offspeed RV – Offspeed Run Value – Avg number of runs a pitcher prevents when throwing an offspeed pitch
• All Fastball% – Percentage of any type of fastball thrown
• Breaking% – Percentage breaking balls are thrown
• All Offspeed% – Percentage of any type of offspeed pitch thrown
• FB Velo – Average Fastball Velocity

Pitch Usage Chart

This shows the percentage of pitches the pitcher used.

If anything is missing from this guide that you feel should be added, please contact me on X at @darthpyrin.

The post Out of the Park Baseball 27’s Advanced Stats Guide appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

This demo, also remastered, starts with a bit of info on the cancelled game. The story apparently focuses on Kain’s continuing quest to purify the Pillars of Nosgoth to heal the land once more. Also, it seems this game would have continued to focus on the demon beings known as Hylden, whom you faced in Defiance as both Raziel and Kain. These beings are a central theme in the Legacy of Kain story and are the reason the vampires are immortal yet sterile. Janos Audron, whom Raziel awoke in Defiance, is also mentioned as central to this story. All of these factors connect to the Pillars and how they were eventually corrupted.

Once that pop-up closes, you are free to explore this small slice of the beginning of the game. From what the pop-up states and the time I spent in this very short demo, I sensed this mountain pass was supposed to lead to some sort of entrance way to the Demon Realm. The enemies you fought to get to this portal were vampire hunters and Hylden, similar to those you fought in Defiance.

The themes of this unmade game certainly feel similar to those of Defiance. The difference is that you only have one protagonist in Kain. Since Raziel was absorbed into Kain at the end, with the Soul Reaver ultimately destroyed, it seems you are working towards restarting the cycle of the timeline by involving Janos, the keeper of the Soul Reaver. This is the sword that you wield as Raziel in Defiance, and it has a whole game named after it in the series.

The Legacy of Kain series focuses on a cyclical timeline. With what we know about this unreleased sequel, it seems Kain was working on breaking that timeline. If that is what this game could have been, perhaps the Legacy of Kain could have gotten some closure. Instead, we will never know what could have been.

After playing the remaster of Defiance, I could see a modern Legacy of Kain game being made that focuses on this. While the story repeating itself could open the door for some interesting alterations to each timeline, I think giving Kain and Nosgoth a chance to rest in peace could be something worth exploring. Defiance ends on a cliffhanger, and Kain wanders out into the world to continue his quest.

The post Unreleased Legacy of Kain: Defiance Sequel – What Could Have Been appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

The game includes 18 characters from the show that bring a solid variety to the fighting roster. Obviously, there are the main characters of the current Guardians of the Globe to fill in most of the roster. But there are also some of the big antagonists to fill out the rest of the roster. This creates an overall balanced cast despite one concern. Are there too many Viltrumites?

A good portion of the characters look the same and have the same powers. However, they each have their unique feel. With so many of those characters, would it have been better to include some others? Such as the main villain from Season 3, Angstrom Levy, or the other main current member of the Guardians of the Globe, Shapesmith. Which would help bring some variety to the roster of the characters available.

Despite the first look at the roster, there is an official classification for each character. No two characters have the same playstyle. For example, Invincible is classified as balanced and rushdown. Atom Eve is ranged and zoner. There are other classifications, such as striker, technical, and pressure, which help show the variety of playstyles in the base roster.

Pick Up and Play

The fighting is mostly easy to pick up and play, with light, medium, and heavy attacks, plus a special attack. For the most part, everyone shares the same inputs for their abilities. Meaning it is not like Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter, where each character has different combos to remember. Instead, it has controls like Super Smash Bros where each character has the same number of abilities and the same inputs, but is unique per character. This approach makes it welcoming for the average button-masher player to pick up and enjoy the game. The gameplay also makes it easy to pull off combos, which can be hard to counter.

As in all fighters, there are controls that go deeper beyond the basic button inputs, as well as the game introducing its own spin on some fighting mechanics. There is a boost ability that can empower special moves, thus creating a stronger version of the attack. This is important to keep in mind for people who want to learn combos. There are also the super abilities, which are the main abilities that use the meter. In addition, there are two normal variations, and then the main ultimate ability. There are super abilities for more combo potentials.

The mechanics go even deeper for players who want to delve deeper into the game’s potential, such as having conditional abilities that will help block attacks or stop combos. There are also throw moves that can be used for creating combos. These more advanced abilities require pressing multiple abilities at once, which some can feel awkward to use at first. However, as the saying goes, practice makes perfect, and with using the abilities, executing them becomes more natural.

The last major component of the combat is the assists, which works similar to the Marvel vs Capcom games. Players pick a team of three characters, and either character can switch at any time or be called in for an assist. Being able to switch characters or use assist attacks is very easy to use. Also, the details of the character’s health bars are lowered; they get more bloodied and battle-damaged. It is a cool detail that also helps keep the vibe of the show.

Story Mode

The game offers a few different modes to play in. The first is a short story mode. It is a quick-paced story with a cool third act but a confusing ending. Unfortunately, it is nowhere near the quality of storytelling as the comic or the show. It is a story made so that the roster of characters can fight each other. Unfortunately, the story mode is a dud and, unfortunately, not a shining flagship part of the game as advertised.

There is more to do beyond playing the story, such as mastering the arcade mode ladders, which are like Mortal Kombat’s towers. The first character chosen is the main character who fights to the end, where there is a new character cutscene unlocked. Nothing new to offer compared to previous fighting game entries, but good to have some sort of single-player grind, which offers replayability. Harder ladders are unlockable, and there are different difficulties the game offers: Easy, Normal, Hard, and Viltrumite. One aspect the game has done well in is making the normal feel like a good challenge for average fighting game fans, which means that more seasoned players hopefully also have a challenge with the greater difficulties.

Online Battles

The main part of the game where most people will likely be fighting is online, where there’s ranked, quick play, and lobbies. Ranked and Quickplay have a nice setup where players can choose 3 fighting teams as well as pick what stage they want to fight on. Then at the end of the fights, there’s an option for a rematch if both players agree.

There are lobbies that have a nice layout but are flawed. The lobby has a layout for multiple battles at once and spectating. Unfortunately, if a battle has already started, players can’t spectate until the next fight. Another big problem is that there’s no stage select in the private lobbies. This is a very odd and disappointing design choice, where when fighting privately among friends, you can’t select what stage you are playing on, but you can against randoms. Another annoyance with the lobbies is having to go to the player’s social menu to switch character sets instead of right before the fight, yet another feature against randoms that is not a feature for private lobbies. Hopefully, lobbies improve with future updates. There were also lots of annoying server errors when joining friends, which hopefully will be fixed by launch day.

One more odd design choice is that to set up a custom single fight against a CPU fighter, you have to go to the versus local menu. The player picks which side they want to play on, and the CPU will fill the other side. Single CPU fights are a great way to test characters outside of the practice range, but unfortunately, the game hides where it is.

Rewards

The game also provides rewards where players can earn just by playing. There are both overall player levels and individual character levels. Regardless of fighting offline or online, the characters will gain their own levels. Having the option to play where the player wants to play and still gain levels is a welcome feature. The character levels occasionally unlock new skins. But the main unlockables are background and titles for player cards, which are customizable for online play. Also, player levels unlock some stages and collectibles, such as comic art, for the collection menu. The leveling system provides a solid incentive to earn the rewards, as it allows you to “play your way” to earn.

Final Reaction

Overall, Invincible VS is a bloody, fun, and solid fighting game, but not without its annoyances. The single-player content available might get repetitive easily. However, the game could thrive with its community as the popularity of Invincible is only growing. It makes it a welcoming fighter for new players to check out.

Invincible VS is developed by Quarter Up, which is a subsidiary of Skybound Games. It’s a new studio that includes ex-Killer Instinct developers and is available to purchase now on Steam, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. You can go to your local comic store and ask for the exclusive physical edition that has a different cover.

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