If the kids are united...

It's here. It's actually, finally, here. After a seat-of-the-pants crowdfunding campaign, an unfortunate delay, and four tireless years of development, Lab Zero Games, who brought us the incredible 2012 fighter Skullgirls, is ready to release its mythical action-RPG Indivisible.

I love both Skullgirls and Lab Zero Games. And those of you who follow my scribblings on this here website know that I've been pushing Indivisible for some time. Hell, it's been my "most anticipated game" two years running. I have faith in the passion, dedication and talent of the studio and, like so many fans,?? I'm eager to see what happens when this team applies the colourful character design, creative world-building and tec??hnical talents to a new genre.

But enough yakking??,?? as we've all waited long enough. So let's get to opening our minds. Literally.

Ajna is a headstrong young girl who lives in the remote village of Ashwat, where she trains to be a mighty fighter while enjoying the simple life. One morning, that simple life comes crashing down in the worst way, after her village is besieged by an imperial army. Facing down the captain of the guard -- an arrogant young man named Dhar -- Ajna, in the heat of battle, "absorbs" her attacker into a realm located within her own mind. Funnily enough, this comes as a shock to both characters. But still determined to shakedown the mastermind behind this attack, Ajna tightens her belt and -- with Dhar now literally living inside her head -- sets off on a world of adventure.

So begins Indivisible, an epic tale of bravery, friendship, and self-discovery, which blends faithful anime tropes with southeast Asian mythology, high drama, and a very sharp sen?se of humour. Our girl Ajna journeys far and wide through the lands of Loka, gathering a multitude of new friends, all of whom make home inside her noodle. Some of these characters wish to aid her, some have their own scores to settle, and some, well, just had nothing better to do that morning. These "Incarnations" are Ajna's party members, and can be equipped at any time to join her on the battlefield against the various beasts who would do her harm.

Character is at the heart of Indivisible's story -- and what character -- Lab Zero has created a world populated with an immediately likable roster of heroes and villains. From brainbox botanist Ginseng & Honey and water empath Thorani, to stoic shield-maiden Qadira and (perhaps my favourite) apathetic witch Razmi, every single one of Ajna's hitch-hikers is beautifully designed, superbly performed and utterly magnetic. Anchoring this party (which can grow to over 20 distinct members) is the beating heart of Indivisible: Ajna, a wonderfully written, openly-flawed pro??tagonist. Ajna's ??bloody-mindedness results in strong internal conflict, leading the young warrior on a path of self-realisation, bearing responsibility for matters far outweighing her own desire for revenge.

Trust the team behind Skullgirls to create another universe from scratch and immediately populate it with such brilliant, funny, and beautiful characters. Indivisible's ace is its p??ersonality-driven story and, although the narrative takes turns in the third act that feel somewhat sudden, the narrative concludes beautifully, leaving me with a fluttering chest and a severe case of the blubbers. 

This personality is embodied in Indivisible's exquisite hand-drawn sprites, animated with fluidity and bursting with life. Equally as attractive are the lands of Loka, slathered in evocative colours and using layers of parallax scrolling to add depth to the 2D vistas. These visuals are backed by a great soundtrack from Secret of Mana alumni Hiroki Kikuta, composing tunes that fill the player with the spirit of adventure while simultaneously tugging on the ol' heartstrings. The story is portrayed in attractive scenes of splash art, with smart and witty dialogue delivered by a cast of recognisable actors. Indivisible's aesthetic remains utterly charming throughout.

Gameplay is comprised of two elements: platform adventure and turn-based battles. The former involves guiding Ajna through various labyrinthine dungeons while unlocking abilities that allow her to acrobatically cavort to out-of-reach areas; a task she performs well thanks to an intuitive control design, which makes guiding Ajna a pleasure. Unfortunately, actual exploration is quite thin on the ground, and while on first appearance the action is very reminiscent of titles such as Hollow Knight, it never reaches the same level of intrigue in regards?? to secrets and surprises expected from games of this genre. There is an ever-present sense ?of both emptiness and loneliness to most of the dungeons.

There are some nooks and crannies to be found -- housing gems that can be traded to build Ajna's defense and attack capabilities -- but, despite its Metroid-like maps, Indivisible is relatively linear in its path-finding, and mostly consists of standard platform negotiation for the maj?ority of its playtime. This comes to a fault during two sequences -- both inv?olving the climbing of Mt. Sumeru -- which outstay their welcome, hurting the pace of these climactic scenes.

More impressive is Indivisible's intuitive combat system, which will be immediately recognisable to fans of PS1 classic Valkyrie Profile. Ajna and any three of her friends engage in semi-turn-based battles built around user-created combos. Each face button is assigned to a character, with the goal being to perform the most optimal damage combo possible by weaving together your party's bespoke attacks. For example, you might have Razmi juggle an enemy into the air, then have Dhar perform two leaping strikes. Then, as the enemy falls, time Ajna to uppercut them back into the air, before having Dhar spend his last ability point on an "Iddhi" (or super) attack. Developing these combos is the key to mastering Indivisible's combat.

Where things get really deep, however, is when you take into account the wealth of characters available, all with their own unique s?trikes, passive skills, juggles, armour-breakers, healing powers, etc. Considering the number of possible team combinations on offer, dedicated players can spend hours in the game's dojo (which unlocks over the course of the story) finding their favourite lineups and experimenting with their destructive capabilities.

That's the theory, at least. Unfortunately, a little over halfway into the game, I suddenly found my team had -- by natural design -- become unstoppable. Without exaggeration, I spent the latter half of the adventure crushing every single enemy I faced, literally defeating some boss characters in seconds. By the final act, Ajna's attack power was only at the third tier of a possible five, but her posse was annihilating everybody, making the cool combat mechanics redundant. I hope this balance can be tweaked because after a strong start, the difficulty for the remainder of the game was legi?timately broken in my favour.

While on that sore subject, Indivisible suffers from several technical issues. In busy areas, the PS4 frame-rate takes a dive. Populated cities such as Tai Krung are the worst offenders, though most areas that feature a lot of characters or effects can cause some level of stuttering. There are many minor elements in Indivisible that feel clunky, such as the jarring "screen-fl??ash" reset should Ajna be killed, a lack of sound effec??ts during cinematics, and a map that's missing important landmarks such as Chakra Gates (essentially the entrance/exit). There is a volume balancing issue with some dialogue, and the final areas (the toughest platform sections in the game), suffer from tech problems that make the pixel-perfect journey toward the final fight a frustrating affair.

These problems all constantly chip away at the excellence on display elsewhere. Some of the blemishes aren't too intrusive, but the frame-rate drops and the super-easy A.I. are examples that harm the overall experience. There is reason to stay positive, as some of these are fixable issues. Lab Zero was fully-committed to Skullgirls post-release -- working to tweak every element of that title to ?perfection. So hopefully the same love will be shown here. I can't currently speak for the experience on other platforms, for better or worse.

Once you have completed Indivisible's story -- which took me just shy of 19 hours with the painless combat -- there is little else on offer. The game is sadly missing a gallery, and continuing your save file appears to simply restart the adventure from scratch. To buy into Indivisible, however, is to buy into its core story, filled with?? adventure, drama,? laughs, and some of the most appealing new heroes to come down the RPG pipe in some time.

The long road to Indivisible's release has not resulted in the masterpiece many, including this guy, might've hoped for. But regardless, the elements that are good are excellent. What stands out most is Lab Zero's clear passion for their new universe, destined to be immediately welcomed into fans' hearts. Despite its frustrating technical and budgetary shortcomings, I personally fell hopelessly in love with Indivisible. It would be heartbreaking if we don't return to thi?s franchise in the future. With all these varied charac?ters and locations, there is so much exciting potential to be explored.

Indivisible is rich with character, personality, and passion. But it is hindered by technical problems, vacant maps, and pacing issues, which hold back its true potential. With a little tweaking, some of this could be reversed, allowing Lab Zero's delightful cast, deep combat, and dramatic storyline to shine through. The blemishes can be hard to ignore but Indivisible, like Ajna's ??new-found friends, still gets inside your head.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provid?ed by the pu??blisher.]}

The post Review: Indivisible appeared first on Destructoid.

Now they just gotta finish making it

Lab Zero, developers of the excellent animated fighting game SkullGirls, have closed crowdfunding and pre-orders on their up-and-coming action-RPG Indivisible, raising a huge $2,216,972.

Indivisible, which has bee??n in pre-production since 2015, will tell the story of Anja, a young girl who goes on a dangerous quest to learn the?? secrets behind her mystical powers. Along the way, she will meet new friends and enemies, who will help and hinder Anja on her journey for the truth.

The game smashed its initial funding goals, and multiple stretch goals, but sadly fell short of the final goal, which would have ensured a bonus "hardcore" dungeon and extra endings. Still, there is much reason to celebrate, and Lab Zero promises that every dollar will be put into making Indivisible the best title it can be.

Indivisible is currently sc?heduled for launch in 2018 on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC.

#IndivisibleRPG crowdfunding and pre-orders are officia??lly closed, raising a total of $2,216,972! Everyone at Lab Zero is truly humbled by your support.

No doubt many of you have questions about your order, so we've prepared some answers for you.//t.co/1bcGRxSwIL pic.twitter.com/AeM7LRlFEt

— Indivisible (@IndivisibleRPG) January 3, 2018

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Let's see how it plays out in the final build

After hitting their funding goal in 57 days, Lab Zero's Indivisible became a reality late last year. And it seems like they've made a lot of progress since then, as this new footage shown at Anime Expo 2016 showcases a ton of different envi??ronments, pieces of co?ncept art, and a decent amount of gameplay.

This is one of those things where the art style looks pretty killer, but I'm unsure on how the gameplay will translate. It was fine in demo form, but it seems like it could get tedious, but the sheer var??iety of locales on offer (a medieval town and a Tokyo-like city in the same game looks dope) are enough to draw me in.

The post Lab Zero’s Indivisible is still looking good appeared first on Destructoid.

The slacker backer campaign rolls on

Even though Indivisible hit its funding goal earlier this month, developer/publisher team Lab Zero and 505 Games continue to seek additional funding through a "slacker backer" campaign, also conducted via the game's existing Indiegogo page. Custom donations are no long??e?r possible, but you can choose from one of the available perks.

Indivisible recently hit one of its stretch goals: an animated intro produced by Titmouse (of The Venture Bros and Motorcity fame) and a mystery anime studio. At $2.05 million, all characters will be given full voiceover. According to Lab Zero, "Indivisible is c?urrently budgeted to only have voices in battle and some critical story scenes. With the money raised for this stretch goal, we'll expand the voice acting to cover all interactions with major characters."

The campaign has another stretch goal, priced at $2.3 million. Should that money be raised, Indivisible will be updated after release with a hardcore post-ending dungeon, and multiple story endings for a hypothetical New Game Plus. "The multiple endings [...] may change depending on when in the game you defeat the f?inal boss or who ??is in your party when you beat them."

As with most crowdfunding campaigns, any money raised past the stated funding goals will go towards the game. Planned gameplay expansions will be implemented after release, in the interest of getting Indivisible out in a timely manner.

Indivisible - RPG from the Creators of Skullgirls [Indiegogo]

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More than 80% there with 6 days left

I had thought we'd seen all the cameo characters that Indivisible had to offer, but a few days ago, one the original "indies-on-consoles" icons of gaming was added to the already impressive roster of guest stars. Shantae has been around since 2002, which makes her the oldest character to appear in the game so far, though outside of that fact, she fits right in with the rest of the cast. Lab Zero animator Mariel Cartwright worked on both Indivisible and Shantae: Half-Genie Hero, so it makes sense that the hair-whipping heroine has found a home among these newly minted, upstart contenders. 

Lab Zero has also put together a video showing off Invisible's impressive visuals and fast paced gameplay. Smart move. While they've had a demo out for both Steam and PS4 for a while, the reality is that most people more likely to commit to watching the first ?30 seconds of a video than downloading and committing to play an actual video gam??e. 

I know a lot of you didn't like the idea the last time I brought it up, but if the team ends up shy of their goal before the campaign is over, I hope a major publisher like like Sony swoops in and funds the rest of the project. Hopefully they'll get there on there own, but if not, giving Sony 6 months of ?console exclusivity would be a lot better option than scrapping the game entirely. 

The post Shant??ae shimmies her way into the world of Indivisible appeared first on Destructoid.

About $500K left to go

It's not over yet. Lab Zero Games has secured a 20-day extension on its Indiegogo campaign for Indivisible, a stylish side-scrolling RPG with shades of Valkyrie Profile and Super Metroid.

A??s it now stands, ?Lab Zero has raised $975,000 of its $1.5 million goal. There are 21 days left.

It'll be disappointing if the funding doesn't come through. There are a bunch of things to like about this game, even in just the prototype. I'm most fond of the character designs and animati??on, myself. Also, this fluffball of a dog named Lanshi:

You can play a free early build on Windows, Mac, Linux, and PlayStation 4. Accord?ing to Lab Zero, "it represents roughly three and a half months of work from a small team."

If the Indiegogo campaign is successful, publisher 505 Games will then chip in an extra $2 million for development and, ideally, we'll see Indivisible on PS4, Steam, and Xbox One in 2018.

[Thanks, Broderick and Tony]

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Up on Indiegogo, with a playable demo

Back in July we got a barebones announcement that Skullgirls developer Lab Zero Games has been working on a role-playing game called Indivisible and that it would begin a crowdfunding campaign for it late in September. It's a week late f?rom that target, but now it's here, and we have a lot to look at.

It's currently up on Indiegogo, and it has already made a decent splash. In about eight hours it has raised over $70,000 toward its funding goal. That sounds like a lot, but the base funding goal is set at a hefty $1.??5 million, so there's still a ways to go.

The reason it caught my attention (and possibly the attention of so many others -- thanks to everybody who sent this tip in) is the exploration/metroidvania aspect of it. In the prototype gameplay video below, you can see protagonist Ajna gain an ax??e, which gives her the new exploration ability to climb sheer rock faces where walljumping isn't possible.

Not only that, but the seamless transition between exploration and turn-based battle will never stop being cool. Chrono Trigger says hello. Of course, all that is b??uilt on some great hand-d?rawn art and animation.

All of this is currently playable in a demo, downloadable from the official Indivisible site. Lab Zero and 505 Games intend to release Indivisible on Linux, Mac, PlayStati??on 4, Windows, and Xbox One in 2018.

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Indivisible announced at Anime Expo

Tonight at Anime Expo in Los Angeles, Skullgirls developer Lab Zero Games announced Indivisible, a new action role-playing game inspired by the likes of Valkyrie Profile and Super Metroid.

Secret of Mana composer Hiroki Kikuta is attached to the project, which is expected to launch a crowdfunding campaign via Indiegogo in early September with a playable prototyp??e.

According to sources attending the panel where the title was revealed, Lab Zero has already lined up a publisher to support the project, as we've recently seen with Bloodstained and Shenmue 3.

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