Invincible Presents: Atom Eve is a fun and faithful visual novel | Hands-on preview
Invincible is by far one of the coolest superhero series on TV, and if you’ve watched it you’ll know why. For those not in the know, it follows the story of Mark Grayson (aka Invincible), a superhero struggling with the balance of having powerful abilities and being a 17-year old. It’s super violent and graphic, but at the same time has bags of heart and brilliantly crafted characters that made the first series on Amazon Prime a must watch. Invincible Presents: Atom Eve is a visual novel-style game with turn-based combat, following the much-loved heroine who recently got her own spin-off special on TV, and it’s pretty damn cool so far.
Skybound Games has continued the process of bringing these characters from the pages of the comic books to new platforms, and Invincible Presents: Atom Eve is an original story that implements the comic style created by Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker, and Ryan Ottley, and focuses on Samantha Eve Wilkins aka Atom Eve. The preview I played through lasted only a couple of chapters, but from what I played, it has some simple ideas threaded through a interesting story. You’ll battle your run-of-the-mill thugs, head to school, navigate your relationship with Rex, and get acquainted with Mark.
There are two distinct styles of gameplay in Invincible Presents: Atom Eve. Firstly, you’ll chat to a variety of characters and have different responses to their questions, with your choices potentially impacting later moments in the story. I didn’t see the gravity of my decisions impact anything, but there’s a potential for relationships to be frayed, especially when it comes to Rex Spode and Invincible. After the comic book frames and various conversations, you can select what your next objective will be from a map of the area, and some will disappear, meaning you can’t choose everything on offer. Do you meet up with Rex for breakfast or go fight crime? Do you start your college application or go hang out with a friend?
Some conversations can lead to an increase of your energy, as a certain meetup with Dupli-Kate saw me screaming into the void to relieve some stress while at the same time add an extra bar to my AP. Energy is the power that allows you to use abilities in combat, the second element of gameplay. The turn-based stuff is stripped back and straightforward enough that it doesn’t slow things down, yet at the same time provides some interesting encounters and combat situations. Atom Eve has some neat abilities, but for every attack and decision you make, an enemy response can impact your health and chance of success.
Using energy to create a shield will protect you for a short while, and not using an attack on that turn means you can build an extra charge to your powerful ray, with damage scaling higher the more energy you have to expel it. The Stunflower can affect an enemy’s ranged attack accuracy, and Glue stops someone from using a melee attack as well as hampering their ability to dodge. You can also straight-up punch them for a quick and easy fix of damage, but pre-empting their response is important. You’ll earn skill points as you play to improve health and damage dealt, along with new abilities like an energy sword and darts, along with dialogue improvements.
Although I’ve not seen much, I was more than impressed by Invincible Presents: Atom Eve. There’s a great story that brings in fan-favourite characters while creating something new. The writing keeps with the tone of the show, and although I’ve never read the comics, I’m sure it feels familiar to those that have. The combat might be basic to those wanting a more complex challenge, but there’s still a difficulty in managing your energy and knowing what the right approach is i.e. when to fight and when to defend.
Invincible Presents: Atom Eve is planned for a 2023 release.
