Most Ambitious Dark Pictures Game Yet

Each entry in The Dark Pictures Anthology is built on cinematic, b-movie immersion, and morally grey, choice-led gameplay, and, generally, the series’ reputation is strong. That said, occasionally stunted dialogue, repetitive QTEs, and an over-reliance on predictable horror tropes leave room for improvement. With Directive 8020, Supermassive Games are set to deliver the most ambitious Dark Pictures game yet by pivoting to real-time survival horror. Supported by enhanced visual fidelity, Directive 8020 is bringing tension and nuance beyond anything the series has produced before.

High-Stakes Narrative

In a future where Earth is dying, a team of astronauts are sent on a scouting mission to a possibly habitable planet twelve light-years away. With humanity’s survival in their hands, the stakes are already high long before things take a turn for the worse. Directive 8020’s story is set up to deliver an emotional gut punch, where not only the fate of individuals rests on your actions but the whole of mankind.

A Crew With Purpose

Unlike previous Dark Pictures entries centred on loosely connected individuals, Directive 8020 puts you in command of a team of highly trained astronauts. For this mission of immense importance, each member has been carefully selected, with their professionalism shaping both their behaviour and the decisions you’ll make for them. However, years of training and expertise are soon out the door once their ship crashlands, and their reality spirals into something truly harrowing. Each has their own personal reason for joining the ship’s crew too. It’ll be interesting to see how they reconcile their individual motivations once colleagues start dying.

More Than Colleagues

Actually, on that note, the crewmates of Directive 8020 aren’t just co-workers thrown together. These relationships run deeper, with familial ties, shared trauma, and long-standing friendships influencing how they interact. You’ll likely wonder how deep their allegiances go during gameplay too, whether they have any hidden agendas, or if they’ll betray their ally to protect themselves. This adds emotional weight, meaning every decision has an impact. Plus, there could be some explosive moments throughout the game once the crew’s trust begins to fracture.

Lashana Lynch Leads the Cast

The central character, Brianna Young, is played by Lashana Lynch, who brings a strong presence to Directive 8020’s story. Coming from a lineage of celebrated spacefarers, Young grapples with her own identity, struggling to identify the type of person she is against the expectations set by her family history. Young, however, isn’t alone in providing an introspection; numerous characters, from Commander Stafford’s prestige spirit, to Science Officer Anders’ relatively unknown origin, suggest unseen and unexpected directions the game’s branching narrative can follow.

A Shapeshifting Threat

Drawing clear inspiration from John Carpenter’s The Thing, the danger lurking on the crew’s marooned planet isn’t just deadly, but deceptive. This alien force can mimic human forms, its most illusory guise a near-identical replica of its subject. In fact, you’ll find yourself face-to-face with unknown copies throughout with only subtle identifiers in your arsenal if you’ve paid attention; studying turns of phrase, mannerisms, and more, will make the difference between survival and disaster.

Your Choices Shape the Wider Story

As with all Dark Pictures games so far, the decisions you make throughout Directive 8020’s story will determine who lives and who dies. However, this time around, there appears to be more nuance in the repercussions of your choices. These won’t be simple, binary outcomes, but your choices will influence character arcs over time. A decision you make in one moment could have drastic consequences for someone else later.

Turning Points System

What’s more, if you want to relive a particular dilemma, now you can: Turning Points is an all-new feature, allowing you to rewind time to revisit pivotal moments via a visual, branching story tree. You can experience sections that you missed, change your decisions, or suffer a fresh set of consequences, especially if you’re trying to keep your favourite character alive.

Expanded Lore, Collectibles, and Conspiracies

Exploration remains a core pillar of Directive 8020’s gameplay, but this time Supermassive has embedded a host of thematically significant collectibles which flesh out environmental storytelling and series backstory. More specifically, there is centuries of Dark Pictures lore to discover – the circumstances leading to Earth’s downfall since the chronologically most-recent game in the anthology, for instance – plus a special, “conspiracy” category of collectible which unfurl some nefarious motives behind the corporation who’ve invested heavily in the mission.

Movie Night and Multiplayer Options

If you prefer not to play alone, Supermassive has you covered. Movie Night mode returns in Directive 8020, where up to five of you can pass the controller between yourselves and share the burden of decision making together. As for online multiplayer, the developer has confirmed that this is planned as a free post-launch update.

Release Date, Platforms, and Price

Directive 8020 is scheduled for release on May 12th, and will be available on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam. The Digital Edition is priced at £39.99 / $49.99, with physical editions retailing slightly higher, depending on outlet. Also, at present (although subject to change), Digital Deluxe upgrades are currently being bundled into every pre-order.

Digital Deluxe Edition

Directive 8020’s Digital Deluxe Edition arrives with a handful of welcome bonuses: outfit packs, comprising cosmetics inspired by earlier Dark Pictures titles; filter packs to adjust the game’s cinematic aesthetic; a bonus mission, digital artbook, and officially licensed soundtrack.

Built in Unreal Engine 5

Given its track record for patchy performance, Directive 8020 being built in Unreal Engine 5 might not instil you with confidence. However, undeniable is the atmospheric detail the game engine facilitates: skin textures, hair rendering, and facial animation, in particular, all support the game’s bubbling tension, whilst lighting – together with sound arguably most integral to conjuring fear – bathes sterile, suffocating spaces with clinical fluorescence. Let’s just hope Supermassive has had ample opportunity to optimise in the engine.

Advanced PC and PS5 Pro Features

If you’re playing on PC, and if your hardware is up to it, you can take advantage of DLSS 4.5, including support for 6x Multi-Frame Generation, alongside path tracing. On the console side, PS5 Pro brings Sony’s PSSR upscaling tech, advanced ray tracing, and dynamic shadows. These features will deepen the game’s emotional impact through detail and clarity.

PC Requirements

To run Directive 8020 on your PC, at a minimum you’ll need an Intel Core i5-8500 or AMD Ryzen 5 3500 CPU, and a GeForce RTX 2060 or AMD Radeon RX 5700 GPU. To experience the game at its absolute pinnacle, recommended PC specs detail an Intel Core i5-12400F or AMD Ryzen 5 5600X CPU and GeForce RTX 3070 Ti or AMD Radeon RX 6800 GPU. Whatever your setup, you’ll also need 16GB RAM and 40GB storage space.

An Era-Spanning Batman Adventure

Legacy of the Dark Knight doesn’t just cover a single interpretation of Batman. Instead, it spans multiple eras, charting The Dark Knight’s decades-long history, combining tone, aesthetic, and influence into one cohesive package. Whether you’re a fan of Batman’s classic portrayals or his modern gothic takes, LEGO: Batman aims to celebrate the Dark Knight’s legacy in a way few titles across a range of media formats have attempted before.

A Story Connecting Batman’s Eras

Rather than just stitching Batman’s numerous guises together in a compendium of stories, Legacy of the Dark Knight will connect Batman’s long history into a single narrative. You’ll follow Bruce Wayne’s origins, from honing his early craft with Ra’s al Ghul to his present-day role as Gotham City’s protector. LEGO Batman will draw influence from comics, movies, books, TV shows, and other media to bring you something that’s both familiar and new.

Open World Gotham City

The core of LEGO: Batman’s experience is a fully explorable, open world Gotham. This sprawling city is packed with activities, diversions, and secrets. You’re free to explore at your own pace between story missions, discovering side missions, uncovering collectibles, and absorbing environmental detail to flesh out the game’s already comprehensive story.

Dynamic Crimes

Gotham City doesn’t sit still while you’re gliding between objectives. According to TT Games, the crux of your diversions is dynamic crime fighting; you’ll be able to intervene and stop crimes as they’re happening across grime-ridden streets and rooftops. Bring in a diverse range of criminals, from street thugs to calculating super-villains, then these emergent events make the city feel suitably dangerous whilst feeding into your progression and rewards.

Playable Characters Beyond Batman

The Dark Knight is, of course, the game’s star, but throughout this plastic-brick adventure Batman won’t be operating alone. Characters like Robin, Nightwing, Batgirl, Jim Gordon, Catwoman, and Talia al Ghul are all playable, joining the fray as certain points in the era-spanning narrative. They’ll each bring their own abilities, gadgets, and progression systems, deepening gameplay, keeping it fresh, and allowing missions to be approached in different ways. Even including the DLC-only Joker and Harley Quinn – more on these two later – LEGO Batman’s streamlined cast represents a character-focused deviation from earlier LEGO games which typically feature a much broader ensemble.

Advanced Combat System (for a LEGO game)

Compared to previous LEGO titles, combat in LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight has been significantly expanded. It’s still accessible to younger players, of course, but there’s also scope for complex combo chains, counters, and dangerous enemy varieties that’ll require you lean on various skillsets to succeed. The influence from Rocksteady’s acclaimed Arkham series is clear, there’s weight in brawling here befitting Batman’s non-LEGO incarnations.

Higher Difficulty Tier

If you’re looking for a more of a challenge, LEGO Batman introduces an additional difficulty setting, ramping up enemy aggression and damage. This so-called Dark Knight mode makes encounters more demanding, limits lives, increases enemy density, and makes boss battles tougher. And here’s the thing: this isn’t just increasing difficulty for the sake of it; its intention, perhaps, is to encourage you to engage with the game’s more advanced combat systems.

Stealth Gameplay

While LEGO games are usually brick-breaking action-focused, Legacy of the Dark Knight introduces a strong emphasis on stealth-led gameplay. Again, taking cues from Rocksteady’s Arkham series, in LEGO Batman you can take advantage of surreptitious vantage points, dimly-lit hiding spots, and silent takedowns to thin out enemy numbers covertly. This is another element befitting of Batman’s characteristics, playing out here in more deliberate actions and stately-paced encounters. Combat, then, won’t be just about charging head-first into the arena; operating as a predator from the shadows will be equally as viable.

Build and Expand Your Own Personal Batcave

The Batcave in Legacy of the Dark Knight functions as the game’s central hub. You’ll begin by excavating its space beneath the foundations of Wayne Manor, and over time you’ll expand and customise it, unlocking new areas, furniture, and decorative features. From showcasing trophies and past-successes to installing arcade machines, alongside a wealth of suits, training equipment, and a garage of Batmobiles, the Batcave will be a reflection of your journey through Batman’s legacy.

Batsuits and Collectibles

Collectibles will play a huge role in LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, with Batsuits being amongst the most exciting rewards. As you’d expect with an era-spanning story, the Batsuits you can collect in-game draw inspiration from the Batman’s entire spectrum. And another thing: these suits don’t just provide cosmetic appeal but often come with unique abilities. Including capes, cowls, and costumes from every Batman incarnation, this vast wardrobe should appeal to completionists and Batman purists alike.

The Batcomputer

The Batcave’s functional nucleus is the Batcomputer, serving as your interface for tracking progress. Missions, case files, replays, and more are all accessible, helping you stay organised as the game’s narrative evolves and your objective checklist expands. At this terminal, you can also trail ongoing crime, monitor Waynetech chip collectibles, purchase characters, and watch story scenes; it’s essentially the backbone to the entire experience.

Gadget and Skill Upgrades

Another thing the Batcomputer provides is a link to the Batcave’s workbench, whereby you can upgrade your tools, skills, and gadgets to tailor your playstyle. What’s more, it isn’t just the performance of Batman’s Batarang and Batclaw you’ll be boosting, but the workbench also gives you the ability to enhance your allies’ gear too.

Batmobiles Bring Vehicular Variety

No Batman game is complete without the Batmobile, and here, in Legacy of the Dark Knight, you’ll have access to multiple versions of Batman’s iconic vehicle, inspired once again by every era. From Adam West’s 1960s jet-age lowrider to Robert Pattinson’s armoured muscle car, through the militaristic Tumbler of Christopher Nolan’s movie trilogy and Tim Burton’s Gothic-style turbine-equipped four-wheeler, plus a two-wheel Batcycle, you’ve a Batmobile for every plausible scenario. With Batman’s vehicle playing an active role in missions and exploration, you’ll want to choose the right blend of speed, agility, and brawn to tackle objectives that are designed around vehicular gameplay.

Mayhem Mode Features The Joke and Harley Quinn

We said we’d get to them. The Legacy of the Dark Knight introduces an all-new mode which lets you step into the shoes of arguably Batman’s most iconic foes: The Joker. By his side, and also controllable, is Harley Quinn, and together the pair reap havoc and destruction across Gotham City. Mayhem Mode is set to bring a fun change of pace from the main campaign, though it’s worth pointing out that this mode is initially tied to the game’s Deluxe Edition. A wider DLC release is planned for later in the year.

PC Requirements

To play through LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight without issue, you’ll need at a minimum an Intel Core i5-9600K or AMD Ryzen 5 3600 CPU and GeForce RTX 2070 or AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT or equivalent GPU. For the smoothest, highest fidelity performance possible, however, the game’s Steam page details an Intel Core i7-12700L or AMD Ryzen 7 7700X processor and GeForce RTX 3080 or AMD Ryzen 7 7700X GPU. Whatever your setup, you’re going to need 16GB RAM and 50GB storage space.

A Young Bond Origin Story

007 First Light charts Bond’s emergence, before he became MI6’s blunt instrument. He’s sharp, and evidently has enough talent for an exciting career in espionage, but he’s still learning. Idealistic, impulsive, occasionally optimistic, James here is a fledging agent operating on instinct over calculation. However, this juvenile Bond frames First Light’s gameplay. You’ll rarely execute a perfect plan, instead figuring things out in real time. Straight off the bat, it’s clear IO Interactive has smartly aligned the game’s narrative hook with both gameplay and character development.

Missions Prioritise Creativity

IO Interactive are leaning into their systemic design strengths cultivated in Hitman, but with even less rigidity. In First Light, 007’s missions are built around the idea that there are always multiple solutions – at least three as quoted in a “Beyond The Light” dev diary – with different infiltration routes, scattered objects, tools, and environmental opportunities in play. You could slip through a restricted area undetected, manipulate security systems, cause distractions, or simply blow things up. Whatever path you choose, the game is designed to encourage your creativity.

Four Core Gameplay Pillars

Facilitating your creativity, First Light’s missions are structured around four distinct, overlapping approaches: Spycraft is Bond’s subterfuge toolkit, where eavesdropping, pickpocketing, and distracting yield useful information. Instinct is a resource which reflects his intuition and reflexes, used for silent takedowns, bluffs – more on bluffs later – or executing perfect shots. Gadgets flesh out 007’s options, and we’ll give you an overview of these later in the feature too. The final pillar, combat, fuses gunplay with close-quarters brawling. The idea here is that you can lean into whichever philosophy seems most appropriate for any given scenario, and likely blend all four across an entire mission. The key is adaptability; like Bond, you won’t be locked into a role.

Stealth and Combat Have Equal Footing

Unlike Hitman, where stealth rules the roost, First Light treats stealth and combat as equally viable. You can ghost through situations, but if things get loud the game will effortlessly pivot to explosive gunplay. Also, however, you can use de-escalation tactics, where you’ll lean on James’ charisma to bluff your way past workers or talk yourself out of suspicion, though higher level personnel are harder to fool. Where Hitman was about neatly completing objectives, First Light’s throughline is “forward momentum”; Bond keeps moving, even if plans fall apart.

Combat is Improvised

Moment-to-moment combat reflects the game’s flexible ethos. Gunplay shapes the equation, of course, although you’ll often be grabbing whatever firearms you can find in the heat of battle, then lobbing the gun at your assailants once its magazine is depleted. Melee also plays a significant role, with grapples, disarms, and environmental interactions feeding encounters. In short: the game encourages you to use whatever is at hand. Objects like fire extinguishers can be used as makeshift explosives; even snooker balls can be used in a fight. In another character’s hands, improvisational combat could come across as messy. But, even though Bond here isn’t the finished article, he shows finesse in his spontaneity.

Non-Lethal Play is Viable

007 First Light allows you to take down enemies without killing them; using non-fatal targeting options like disabling opponents via leg shots. IO Interactive has advised that large portions of the game can be completed this way, although, with fighting occasionally forced on you, it’s unclear how successfully James can complete every mission without killing anyone at all.

Bond Doesn’t Shoot First

The non-lethal emphasis has narrative foundations too. See, Bond isn’t given free-reign to murder anyone who gets in his way – at least, not initially. His “license to kill” only becomes active if enemies draw or fire first. Of course, James being the young, impulsive agent that he is, whether this operational obligation is something you’ll always follow remains to be seen. The grizzled Bond we see in movies routinely operates outside of conventional morality – could shades of Bond’s later persona emerge in First Light?

There’s Plenty of Driving

While First Light isn’t open world, its missions feature plenty of driving segments. In the game’s lengthy gameplay feature, where James rolls a tasteful, racing green Jag, we see a relaxed, scenic stretch, although later on is a high-octane chase befitting any Bond movie. There’s range here, giving variety in each mission’s pacing. And yes, you’ll get behind the wheel of numerous Aston Martins, because it wouldn’t be Bond without them.

Q Acts as a Mentor Figure

Q’s role throughout 007 First Light isn’t just as a gadget supplier, but he acts as Bond’s mentor and teacher. Not just introducing James to tools but the mindset of espionage too, serving as a bridge into this world. Q, seemingly more so than most of the other characters, embodies the game’s origin story framework, where Bond leans on allies like Q to hone his craft.

There’re Plenty of Gadgets

Q’s toolkit includes a mix of classic gadgets and some newfound, near-experimental tech: the Q-Lens enhances Bond’s environmental awareness by highlighting meaningful information and hackable devices; a multi-functional Q-Watch activates Bond’s gadgets to create diversions and deadly traps. The Lazer Strap dazes enemies, a dart-enabled phone quietly shoots poisonous projectiles, modified earbuds produce blinding flashes of light, and smoke bombs – because of course there’s smoke bombs – provide a smokescreen that you’re probably experienced with. All these gadgets are integrated into mission design, forming the backbone of your creativity, whether stealth, distraction, traversal, or a mix of techniques, Q’s gadgets facilitate flexibility.

Moneypenny has an Active Field Role

Bond isn’t the only new face in MI6. Moneypenny is fresh into her career in covert espionage too. Here, in First Light, she’s reimagined as a field agent who maintains constant communication with Bond via an earpiece. Their relationship throughout the game reflects two operatives who are still finding their feet, both in the dangerous world they’re working and with each other. They’re familiar, but uncertain; collaborative but hesitant, reframing their dynamic compared to movie portrayals.

The Remaining Cast Also Shapes Bond

Beyond those familiar faces, First Light also introduces all-new character Greenway, who questions Bond’s readiness for fieldwork. Their friction is counteracted by M, who is younger, less authoritative but just as ambitious. She’s someone who sees potential when others don’t, and she puts faith in Bond. The main antagonist, Bawma, is positioned as both alluring and uncompromising; a classic Bond villain with a modern feel. He’s joined by other threats, including rogue agent 009, suggesting a story which blends interpersonal relationships with danger and betrayal.

TAC-SIM Mode Brings Replayability

Outside of the game’s campaign, TAC-SIM brings structured challenges based on specific conditions. This Immersive Agent Training offers leaderboards too, with earnable XP which can be spent on gadget upgrades, firearms, and outfits. IO Interactive has also confirmed that TAC-SIM will receive post-launch updates, giving you reason to keep returning.

Built on Glacier Engine

Like Hitman, First Light runs on IO Interactive’s proprietary Glacier game engine, bringing enhanced cinematography and dynamic gameplay. PC users take advantage of the game’s close collaboration with Nvidia, with support for DLSS 4 and Multi-Frame Generation bringing sharp fidelity and smooth performance. If you’re playing on PS5 Pro, you’ll be pleased to see 007 First Light has been optimised to use Sony’s PSSR tech, capable of 60fps in quality graphics settings.

PC Requirements

Playing 007 First Light at the minimum PC requirements, you’ll need an Intel Core i5 9500 or AMD Ryzen 5 3500 CPU, and a GeForce GTX 1660 or RX 5700 GPU. Recommended hardware as per the game’s Steam page details an Intel Core i5 13500 or AMD Ryzen 5 7600 processor, and GeForce RTX 3060 Ti or RX 6700 XT graphics. 16GB RAM is the minimum no matter the rest of your setup, with 80GB storage space also needed.

Yet, straight off the bat, an interesting overlap emerges at the heart of Invincible VS’ target audience: fans of the series, casual players drawn in by its spectacle, and the competitive fighting game community the devs are openly courting.

"There are, however, moments when you’re learning the ropes of a new fighting game and your inputs can feel improvised, absent-minded, or rushed, like you’re swinging without purpose."

Yes, the game blends flashy momentum with approachability, but with the studio positioning it as a complex, tournament-quality fighter, the key question is does it satisfy both? Invincible VS makes a strong first impression, sure, but whether its systems hold up beyond their initial impact is where things may get complicated. There’s a wealth of offensive-minded manoeuvres on show, but its long-term competitive visibility hinges on how its defensive systems and high-level tech hold up under scrutiny.

Before we get to that, moment-to-moment the game delivers a weighty slugfest, punctuated by stop-motion impact and, yes, heaps of splattering blood and bruising body parts. Inputs are responsive, and together with a simplified combo system – mashing light attack proves surprisingly useful, for instance – the fighting feels and looks good immediately. Your opponent’s animations appear readable, and therefore easier to respond intently.

There are, however, moments when you’re learning the ropes of a new fighting game and your inputs can feel improvised, absent-minded, or rushed, like you’re swinging without purpose. Invincible VS, to its credit, largely side-steps this feeling. Alongside repeatedly tapping light attack, there’s an easy light-to-medium-to-heavy combo which builds up enough frame advantage to end with a special. If you’re unfamiliar with fighting games, these comparatively basic systems will allow you to get into the flow quickly.

Before long, you’ll be delving into the game’s more high-level techniques. Aside from a few story events, you’ll be fighting in 3v3 matchups throughout, switching your allies into the fray multiple times during each bout. To do this, you’ll engage in the game’s tagging system: Neutral Tags are a straight-swap while Active Tags are a momentum-maintaining switchover which sees your teammate burst into the arena to take over your combo chain.

As you pummel your opponent, you’ll charge a Special Meter – indicated by the yellow strip in the bottom corner, turning a flaming purple when it’s reached its fivefold maximum. You can spend one bar to unleash a Super, and three for an Ultimate, the latter dealing an immense amount of damage in a cinematic, character-specific spectacle.

Another key resource is Boost, shown below your health bar to a maximum of three yellow rectangles. You can use this to dash across the arena, perform enhanced “Boosted” specials, and to counter a surging combo meter. The latter, as it happens, counts each hit you land, with the combo chain dropping once the meter is maxed. Through repeatedly hammering your opposition, frequently Active Tagging, and ending sequences with a Boost attack, you can theoretically keep combos going infinitely; swapping between characters, attacking, executing boosted specials, then switching to another one of your team to continue to loop.

It’s ultra-satisfying when you pull off these long combo chains, especially as your opponent is often left flailing, seemingly helpless, in the air. There’s little risk in using this strategy too, save for accidentally depleting your Boost Meter; keep ending your combo chain with a boosted special and you’ll feel as though you and your team are an unstoppable force.

But, there are a handful of defensive options, albeit most are more reliant on timing and therefore less immediately readable. First, you can block your opponent’s attacks by holding the direction away from their strikes, but if you’re looking to create space you’ll need to execute a Push Block. To scupper the opposing team’s Active Tag you can execute a well-timed Counter Tag. It won’t stop them from switching fighters, but it will halt their combo.

"For a game aspiring to tournament-level play, its onboarding does little to bridge the gap between accessibility and mastery."

Likewise, a Heroic Strike sees you absorb damage, morphing it into armour before retaliating with a hit. This will break your opponent’s stride too, but comes at the cost of one-and-a-half Boost Meters, making it a costly defensive manoeuvre. Assist Breakers are the easiest to accomplish, whereby an allie will break up your opponent’s combo for you before returning to the sidelines. You’ll need to keep an eye on their cooldown; if you’re in trouble the moment they’ve ejected from the arena you won’t be able to call their assistance.

What’s clear at this stage is that your offensive toolkit is broader and easier to deploy than your defence. Whilst this makes for exhilarating matches if you’re attacking, it raises the question about how consistently you can regain control once caught. And, we haven’t even covered the two other types of Active Tags yet: Heavy and Feint. Each disrupts the manoeuvre’s timing, the former taking a split-second to land a heavy blow while the latter cancels an attack outright, baiting the defender to execute a Counter Tag and thus leaving them vulnerable instead.

These more layered options suggest an unfurling mind game between you and your opponent, and whilst these techniques are covered in the game’s training mode the risk versus reward nature they exhibit isn’t made clear. For a game aspiring to tournament-level play, its onboarding does little to bridge the gap between accessibility and mastery.

For instance, failed Feints leave you in recovery frames, and therefore exposed to a counter. Heavy crouching attacks will launch your opponent into the air and can be tracked by holding down the heavy attack button, while Assist Breakers are followed by lengthy cooldowns. See, the deeper you look, the more nuanced these systems become.

Whilst, yes, offense is favoured by design, there’s a constant push-pull for both sides between risk-reward, vulnerability, cooldowns, and frame advantage shifts, all which the tutorial fails to meaningfully explain. You’re left to either experiment or seek external resources (this is why, perhaps, Skybound Games has uploaded a Pro Level Explainer video to their YouTube channel).

"The narrative itself, however, is more functional than memorable."

What this circles back to is our question at the outset: Invincible VS certainly caters to the casual crowd, but can it satisfy competitive players? Well, it certainly has the mechanical foundations of a competitive fighter, its rollback netcode performs smoothly, and optional motion controls offer a damage percentage boost, but the game’s long-term viability will depend on how its mechanical systems hold up once the FGC begins to push them to their limits.

Elsewhere, Invincible VS rounds out its package with a selection of familiar modes, headlined by a story campaign that leans heavily into the tone and presentation of its TV series source material. Designed to feel like a live-action episode, its cinematic framing and brisk pace give it an immediate sense of authenticity, with explosive cutscenes styled on the show’s visual identity while incorporating the game’s own stop-motion flair.

The narrative itself, however, is more functional than memorable. Without divulging spoilers, it centres on a high-concept premise that serves solely as a structure for connecting battles together. It’s not a particularly novel storyline, either. That said, the contextual framing does elevate the emotional impact of each bout, lending a sense of purpose beyond standard arcade ladders.

Its biggest limitation though is its brevity, clocking in at approximately one hour and concluding just as it feels as though it’s gaining momentum. More notably, whilst it’s designed as an entryway into the Invincible universe for first-timers, there’s a distinct lack of closure suggesting prior knowledge of the series is required. It’s an enjoyable diversion, but ultimately would be a better experience if it were a fully self-contained narrative.

"Overall, Invincible VS is a visually striking yet accessible fighter."

Arcade Mode, by contrast, is exactly what you’d expect. You select your fighters, choose a preferred difficulty and round conditions, then battle through a sequence of opposition teams, earning cosmetic rewards and profile decorations along the way. It’s straightforward but functional, providing a reliable format to engage with the game’s mechanics outside of competitive play. Each run culminates in a short, point-character-specific ending, adding some light world building and incentive to tackle another run with the remaining characters.

Overall, Invincible VS is a visually striking yet accessible fighter. Its immediate responsiveness makes it great for casuals, while hidden mechanical complexity and deep systems hold genuine competitive potential. There are, however, concerns around offensive balance and defensive clarity. Whether it fully realises its ambitions remains uncertain, but the foundation is strong enough to sustain high-level play for now, if not a lasting place in the FGC.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

So, whilst there’s lots to cover on what you see and hear, here’s fourteen of the biggest differences Forza Horizon 6 brings over its predecessor, from progression, to exploration and customisation.

Introducing Japan

Forza Horizon 6 is swapping Mexico for the Land of the Rising Sun. Gone are volcanic trackways, winding tropicalia, and sunbaked beaches; in are mountain-road switchbacks, sweeping blossom-lined coastlines, winding neon streets, and more. FH6’s Japan is undeniably more diverse, but it’s notably larger than its predecessor too. Playground Games claims that Tokyo – the game’s largest urban district – is five-times the size of FH5’s equivalent Guanajuato. Despite bringing less unique biomes – nine (excluding Legend Island) for FH6, eleven in FH5 – Playground has once-again pushed the boundaries outward.

Biomes are Denser

Playground isn’t just bringing scale and diversity to Forza Horizon 6’s layout. Compared to Mexico, Japan is denser in detail too. As numerous previews report, instead of sensing the map’s larger size, you feel the change in its authenticity. Through tree photogrammetry, scanned tarmac, Japanese sky timelapses, and the way fallen cherry blossoms disperse in a supercar’s wake, it’s clear Playground has focused their ambition on showcasing the world’s character, more so than earlier games in the series.

Seasons Introduce Dramatic Contrast

Japan is a land of contrasts, where calm tradition meets bright modernity, and Forza Horizon 6 doesn’t just show this in its mix of rural and urban environments. No, seasons are set to bring dramatic change, more than was logically possible for Mexico’s steadier climate: Spring colour and parched Summer, golden Fall and frozen Winter. What’s more, a first for Horizon, snow is present year-round in FH6’s northern-most Alpine biome. Even more striking, Playground has embedded specific soundscapes and audio to support the feel of each season, with real-life field recordings making their way into the finished game.

Audio Gets a Tune-Up

Every Forza Horizon game comes with tuned up audio, and the results are oftentimes minimal. Forza Horizon 6 arrives with the same pledge: new engine recordings, upgraded turbo and backfire sounds, remastered audio, and more detailed surface interaction ring the game’s audio updates. From official footage, everything sounds lifelike, but is it enough to detect a clear, audible difference from Forza Horizon 5? There is, however, new audio tech that’s making its way into FH6: Triton Acoustics, an object-based, spatial reverb system which emulates the acoustics of real-world spaces. This should complement the tangible feel the game’s dense, detailed environments are establishing.

Car Proximity Radar Boosts Spatial Awareness

Forza Horizon 6 brings the all-new Car Proximity Radar as a selectable setting. When enabled, coloured, directional indicators will visualise your on-road location to nearby cars, which will prove especially useful if you race from cockpit or hood perspectives. The idea isn’t just to minimise the friction whilst driving from those more immersive vantage points, but to improve spatial awareness, avoid unintentional collisions, and promote clean, wheel-to-wheel racing.

Rebalanced Vehicle Classes

In Forza Horizon 5, high horsepower, all-wheel-drive setups generally yielded higher performance than vehicles tuned for handling. This became a pain-point for many players, with competitiveness being pigeonholed into specific builds. To address this, Playground has fully overhauled Forza Horizon 6’s entire roster to bring more consistent, competitive balance across every class of vehicle. That said, if you want a track-focused setup, the game also introduces a new “R Class”; a specific, high-performance race car category.

More Grounded Car Physics

Each Horizon refines its signature “sim-cade” car feel, where approachable arcade racing meets realistic suspension modeling and tirewear simulation. The thing is, the physics systems used in Forza Horizon 5 felt like they applied the same ruleset to every vehicle, no matter its individual characteristics. Forza Horizon 6, instead, is set to individualise weight transfer, surface interaction, and balance across the entire roster spectrum. If implemented well, it should bring more grounded physics, which might interest steering wheel users the most as steering wheel optimisation has been completely rebuilt.

Car Meets are Seamlessly Integrated

Throughout Japan’s shared open world, you’ll come across numerous locations to meet up with other car enthusiasts. Meets are significant in JDM car culture, and Playground has seamlessly integrated it into Forza Horizon 6’s open world. The studio name-drops Yokohama’s Daikoku Parking Area as a location you can visit in-game, and beyond showing off your cars, you can convoy toward Time Attack Circuits and overhauled Drag Races, all with no loading or matchmaking. There’s emphasis on real-world, social interaction in FH6 which simply wasn’t present in earlier titles.

Horizon Rush is a New Event

Horizon Rush is an all-new event type focusing on hi-octane, time-based obstacle courses. Navigating through Tokyo’s City Docks, an Alpine ski run, and more, you’ll negotiate jumps, moving obstacles, and smashable objects, aiming to finish as rapidly as possible. Playable solo, in co-op, or competitive multiplayer, these events are linked to the returning wristband system, where completion contributes toward your festival progression.

The Estate is a Space to Decorate

Forza Horizon 6 brings new ways to reshape the world beyond any of the series’ earlier entries. The Estate, for instance, is a large plot of land which acts as a space to build, expand, and personalise with out-buildings, garages, showrooms, and even your own racetrack. You can invite your friends over, but whilst The Estate is a solo endeavour only, up to twelve of you can build whatever you want in Japan’s open world via Horizon CoLab.

Customisation Overhaul Extends to Cars

Forza Horizon has always placed great emphasis on the ability to tweak the look and performance of your vehicles, and Horizon 5 was no different. This time around, some of the new things you can do include painting liveries over windows, and accessing a colossal stock of wheel rims and aftermarket bodykits. Forza Aero has been overhauled too, with customisable aero parts that are tailor-made to fit the lines and contours of your vehicle. Before this, Forza Aero lacked visual appeal; in other words, it made cars ugly. Let’s hope this remodel complements your car’s overall aesthetic beyond increasing downforce.

Greater Emphasis on “Complete” Aftermarket Cars

Aftermarket cars aren’t a new feature for Forza Horizon 6. However, in previous entries they were usually locked to specific car parts and kits which you could acquire and fix to your vehicles yourself. Parked across Japan, however, are plenty of “complete” aftermarket cars – pre-tuned and bodykitted – so it’s as simple as driving up to them, taking them for a test drive (if you wish) and hitting the buy button.

Casual Progression is Reframed

And, on the subject of exploration, Forza Horizon 6 brings a “Discover Japan” mode which is, ostensibly, a casual-leaning progression mode to encourage you to take a spin away from the festival’s events and embrace the Japanese landscape at your own pace. Underpinning this experience is collecting stamps – another real-world inspiration where stamps are collected in Japan from tourist spots. Activities like taking photos and completing deliveries will unlock stamps for your Collection Journal. As these activities lie away from the curated festival schedule, there are less restrictions on the class of car you can drive. If you want to participate in an unguided road trip in one of the game’s hottest supercars – one not currently available to you in festival events – then you can.

Auto-Drive Has a Cinematic Mode

Whilst Forza Horizon 5 had an auto-drive feature, it was built as an accessibility feature more so than an entryway into deeper immersion. So, in Forza Horizon 6, the returning auto-drive now includes a cinematic option which, once enabled, removes the UI, and treats your voyage like a cinematic road movie. You can relax on the way to events, or perhaps leave it running for a while as a visually engaging screensaver.

Look, what the genre needs is innovation. A fresh perspective, something novel, if only to rejuvenate fatigue.

Well, incoming from Ghostrunner devs One More Level is Valor Mortis, a self-declared Soulslike fought in first-person. Set in a supernatural, Napoleonic nightmare, Valor Mortis – while not the first attempt – might be the most serious stab yet at shifting Soulslike’s surgical precision to first-person. With melee combat, especially, first-person perspectives are where countless games have struggled. Spatial awareness, depth perception, field of view; how will One More Level ensure responsiveness and fluidity when the camera naturally frames the action tightly?

Before we get there, first you need resurrecting. Valor Mortis begins facedown in the mud. You are the walking corpse of William, a downed soldier mysteriously reanimated by the order of Napoleon’s screeching whispers. You stalk a soggy battlefield’s aftermath, a hellscape of fresh death and fog, unsure of who, if anyone, was victorious. You’re not alone: more undead walk too, occult forces acting as narrative flesh to wrench from charred bones. If Soulslike is also shorthand for bleakness, Valor Mortis ticks every box.

And the game’s Napoleonic setting could prove a masterstroke, giving One More Level leeway for multi-directional storytelling, worldbuilding through alternative history and fantasy. As famous for defeat as he is societal reform, Napoleon Bonaparte’s legacy appears here to provide a playground for numerous phantasmagorical what ifs: like, what if Bonaparte knew how to raise the dead – would he still have lost the Battle of Waterloo?

Yet, as primed for fantastical retelling as the Napoleonic Wars are, we run into Valor Mortis’ first concern: are these murky battlefields built for readability? Watching early gameplay footage, stepping through sodden, miserable, overcast miasma, the predominant tones are grey and brown. Enemy silhouettes aren’t as high-contrast as you’d think they need to be, given the game’s stated desire to replicate Soulslike’s demanding combat.

Yet, there’s no need to jump the gun – stonework villages, forests, and icy plains also occupy reveal trailers and artwork shared by the developer. Each setting is grim and dimly lit, suggesting, perhaps, that the studio is looking to push a specific way to play their Soulslike beyond the demands imposed by a narrower field of view. You’ll need patience, and to be deliberate, choosing your actions carefully. New ways to manage space, even. See, where Valor Mortis’ setting sells the fantasy, it’s in design and artstyle which ultimately reinforces close-quarters clarity.

To hit the fluid satisfaction which only a good Soulslike can, their design relies on readable telegraphs, tight timing windows, balanced hitboxes, and – the glue holding it all together – awareness of surroundings. When tightening the action into first-person, issues are introduced: depth perception, difficulty reading wide attacks, tunnel vision, and reduced peripheral awareness. These are all undeniably harder to overcome in first-person.

So, what does Valor Mortis do to overstep these potential pitfalls? Well, Soulslike’s traditional building blocks are all present – light and heavy attacks, limited healing items, block, dodge, and parry manoeuvres, multiple health bars, stamina, and stagger meters – but there is a big mechanical identity shift amongst that feature list. See, blocking still causes chip damage, which will undoubtedly push you toward perfecting your parries Sekiro-style. However, timing windows appear, at this current pre-alpha stage, to be more forgiving than FromSoftware’s shinobi epic.

Look, you might be concerned by this, but there are two things to consider: one, these wider timing windows may narrow as the game goes on, or could be refined altogether in later builds. And two, slightly wider windows, when compared to Sekiro et al, are a potential necessity for first-person. There needs to be a challenge, but the difficulty should always be manageable.

Still, it’s all in the feel isn’t it? Mastering strict precision brings satisfaction in flow, but Valor Mortis might not be aiming for this; we could have some sort of accessible hybrid in our hands, instead of pure, masochistic punishment. Whether that replicates Soulslike’s feel or brings something new to the table, well, we’ll have to wait and see.

Either way, parrying is the centrepiece, offering a rhythmic beat that’s accentuated by the studio’s Ghostrunner lineage. There’s still flow, momentum, and readability, it’s just different to what you imagine given the game’s Soulslike framing. Plus, given the elemental transmodification abilities – shooting fire from your hands like an 18th century-set System Shock – Valor Mortis, after all, seems to be mixing immersive-simulation into its identity.

Yet, no matter the arsenal, or the powers, flow or momentum, there’s one make-or-break issue which One More Level are still working on: field of view. See, fighting multiple enemies in first-person is notoriously messy. Taking on the game’s huge bosses inevitably means their hulking limbs swing from out of shot if you get too close.

Valor Mortis’ default viewpoint is undeniably tight, but the devs are addressing this. An FOV slider has now been added, appearing in settings after the bulk of playtest footage has already been uploaded to YouTube. While there isn’t much viewable evidence out there at present, increasing FOV might lower fidelity or reduce intimacy, but playability is sure to have received a boost.

There is a hidden counterpoint to widening FOV too, and it harkens back to our suggestion you’ll need to adapt to managing space in a new way. This is because you’re positioned right inside the danger zone; skirmishes aren’t abstracted to third-person, meaning the fight stays between player and enemy. Warring with perspective is thrown out in favour of carefully paying attention. If the narrow field of view means you can’t perceive your surroundings, then take a step back. Observe what’s going on – you do this when studying your opponent’s attack in Soulslikes anyway. Narrow FOV doesn’t change the process; it simply reshapes immersion.

If the studio gets a handle on some of the game’s other stated problems – difficulty deciphering depth perception – as in, sometimes the sword plunges deep while other times it’s a swing and a miss – and reading enemy telegraphs without resorting to overexaggerated animation, then Valor Mortis will instantly elevate itself beyond earlier first-person Soulslike experiments.

Games like the melee-heavy Elderborn which struggled with readability, Witchfire which diluted the experience with FPS and roguelike elements, Warhammer 40,000: Darktide with its excellent, yet imprecise hit feedback, or Kingdom Come: Deliverance which admittedly doesn’t follow the Soulslike loop at all despite its duelling depth. If One More Level solves the perspective issues, then Valor Mortis could become the most convincing “true” first-person Soulslike yet.

And really, in discussing Soulslike’s DNA, or in speculating whether Valor Mortis imbues the same lineage or if it incorporates too much immersive simness to be a true innovation in the genre, the bottom line is this: the game has insane potential. Whether precision-first combat can be executed faithfully in first-person remains unknown, but if anyone can pull it off its One More Level – with their already-demonstrated grasp of motion and camera control in Ghostrunner.

The game still has a way to go, but if the potential showcased in trailers and gameplay footage so far is anything to go by, whether it fully hits its Soulslike ambitions or not, Valor Mortis is set to inject some much needed innovation into the first-person gamespace.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

With a strong survival horror influence underpinning its immersion, here are fifteen things to know about INDUSTRIA 2.

Game Overview

INDUSTRIA 2 is shaping up to be a tightly focused, narrative-driven first-person shooter that places its bleak, monochromatic atmosphere squarely in the crosshairs. You’ll once again step into the shoes of Nora, a scientist trapped in a surreal parallel dimension. Picking things up after she’s sought refuge in an abandoned location, she ventures out into the post-industrial world for a sequel which appears committed to delivering an introspective, story-led experience. This time around, exploration is poised to carry as much weight as the gunplay itself.

Slow and Methodical

INDUSTRIA 2 is the polar opposite to a run-and-gun shooter. It follows a deliberate, survival horror-like pace, where otherworldly forests, ghost towns, and mechanical factories alike demand patience and solemn observation. Enemies appear entirely robotic, and they’re not always thrown at you in waves. Instead, they’re placed with care, turning every confrontation into a tense exchange. In INDUSTRIA 2, a chaotic approach rarely prevails.

An Unsettlingly Personal Story

INDUSTRIA established the parallel world overruled by rogue AI ATLAS, but common complaints centred on the low emotional stakes in what was a promising premise. As a course correction, this sequel appears to dig deeper into Nora’s past, as it has been revealed that she may have played a significant role in the creation of the very machines that haunt the world she’s stranded in. This revelation should add an air of unsettling accountability to her journey, reframing each encounter as something more personal.

Diegetic Systems Ground Immersion

Immersion is clearly a priority for this sequel – frankly, it is in any game – but in adopting diegetic inventory and crafting systems INDUSTRIA 2 hopes to ground immersion with tangible mechanics. See, rather than pulling you out of the world into abstract menus, these systems – like the inventory scroll she whips out of her backpack – are integrated directly into Nora’s reality. There’s the sense that everything from managing resources to building tools is designed to enforce believability against the preternatural backdrop.

The World is a Post-Industrial Nightmare

Parts of INDUSTRIA 2’s setting lean heavily into post-industrial decay, where sprawling, impossible architecture appears constructed from organic machinery. These locations bring to mind Armored Core’s colossal factories, and perhaps even the biomechanical nightmare of Scorn. It’s a world where towering structures and labyrinthine spaces create unease through their defiance of logic, and we’ve more to say on the bio-horror angle later.

Five Distinct Weapon Types and Craftable Explosives

Combat will revolve around five distinct weapon types, however these don’t appear to be high-end, complex military-grade firearms but the more ramshackle pistols, shotguns, rifles and the like you find in Stalker. Further, each weapon can be upgraded with various attachments – silencers, extended magazines, special firing mods – suggesting a progression system which honours investment and experimentation with numerous possible loadouts. Elsewhere, explosives in the shape of small firebombs are craftable, adding another tactical option when overwhelmed with enemies.

Enhanced Melee

Compared to its predecessor, where clunky pickaxe melee was a common painpoint, INDUSTRIA 2 appears to place greater emphasis on close-quarters combat. That said, melee-only runs don’t seem possible, more that scattered detritus can be grabbed and used in situ – metal pipes, and so on. In the sequel’s Steam demo, melee weapons will break after a few swings. In terms of game design, this ensures found items can be used spontaneously, but not wholly relied upon. Yet, it can erode immersion when something metallic only lasts a few hits before snapping. It’ll be interesting to see how the devs balance this in the finished game.

Bio-Mechanical Horror

The developers have been upfront about the body horror, specifically mentioning robotic and bio-mechanical viscera. While the original INDUSTRIA included unsettling visuals, this sequel sounds like it’s pushing the techno-gore much further, potentially into disturbing territory. Whether it reaches this intensity remains to be seen, but with the sequel exploring numerous decrepit, claustrophobic environments, amplified body horror would certainly mirror the tone.

Powered by Unreal Engine 5

Built in Unreal Engine 5, INDUSTRIA 2 brings a noticeable leap in visual fidelity. Immediately present is the wholesale use of Lumen’s dynamic lighting potential, punctuating the oppressive darkness of industrial interiors with sparse illumination that bounces and reflects believably. Environments are more detailed, textures are rich with weather and decay, and physics-based interactions impart a tactile feel to moving objects, plugging cables, and crafting ammo. Let’s hope INDUSTRIA 2 isn’t plagued by the same performance issues affecting other titles made in UE5, as the shift in visual immersiveness the engine brings is proving dramatic.

A Short, Focused Experience

The first INDUSTRIA had a runtime of four hours, which many, as already alluded to, feel didn’t provide ample-enough time for the narrative to bloom. Well, INDUSTRIA 2 isn’t set to break the mould already set out by its predecessor in campaign length. This one’s slated to run for approximately four-to-six hours. However, the devs have been vocal about acting on feedback, and while the sequel is indeed another short experience, they’re assuring us that it will be a tightly focused, highly curated experience, where brevity works in the narrative’s favour.

Sound Design Is a Core Pillar

Interestingly, the game’s Steam page highlights sound design as a key pillar to the overall experience. We say interesting, as this isn’t something every shooter calls attention too, suggesting INDUSTRIA 2’s immersive-sim elements will dominate over gunplay. Audio, then, will build tension, whether through environmental ambience, mechanical echoes, or ghostlike murmurs hanging in stale air. That said, footsteps, weapon reloading, the sound of Nora’s opening backpack, each of these sounds is sharply polished too, supporting the Steam description’s audio-centric pledge.

Influence Shifts Toward Survival Horror

While the original INDUSTRIA wore it’s Half-Life inspirations openly, all this emphasis on detailed lighting, tactile sound design, and shuffling investigation points to the sequel taking a different route. Evidently, the developers are looking toward modern survival horror to establish the sequel’s aesthetic, explaining its careful mix of exploration and combat to heighten tension, alongside an increased emphasis on scarce ammunition and resource management.

Overhauled Enemy AI

Enemy behaviour has been upgraded for this sequel. Rather than simply reacting to your actions, enemies now inhabit environments befitting of their design – humanoid robots follow patrol routes, mechanical arachnids scurry through dusty burrows, and humans tiptoe with the same trepidation you likely will. However, during a gameplay trailer, whereby the player shoots a room-scanning tripod in earshot of three human explorers, the AI doesn’t showcase behaviour exactly how you’d expect enemies in the vicinity of gunfire to react. However, that footage was taken from gameplay earlier in development. Hopefully, the same situation in the finished game will yield enemies who startle at the pop of gunfire, as less predictable enemies leads to more threatening encounters.

Release Date and Platforms

INDUSTRIA 2 launches on April 15th. On release, it’ll be a PC-exclusive, with Steam, GOG, and the Epic Games Store currently listing the game for pre-order. Currently, consoles haven’t been officially announced. The first INDUSTRIA saw its console version arrive nine-months after the original launch, so something similar can’t be ruled out here.

PC Requirements

To adequately run INDUSTRIA 2, you’ll need at minimum an Intel i5-8600, AMD Ryzen 5 3600, or equivalent CPU, Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 or similar GPU, and 8GB RAM. Recommended hardware, as per the game’s Steam page, includes an Intel i7-8700K CPU, GeForce RTX 3080 GPU, and 16GB RAM. The game also requires 20GB storage.

We’ve already covered SAROS in detail through two other “15 Things” articles, so you won’t see us talking about parries, shields, corruption, or the mysterious eclipse here. Instead, we’re looking at how SAROS’ progression systems, combat flow, narrative tone, and overall structure reflect a design intent that’s markedly distinct from Returnal. Some border on philosophical diversions, sure, but they’re big differences none-the-less. Here’s fifteen of them.

Note: All information in this article is through official sources.

Run Structure

Returnal is built around uninterrupted momentum, where you’ll push through one biome to the next in a single run. SAROS, in contrast, breaks flow into segmented excursions, if you choose to play it that way. Rather than committing to a full-length run every time, you can tackle the sequel’s hostile planet Carcosa in smaller, more focused outings, returning to hub area The Passage to retool and recuperate. This is a fundamental change in pace and structure between the two titles.

Session Design

This shift in run structure bleeds directly into session length. Returnal’s runs can stretch into long sessions, demanding you sustain focus the deeper Selene travels into Atropos. SAROS, instead, appears designed for short bursts, with thirty-minute expeditions that are easier to maintain intensity, knowing The Passage is available any time. This design decision reflects Housemarque’s desire to make SAROS more approachable than its predecessor. The option for episodic runs, with pause for story context and levelling up in-between, might just encourage longer sessions. Of course, not everyone will want a break between biomes. If that’s you, know that SAROS’ levels can still be tackled back-to-back.

Failure Penalty

Speaking of design, failure in Returnal is modelled on punishment, where your progress is near-completely wiped. When Selene’s back at the Helios, it often feels like you’re starting over. SAROS softens this blow by offering more permanent progression systems. The sequel allows you to retain meaningful upgrades between runs, resulting in a loop that feels less about losing everything and more about consistently moving forward.

Your Motivation

Because of SAROS’ upgradable skill tree, your motivation will naturally shift. In Returnal, your mindset is bent on surviving, brute-forcing onwards, and taking care not to make a mistake. SAROS, instead, leans intentionally towards optimism, where you’re encouraged to think about build synergy, how each run contributes to long-term growth, and how to boost each excursion’s efficiency beyond exploiting shortcuts.

Progression Philosophy

This motivational difference – survival vs optimism, desperation vs growing confidence – suggests a wider philosophical divide. In Returnal, encounters often left you feeling like you’re hanging by a thread, where a single misstep could undo hours of progress. SAROS, on the other hand, fosters a sense of control, where success is continually within grasp. Through permanent upgrades, each run reinforces the feeling that you’re entering the fray better equipped to handle what lurks ahead.

Resource Philosophy

SAROS’ shift in mindset is reflected in its resource gathering too. See, in Returnal, most resources are tied to individual runs and lost upon death, while SAROS reframes resources as long-term investments – more rogue-lite, less rogue-like. It’s less of a high-risk structure than Returnal, where you’ll acquire tools to build into future attempts rather than rely on what you find for just a fleeting advantage.

Build Identity

So, what does this shift in resource philosophy ultimately lead to? Well, in SAROS, you can imbue your identity more precisely into a specific build. Because, yes, as we’ve already alluded to, in Returnal your builds are largely shaped by what you find during a run. SAROS gives you more agency outside of runs, losing Returnal’s knack of forcing you to adapt on the fly. What you get instead is the ability to shape and refine your build over time, to pursue your own playstyle and make your survivability hinge on intentional decisions rather than reactive ones.

Difficulty Curve

The way each title delivers difficulty also appears to differ. Returnal throws you in at the deep end, demanding you lean into its specific challenge, oftentimes learning through repeated failure. SAROS’ difficulty appears to scale more gradually, where challenge grows in tandem with your progression, upgrades, and builds, creating smoother onboarding without sacrificing depth.

Combat Readability

Despite frequent bouts of desperation and chaos, Returnal’s combat is built on clarity. Enemy patterns, as bewildering and balletic as they often are, are designed to be readable. Incoming projectiles are visually distinct, and your survival often comes down to skill and instinct. SAROS, by comparison, appears to increase your cognitive load, layering more variables into each encounter – we touched upon the various bullet-types Carcosa’s monsters will spray at your in our other “15 Things To Know” features, but what we didn’t say is this: in SAROS, it isn’t just about you executing quick reactions through movement anymore, but, now, you’re forced to make rapid decisions under enemy fire.

Combat Rhythm

This added complexity feeds into a wider shift in combat rhythm. To survive, Returnal often required a mix of caution and precision. SAROS, instead, brings a more aggressive ethos, where taking risks in battle can lead to greater rewards. This is another fundamental change between the two games, altering the rhythm of combat encounters entirely.

Spatial Awareness

If combat rhythm has shifted, you can bet movement and positioning will also play out differently. Returnal places heavy emphasis on verticality, where you’re constantly navigating upwards, downwards, and across arenas. SAROS, from what we’ve seen, appears more focused on lateral movement and spatial awareness. There’s still opportunities to extract positional advantages through elevation, but overall SAROS seems more grounded, changing how you’ll read and control spaces during combat encounters.

Encounter Framing

Tweaks in your spatial awareness aren’t just a by-product of more lateral level design, but encounters on the whole seem to be framed differently too. Where Returnal often throws sudden ambushes and reactive combat scenarios at you, SAROS – again, from what we’ve seen so far – seems to favour more structured fights. The result: you’ll enter encounters with a greater sense of anticipation, meaning higher chance you’ll be able to execute those on-your-feet decisions that we mentioned earlier through deliberation.

Narrative Delivery

We’ve already highlighted in our SAROS coverage elsewhere how the two titles narratively differ, but their tone and delivery diverge significantly too. Selene’s experience in Returnal is solitary and introspective, exploring themes of memory, guilt, and repetition. SAROS introduces a more interpersonal dynamic, where psychological strain, and environmental instability shape a more outward-facing narrative that is delivered, in part, during Arjun’s time back at The Passage.

Replayability

Replayability is another area where the two titles differ in approach. Returnal’s consistent repetition encourages you to refine your skills through consistent and familiar loops. SAROS, instead, introduces an emphasis on variation, pushing you to experiment with different builds, strategies, loadouts, and approaches across runs, facilitated further by the ability to teleport directly into already completed biomes.

Design Intent

Through Returnal’s announcement and subsequent launch, it became clear that despite switching to third-person perspectives, the game was an extension of Housemarque’s arcade roots – tight, punishing, skill-driven, bullet hell action. SAROS brings the next logical step, building on Returnal’s foundation with broader systems and more flexible design. It positions itself as an evolution of Returnal itself, exuding the studio’s DNA in a grander, more realised experience.

A Fighting Game Based in the Image Universe

Originally a comic book series set in the Image Universe, Invincible follows the story of Mark Grayson. The series began in 2003, with the last entry published in 2018 following 144 issues. An animated TV adaptation emerged in 2021, putting the spotlight back on this intensely gory yet mature take on the superhero narrative. Its fast-paced, complex action lends itself to fighting game mechanics with ease.

Fights Are Structured in 3v3 Tag Teams

A launch roster of multiple heroes and villains from the Invincible series will compete in 3 versus 3 matchups. Each brings signature moves, with your team’s individual power and complexion hinging on who you add to its ranks. Also, did we mention Invincible VS’s fist-fighting is brutal yet? Well, the devs have gone to painstaking lengths to capture blood, bruises, and bodily destruction in real-time; no doubt inspired by the comics’ frequent viscera.

Fighters Can Be Swapped Mid-Combo

Thanks to the game’s tag system, your opponents can be pummelled by multiple teammates through seamlessly connected combos. By performing an “active tag”, you can switch fighters to continue attacking, dealing more devastating damage through complex chains. There is a combo meter which fills via consecutive hits during battle, and the combo is over once this depletes. But, it is partially refilled when you swap characters, although constant swapping is countered by a cooldown meter, ensuring infinite combos are impossible whilst also giving your opponent opportunity to fight back.

Benched Fighters Can Recover Health

Bringing yet more strategy, when fighters are out of the arena they’ll restore a certain amount of recoverable health. Regaining full health isn’t possible, with the character’s individual health bar indicating just how much they can recover. The extra slice of strategy comes into force here as Invincible VS places strong emphasis on regularly swapping out your characters. With this recoverable health mechanic, benching fighters isn’t just optimal for maintaining the offensive, but it’s a defensive necessity too.

A Boost System Speeds Up Movement

Invincible VS’s Heroic Boost system is yet another resource you’ll need to manage during bouts. Represented by the three yellow bars beneath your character’s health, this boost system amplifies your defensive options by increasing your dash speed, meaning you can dodge or reposition swiftly. Offensively, using Heroic Boost when performing a special attack morphs the manoeuvre into a more powerful version, dealing better damage.

Ultimate Attacks are Brutal, Cinematic Finishers

Now, in Invincible VS, Ultimate Attacks are the most powerful, visually awestriking moves you can execute. Billed as manoeuvres which can turn the tide of battle, they’re also high-damage enough to end it once and for all with a brutal “overkill”. To unleash an Ultimate, you’ll need to perform a heavy attack and a special move simultaneously to wield a “super”. Then, to transform into an ultimate you’ll need to spend some of your boost meter. If done successfully, you’ll trigger a ten-second onslaught of cinematic brutality that’s sure to rank amongst the game’s most spectacular highlights.

Your Teammates Can Assist You In Battle

There are numerous assists that you can trigger during the heat of battle which include your teammates, summoning an ally to join you in a beatdown or to spare your blushes if you’re on the receiving end. Active Assist lets you call in a friend whilst you’re already attacking, hitting, or even blocking. Assist Breaker uses your boost meter to bring in a teammate to break you out of an opponent’s combo chain. We’ve already touched on Active Tag, whereby you tag in a mate mid-combo, but also worth pointing out is that the assist system is directional – forward, backward, and neutral, without any directional input, focusing the help on where you need it.

“Snapback” Forces Your Opponents to Swap Lineups

A more specialised offensive manoeuvre is Snapback, which directly disrupts your opponent’s character-swapping, combo-chaining strategies. When you execute a Snapback, you’ll smack your opponent out of the ring, forcing one of their allies to step in. In the process, you’ll remove their recoverable health by preventing them from healing on the sidelines. What’s more, well-timed Snapbacks can trigger Heroic Strikes and Stage Transitions, the latter smashing your opponent into a new arena altogether.

Stages are Destructible

Each stage in Invincible VS is highly destructible, leading to bouts that are continuously dynamic as the arena shifts, crumbles, and shatters in tandem with the match’s intensity. Together with permanent bruising and scars to characters, and violent stage transitions, there’s an overriding feeling that the brutality and suffering in matches causes permanent damage. These systems give weight and meaning to fights which other fighting games tend to overlook.

Story Mode Penned by TV Series Writer

Invincible VS includes a captivating, cinematic story mode, telling a wholly original story which is penned in collaboration with a writer who worked on the animated TV series. What’s more, series creator Robert Kirkman (who also serves as the TV series’ producer) is lending his creative oversight to the game. With both comics and TV series alike receiving near-universal acclaim you can expect the same level of emotional intensity, witty dialogue, and high-stakes melodrama in the game’s narrative.

Arcade, Training, and Multiplayer Modes

Invincible VS’s other modes include a traditional arcade mode, where your chosen team of three take on increasingly difficult AI opponents. A comprehensive training mode includes a suite of tutorials for the game’s basic and advanced mechanics, with a practice mode giving you a low-stakes arena to perfect your combos. As for multiplayer, you can play locally against your mate in a standard 3v3 matchup, or head online for casual or competitive battles, the latter bringing skill-based matchmaking, rollback netcode, cross-platform play, and global leaderboards.

There’s Plenty of Beginner-Friendly Mechanics

Beyond the game’s tutorials and practice modes, there are plenty of other mechanics to assist beginner onboarding. Simple inputs, functioning similarly to Street Fighter’s “modern controls” allow you to perform auto-combos via single button inputs. Likewise, special moves can be performed by combining a single input with a direction. Active Tag timing, the system whereby you swap characters, can be made a little easier by activating the assist buffer, widening the window a teammate is able to jump in to continue your combo. Lastly, the already mentioned assist breaker can be a one-button press to escape a long combo. You’ll spend two bars of your boost meter, but can prove invaluable for beginners who may be struggling to defend particularly brutal attack chains.

Release Date, Platforms, and Price

Invincible VS is scheduled for global release on 30th April 2026. It will be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store. We’ll outline the Deluxe Edition’s features and price in the next entry, but the game’s Digital Standard Edition is retailing at £39.99 / $49.99, with a “Zero Suit” skin listed as pre-order bonus. Also, a standard physical edition has been announced, currently available for the same price as digital.

Deluxe Edition Overview

Priced at £59.99 / $69.99, the game’s Digital Deluxe Edition includes exclusive cosmetics and the first year’s DLC characters – of which four have been announced – alongside the base game. Finally, a physical collector’s edition can be bought which presents the game in a decorative steelbook case, with art cards, and a mini-comic too.

PC Requirements

Your minimum PC requirements for Invincible VS are as follows: Intel Core i5-9700F or Ryzen 5 2600 CPU, GeForce RTX 2070 or Radeon RX 7800 – each with 8GB VRAM – GPU, and 15GB storage. However, recommended specs as per the game’s Steam listing detail an Intel Core i7-12700K or Ryzen 7 7700 CPU, GeForce RTX 3070 or Radeon RX 6800 GPU, both again with 8GB VRAM, and 25GB storage space. Whatever your setup, you’ll need 16GB RAM.