Invisible, Inc.

[Nefaro]

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/05/12/invisible-inc-review/#comments

RPS say the best TBS game to come out in years

a successful Wot i Think with none of the usual in joke shite and bizarre, abstract crap they can come out with - just a straight up good review

Good review.  Absolutely correct, too.

It's not just tactical X-Com or Shadowrun Returns combat.  It's a stealth roguelike with some immensely fun mechanics that keep your thinkmeats engaged.  I've had some surprisingly tense moment for a turn-based game.  :)

[-budd-]

For added incentive 20% off for those who own mark of the ninja....wait a minute....I own that...my will is weakening.

[Jarhead0331]

It's a neat little game so far, but xcom it is not. Maybe it opens up later on..

[Nefaro]

Das started a series:

I recall that the game was originally intended to use the highest difficulty level (being a bit of a roguelike in the classical sense) but they've since added the two lower difficulty levels.  I'm not sure the Beginner level will do the gameplay any justice in the long-term since it gives so many "redos".

[Nefaro]

AngryJoe just did a pair of vids too

[RooksBailey]

Invisible Inc. is my first game purchase of 2015 (new game, not DLC).  I have to be honest: the first night I played it I was not thrilled with the experience.  I began by doing the "beginner" campaign.  Be warned: I found beginner to be very tough!  The missions were challenging - very challenging when you get to level 3 infiltrations - and the final mission was impossible for me no matter how many rewinds I took, or how many retries of the entire level.  I left the game last night frustrated and disgruntled. 

Then I found the campaign editor....

It was brilliant for Klei to include it from the get-go.  But for this, I might have shelved the game already.  The campaign editor has allowed me to adjust just about everything that was annoying me with the first playthrough.  First thing I did was stop the automatically increasing security ticker.  I understand the design decision behind this - it makes each mission a tough race against time where minutes on the clock become an actual resource - but I found it just made my beginner's life much too difficult as I would always fall behind the clock, leading to my team soon being surrounded by an army of security personnel and unbreakable firewalls.     So I stopped that to give me some breathing room.  But to balance things out, I increased the security response by a factor of 4 (in retrospect, 3 might be better in the future).  What this means is that while the security ticker doesn't automatically increase, when it does - due to being spotted or killing a guard - the security level jumps by a factor of four!  >:D  I like this because I feel it makes for a more "realistic" security response (i.e., when nothing untoward is happening, security is just marking time.  But once a breach is detected, or a guard goes down, security response escalates quickly.  For example, a killed guard is enough to make the security ticker jump almost two levels!).  Also to make things a bit more realistic, I made the security meter jump whenever a guard is KOed (again, seems more realistic to me in a world where everybody's vitals are wired into the system).  All in all, these two changes seem to balance out nicely, allowing me to take my time and explore the map, but also seeing to it that my team will be quickly punished if we screw up by being detected or by being too aggressive.  I also made the campaign more interesting by making sure that unseen security is not betrayed by their sight cone.  This bit of FoW had made things a lot more fun by making it more likely for my guys to accidentally get caught on camera or spotted by a guard.   :-[  Lastly, I increased the map size from 10 to 12 rooms - 10 felt a bit too small to me, but 12 feels just right. 

The net effect of all these changes is that now I basically have a turn-based Deus Ex!   :)   NOW I am enjoying the game a lot more.  The ending might still be too tough for me to handle - I'll let you know when I get there - but the meat of the game feels better balanced to me.  That is the great thing about including this editor: the game can be just what you want it to be.

I hope we get some DLC with this game.  Truth be told, it already is a tight game, but I would like the campaign to be expanded a bit.  Right now it feels like a rudimentary FTL-esque campaign where you grind in preparation for the final showdown.  I would like something a bit more complex than that. 

Anyway, these are my initial thoughts.  No regrets for the purchase now.   :)

[MengJiao]

Then I found the campaign editor....

  I had no idea there was a campaign editor.  I have been enjoying the game though.  What I've been doing is getting out about as soon as I find the exit.  This has sort of worked.  The team has gotten better even if the company is not doing so well.  And the boss is quite upset with us, saying things like, "Did you even try to find the XYZ?  Why break into a complex and fiddle with stuff and then run away?"
  And I'm like, hey, is there an answer button here or something or are these fantastically rhetorical questions?

[BanzaiCat]

I saw this on AngryJoe's channel and watched both his videos and think this looks all kinds of awesome. And I generally hate stealth-type games, but for some reason, in a futuristic/tech kind of world, I enjoy that sort of thing.

I was afraid to buy it, though, because it looked like it would get hellishly tough very quickly, and the last thing I want to do is buy a game that ramps up difficulty to levels that piss me off and make me hate playing it.

Then I found the campaign editor....

The net effect of all these changes is that now I basically have a turn-based Deus Ex!   :)   

Glad you posted this, and very good to know it's all editable. This will probably push this game into my inventory in the next month or so without having to worry about ridiculous difficulty making it frustrating. I'll still try it without, but if it gives me lip, I'll give it my pimp-editor.

[RooksBailey]

Then I found the campaign editor....

  I had no idea there was a campaign editor.  I have been enjoying the game though.  What I've been doing is getting out about as soon as I find the exit.  This has sort of worked.  The team has gotten better even if the company is not doing so well.  And the boss is quite upset with us, saying things like, "Did you even try to find the XYZ?  Why break into a complex and fiddle with stuff and then run away?"

  And I'm like, hey, is there an answer button here or something or are these fantastically rhetorical questions?

LOL!  Yeah, I've gotten a bunch of that as well.   :)  I do intend to go back to the stock mode with the automatic increases to the security ticker - the pressure can be fun - but I am glad I disabled it as now I can get more comfortable with the gameplay without the pressure or the sarcasm from our dear leader. 

I saw this on AngryJoe's channel and watched both his videos and think this looks all kinds of awesome. And I generally hate stealth-type games, but for some reason, in a futuristic/tech kind of world, I enjoy that sort of thing.

Same for me.  For me, these cyberpunk games are proving very addictive  - really, it has become my preferred genre.  Cyberpunk games are to me now what Cold War games were to me in the '80s.  They just seem really relevant and almost ripped from the headlines.  In an age of hack-tivism, industrial espionage, the merging of hardware and flesh, and even PMCs, cyberpunk is now more reality than fiction.

I was afraid to buy it, though, because it looked like it would get hellishly tough very quickly, and the last thing I want to do is buy a game that ramps up difficulty to levels that piss me off and make me hate playing it.

Glad you posted this, and very good to know it's all editable. This will probably push this game into my inventory in the next month or so without having to worry about ridiculous difficulty making it frustrating. I'll still try it without, but if it gives me lip, I'll give it my pimp-editor.

I did find my first run to be very tough - surprisingly so for a beginner level - but that could just be because I screwed up with my earlier missions or the randomized loot just hated me (I never found any armor piecing weapons but for a single Level 2 tazer!).  Being able to make a custom campaign really changed things in a positive way for me.  Really, the campaign editor is almost a game in itself.  There is a nice selection of tweakable settings that can result in some interesting and unpredictable gameplay. 

I also like that even when you abandon a campaign, you still get experience points to unlock new agents.  The game doesn't even punish you for admitting defeat.  :)

[Nefaro]

The only complaints I've seen about it, in the past, were regarding the difficulty. 

I enjoy the challenge & permadeath in roguelike turn-based games with a lot of procedural stuff so it's not too repetitive.  It's not for everyone.

There are roguelikes with more content depth out there, but this one is rather unusual with it's specific style of stealth strategy.  You have to think ahead multiple turns and form a very different strategy compared to other turn-based games.  Things will get difficult quick if you're just moving to cover and shooting everything, as in the typical tactical game.  That's why I enjoy this one; it requires different & more difficult strategy.

[BanzaiCat]

Angry Joe was getting quite giddy with his excitement in how the game was kicking his and Other Joe's asses. I could see myself rage quitting over some of that stuff. If I feel like I'm getting pummeled and have zero chance to fight back, that's not fun to me.

I really like that this is procedural. That's a huge plus, too.

[RooksBailey]

Dev update!  Some good stuff coming our way!   O0

Hello everyone!
 
*Phew*, that was a wild ride, getting this game out. I can say without a doubt that Invisible, Inc. was our hardest design challenge yet. When we built Invisible, we had a vision of what the game would be: a tight, all killer, no filler spy thriller where every action mattered, and every decision could be your last. We spent years developing this concept, and putting it through the ringer in Early Access. We've now officially launched, and we're relieved that players are enjoying it.
 
So, what have we been doing since launch? First, we've been keeping track of all the bugs and suggestions that have been posted, as well as our automated error reporter, which tells us when something goes wrong, even when players might not see the issues themselves (for example, if an animation is missing for a few frames). Since we launched, we've put out a half dozen hot fixes.
 
We think we've caught the majority of the bugs (though of course, there will always be more to be squashed), and we're now looking into the future. This is what we're working on:
 
Free Content!
We're already working on a free update to the game for all you wonderful people. Our first free content update will include some sweet new programs to play with. You can see a sneak peek, up above.

We are working on a good half dozen programs, and we'll introduce them over time as they are ready. We'd also like to dive a bit deeper on another game mode, and we're throwing around a few ideas here. They're a lot of work, but we also feel they create a lot of replayability.
 
New Agent Pack
One of the best things about Invisible is how much a new starting suite can change your play style. Whether you're packing Central with Faust, or dual wielding with Nika, new agents can greatly affect your trajectory. We're looking into new Agent DLC pack, featuring agents from the now defunct Pan-Euro Infosec Agency. We think adding to the roster is not only great for the game, it also gives us more ways to delve into their backstory. We haven't worked out the details or pricing for this yet, but we'd love to hear your feedback.
 
We launched this game into Alpha in early 2014, Early Access in the Fall of 2014, and now we've officially launched, but that doesn't mean we're done supporting the game. 
 
Thank you once again for sticking with us!

[MengJiao]

Dev update!  Some good stuff coming our way!   O0

Hello everyone!
 
*Phew*, that was a wild ride, getting this game out. I can say without a doubt that Invisible, Inc. was our hardest design challenge yet. When we built Invisible, we had a vision of what the game would be: a tight, all killer, no filler spy thriller where every action mattered, and every decision could be your last. We spent years developing this concept, and putting it through the ringer in Early Access. We've now officially launched, and we're relieved that players are enjoying it.
 
So, what have we been doing since launch? First, we've been keeping track of all the bugs and suggestions that have been posted, as well as our automated error reporter, which tells us when something goes wrong, even when players might not see the issues themselves (for example, if an animation is missing for a few frames). Since we launched, we've put out a half dozen hot fixes.
 
We think we've caught the majority of the bugs (though of course, there will always be more to be squashed), and we're now looking into the future. This is what we're working on:
 
Free Content!
We're already working on a free update to the game for all you wonderful people. Our first free content update will include some sweet new programs to play with. You can see a sneak peek, up above.

We are working on a good half dozen programs, and we'll introduce them over time as they are ready. We'd also like to dive a bit deeper on another game mode, and we're throwing around a few ideas here. They're a lot of work, but we also feel they create a lot of replayability.
 
New Agent Pack
One of the best things about Invisible is how much a new starting suite can change your play style. Whether you're packing Central with Faust, or dual wielding with Nika, new agents can greatly affect your trajectory. We're looking into new Agent DLC pack, featuring agents from the now defunct Pan-Euro Infosec Agency. We think adding to the roster is not only great for the game, it also gives us more ways to delve into their backstory. We haven't worked out the details or pricing for this yet, but we'd love to hear your feedback.
 
We launched this game into Alpha in early 2014, Early Access in the Fall of 2014, and now we've officially launched, but that doesn't mean we're done supporting the game. 
 
Thank you once again for sticking with us!

Sounds enticing.  Last night I gave up on an agency, but the game released two new agents and let me try the base again.  I had been doing well, but drones were slowly closing in and I could not see a way out.  But now I'm re-trying with a new procedurally-generated place to infiltrate.

[RooksBailey]

Sounds enticing.  Last night I gave up on an agency, but the game released two new agents and let me try the base again.  I had been doing well, but drones were slowly closing in and I could not see a way out.  But now I'm re-trying with a new procedurally-generated place to infiltrate.

I haven't been playing it much but the last time I did play I found myself in a tough spot (again, using my own modded rules in the editor).  We had to heist an executive's brain to get  a security code for a later vault heist (I wish the game had more connected missions like this!).  Well, after we got the code, it tripped an alarm, spawning a bunch of security.  Due to the layout of the building, my two man team was basically trapped behind enemy lines.  Fortunately, we had Shalem (sp?), his sniper rifle, and two packs of ammo.   >:D  We tore through the security, leaving bodies as we went, and pinning the security meter at a maxed-out Level 6!    That was epic. 

Afterwards, I realized that that is what Invisible Inc needs more of: combat.  Not saying I want it to become a tactical wargame like Frozen Synapse or Shadowrun, but just that outright combat missions should be part of the available mission selections for those who want to go loud for a change of pace. 

[thebestappgames]

I have played this game last year and did'nt like it much, don'nt have any strong reason but definitely it was not my cup of tea.