Indivisible is a long-awaited title developed by Lab Zero games and published by 505 Games. First announced at the Anime Expo Skullgirls panel in July of 2015, the game is finally slated to release on October 8th, 2019 for PC and consoles, with a Switch version coming soon after. Fans of the cult-classic fighting game Skullgirls will recognize Lab Zero for its gorgeous hand-drawn animation and penchant for masterful character design.
The game was crowd-funded, with an initial goal of 1.5 million USD that was surpassed to reach over two million dollars. Indivisible promises to be an interesting and frenetic title, with inspiration coming from seemingly endless directions. The story and characters are influenced by Southeast Asian history and mythology, with gameplay cues taken from Valkyrie Profile and Super Metroid. The involvement of 505 Games is a good sign, considering its recent success with other story-driven exploration games like Control.
This grab-bag of inspiration may seem like too much to create a focused, well-designed game, but so far such doubts have been assuaged. With contribution from Lab Zero’s own talented animators, legendary anime studios Studio Trigger and Titmouse, as well as composer Hiroki Kikuta of Secret of Mana, the art and design of Indivisible promises to be stunning at the very least. The playable demo released in tandem with the crowd-funding campaign struck many as a near-finished game on its own. With nearly five years in the oven, Indivisible should prove to be a well-polished and well-crafted experience.
Some may shy away from games with heavy anime influence, fearing that such titles rely too much on a visual style and lack gameplay depth. However, recent games like Code Vein have shown that a very stylized design can belie great gameplay mechanics and refreshing takes on beloved formulas.
Gameplay
Indivisible is a platformer-style action RPG starring Ajna, a girl with mysterious powers that allow her to adopt “Incarnations” of characters found throughout the world. With a roster of powerful characters to call on, the combat is meant to resemble that of Valkyrie Profile with a focus on real-time action, and the powers of the characters she meets will be used in combat and exploration. Early footage has shown off the fast-paced platforming involved in exploring the world, along with real-time combat that focuses on using multiple characters to their full potential. Castlevania-inspired games have had a resurgence lately, and Indivisible seems to have the tight platforming and large game-world that make those titles great.
As players explore the game’s Southeast Asia- inspired fantasy world, they will encounter “Incarnations” that can be absorbed into the player character and manifested later in combat. The many Incarnations revealed so far are inspired by historical and mythological figures from Southeast Asia, India, the Middle East, the Americas, China, Japan, and more. By collecting and uniting legendary figures from so many places, players will learn about not just the characters, but the story of the world they inhabit as well. This focus on individual characters and their unique journeys will remind some players of other character-driven RPG stories, like that of Octopath Traveler, one of the best RPGs of 2018.
Setting
Indivisible follows Ajna, a girl who receives the mysterious power to absorb incarnations when her rural village is attacked. This pushes her to explore the wider world to adopt more Incarnations and discover the root of her power. This setup should be familiar to any fan of classic RPGs, but the world that Ajna is pushed to explore is extremely unique as game settings go.
The world that Ajna steps into is clearly inspired by the Southeast-Asian “Age of Commerce,” a period in which the maritime silk road flourished and people from all over East Asia, India, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and even the New World were in bustling contact with one another. This is reflected in the vibrant cast of characters that appear in Indivisible. From a mythical Indian Deva to a Pirate Queen based on a real woman, this game includes cowboys, ninjas, wielders of mandalas, protectors of the dharma, and many more unique figures.
The settings shown so far range from idyllic terraced mountains to the neon-bathed Tai Krung city. This creates an amalgamated fantasy setting with both ancient and modern features, set in a time period that is unidentifiable but entirely distinct. Video game settings based on mythology and history are not uncommon— the success of God of War and recent Assassin’s Creed titles make that abundantly clear.
However, it is very rare that a game makes abundant use of such a wide variety of sources, and even rarer for those influences to come from the unique melting pot that is Southeast-Asia. Anyone who is interested in history, mythology, or just good art, interesting platforming games, and action should keep a close eye on this title.
Indivisible is coming to PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on October 8, with a Nintendo Switch version also in development and arriving at a later date.