Invincible Vs makes its leap from animated series to video game with confidence, landing a heavy hit on heavyweight genre contenders thanks to its bold presentation and unapologetically violent thrills.
The tagline, “An Amazon television show video game tie-in,” is a major red flag—much like a two-star food rating you’d see on a kebab stand. You wouldn’t be off the mark if you approached Invincible Vs with caution. Still, surprisingly, Invincible Vs turns out to be an extremely enjoyable game. It doesn’t just hold up as an adaptation; it may even rank among the most impressive fighting titles to arrive in recent months.
Right away, Invincible Vs looks like a fresh effort from Quarter Up, a fairly recent offshoot of Skybound Games that’s known for publishing The Walking Dead and Before Your Eyes. That assessment isn’t entirely wrong, but the studio also has a deep reservoir of know-how. Many of the developers who worked on the 2013 Killer Instinct are back together on this project. And if you’ve never played that eighth-generation standout, consider its connection to Invincible Vs a real indicator of quality.
At the heart of Invincible Vs is a straightforward pitch: it’s a 3v3 brawler where you pick from a roster of 18 characters drawn from the Amazon animated series and comic books. The game includes the usual spread of modes and unlocks—arcade, story, offline and online multiplayer matches, plus a training mode that’s on the smaller side but still dependable. Expect plenty of fan service alongside unforgiving combat. With the series’ voice cast on board and comic creator Robert Kirkman directly involved, the game also delivers in ways that many earlier video game adaptations never quite managed.
It’s worth saying plainly at the start: Invincible Vs isn’t only for devoted series fans. You can practically feel the influence of Killer Instinct in how the game plays. The title has a big, weighty presence. “Game feel” can be hard to pin down, but you should be able to sense that meaningful attacks actually carry weight—otherwise, the more explosive moments can start to feel less exciting. Still, go too far and you risk landing in the same frustrating territory as some older Mortal Kombat games, where characters can feel stiff and every hit seems buried under layers of concrete.
Invincible Vs lands its punches with precision. Each heavy hit and every super move seems to resonate through the controller. That comes from a strong blend of standout animation, careful sound work, and responsive control. This kind of coordination matters in any fighting game—it’s what keeps players hooked over time. Even just watching your own formidable extraterrestrial batter and slam opponents feels fantastic, and it’s hard to resist jumping back in.
Even if Invincible Vs isn’t the flashiest-looking game in its category, it captures the comic-book look effectively in a 3D space. Quarter Up’s artists have leaned into vivid, bold colors here—exactly as they should. Every character is easy to spot, and the action is framed with comic-style motion lines that underline each strike. Moving from a 2D style into 3D isn’t simple, and plenty of games have struggled with that shift over the years. In this case, Quarter Up has handled the transition with very few noticeable hiccups.
This is great for players who have particular favorites from the series, since they’ve all been adapted with care into the game’s world. A few characters are even improved, adding extra texture to their Amazon series roles—an impressive touch. The starting lineup of 18 is substantial, and because each fighter brings something distinct to the table, most players should find at least one character that truly clicks. Invincible himself plays like the game’s version of Ryu—not because he has a fireball or a signature uppercut, but because he serves as the adaptable yardstick for the rest of the roster. He can fly, close distances quickly, and punish the smallest errors with brutal combos. In many ways, his kit becomes a showcase for the entire game: lots of movement, nonstop pressure, and a constant drive forward.
If Invincible feels a little straightforward at first, that’s not because the rest of the roster lacks imagination. A good part of that variety comes from necessity: many Invincible fighters are built from the same blueprint—muscular, flying brawlers. With a less capable team, Invincible Vs might have ended up as something closer to Muscle Insider, but luckily, the developers brought creativity to the table instead.
Take Lucan and Monster Girl as examples. Lucan is a powerful Viltrumite from outer space. He doesn’t have Thula’s striking hair or Conquest’s mechanical arm, though—yet in the game he acts like a Zangief-style grappler, complete with strong aerial options meant to break down an opponent’s defenses. Monster Girl, who in the show spends plenty of time tossing opponents around—like many members of the cast—has been reworked into a heavy-body grappler. Her focus shifts toward landing big punches and wearing enemies down until they’re finished. The developers didn’t just transplant characters from the series; they expanded on what made them recognizable, resulting in a more satisfying and varied set of fighters. They’ve pulled off a convincing “yes, and?” approach.
And if you’ve found yourself drawn back to a specific character, be ready for the learning curve that comes with the genre. Invincible Vs is a 3v3 tag fighter, and that format inevitably adds complexity to an already intimidating style. There are no motion inputs here, which is a notable easing of the genre’s usual boundaries—something I’ve accepted with reluctance in recent years. The idea that dropping motion inputs makes players more open to the complexities of a tag fighter—where unclear attacks might come from “above, below, left… wait, is it right?”—is a claim Riot Games’ 2XKO tried to sell me, and it completely didn’t hold up in my experience.
That said, while many fighting game studios try to ease newcomers in by stripping complexity away, Quarter Up has taken a smarter route—one that’s more layered and deliberate.
promoting reasons to learn through play. There’s an auto-combo where you can string together light punches, and your character will carry out a straightforward series of strikes. Still, this isn’t simply a shortcut, largely due to the combo meter. Each time your combo grows, the meter rises too, and when it reaches the top it allows your opponent to escape. In other words, it works as a built-in safeguard to prevent the most punishing combo routes from running rampant. The twist is that relying on the auto combo fills the meter more quickly than if you perform it yourself.
So you’re pushed to get comfortable with your manual combos as fast as you can. If you prefer, you can also lean on the game’s systems to reduce how quickly that combo meter builds. By swapping in another character while the combo is still going, you bring the meter down, which in turn opens the door to even more damage. Either way, these accessibility options end up serving as a natural pathway for learning the game. Nicely done.
Invincible Vs also handles violence with restraint. I know that sounds strange to read, but stay with me. The team understands that their audience is drawn to the intense moments the series is known for: the opening cutscene drops you straight into chaos, with a man caught in the middle of a superhero showdown—his insides splashed across the cabin of his ruined vehicle. That’s very much an Invincible-style presentation, and it’s part of the overall package. It doesn’t follow the Mortal Kombat approach of casually throwing brutal scenes at players who win and can land a basic input string. Instead, those nasty finishers arrive when you remove an enemy character with a super move.
Why does that matter? It’s essentially a hook meant to draw casual players into its systems and encourage them to improve naturally. Using a super move as a combo finisher is a straightforward lesson for newcomers on how to squeeze more damage out of their strings, so showcasing these brutal endings in this context is a smart choice. It should also motivate players to keep enjoying Invincible Vs for what the gameplay itself delivers, rather than the Mortal Kombat pattern where a big chunk of the community immediately hunts for fatalities on YouTube after release.
By not watering down what the game really is, Invincible Vs is able to flourish in its 3v3 format, turning each match into a hard-charging relay where fighters tag in, grab the “baton,” and drive the attack into your opponent. It hits a rare sweet spot—modern enough to feel current, yet still true to its roots—which I genuinely find impressive.
However, it’s important to be clear: it’s not all bright skies and easy wins. The story campaign is fairly short, clocking in at about an hour and a bit from start to finish, assuming you don’t get stuck in a fight. Even though I can recognize that Quarter Up doesn’t have the same budget as studios like NetherRealm or Capcom, it’s still worth mentioning for anyone hoping for a deep dive into the Invincible universe. To me, it felt close to a filler episode—an offering for fans that lets longtime supporters see how certain characters, who may not have had much screen time together across the series or the comics, might perform at a specific point in the broader narrative. It’s a quick bite: enjoy it if you want, but don’t expect it to deliver much in terms of real substance.
One more thing worth praising, though, is the online multiplayer. After spending several days up against other players, I can say with confidence that it’s been handled extremely well. I started out using a wired ethernet connection, and it ran perfectly; however, it was even better once I switched to my inexpensive wifi setup—it still performed remarkably smoothly. This is becoming more common across the industry, but we’re still close enough to the Xbox 360 and earlier days when network problems were a real issue that this level of reliability stands out. I would’ve liked an additional online option to add some variety—something a bit more casual, even—but maybe they can bring something along like that later.
Even though Invincible Vs could use a touch more in certain spots, I still believe it’s the best tag fighter I’ve played in years. Considering the team’s size, the clear enthusiasm they brought to adapting the source material, and the overall execution, it’s genuinely noteworthy.
A copy of Invincible Vs was provided for this review by Skybound Games.