Indivisible | An RPG And Metroidvania Hybrid Of Colorful Proportions

From Lab Zero Games, the creators of Skullgirls, comes an RPG hybrid about a rambunctious teenage girl named Ajna who finds herself as a part of a haunting mystery that one day comes calling. Training under the tutelage of her father Indr, the village elder, she learns the ways of combat. All while wondering who her father really is, and why her mother died when she was younger. As fate would have it a ruler of a certain kingdom sends his lieutenant to destroy the disobedient population of the Ashwat village shortly after one of Ajna's training sessions. The very village where Ajna, and her father live. In his murderous rampage Dhar, the lieutenant sent to plunder, kills Ajna's father leaving her with a lot more unanswered questions, and a fight that she will thankfully not have to face alone. Utilizing a mysterious undiscovered power activated in the heat of battle Ajna captures certain people of interest including Dhar, and has them fighting on her side as she makes her way to face off against the man who had her father killed. It's with this interchangeable army of individuals, and assisting acquaintances that Ajna will be able to see her mission through to the end. That, and some abilities she gains along the way through her journey of discovery, and maturity.

Indivisible, the RPG that it is, is not your traditional RPG experience in a lot of regards. It manages to do it's own thing while incorporating two different game genres. While it harbors certain roleplaying elements such as character roles, turn based combat, and abilities it streamlines the formula, and applies it to an equally involved Metroidvania platforming experience. An experience where progression is done through jumping, sliding, wall jumping, and discovering new ways to access previously inaccessible areas. As Ajna you will not only take on the platforming tasks before you, but you will also fight foes of varying strengths in a party filled with those who have willingly joined as well as those who haven't. All characters you meet, and have help you will have their own back stories, and purposes for tagging along. Making the story that evolves, and unfolds richer as you progress. The battle at hand even more so.

Combat in 'Indivisible' isn't a complex ordeal by any means, but strategy is definitely necessary to overcome the more formidable foes you'll encounter. Each character in your party has a base attack, and a defense option as well as a powered attack that can be activated when a collective meter is filled through successive attacks. Each character along with their health bar has one of four face buttons assigned to them. These face buttons act as the action bar, and the means by which you set in motion the attack. When the button icon or icons are full you can press the attack button accordingly (once per displayed face button), and the character will attack in a sort of combo method that will take in account other party members' attacks. As the battle plays out the enemy will highlight, and project which character/s they will attack. By pressing, and holding the character/s face button at the moment the enemy strikes, or begins their attack the character's face button whom you press will block the attack. Even more so if you time the block right upon impact. The alternative method for group blocking against boss creatures or characters will have you pressing L1 instead. This is only necessary when, and if all characters in your party have been highlighted for an attack from the enemy.

When it comes to the more powerful attacks you can press R1 + SQUARE when the collective R1 meter is filled by party member attacks. This is useful for dealing big damage, healing your party, or adding buffs to enhance their performance or resistance. The catch is that each character you assign to your party has a certain set of skills including a meter focused skill. Making your party assortment all the more important. Supposing two or more of your four party members are down you can alternatively sacrifice the main meter to resurrect them all with a little life included by pressing L1 + R1. By timing attacks, defenses, and special meter attacks well you'll be able to topple the game's most difficult enemies. Of course the more you fight, and the more you level up per battle the more base attacks, and life your party members will gain.

In the way of platforming you will find that you control Ajna only. She can run (CIRCLE), slide (DOWN + SQUARE), wall jump (X, X, X ...), and even use her mother's axe as well as other tools to reach, and breakthrough previously inaccessible areas. Thankfully there are save shrines made available at key points allowing you to lessen the chance of having to start over at a much earlier point. It is important to note that at the certain locations where you find these save shrines that you can press DOWN followed by CIRCLE to bring up a save slot menu to save your current progress. You should do this often, and every time you encounter a new shrine. Also of use is the mini-map. Pressing UP will bring up a Metroidvania style mini-map for helping you to figure out where you are as well as where you need to be. The map includes icon markers such as save shrines in case you need a further reference. Along with those staple features also comes NPC encounters with characters that will ask you to do things for them, or collect things to help both you, and them. It's the side missions of the game, and makes the traveling from start to finish less than linear. For those of you looking for tutorials, and such pressing OPTIONS on the controller will bring up a side pause menu with control, abilities, loading, credits, and settings options for both tweaking the experience to your liking, and referencing encountered in-game mechanics should you need a refresher. That as well as the ability to load up a saved game or view the game's end credits.

The Presentation ...

Indivisible definitely has that Lab Zero flair. If your seen or played Skullgirls it's not all that different in regards to character design. While the characters harbor that signature feel the world itself is something new. It's a colorful world brought to life in a sort of 2.5D presentation. The backgrounds are like a vivid cartoon with accompanying animations, and effects added in. The creatures, characters, and enemies you'll run into along the way are also animated as well. Kind of like a watercolor painting crossed with a cartoon design. The world is overall colorful with a sort of a Hindi theme about it. The characters themselves are all individually voiced with textual dialogue that can be read at the same time as you view their animated art panel images. There's also cutscenes akin to the still art panels from Skullgirls, as well as an anime inspired intro that really makes the game pop. The soundtrack itself is very lively, fitting in with the tribal/Hindi theme. Often times changing as the plot twists along the way. It is a beautifully realized gaming experience that will make any backer proud, and any owner proud to own.

The Verdict ...

I love this game! Going in I didn't really know what to expect, but upon playing it the blend of RPG, and Metroidvania elements worked perfectly together. The game's visual design is something to behold, and the gameplay fun and engaging. I think where it shines most of all though is with the powerful female lead, Ajna, and her party of mismatched misfits who tag along whether they want to or not. It's all about the characters, and character building, and I think to that end Lab Zero Games excelled. I think they really did an excellent job with this game. While I have mostly praise to give I will say some players have encountered battle breaking glitches where the characters & enemies will appear out of place. That being said I'm sure there's probably a patch in the works. Other than that I feel Indivisible is one of those must have gaming experiences of 2019. It definitely earns it's $39.99 asking price!