Preview: Invincible VS is a bloody love letter to the TV series

Domagoj Belancic

8/4/2026

Translation: Patrik Stainbrook

Support: Rainer Etzweiler

With Invincible VS, the comic book and TV show is getting its first fighting game. I got to play the 3v3 tag fighter early, dishing out quite a few beatings and taking quite a few more.

It’s a match made in heaven: Invincible’s making the leap into the world of fighting games. Hardly any other franchise is as ideally suited for a virtual fighting game adaptation as this brutal comic book and TV series.

Fans will get to dive into this bloody superhero world for the first time in an open beta starting 9 April, blowing off heads alongside Invincible, Omni-Man and the rest of the crew. Starting 30 April – just after the Season 4 finale – the full version of this brutal fighting game will be released.

I already got the chance to check out an early version – and I’m thrilled. Franchise fan and beat ’em’ up enthusiast Rainer grilled me with questions after my hands-on session.

How did your three-hour hands-on session go – and how does Invincible VS feel to play?

Domagoj: I’ve experienced pretty much what will be included in the open beta – ten playable characters across a total of six arenas. It gave me a pretty good idea of what the game feels like.

Invincible VS is a 3v3 tag team fighting game. Before a match, I select three characters to make up my team. Each character comes with their own fighting style. For example, Invincible’s a well-rounded fighter with high mobility and fast attacks. In contrast, Battle Beast moves slowly but sports powerful attacks and strong armour. With her long-range attacks, Thula is perfect for keeping enemies at bay in turn. Depending on your team composition, a battle in Invincible VS plays out completely differently. It’s fun to experiment with different roles.

However, during fights themselves, only two characters battle at a time. I can bring my benched fighters into the game at any time. With the right timing, I can even unleash devastating tag combos. Substituted characters recover while they rest. I like what I see – the system and the fighter variety add an exciting strategic depth.

How many litres of blood were spilled?

Plenty. The game’s rated for ages 18 and up – and it more than deserves this. During every match, I see severed limbs, heads flying and fountains of blood. Those wonderfully over-the-top finishing moves are particularly brutal. As Omni-Man grabs his opponent, flies them through skyscrapers and finally smashes a huge chunk of land down on them, I feel like I’m watching an episode of the show.

Sounds like Invincible VS stays true to the explicit depictions of violence from the original. What else can fans of the show look forward to?

From the very first second, I could tell that this adaptation was designed by huge Invincible nerds. Everything feels wonderfully authentic. I especially like the little details and references.

Here’s just one example: as fighters enter an arena, the first two characters greet each other. They don’t just spout generic lines, mind you; instead, they address their opponent specifically.

This is how Invincible comes to taunt Allen before a match, reminding him of his blunder in Season 1, Episode 2. At that time, the alien mistakenly confused Earth with the planet Urath. When two versions of the same character face off, they argue over which one of them is the cheap knockoff – much like the Mauler twins do in the series. I love these details.

The starting roster includes almost all major characters. Which fighter did you like using the most?

First, here’s a quick overview of the roster. The following fighters were available in my demo – they’ll also be playable in the open beta:

• Invincible
• Atom Eve
• Bulletproof
• Rex Splode
• Monster Girl
• Allen the Alien
• Omni-Man
• Battle Beast
• Thula
• Robot

The following characters will also be added at launch on 30 April:

• Anissa
• Cecil
• Conquest
• Dupli-Kate
• Ella Mental
• Lucan
• Powerplex
• Titan
• Thula

The game will also be continuously expanded with DLC characters. So far, The Immortal and Universa have been confirmed.

Out of the demo characters, Atom Eve and Battle Beast are my favourites. Eve’s the perfect character for keeping enemies at bay. When I play, I use her superpowers to conjure sharp stones from the ground. In addition, Eve can fly, making it easier for her to dodge. Battle Beast is the polar opposite: this good kitty is a slow yet unstoppable tank that effortlessly ploughs through enemy attacks and blocks. Really nice and weighty.

I’m really looking forward to Dupli-Kate in the release version. I’m curious to see how her superpower – cloning herself – will be integrated into the gameplay. I’m looking forward to Cecil too. I love Cecil. He’s the director of the Global Defense Agency, and technically only responsible for supervising his superheroes’ missions. In the game, however, he gets in on the action himself. I can’t wait to waste billions of American taxpayer dollars on the use of deadly high-tech weapons.

Invincible thrives on its action, but quieter moments and the interpersonal drama leave an impression too. Is that taken into account?

Invincible VS will feature a story mode at launch. Among others, it’s overseen by Helen Leigh, the writer and co-executive producer of the show, and series creator Robert Kirkman himself. The story should also make room for quieter, more emotional moments that viewers are familiar with from the series. We also know that a new character named Ella Mental was created specifically for the game.

The story will also feature cutscenes animated in a comic book style reminiscent of Spider-Verse. Last year’s announcement trailer already gave us a first glimpse:

We don’t know much else about Story Mode. I’m pretty sceptical as a result. I expect the story to be pretty short – they’d have promoted it much more otherwise.

This is the first game from developer Quarter Up. But the people behind it aren’t exactly newcomers to the genre, are they?

Absolutely. Many members of Quarter Up used to work at Double Helix, the studio behind the excellent Killer Instinct (2013). These include Game Director David Hall, Executive Producer Mike Willette and Netcode Engineer Brandon Meesak. They for sure know what they’re doing.

And what about the voice actors?

I haven’t received confirmation that all the original voice actors are on board. But what I heard in the demo felt very authentic.

All in all, the IP seems to be in good hands. But does the brutal melee have actual substance as a game itself?

Let me start by saying this: I’m anything but an expert on fighting games. Back in my day, I used to play a lot of Tekken and Soulcalibur. These days, however, my gaming time in the genre is almost exclusively limited to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

For my part, I’d say Invincible VS offers a lot of depth. The team compositions offering various roles and tag-team mechanics alone open up many strategic options. During my preview, I won a few rounds by literally pulling fighters from the battle at the very last second and letting them regenerate on the bench. It’s also fun to time your substitutions right and help out with assists during combos.

I also like the controls and combo system, allowing me to combine light, medium, and heavy attacks. In addition, each character sports special moves as well as devastating super and ultimate abilities. I can activate them as soon as a special metre has filled up enough through attacks or damage taken.

I have to constantly decide when it’s best to use my stronger attacks. Should I save up until my Special gauge is completely full for a deadly and cinematic Ultimate? Or should I use smaller super attacks in between? I don’t have much time to think either way, the gameplay’s fast paced and unforgiving.

If you had to compare the gameplay to another fighting game franchise, which series comes to mind first?

Given my limited knowledge of the genre, I’d say Killer Instinct and the Marvel vs Capcom series. The first comes to mind because many members of Quarter Up contributed to that game. Marvel fighters are similar in terms of their tag-team mechanics and superhero theme.

You seem confident that Invisible VS will appeal to fans of the series. Do you think the game has further potential and can establish itself in esports?

Quarter Up has already emphasised in interviews that they want to appeal to the fighting game community with this game. Invincible VS was deliberately designed to be tournament-ready and is intended to be played at major competitions. You can never tell in advance whether this’ll work out. But the potential and determination are definitely there.

Is there a unique feature that sets this title apart from the competition?

I didn’t notice any particular gimmick. But the mere fact that the game takes place in the Invincible universe sets it apart from similar titles. Playing as these superhuman heroes and villains and watching them tear each other apart in the most brutal way possible is just awesome. The contrast between excessive brutality and that comic-book aesthetic is fascinating. I can’t stress this enough: it feels like I’m watching an episode of the TV show.

There’s one more little detail I can share with you too. At the start of a fight and when new characters enter the fray, opponents exchange a punch as a greeting. When their fists collide, a destructive shockwave echoes out, devastating the background of the current stage. This happens in several stages. What begins as a normal urban stage transforms into a post-apocalyptic setting as the battle progresses, featuring burning cars, destroyed buildings and dead trees.

Can you already say anything about the balancing? Apart from the gameplay, that’s probably the most important factor in a fighting game.

I haven’t come across a character that feels overpowered. The most annoying one’s probably Bulletproof – I can hardly ever break his combos. My favourite, Atom Eve, can also be a bit of a pain. It’s pretty hard to dodge or block her (spammable) ranged attacks. But I think both characters will feel different as my skills improve. As I said, I’ve only played for about three hours and have barely scratched the surface of the combat system.

Is there anything else that worries you besides Story Mode?

I’m a little sad that Invincible VS isn’t an arena fighter like Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero. That subgenre would be perfect for those epic Invincible battles, featuring huge, destructible arenas where heroes fly around in three dimensions, reducing everything to rubble in the process. Don’t get me wrong, the 2D 3v3 tag-team fighting system works great too. It just feels a little restrictive.

I also wonder if the character roster will offer enough variety – especially since it’s a 3v3 fighter where you’ll quickly have tried out all the characters. The selection also features a lot of Viltrumites – do we really need that many super-aliens? At the same time, fan favourites like Angstrom Levy, Doc Seismic and Damien Darkblood are missing. But hey, that’s what seasons and DLC are for.

Invincible VS will be released on 30 April for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. The open beta for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S begins on 9 April and ends on 11 April. Skybound Games invited me to the preview event in Munich and covered my travel expenses.

Video games

Skybound Invincible VS

PS5, DE

Domagoj Belancic

Senior Editor

Domagoj.Belancic@digitecgalaxus.ch

My love of video games was unleashed at the tender age of five by the original Gameboy. Over the years, it's grown in leaps and bounds.

---

Background information

Interesting facts about products, behind-the-scenes looks at manufacturers and deep-dives on interesting people.

Show all

These articles might also interest you