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I spent 20 hours with Invincible VS this week. My thumbs hurt. My sofa has a new sweat stain. And I still can't decide if this game is brilliant or just broken in the right ways.
Let's start with the obvious: this is a 3v3 tag fighter from Quarter Up, a Skybound studio stuffed with veterans from 2013's Killer Instinct. You feel that pedigree immediately. The combo system snaps, the boost meter rewards aggression, and calling in assists mid-string feels like conducting a riot. But here's the thing nobody's mentioning in the early reviews: the game's biggest strength is also its biggest problem. It's too much sometimes.
I mean that literally. Three characters on screen, plus particle effects, plus environmental destruction, plus a super animation that turns the whole screen into a Jackson Pollock painting made of blood. I lost track of my own character more than once. (Look, I'm 37. My eyes aren't what they used to be.)
The button layout threw me at first. Square is Light, triangle is Medium, circle is Heavy. R2 is called "Boost" (B for short). Not cross, square, circle like I'm used to. Took me about an hour to stop thinking about it.
Once you get past that confusion, the flow is satisfying. Light into medium into heavy into special into super into tag into assist into "wait, is this combo still going?" Yeah. It can be. The game rewards you for staying on offense. Your inactive fighters regenerate health when they're benched (visible as a secondary gauge inside their health bar), so switching keeps you alive longer.
The defensive options are what sold me. You can call an assist to block a move mid-combo. Time it right and you get a counter. There's a cooldown, so you can't spam it, but it means you're never just sitting there watching a 30-second cutscene of your own death. That's a real problem in some tag fighters (looking at you, Marvel Tokkon beta).
I'd argue Invincible VS handles this balance better than Dragon Ball FighterZ did at launch. You have tools to escape pressure, but they require timing and resource management. Button mashing gets you killed.
This is where the reviews are right. The story mode is short. Like, 90 minutes short. You fight through a battle royale setup where something weird is making everyone punch each other. The TV show's writers were involved, and it shows in the dialogue, but the whole thing feels like a lost episode you accidentally skipped.
Some reviewers called it forgettable. I'll be harsher: it's frustrating. The pacing is weird. Cutscenes switch between pre-rendered video (with noticeable artifacting) and in-engine scenes that run at a choppy framerate meant to mimic the show's style. The transition between them is jarring. Plus, there are long pauses after fights where the game just... sits there. Loading? Bad optimization? I don't know. But I noticed it every time.
But (and this is important) the story mode does one thing well: it forces you to try every character. By the end, I knew who I wanted to main. That's more than most fighting game story modes do for me.
Arcade mode is where the real single-player value is. Each character gets an ending. They're short but flavorful. Battle Beast's ending made me laugh out loud. Thula's was exactly what you'd expect (more violence).
18 characters at launch. More coming via a season pass. Here's my quick take on who works:
I have complaints. Some characters feel too similar. Thula and Lucan both play mid-range control games. Allen the Alien is a grappler who's too mobile. (That should be illegal.) But the variety is real enough that team composition matters. You can't just pick three favorites and win. I tried. I lost.
The game commits to the show's aesthetic: bold lines, flat shading, and gratuitous gore. Heads explode. Clothes tear in real time. The environment breaks apart as you fight. It's visceral.
On PS5 (standard, not Pro), performance is solid. 60fps holds even during 3v3 supers. But clarity takes a hit. When all six characters are on screen plus assists plus projectiles, I honestly lost track of my own position twice in one match. That's not great.
There are also graphical glitches. Limbs clip through bodies. Characters twist in ways human (or Viltrumite) anatomy shouldn't allow. Nothing game-breaking, but noticeable.
Online cross-play works. I tested it against a friend on PC. Matches felt responsive. No major rollback issues. That's a relief because the game's long-term health depends on online.
Content is lean. You get:
No challenge modes. No roguelike dungeon. No character-specific tutorials beyond basic move lists. For $50, that's a tough sell if you're not already into fighting games.
But here's my prediction: this game lives or dies on its competitive scene. Quarter Up has already said a balance patch is coming (the beta had some truly degenerate safe-on-block spam). If they support it like they supported Killer Instinct, with regular updates and new characters, it could carve out a niche between Dragon Ball FighterZ and 2XKO.
No official date yet, but the community is expecting it within the first month. The devs have been active on Reddit (check u/QuarterUp_Official) and acknowledged the safe specials issue. Frame data has already been adjusted from the beta. Most invincible moves are now punishable on block.
Here's my honest take: Invincible VS is a good fighting game wrapped in a mediocre package. The core combat is tight, the defensive options are thoughtful, and the fan service lands (especially the voice work from J.K. Simmons and the rest of the returning cast). But the story mode is a letdown, the roster has some samey characters, and the $50 price tag feels $10 too high for what you get at launch.
If you love tag fighters or you're an Invincible superfan who wants to smash Omni-Man into a wall, buy it. You'll get your money's worth in lab time and online matches alone. If you're casual and just want a cool superhero story, skip it or wait for a sale.
I'm keeping it installed. The combo system is too addictive to drop. But I'm also crossing my fingers that first patch fixes the visual chaos. Because right now, half the battle is just figuring out where your own character is.
"Cecil is a Morrigan. Them's Fightin' Herds."
- Reddit u/giantbombdotcom quoting reviewer Shawn McDowell
Rating: 7.5/10
Quarter Up developed the game. It's a Skybound Entertainment studio founded by former Killer Instinct (2013) developers. Robert Kirkman (Invincible creator) was involved in the story and new character design.
Yes. Released April 30, 2026 on Windows PC (Steam), PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. Cross-play is supported across all platforms.
No loot boxes or pay-to-win mechanics. There's a season pass for future characters and cosmetic unlocks earned through gameplay.
