Indivisible Review (PS4)

A colorful world.  Colorful characters.  A protagonist who absorbs people.  This is Indivisible.

Indivisible is an interesting game that mixes the RPG and platformer genres.  You take the role of Ajna, a no-nonsense young badass with an attitude spicy than hot curry.  She seems to be a dumb brute with a sharp tongue, but I think she's charming little brat.  It's just fun to watch her move around and listen to her back-and-forth with the other characters.  Any, it doesn't take long for tragedy to befall her, sending her on a quest for vengeance and potentially saving the world.

Ajna doesn't take crap from anyone.  Not even her father.

Ajna's world is turned upside down, forcing her into action.

It always comes down to saving the world.

Along the way, she'll run into the aforementioned colorful characters.  So, what kind of people join Ajna on her journey?  You have the man who lead an attack on her village, a sadistic shaman, an androgynous healer, and many more.  These people get...absorbed(?) into her head and come out when its time to fight.  You can visit these characters at any almost time by meditating and traveling to Ajna's Inner Realm to share barbs and dialogue that aren't voiced for some reason.

Each character you recruit has a short intro...

...as well as a short tutorial.

As mentioned before, gameplay is a strong mix of RPG and platformer.  The combat isn't unlike Valkyrie Profile.  Each character is assigned a face button.  The character will either attack or, when targeted by an enemy, block attacks when their button is pressed.  Blocking enemy attacks is VERY important, because it is extremely easy to die before you know what happened.  You can also press L1 to make everyone block at the same time, but you'll want to be careful about when you use it.  That because it uses a lot of iddhi (that blue bar in the upper corner), which you'll need to resurrect fallen characters.

Combat is a lot like Valkyrie Profile, with each character getting a dedicated button.

Each battle ends with a dramatic pause so you can savor that last hit.

The combat throws in a few things to keep you on your toes and prevent mindless button mashing.  There are enemies who can only be hurt by juggling them or launching them into the air.  In another instance, one of the bosses jumps off-screen, forcing you to dodge acid and kill little spiders before jumping back in.  The game also trolls the heck out of players with some nasty surprises.  Simply put, you can't just fall asleep and spam buttons until you win.

I like the platforming parts of this game.  These sections feel like most "Metroidvania" games, with a map to show you what you might be missing and areas blocked off until you have the right tools to get through.  Speaking of which, Ajna has a number of tools and abilities to help her get around, including a wall jump for...well, wall jumping and a slide to get under walls and aid in getting preemptive strikes on enemies.  She gets other abilities, too, but that would be spoilers.

Ajna calculates her next move as she slides down a wall.

Sliding around in those shorts all day must be hard on her poor legs.

The game has a heck of a sense of humor.  Granted, I wasn't rolling on the floor with laughter, there are plenty of laugh out loud moments.  You'll do some laughing, that's for sure.

You don't get this kind of humor in Super Metroid.

On to the little stuff.  The graphics are pretty good.  Everything is nice and colorful.  The characters and monsters are cute, but not too cute.  There are also some disgusting designs, such as flying strands of hair that part to reveal nothing but guts underneath.  I do wish things were slightly bigger as you're running around, but there's no threat of going blind like in other games.

I would have liked the graphics to look more like this outside of combat, but...

...they usually look like this.

The music is blah.  Some of it sets the mood nicely, but nothing will stick with you or make it's way onto your I-pod.  The voices are pretty good.  As mentioned before, the back and forth between Ajna and the others is nice.  There are times where the acting could have been better.  For instance, there are scenes where character should be yelling, but they sound calm, like they're ordering a pizza.  Maybe it's meant to be humorous, but that's doubtful.  It just comes off as flat.  The voices work for the most part, though.

On another note, I like how the title screen is literally the last bell you saved at.  There is no loading screen if you simply choose to continue your most current game.  Ajna just rolls up her skirt and gets straight to work.  It's a nice touch.

Without beating around the bush what we have with Indivisible is a pretty good game.  The combat is solid, the platforming is well-done, and the humor is genuinely funny.  As long as you can hand a few nasty surprises, you'll enjoy it.  This one is solidly in "play it" territory.