Klei’s Invisible, Inc. is the first original title I played in 2024, and I loved the experience so much that I decided to name the whole blog after it. Invisible, Inc. is an insane game. It’s an isometric tactical infiltration game with endless replayability due to the myriad of combinations you can toy with, starting from all your unique agents (with customizable augments) who work alongside each other in teams of up to four, all the way up to procedurally generated level layouts that make each campaign run feel different from the last one.
Invisible, Inc. is great, play it. But even if Klei is a well-known developer, it’s difficult to recommend the game to others on a whim, and there are interesting reasons why.
First, the game is not that well known. I chalk this up to the fact that it’s hard to describe its moment-to-moment gameplay without relying on other games. Titles mentioned when describing Invisible, Inc. are Xcom, FTL, or even Klei’s Don’t Starve, but unlike Don’t Starve, Invisible puts you in the middle of a pretty short campaign (several hours at the max) and it gives you an easy to understand set of objectives. You sneak in a procedurally generated map, doing your best to select the best upgrades for your team before being dropped in the game’s final level, which is a much more difficult test of tactical thinking than previous challenges. Or, at least, that’s the pitch.
The game’s final level is not that compelling unless you purposefully leave out detention levels from your campaign round-up. While a team of up to four agents is good for the vast majority of players, the final level will throw in your lap two additional agents (the canonical boss of your agency being among them). Be mindful that I am speaking about what most people will play, because said two agents are unlockable, but only after a lot of game time, and few stick around that long. Controlling six agents, turn after turn, is a substantial mental challenge, but it lacks the narrative weight to make the last mission feel different than… padding, and difficulty for the sake of difficulty. There doesn’t seem to be a good mechanical reason why only your boss can access the last mainframe, or why Monst3r gets to be the only one who can hack into the mainframe’s security. It’s just an excuse to have a uniform cutscene as a narrative reward for finishing the campaign.
Another problem causing the game’s obscurity is its reliance on procedurally generated level layouts. I don’t think it harms this game, but I find that “procedurally generated” doesn’t sell the game’s concept that well. And once the player starts experimenting with different agents, they will discover that certain layouts can feel unfair, at times.
Let me give an example. A lot of the game’s replayability comes from its agent and AI customization, but agent customization is bottlenecked by the in-game currency: credits. You find credits by opening safes in the level, but if safes are placed in difficult-to-reach corners, you might find it optimal to leave levels and salvage whatever you were able to get than scrounge for more. Long-term, it doesn’t matter that much, but if the main selling point of the game is your agents' perks, it’s strange that there is no reliable way of purchasing the type of upgrades you might want for each agent. Monst3r acts like a shop of sorts, but he is inconsistent with the types of items he sells.
What I’m trying to say is that when players read “procedurally generated” and “short game”, they might get the impression that it’s more cost-effective to re-roll the map until they get the “perfect” campaign. Which, in my opinion, causes the game to lose its charm. Its charm lies in all the different scenarios you can create based on your moment-to-moment decisions, which makes each run feel thrilling and fresh.
Invisible, Inc.'s visual art style is stunning, and its mechanical implementations are all solid. I love how the player needs to divide up their resources between finding the exit, accomplishing the level’s objectives, and making sure they have enough credits for meaningful upgrades. It’s a fantastic experience and I cannot recommend it enough.