With games like Don't Starve and Mark of the Ninja under their belt, I had pretty high expectations for Klei Entertainment's Invisible, Inc. and sure enough it impresses. If you've played Mark of the Ninja you probably have an idea of how well Klei handles stealth and it shines once again here in the form of turn-based gameplay, great skill/inventory progression and elaborate, procedurally generated levels that make every playthrough unique and results in high replayability.

The premise is simple enough; you choose two agents at the beginning of a playthrough (and can unlock more to choose from as you play, each with their own unique loadout and abilities), pick from a list of randomized targets that offer various benefits - such as banks containing large amounts of credits to buy items with or upgrade your agents' skills, cybernetic labs to augment your agents and offer them new abilities, server farms to improve your hacking software, or even detention centers where additional agents may be held that can be freed and join your team - and do what you can to prepare for one final mission. The different targets will have varying degrees of security which increases as you complete more assignments and start to build a reputation. Along with this is an "Alarm Level" system that increases for each turn you spend skulking around the buildings, adding a sense of urgency to every mission and making you weigh the benefits of staying longer to gather more resources against the risk of being caught due to the rising security levels. While initially places you break into may just have basic guard patrols and easily hacked technology, eventually the targets will start to have armored guards resistant to the tools at your disposal, automated drones and turrets that can't simply be knocked out and firewalls that trigger various defenses when tapped into; it's up to you as you play to make sure you prepare accordingly for the escalating difficulty and stay one step ahead of the new obstacles put in your way.

To top off the solid gameplay, Invisible also has wonderful atmospheric design. Between the music, characters and art direction this game pulls off a great near-future feel combined with espionage that really sells the setting and "story" despite how simple both are; you may very well find yourself basing your Agent choices not just on their utilities but who they are as characters in regards to their biographical information and personalities.

Incredibly challenging and equally addictive, it's hard not to recommend this for as cheap as it is given the polish and care that's obviously gone into it. If you're looking to infiltrate high-tech facilities with informational warriors and feel the heat as you try to escape with the goods, I'm confident that Invisible, Inc. will more than meet your expectations as it did with mine.

With games like Don't Starve and Mark of the Ninja under their belt, I had pretty high expectations for Klei Entertainment's Invisible, Inc. and sure enough it impresses. If you've played Mark of the Ninja you probably have an idea of how well Klei handles stealth and it shines once again here in the form of turn-based gameplay, great skill/inventory progression and elaborate, procedurally generated levels that make every playthrough unique and results in high replayability. The premise is simple enough; you choose two agents at the beginning of a playthrough (and can unlock more to choose from as you play, each with their own unique loadout and abilities), pick from a list of randomized targets that offer various benefits - such as banks containing large amounts of credits to buy items with or upgrade your agents' skills, cybernetic labs to augment your agents and offer them new abilities, server farms to improve your hacking software, or even detention centers where additional agents may be held that can be freed and join your team - and do what you can to prepare for one final mission. The different targets will have varying degrees of security which increases as you complete more assignments and start to build a reputation. Along with this is an "Alarm Level" system that increases for each turn you spend skulking around the buildings, adding a sense of urgency to every mission and making you weigh the benefits of staying longer to gather more resources against the risk of being caught due to the rising security levels. While initially places you break into may just have basic guard patrols and easily hacked technology, eventually the targets will start to have armored guards resistant to the tools at your disposal, automated drones and turrets that can't simply be knocked out and firewalls that trigger various defenses when tapped into; it's up to you as you play to make sure you prepare accordingly for the escalating difficulty and stay one step ahead of the new obstacles put in your way. To top off the solid gameplay, Invisible also has wonderful atmospheric design. Between the music, characters and art direction this game pulls off a great near-future feel combined with espionage that really sells the setting and "story" despite how simple both are; you may very well find yourself basing your Agent choices not just on their utilities but who they are as characters in regards to their biographical information and personalities. Incredibly challenging and equally addictive, it's hard not to recommend this for as cheap as it is given the polish and care that's obviously gone into it. If you're looking to infiltrate high-tech facilities with informational warriors and feel the heat as you try to escape with the goods, I'm confident that Invisible, Inc. will more than meet your expectations as it did with mine.