Written by James Nicolay
Title: Inversus Deluxe
Developer: Hypersect
Publisher: Hypersect
Genre: Action, Strategy, Arcade
Price: $14.99
Also Available On: XB1, Steam, PS4
Some games are easier to understand when played than when described. Inversus Deluxe is both an arcade game and a multiplayer game that is easy to pick up by anyone who has seen its gameplay in less than ten seconds. Despite its seemingly simple gameplay mechanics, playing Inversus, especially locally on Switch with friends, has been a blast.
The closest comparison I can use to describe Inversus is my most favorite indie local multiplayer game of all time, Towerfall Ascension, which is a staple every time I have at least four people in my place—we would go and play this game for hours. Similar to Towerfall, Inversus is best enjoyed as a local multiplayer game where the goal is really simple: you shoot each other. But this is not your Call of Duty kind of shooting game—the graphics of the game is extremely minimalist—mostly black and white grid levels.
Each player moves a cube and fires in the four directions (up-down-left-right), the ABXY buttons assigned to each. If your cube is black, you can move in white spaces in the grid stage—and each time you shoot, you transform the black cubes to white, thereby making your movement spaces wider. Within your cube, you will also find five bullets that will force you to strategize and not spam bullets. They regenerate slowly, hence your opponent can strike you if you don’t use your bullets well. There are special bullets in new stages that you unlock—some are rapid bullets, some can bounce off, and some can explode.
When my friends and I played the game locally, everybody understood what to do in the first minute of the game. And one hour later, we were having fun going from one stage to the next, enjoying these short battle sessions probably one minute at a time.
The only thing that felt missing though was a kind of a score card that keeps track of the wins of the players after many rounds of various battle levels—again, I wish it were a bit similar to how Towerfall Ascension does it. But still, I give props to the developer because the game is undeniably fun despite minimalist design and missing features.
The game features Arcade mode that can be played solo or with a friend, and one can also play solo online with a random opponent. There are still levels to unlock when played solo, but the game I think is much more fun when played locally with friends.
Inversus has all the makings of a fun party game. Easy to pick up and virtually, anyone can possibly play it. The simple design will not be everyone’s cup of tea, but Inversus, especially if played on the Nintendo Switch, can liven up any party.
RATING: 4/5
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