This has several things I usually don't look for in a game -- permadeath, a fiendishly steep learning curve, and procedurally-generated levels that leave a lot of your success or failure (usually the latter) to luck -- but I am finding it so addictive I feel like I'm in that episode of TNG where everyone gets exposed to that new space game and it takes over their brains.

Since it's Early Access, some of the joins are still showing, like the banter that seems a little disconnected (the guy who sells gear has offered me condolences for my loss a number of times when all my agents were alive). More importantly, a game with this many characters should really have more nonwhite faces.

I'm looking forward to seeing how they continue to develop the game and respond to community feedback. Even in its current state, I feel like I've gotten my money's worth of gameplay already. Now if you'll excuse me I need to go look at some trees or something for a while until the afterimages of doorways and dotted character pathways stop playing across the inside of my skull.

Not changing the game does not mean that excellence can't be achieved.
The individual components of "Invisible, Inc." are not new: stealth-based gameplay, resource control, and a gameplay flow of "your turn, their turn". However, the premise, and how elegantly these components come together, is nothing short of art.

As the driving force of a spy organization on its last legs after some unknown infiltration, your last two agents must undertake missions around the world in a last-ditch attempt to regain capital and resources, in the form of bionic augments for your agents, buffs for your UI internet ICE program, Incognita, cool-as-the-other-side-of-the-pillow spytech, and cold hard cash for whatever else comes along.

The squad at Klei seemed to have considered everything, alllowing for your agents to lure the hapless security guards out of position for them to be avoided, subdued, or removed with extreme prejudice, according to your preference as a player. Offsetting this level of care, "Invisible, Inc." is BRUTAL. One mistake, and your agents will be spotted, cornered, and removed from play with one-shot-one-kill nonchalance.

From the art style, reminiscent of Nagel-gone-Tron, to the "let's play it again" gameplay, "Invisible, Inc. is a masterpiece, and is one of those games that infiltrates my thoughts while I'm away from the keyboard. Easily my frontrunner on my personal "Game of the Year" list, "Invisible, Inc." gets my highest recommendation.

Invisible Inc. is a roguelike, turnbased, procedural stealth game. It borrows gameplay elements from XCOM but with more emphasis on stealth and information gathering. Klei made this type of gameplay their own with an interesting and brutal setting/world and unique art and graphics style.

9/10!

P.S. I have a crush on Internationale.

Invisible, Inc. is a TBS game set in the near future. You are an elite team of stealth operatives. Your goal - get the most money you can. You can choose what kind of enemy bases to infiltrate and can choose to go after advanced technology, additional characters to join your team, programs to upgrade your hacking ablilittes, or a vault to score huge amounts of money. However, the longer the game goes on the harder it gets; you will have to build your team to be able to even escape at the later levels. The levels are procedurally generated, so every level brings a new tactical sitation that you will have to conquer. This procedural engine is very clever though, it will try to screw you over at every turn. This is what makes it fun. Very fun game, even in beta, don't blame you if you wait till full release though. All in all a very good game, highly recommended, belongs in everyones library.

A really great tactical turn based espionage game.

The game has a high replay value thanks to it's randomly generated levels, each with it's own objective. Players can choose from a list of missions allowing for a particular style of mission if desired. Likewise, the game offers a number of unique characters some of which must be found and unlocked during rescue mission. Beat the main mission to unlock 'Endless' mode and play on as long as you like (or until you've been caught).

All in all, Invisible Inc is a solid game and I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys this genre.

Invisible, Inc. is a roguelike, turn-based, strategy stealth game. Moving past the buzzwords, it's a game where you move your units through randomized levels by observing the patterns of enemy movement and then avoiding them on your way to the exit point of the level. If you're lucky, you'll find some items or cash along the way. As you go further in the game, you face more and more dangerous enemies. Eventually you get spotted, die, and have to start again from the beginning. You do that last bit a lot, actually.

I've noticed a lot people assuming that the game is similar to Shadowrun Returns or XCom due to the isometric perspective. It really isn't, and if you go in trying to play it that way you will end up being frustrated. Invisible, Inc. is a stealth game and a roguelike. Combat is difficult and usually not an effective way to deal with enemies. Also, it is a roguelike, to the extent that word still means anything, and you will most likely fail a lot as you learn how to play, and sometimes just because the random number generator screwed you over. How much you enjoy it will depend on your tolerance for that sort of thing.

Also, this being early access, there's always the question of whether the creators are going to actually finish the game. Klei is a pretty well established company at this point, and they previously did a public beta similar to early access with their game Don't Starve. Personally, I think they're trustworthy based on that track record. Not that I'm an expert or anything.

As of Update 1:
Invisible Inc is a pretty interesting take on tactical turn-based stealth (yep, stealth) in a setting of corporate espionage somewhere in the future.
Game is rock hard, so if you don't like dying and replaying a lot - this game's not for you.
Unique mechanics like alarm level and hacking in separate cyberspace make gameplay pretty dynamic compared to the XCOM where you can just overwatch all the time.
Randomly generated levels give you practically unlimited replayability (well, at least until you are just bored by the game itself).
Mix in great style, zero bugs (at least I haven't seen any) and Klei's "Next update: X days" counter (same that they had in Don't starve) and you get a pretty damn good game.
Worth every penny even in this state. But again - if you don't like tough turn-based games, do not even bother.

More detailed look in the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rzEVg0BSBc

Listen to me, please don't think i'm joking or i'm some kind of fanboy when I say...I Absolutely Love This Game!

Pleae bear with me while I attempt to give me amature review of this game.

First off I should say, this game was made by Klei Entertainment, the makers of some amazing games such as Mark of the Ninja (Literally one of the best stealth games ever) , Don't Starve (Very good and addicting suvival/adventure game) , Shank 1 + 2 (Pretty good 2D brawler) , And Eets + Eets munchiesm (Fun puzzle game).

I've had the game in Alpha way before it came on Steam Early Access (Klei allowed people to buy a super early build of it from their site) and I barely touched it, then I decided to play it again recently, and so far, i've clocked in about 9 hours total, 7.5 of those hours being from me playing the most recent build and i'm enjoying the hell out of it.

But let me get to the main points.

The Story: At the moment there isn't much, you're an agency, and you have 72 hours to complete missions before your final mission, choosing a mission tells you how long it will take to complete, and they're also generated randomly, so you never will know the layout of the map, or play the same old thing, you have to learn each time, also you're building your Agency's reputation each time you complete a map, by looting/collecting data/exploring the map.

- The stealth gameplay: Honestly when i started playing this, like an idiot I skipped the tutorial and got myself demolished, it literally took me hours to even learn how to hack.

But yeah, this game is Stealth based, taking on an enemy head on will get you KILLED, you can stun them for a bit, and even kill them (at the risk of setting of an alarm), or you can avoid combat all together while just hacking, and looting, which brings me to my next point.

- Hacking: It's pretty simple, you press space and go into Igconita mode (Igconita was the original title of the game), and you can see what you can hack, which at the moment are just Cameras, Safes, Power supplies, and a lot of other object which may expose the full map to you, and show where other panels are.

Also hacking takes up "PWR" which is basically power or battery life, but with one of the perks you choose in the beginning they give you two pwr each round.

Alarms: There's an alarm system, with every turn as in after all your characters have moved, the alarm bar will fill up a peg, and the stakes get higher

- First alarm = Cameras are now active, if you're spotted the guards will search the area the camera saw you at, but you can easily hack the cams.

- Second Alarm = It's twice as hard to hack, not too difficult, just instead of using 1 PWR you'll use 2 to hack some things.

- Third Alarm = Another guard will come down to investigate, making it a little tricker to get around.

- Forth alarm and so on = Elite guards with armor who move faster, this patten continues until you either die, or your escape.

This alarm system introduces an excellent risk and reward concept, due to the fact that you can stick around and keep exploring and looking for possible loot or intel, but you'll make it harder for yourself, but you also get a higher score in the end.

....or die trying.

Characters: Deckard is experienced stealth spy, who can cross large areas and move around the map, my favorite really.

Internationale: She's the hacker, she can hack things though walls, which honestly, is pretty usefull.

There's two more characters to unlock, as well as some perks.

Overall it's a 10/10 for me, didn't enjoy it at first, but it REALLY grew on me, looking forward to seeing it grow into something special.

Also online co op would be interesting, i'll update this review as I think of more to say on it.

EDIT: Since some people apparently don't know the difference between the Steam EULA and the one for the game, allow me to add the disclaimer that I specifically refer to the developers terms and conditions in this review.

On the surface, this game was a great combination of things I like. Roguelike? Roguelike where the "rogue" is appropriate beyond even just a connection to an old game that created the unforgiving style of anti-save-scumming gameplay? What's not to like? I played a few missions and they delivered a tense but intriguing stealth puzzle of juggling two contrasting objectives - avoiding detection while still finishing quickly. Sadly, I booted up the game recently and was confronted with a laundry list of terms and conditions I don't recall agreeing to when I purchased the game and some were quite troubling in nature.

"We reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to terminate or suspend your Account [...] if your Account is terminated, we may not be able to return your content to you and that you may not otherwise have access to your content"

"The Game may be unavailable from time to time due to routine maintenance, upgrades, hardware and software malfunctions, repairs, power outages, hackers, denial of service attacks and unforeseeably large service demands."

"You consent to our collection, use and disclosure of your name, contact information and other personal information"

"You do not have to pay to play the Game, though we reserve the right to charge fees to play the Game in the future."

I'm sorry (not really) but I'm not ok with playing a game knowing that at any time my ability to play the game I paid for could be revoked. I'm not ok with having a single player experience plagued by issues which imply an underlying system which offers only those issues and no appreciable benefit. I expect the interaction I have with the makers of a game to involve me giving money and recieving the game, no more and no less. Finally, I find it utterly absurd to even entertain the thought that a game which I paid for with the understanding that it did not have any recurring fees might at some point decide to start charging them.

The game is in early access. The game is subject to change. That does not mean the agreement reached when the initial transaction took place should be subject to change at the whims of one side of that agreement.

When I bought it and started playing, it was early-access, soon after release. I fell in love with it immediately. The gameplay style is very reminiscent of XCOM Enemy Unknown, with the EU influences most obvious in the Skills UI and movement display. This is most definitely not a bad thing!

Graphical Stuff
How the game presents its information is excellent and intuitive. Arrows show sounds of footsteps, guards' vision is easily understood and the characters are immediately distinct from one another so you can easily tell them apart.

The art is incredibly stylised, with the main character (named Deckard) looking like he just stepped out of a detective noir movie. It's extraordinarily pretty and really a treat.

The only place it falls down is in the level layout. The see-through walls often cloud some information, making movement range a little difficult to determine at times.

Sound Stuff
Excellent. The soundtrack fits the game to a T and the audio-immersion is fantastic. Audio clues and the aforementioned visual clues intermesh wonderfully.

Controls
A little iffy. I've found that the game occasionally decides to ignore a button press, but it's not too often.

Overall
If you love strategy, turn-based games and stealth and think that combining them all would be tricky but the end result sounds interesting, you should play this game.

- XCOM-style isometric turn-based gameplay? Check
- Deep stealth and hacking experience? Check
- Procedurly generated levels that alter gameplay with each mission? Check
- Beautiful art and aesthetics with heavy Archer-esque Cold War influences? Check-a-Roo

Hello Internet! Today id like to give unto you my review of the game Invisible Inc.

For those who haven't played it yet, or are weighing their options carefully as they peruse the reviews of the game, must be aware. Invisible Inc. is a turn based, stealth, procedurally generated game; somewhat reminiscent of games like X-COM or Wasteland in terms of turn based and team deployment, but with a major focus on stealth and subterfuge. Like X-COM, their is some resource management both in-game and out, but not to the same degree. The game is still not fully done yet and the developers are carefully approaching what their vision of the game should be.

Negatives:(I like to start with these first)
-Very unforgiving of mistakes. Enemies are quick to punish errors with the swift death of your characters. While it is possible to revive fallen units, it is extremely dangerous.

-Balancing. All aspects of the game are undergoing constant tweaks and fixes, that sometimes lead to unfair advantages for both players and enemies.

-Procedurally Generated. No two maps are the same. Certain rooms however will typically have aspects about them that are the same every time(I.e. Holding cell areas always have higher level guards, or robot sentry levels almost always have a random roving eyebot). This by itself is not a negative, but it can be when three or more of these higher difficulty rooms are placed next to eachother, making the player either waste a lot of valuable resources just to find an empty safe room or to enter a bloodbath.

Positive:
-Most important to mention for positives is the amazing dev team that regularly puts out game changing updates, including any number of new items, characters, revisions, tweaks, updates, etc.; all the while listening to their community.

-Story. While vague so far, the story of Invisible Inc. has been developing more and more with each update; adding new dialogue here, a new description on that item, etc. Once the game is fully created I believe that we shall have a compelling and riveting story for us to play through.

-Art Style. The environments, as well the characters themselves, have a very distinguished and marked style. Cartoonish in appearance but with a gritty realism that punctuates the plot and setting of the game.

-Characters and Leveling. Starting off, you only have access to two characters with which you have full control of in game. All of the current characters within the game are capable of being chosen and played after you have leveled up an arcade-style profile experience level; which increases every time you play the game and complete a campaign run-through. The characters are all dynamically different, both in appearance and capabilities, that allow you to capitalize on certain items, enemies, and strategies that the game has available.

-Interesting Gameplay Mechanics. While most of the game is a turn based, stealth ordeal; you must frequently hack and control electronics that affect events in the players world using an advanced AI, which is essentially a game of resource management. You can get past all of the guards and make it to the loot filled safes scattered around the levels but if you don't carefully conserve the power that your AI uses to hack things for you, you'll be ♥♥♥♥ out of luck.

-Logical Gameplay. Every action must be taken with a myriad of variables to consider. Should you risk sprinting to cover more ground, but possibly alert an unseen guard? Should you purchase more ammo for your characters pistol, or invest in their stealth skill instead? Even something as simple as opening a door must be taken into consideration as you may have no idea whats on the other side. Invisible Inc. gives you the tools with which to complete your goals but it is up to you on how you use them.

-Atmosphere and Setting. "Why are these missions always indoors?" -Shalem. The idea is that you, and a select few others, barely escaped an intelligence agancies form of a coup and you must send agents on missions to gather resources and support against the rising corporate giants around the globe. Set in a (not so far away or unthinkable) dystopian future where corporations seem to have more power than the world governments, you must use fantastic technologies such as implants, lasers, robots and super advanced AI to stop these Corporate menaces. While most of the missions are withing the corporate offices and labs that you are fighting, the game vaguely eludes to you that the rest of the world is none the wiser of whats really going on.

In conclusion, Invisible Inc. is a solid 8.0/10.0 for me, an avid fan of both stealth and turn based games. It is a very cerebral game, paired with the subtle cunning required for a stealth action; making for interesting gameplay. While still not fully developed yet, this game is proving that it's great potential is being realized and capitalized on by their dev team. I have no doubts that this game will one day be a GOTY worthy candidate and will be within the libraries of all the strategy nuts out there(Like me!).

Thank You for taking the time to read this.
-Bee

Invisible, Inc. is a stealth tactical turn based game from Klei Entertainment, notable to me for Don't Starve.

It isn't terribly fleshed out yet, but what is there -- the stealth-focused completely unforgiving rogue gameplay, agent trait management, equipment management, and 'Icognito' mode (the hacking mechanism) -- is really, really fun. Even if they don't add many more features (as I write this, in a week a major 'warez' based update is coming out) it's still a really enjoyable, deep thinking game. It has even taken the place of X-Com for the time being, for those times I want my turn based tactical combat fix.

Another reason it really came to my attention is the hard focus on stealth gameplay -- alot like Metal Gear Solid or Splinter Cell -- but with a charming, cartoony art style. Your agents will end up being found and mercilessly gunned down as your Central Operator expresses her disappointment in your performance. And then you begin again with a fresh new team, in a fresh new environment (did I mention its PROCEDURALLY GENERATED which is something X-Com was never able to master) to raid, pillage and escape from various corporate facilities.

It's also a game that makes you say "Just one more turn" and staying up far later than intended playing it. If any of what I've said above peaks your interest, it get's a solid Recommend from me.

Try picking it up on sale for insane value, but it's totally worth the $15.99 it is now.

I bought this game when it first went Alpha due to my love of Mark of the Ninja and my liking of XCOM: EU. This game is supposed to be kind of a fusion of both, a stealth-based tactical RPG. I was dissatisfied with it for reasons I’ll list below but because its was extremely early Alpha I decided to just wait until it became more complete. Unfortunately it really hasn’t changed much.

Right now the game is a mess, people claim it is hard, but it’s all artificial difficulty to an extremely punishing degree. Unlike beloved stealth games like MGS, Thief, Splinter Cell, Dishonored, and Klei's own Mark of the Ninja this game actively punishes you for taking your time and being cautious due to an alarm system that’s constantly ticking up from the start of a level even if you’ve been completely undetected. The procedurally generated levels also can throw you into unwinnable situations. Even fans of XCOM: EU will be probably be dissatisfied because as I said this game punishes you for being cautious, which is the cornerstone of good XCOM playing. Your agents aren't nearly as expendable as XCOM troopers too which makes it even more ridiculously punishing. Stunning enemies is rather pointless because they just get up after two turns and shooting them just brings down the whole building on you. The only real way to beat levels right now is totally speed-run them (Which is even harder due to the procedural generated levels), which is not what a stealth game is inherently about; stealth games are about being taking your time and exploring your surroundings by doing things like studying camera locations and guard patrol patterns. Invisible Inc. just throws that all away and it really suffers for it.

This game as it is right now is just for masochists. But it still is very early in development and I really hope Klei turns it around because there is a lot of potential here to make a fun and fair game. The groundwork is all there.

I’ll keep this review updated when big enough updates come around.

Anxious to see how they continue development. Like a single player version of Spy Vs. Spy. Multiplayer would be very interesting.

Invisible Inc brings a lot to the table with slow paced game play where you have to think about where to explore next, can you spend the time looking for more loot and risk more guards showing up? Do you split up your team or keep them close to work together? Hack the safe or cameras?

Easy to get into, but the challenge lies in balance the experience and equipment, taking only the necessary equipment with you so you can steal enough loot to get the next upgrade.

I highly recommend this game to anyone that likes turn based strategy. The game is not easy or a walk in the park. It is not conventional in that you don't have to (and probably shouldn't) complete every level 100% before leaving it and moving to the next. This all can change with the monthly updates and I will keep this review as up to date as I can but for now I am very happy with my purchase and look forward to more play time.

Edited: added more description.

It's Early Access, but this game is already a winner in my opinion. If EA scares you, look at Klei's track record with 'Don't Starve' and 'Mark of the Ninja'.

Invisible, Inc. is a great combination of stealth, strategy, and tactics. It's proceedurally generated; so the replay value is very good on this title. Most of all it is fun and challenging. I urge you to check this game out.

Hi guys, this game is pretty good. If you are like me and have played most any squad based tactical turn based game then you will like this a lot. First of all it is from Klei and those guys did Mark Of The Ninja and Don't Starve. I love those.

The graphics are pretty good and the art direction is neat. Sound and such are good as well.

But you play those games for the gameplay and it is quite solid. First the missions and objectives are quite good and this game is more akin to Commandos as you actually try not to kill the bad guys. You are leading a team of spies on espionage missions. You can kill but it is discouraged.

There are quite a few interesting mechanics that I have never seen in this type of game before. There is a fully fleshed out stealth which is a novelty for this type of games in general. There is also hacking which is pretty neat and later on in the game you get a lot of gadgets that make it very tactical how to go about completing the level. And talking about levels they are all procedurely generated which is pretty sweet and gives a lot of replay value. And one of the most novel things about the game is the alarm system. When you start a level an alarm bar starts filling up and different things happen when you get to new levels - more guards, hacks costing more, etc. So this makes it so you cannot take your time and a lot of times you are under pressure - do I go for that room or do I leave.

Overall, I feel that the game offers a lot of cool new mechanics I have not seen before with good graphics and sound, and stellar art direction. And all of it procedurally generated.

The only drawback is that it can get a bit repetitive and since there really isn't a whole lot of story to it (yet) you might find it hard to go for another playthru or mission. I hope they do add more things to do between missions as right now it is just a map screen where you choose where to go next. Also, more variety in the mission tiles will be welcome as well as possibly ways to affect the light sources thru hacks etc.

Overall highly recommended.

I'm far too lazy to write a proper review, I'll just C&P somethings I already wrote in the forums.

Same guys as did Don't Starve (Klei apparently).
It's an isometric turn-based squad stealth game (and a very good one at that).
It doesn't feel like Early Access, at least the bad kind, or rather, it feels like a full AAA game that is still getting updates, so far (e.g. think Payday 2, FTL in terms of quality since FTL is indie).
It's a roguelike if you use the very open definition, in other words, it has permadeath(agents are irreplaceable and you can "lose" the game) and proc gen.

re: proc gen
The levels so far seem to be intelligently designed, like a puzzle. Haven't come across anything unbeatable yet (not counting the guy who posted the screenie of a level not possible to reach the exit, heh), but certainly difficult (Heavy blocking a vault with 2 guards inside it first mission, detention centre with 2 patrol guards and a Captain inside, double Heavy patrols, etc). I'm guessing that there's some general rules followed for placement of stuff, besides the obvious (no guards in starting room), and it seems pretty well done so far, the missions don't feel like randomness jumbled together, so good job. They feel like story missions even though they are in fact proceduraly generated. It's a bit like the generation of Binding of Isaac levels, except it feels less random than that even- I imagine it's basically the same though, placing certain things with a small bit of patterning.

re: graphics, interface, music
I can never get tired at starting a fresh level and hearing the music start up, and then looking at Internationale's animation and grumpy face, good touch :)
Also the random blocks moving up and down and around in Incognita and the main game screen while playing a level. I never really paid attention to them before, but it's way better than a blank background :)
While I'm here, the interface is really great too. I'm playing fullscreen and I just realised how the interface never gets in the way of anything, it's never intrusive, and even though the game is in isometric view, I never have problems seeing anything or seeing where stuff is (I do switch to incognita for a broader view sometimes), I feel like I've always got a good view of the immediate area and the whole level, and it always feels like the interface elements are invisible until I need them, since they take up so little space. I also rarely feel the need to rotate the levels at all, I've played a ton of missions and completely forgot that I could rotate with Q and E that it turned out to be a huge surprise to me.

re: gameplay and balance
Both are great, keeping more entertained than the other half dozen games I purchased recently. It's a "hard" game, if you're a veteran at tactical turn-based you'll probably find it easy though (at least I think it's easy once you've got the game mechanics pat down).

Reccomend at base sale price Y/N: Y, if you're interested in this kind of game it's a fair deal in terms of gameplay(how much fun) & replayability(how many hours before you get bored) - or wait for an eventual sale, but either way.

I have a low threshold for getting bored, I get bored by games really easy, so two thumbs up. Hope you enjoy it.

I really am enjoying this game, the mechanics are outstanding, guards pass close enough to touch you sometimes and miss you completely as they are in a hurry to check out the door your partner just opened, a lot of fun to be had learning how to get around and what everything is, the randomization is a little rough to get used to and some missions may go completely to hell while others go without a hitch whatsoever. I'm looking forward to updates from KLei.

*Early Access Review*
I want to like this game.
I want to like this game.
I REALLY want to like this game!

Problem is that the diffifculty curve starts at insane, there's little to no training, and even the easy missions are painfully hard.
Normally in these games I'd wind up save scumming for an extended period until either I learned the tricks of the trade, or finally upgraded my characters to the point that I can handle the missions.
But you're not allowed to do that in this game. You lose a guy, it's autosaved and they're gone forever. You can't save during a mission.

And due to how the game is created, that being that the system builds each stage from scratch, and that you're on a time limit before bigger scarier badguys show up... well, you can't wait for patterns, sometimes the patterns don't help you, and if you go slow you die.
You also die if you go fast.

People who love hardcore difficulty games will love this.
People who suck at them, like myself, will never complete a single stage after twenty tries.
*sigh*