The first time I watched the announcement of Invincible VS, I wasn’t impressed. The art style looked a bit rough around the edges, and the gameplay showed some potential and ideas, but I didn’t find it appealing. I was happy that Invincible, the popular TV series based on Robert Kirkman’s comic, was getting a proper video game adaptation, but that was about it.
As more trailers started releasing and some popular content creators spoke about it, my interest began to build. Especially when I learned that some developers from Killer Instinct 2013, one of my favorite fighting games of all time, were behind the project.
At EVO 2025 in Las Vegas, I met art director Dan Eder, who showed me the ropes and explained what we can expect for the release of the game – and why I should be excited about it.
The ABC Of Invincible VS
After only a handful of matches, the game clicked. I was impressed with its approachability: you don’t need to be good at team fighting games to quickly understand its appeal. You can perform simple and flashy combos by repeatedly pressing any of the three attack buttons (Light, Medium, and Heavy), tag in your other characters by pressing the Assist buttons, and perform Super Moves by pressing two buttons and a direction.
It’s a very simple scheme, following the current trends in the genre, but there are options and features for more experienced players, like motion inputs, special moves that let you get close to your enemy or avoid their attacks, and ways of creating sick combos with your three characters. Trying to find the right balance for casual and hardcore gamers is something that most developers struggle with, and Eder is well aware of that.
“It’s exactly what we’ve been talking about since day one of starting this game,” explains Eder. “Who is our target audience? How do we cater to that audience while also not alienating other people?
“We’ve been very clear that the game definitely caters towards an FGC crowd. People who really live and breathe fighting games. They’re going to take the time to understand all the intricacies and the complexities of the fighting system. But we always keep the casual gamer in mind.”
Blood, Destruction, And Super Heroes
Invincible VS is also a visually striking game. This was a pre-alpha build, but I already saw a lot of improvements from that first footage in the announcement trailer. The character models looked more polished, and their movement animations were slicker. Many small details gave it a strong identity.
For example, the background of the stage can get destroyed as rounds go on, imitating what happens in the show in the big battles. And it’s a bloody game: each blow will make your rival bleed, and if you perform a powerful move when they are at low health, you can even make them explode.
“We’re really making sure that [graphic violence] is a big part of our visuals,” explains Eder. “It’s like the high stakes. It’s not like Mortal Kombat’s fatalities, right? It’s just brutal combat and some of the damage that it causes.”
When searching for the basis of the art style, Eder tells me that they discussed going for a hyper-realistic or cell-shading direction at first, but they thought the former wasn’t the right fit, and the latter is oversaturated in the market right now.
“We eventually landed on a direction that’s pretty hand-painted,” says Eder. “You have a lot of hand-painted textures and stuff. It’s still vibrant. It’s still heavily stylized. You got thick outlines in the characters. We just wanted the personality to really come across, but in a way that didn’t feel overly busy.
“We’re going to revisit it as you get closer to launch. We do a lot of the fine-tuning when it comes to lighting, textures, materials, and getting everything really shining. It’s an ongoing process.”
Working With Your Idols
Eder tells me that he basically got the job after uploading fan art of Omni-Man. Skybound found the piece online and wanted him for the job. This isn’t something new for the art director, though: it’s basically how he also landed his job as art director for MultiVersus, when he uploaded fan art of Wonder Woman.
If starting to work on a project for a series he loves in this fashion wasn’t enough, Eder tells me that he and his team got to work closely with the creators of Invincible, Robert Kirkman, Corey Walker, and Ryan Oakley.
“I think we’ve earned [Kirkman’s] trust over time,” he says. “At first, he might have been more involved just to make sure that we’re on track in terms of how we depict the characters in the world. But then, as he saw the progress we were making and loved it for the most part, he’s like, ‘Just do your thing.’
“We don’t get a whole lot of feedback from him or from the other creators. Because, for the most part, they really dig everything that we do. They don’t hold us back.”
Eder is happy with the work his team is accomplishing, and having the approval of the series’ creators makes him feel proud. But he doesn’t want to let it get to his head and lose focus.
“We don’t want the game to be like a fighting game with Invincible characters. We want the game to be an Invincible fighting game. It has to be channeled through and through with everything about the game. From character interactions, to their facial features, to their movement in the animation, to their voice lines. Everything has to be consistent and respectful of the original characters.”
That’s A Lot Of Invincible
If you don’t like fighting other people online, I have good news: Invincible VS will feature single-player modes, such as “an original story” that Eder has worked on with Kirkman and company. He can’t tell me any details, but he sounds confident that it will appeal to both newcomers to Invincible’s universe as well as fans of the show and comics.
However, the most exciting news comes when he speaks about the potential roster of the game and whether they are using the TV series or the comics as their main source material. Having few characters in a tag fighter is a tricky spot (ask 2XKO fans), but it seems like it won’t be the case here.
“We haven’t announced an exact number yet, but I can tell you that it’s going to be probably more than people think. I can say between 15 and 20 for the launch roster.
“We lean more on the show for the most part. But we do have certain elements that have not yet been shown there. Either characters or certain things that are going to be shown in the upcoming seasons. We want them to be represented in our game. We are fully immersed in both the show and the comics.”
Eder tells me that Invisible VS doesn’t have a release date yet, but they are working steadily to launch the game in 2026. We will have to wait a bit more to throw punches with Mark, Eve, and the rest of the gang.
Invincible VS
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ for Blood and Gore, Strong Language, & Violence.
- Developer(s)
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Quarter Up
- Publisher(s)
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Skybound Games
- Multiplayer
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Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
- Cross-Platform Play
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All platforms
- Number of Players
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Single-player
- Steam Deck Compatibility
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Unknown
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