REVIEW: ‘Indivisible’ Is a Solid and Beautiful RPG (Xbox One)

Indivisible is an RPG platformer created by Lab Zero and published by 505 Games. The premise is quite simple, you play as the 16-year-old Ajna. Ajna is rumbustious like most teenagers, yet she has a secret that’s been hidden from her all her life, and before she could find out what it was, the contact was eliminated. Now left with no clues as to who she is, she must travel the world, making “friends”, run off impulse, and either be the savior or the destroyer of the world she seeks answers from.

Right out the gate, Indivisible is a very beautiful-looking game, from both the old-school anime-like trailer to the actual gameplay. The hand-drawn aspects of the cutscenes are shown in a comic book style, where others are just moving 2D sprites that display emotions. Regardless of delivery, the colors are vibrant and the backgrounds feel alive as they move to their own pace as you traverse in the foreground.

Additionally, the voice acting in Indivisible is superb. Each character that you encounter, whether main story NPC or teammate, feels unique touting their own accents, speech patterns, and inflections. Not one character sounds or acts the same, from Razmi with her morbid outlook on the world to Dhar who goes from ignorant drone to thoughtful man as the story unfolds. Coupled with the amazing music selection, the game is magical. From the peaceful tune of the Port Maeria to the dramatic sounds that come when you encounter a battle. The decision to also include an Indian influence in the music was a perfect choice overall.

Gameplay in Indivisible is a lot of fun with a lot of platforming elements and areas that are blocked off from you until you earn specific skills. You also gain weapons and skills that go along with the weapons to assist you in either traversal and/or combat. The controls are simple to learn and understand as well. When you gain the new skill(s) you’re given a tool-tip at the top of the screen to inform you of what you’re supposed to do. All these skills make Ajna a very versatile young girl that could rival Lara Croft.

Indivisible’s combat is both simple and complex. Simple in the aspect that each character is mapped to a face button on your controller. You click that button when you want to attack or block. When you want to use special skills you use Up and Down on either the joystick or D-Pad. When you block with the button, if you time the button press(es) properly you can perform a “clean block” which negates a lot of damage and also heals you a bit too.

You can also utilize some weapons you find in the world, to damage enemies outside the battle phase. As you attack and cleanly block, you will charge up your special bar called, Iddhi. Iddhi, RB on the Xbox One controller, is used to either heal, when full, or to strengthen a teammates’ special skill, which can stack and also make the skill more powerful.

Boss fights are unique and challenging. You don’t simply get to just rush into their domain and then rush them down. Boss fights require a tactical approach and at times the use of other game mechanics to be able to avoid being defeated and restarting the battle. Also being that there’s no traditional leveling system in Indivisible, you can’t really grind out to become “more powerful” and face tank a boss.

This is because to become stronger in Indivisible you will need to find collectibles called, Ringsels, to trade in. You will need to make sure to balance combos, special skills, Iddhi management, and understanding their specific mechanics to be successful. If you need time to think of what to do, hold down the Iddhi button and you will enter “Focus” where everything slows down and you’ll be able to think of what you want to do.

Now Indivisible is a solid game, but there are two issues I’ve had with the game. The main issue would be the audio at times seems to fluctuate. It would be lower in volume in the cutscenes and then the battle sounds will be much louder, forcing me to have to adjust my TV volume.

The other issue would be that if you rush through the text in the game you can miss key elements of what to do and the lack of being able to get a blurb of what to do can lead to being lost and frustrated. This has happened to me a few times, especially when the characters talk for more than 2 minutes, and you want to get back into the action. So this issue could be more so my impatience than an actual game issue.

That said, Indivisible’s story is good, but also a bit cliched in some aspects. You slowly learn about Ajna as things go on. Her impulsiveness at times does lead to more chaos than harmony. Though there are cliches in the story, it’s still very enjoyable, and you will learn to love Ajna because she’s “human” and we make mistakes.

Overall, I would highly suggest Indivisible for anyone who’s looking for a great experience. There’s a lot to love, from the environments to the characters.

Indivisible is available now on PC (Steam), PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.