Indivisible (video game)

Lore & Background

Indivisible was announced by Lab Zero Games on July 2, 2015, during their Skullgirls panel at Anime Expo. The storyline was influenced by Southeast Asian mythology and other cultures. A crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo launched on October 5, 2015, with a goal of US$1,500,000; the goal was reached on December 2, 2015, after an extension. The game was released on October 8, 2019 in North America and three days later in Europe. The Nintendo Switch version was surprise-released on April 28, 2020, without input from Lab Zero, and launched with missing features later added via updates. Lab Zero's dissolution was announced on September 24, 2020, and the final Switch update arrived on October 13, 2020. An Amazon Luna port followed on October 20, 2020, approximately 26 days after Lab Zero went defunct.

Reader's Guide

Indivisible is significant as the final project of Lab Zero Games, the studio known for Skullgirls. Its development marked a notable crowdfunding success, reaching a $1.5 million goal after an extended campaign. The game's combat system, inspired by Valkyrie Profile, and its hand-drawn animation by Lab Zero, Trigger, and Titmouse, received praise. However, the studio's dissolution shortly after release led to cancellation of planned downloadable content, including guest characters like Shovel Knight and Red from Transistor. An animated series adaptation announced for Peacock in July 2020 was assumed scrapped after Lab Zero's closure. The game's legacy is tied to its status as a final work and the abrupt end of its post-launch support.

Did You Know?

• The game's opening animation was directed by Yoh Yoshinari of Little Witch Academia.
• The Nintendo Switch version was accidentally launched on its original planned release date instead of being delayed to early May 2020.
• Cancelled DLC included guest characters Shovel Knight, Red from Transistor, Annie from Skullgirls, the Drifter from Hyper Light Drifter, and Shantae.
• An animated adaptation was announced for Peacock on July 17, 2020, but its status is unknown due to Lab Zero's closure.

Gameplay: Platforming Meets Button-Driven Combat

Indivisible blends 2D action platforming with a combat system drawing from Valkyrie Profile. Players control Ajna through the overworld, moving left, right, and jumping, gradually unlocking new abilities that expand her reach and speed. When enemies appear, the game shifts seamlessly into action RPG combat where each party member is tied to a specific button. Pressing a button sends that character forward to strike, and the sequence of button presses forms attack combos. Players can further customize strikes by holding up or down on the analog stick or D-pad, and upgrades allow characters to land multiple hits in a single exchange. On the defensive side, players can block individual attacks by tapping a character's button or shield the entire party at once. A meter accumulates during encounters, and once full, it unlocks super attacks for each character, adding a layer of strategic timing to the otherwise button-driven combat.

A Story of Identity, Betrayal, and Reconciliation

The story opens with warriors led by Indr defeating the goddess Kala, who is then sealed on Mount Sumeru. Indr discovers an abandoned infant, names her Ajna, and raises her as his daughter. Sixteen years later, Ajna's village of Ashwat is attacked by an army under Dhar, who kills her father. In the aftermath, Ajna awakens a latent power that absorbs Dhar into a pocket dimension within her mind, and she compels him to guide her to his warlord, Ravannavar. As she gathers companions and absorbs them into her mind, she ultimately tracks Ravannavar to Sumeru and kills him, not realizing his true aim was to exploit her power to free Kala. Ajna is revealed to be a fragment of Kala herself, separated during the goddess's imprisonment. After a catastrophic loss of control driven by Kala's influence, Dhar sacrifices himself to stop her. Ajna then journeys the world to activate three chakra gates, regroups with allies, and returns for a final confrontation. In the end, she convinces Kala to abandon her plan to destroy the world, and the two merge and vanish. A post-credits image shows the merged entity living a new life in an unknown place.

Creative Lineage and the Crowdfunding Gauntlet

Indivisible was born from Lab Zero Games, a studio whose members were best known for the 2012 fighting game Skullgirls. The project was unveiled during a Skullgirls panel at Anime Expo on July 2, 2015, with the developers citing southeast Asian mythology and other cultural traditions as narrative inspirations. The game features 2D hand-drawn animation produced by the studio's own artists, alongside animation work from Japanese studio Trigger and American studio Titmouse, Inc. The opening sequence was directed by Yoh Yoshinari, known for Little Witch Academia. Composer Hiroki Kikuta, celebrated for his work on Secret of Mana, provided the soundtrack. To fund development, Lab Zero launched an Indiegogo campaign on October 5, 2015, targeting $1.5 million, with publisher 505 Games committing to cover the remaining budget if the goal was met. The campaign initially struggled, pulling in roughly $764,000 by early November, but was extended after crossing Indiegogo's 60% threshold, and ultimately reached its target on December 2, 2015.

A Fractured Release and a Studio's Final Bow

Indivisible launched in October 2019 across Linux, macOS, Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, with a Nintendo Switch version arriving on April 28, 2020, and a Japanese release following on July 16, 2020. The Switch launch was particularly chaotic: the game was pushed live on its originally planned date rather than the intended early-May delay, and it shipped without features like co-operative play and New Game+ mode, which were patched in afterward. Lab Zero Games had no input into this release. On October 9, 2020, 505 Games announced the cancellation of all future updates and content. Just eleven days later, on October 20, 2020, an Amazon Luna version was released, even though Lab Zero Games had gone defunct by that point. Indivisible thus stands as the final title the studio ever shipped, and its post-launch support effectively ended with the studio's dissolution, leaving the game without the additional content that had been planned.