Invincible VS's Bloody Formula is a good time to bleed against Marvel and Capcom formula

One of the most shocking revelations of the 2025 Xbox Showcase is Invincible VS, a new three-to-three fighter from Skybound, and a new startup studio called “Quad UP Games.” However, don't let the “new startup” descriptor trick you. It's a team full of combat game experience as it's responsible for bringing a group of admirers from a decade ago back to numerous fans who appreciate it.

This time, a quarter of speed and sky emanates, not just a concept, but a concept – self-evident vs. invokes highly acclaimed Marvel vs Capcom-style 2D fighting game styles that use tag teams to swap between multiple characters, a tall task to repeat. According to our hands-on gameplay of Skybound in Los Angeles, it seems that a quarter of the speed is being answered.

The origin story of the killer

In 2013, developer Double Helix brought Rare's killer instinct series back to the public on Xbox One. The influential combat system in 2013 made it a fan favorite, but shortly after it was launched, the studio was snapped up by Amazon games. Many of Ki 2013's main developers are working on other projects, but the voice behind Mike Willette-KI 2013 producer and the iconic “CCC-Combo Breaker!” Sound effects in restart – The fighting game has not been completed. He wanted the band to get together again.

“We feel like our business is not done,” Willette told Gamespot on a recent Zoom call. “I still have itch, so after working on New World (on Amazon) (as the world design team leader), I approached a bunch of old people and said, 'Look, I'm thinking about starting a studio. Will you guys be interested?' Immediately, a bunch of them. “Yes, I'm having fun.”

Not long after, Willette finds himself in Skybound’s office, the creator of the dark and gritty franchise of Invincible Superheroes. “Skybound asked me, ‘Mike, what game do you want to make here?’ I immediately said, “I wanted to build an invincible fighting game, and I’m going to make a tag game,” Willette recalls. “I’m a big fan of the show and comics, and there’s a lot of rich material out there. This is violent. This is cruel. It has superhero bets. I just contacted them on such a level that I said, 'This is what I want to do.

According to Willette, as a pantheon of invincible superheroes, making two-thirds of the label fighter is effortless for the team, and it is perfect for this style of fighting game. Tags fighting games are hype. “It's incredible. Creativity, combo systems, let you build different prototypes of your team, not just using one character… There's no real big game since Dragon Ball Fighterz, so we've done it from Ki's days, and all the learnings from the last 10 years, and all the learnings from the last 10 years, and that's part of the General Quartion.”

Become invincible

Invincible VS employs a simplified version of Marvel vs. Capcom 3's four-button control scheme for attacks: There are four attack buttons–light, medium, heavy, and special–and each has multiple special attacks that are used depending on which direction you move the left thumbstick, a la Super Smash Bros. Tapping the light attack multiple times also offer an auto-combo that will chain into a super move, should the aggressor have the meter to use it.

Thankfully, the team is balanced with simplified control schemes and provides a system of discoverable depth and advanced strategies. For example, those who worry about players pounding the combo buttons over and over can comfort themselves in the return of one of the defining features of the killer’s instinct: the combo instrument, which forces the player to drop the combo if the player frequently uses the same action.

Core combat power is similar to the mechanics in other fighting games: Heroes are promoted to add extra power or hits to special attacks similar to former moves in street fighters, Super Meters can charge more powerful moves through attack and blockage, and so on. However, some have tweaked in a new and interesting way: “Snapback” – forcing opponents to swap characters – can also blow up opponents in a completely different stage in Invincible VS. In this way, characters being eliminated into a new stage will lose access to the supporting characters, because from a storytelling point of view, these characters must “catch up” and the offensive team is ready to go.

Meanwhile, bringing invincible franchise into this format is easier for Willette and his team than previous projects.

“I have more access to this property than the history files of Killer Intinct,” Willette explained. “The problem with our working on Ki is that all the previous developers are gone; we do have (Xbox Partner Creative Director) Ken Lobb, and I can always go to Ken Deep Excellent. ”

This is done in a pre-war character introduction, where each character pairing in the game will have a unique conversation with each other – even if they have never interacted in the official Invincible Media.

“We've had access to comic references worth decades, access to the show team, and we're always spitting back and forth with each other. It's really cool to work here,” Willette said.

Fighting scars

This authenticity also has a more creepy side through invincibility and blood, a feature usually associated with such label fighters. The most obvious implementation is that in overkill, if used as a final hit, certain special and super moves will decapitate, dismember or even detonate the opponent's body.

Willette said this level of violence is necessary to convey the purpose of invincibility, but there is a limit.

“Our goal is cruel, but value to shock rather than superplaid,” he explained. “We want to show the sheer cruelty of these superheroes, such as the ground being torn or the costume being stripped of blood. If you have a killing blow against us, it's really important to us, especially to the authenticity of (intellectual property).

Willette also revealed that the team made a unique spin on the combat damage concept through the “offensive” and “defensive” versions. If one character has a great lead in another, then the protagonist's costume will still have blood spots, or the fist is reddished – just other The blood of the character rather than his own.

“We're really aware of how these things will affect both fighters,” Willett said. “If one character is healthy, another example, their idle animations will be different to show how tired they are. We really want to use these as part of a storytelling for combat operations.”

The team of 1QUAUP Games wants Invincible VS to attract as many players as possible and hopes to achieve this with an easy way: make every player feel like the absolute bad guy.

“When you pick up the game pad for the first time, you can mash it and it feels great, which is great. That means you'll be extending it for a longer time,” Willette said. “If you've never played a fighting game before, I hope this is your first fighting game. If it fails, we hope you can come back because we love fighting games. We want you to attract your fans.”

“This is a love letter from us, 'Yes, we love invincible, we love fighting games, we want you to play.”

Invincible VS is set to Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5 and PC for 2026.