Nearly 100 hours in, I think it's time I change my previously negative review into something that reflects what I really think of this game now.

Invisible is one of those games that is so unforgivably harsh, you will have a love/hate relationship with it, it will make you suffer, it will let you feeling miserable, but you will always be back for more.

You'll want to have the last word, but the game will argue with you even harder than the last time, then it will knock you down on knees again, and there you'll stand, bloody and defeated... untill you gather up the strength to lick your own wounds and then go back for another round... then another... and then another.

As you are mercilessly beaten up by it, time after time, you will learn its secrets one by one, such as:

• you should never spend all your AP in one go, because if you do, you won't have any to reach that cover that it's just one tile away from you;
  
  
• you should always peek through that keyhole or around that corner, to scout for guards, their paths and also cameras, rather than just storm about the whole place as if it was your own backgarden;
  
  
• you should check if you have armor piercing weapons before engaging armored guards;
  
  
• you should save your only "rewind" for when you really need it... and believe me, even then, you'll wish you didn't spend it;
  
  
• you should spend you cash wisely: being able to pickpocket large amounts of cash (anarchy) is not that great compared to being able to move a few more tiles per turn (stealth), or saving that money for that armor piercing, tranquilizer pistol, or that augment that will let you knock down a guard for an extra turn;
  
  
• you should never let greed take over you: those safes full of cash and gear won't do you any good if the alarm level is one turn away from 4, and you end up losing agents because of that;
  
  
• you should always plan your escape: locating the elevator is as important as locating your mission objective.
  
  
• it should go without saying, but this is a stealth game, meaning that not only you should stay hidden, but also the guards you knock down (or kill) should be dragged to hidden locations as well, or at the very least, lay them in areas where there are no patrols going around.

Simple lessons, yet hard to learn and easily forgotten

Here I am now, finally admiting that this game is brilliant, not because it is simply "too hard to beat", but because it challenged me like very few games did, whilst teaching me its ways past its deathtraps.

I almost feel embarassed after reading my previous review, but I am going to leave it as it was, just so I can remind myself never to write reviews while angry, especially when my anger was caused by my own incompetence.

Well done, Klei. Well done.

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PREVIOUS REVIEW:

I simply love turn-based, tactical games. Add the word "stealth" to the equation, and I'm drooling all over it.

That's why Invisible is kind of a disappointment to me.

It delivers in mostly everything: artwork is superb, gameplay is smooth... you can improve your spies' abilites, you can explore the map, sneak past guards or knock them down, pickpocket them... you can hack servers, cameras... you can unlock safes and steal valuables... well, it's got everything really.

Everything... except that, because the maps are generated at random, half the time the obstacles spawn in such locations that you just cannot sneak past guards and cannot knock them out, not without losing one or more of your agents.

Other times, you are so ill-equipped agaisnt the vast amount of armored guards and high "disabling cost" cameras and other obstacles, that no matter what strategy you devise, you will lose.

And because playing this game has been such a frustrating experience, with sorrow I will not recommend it.

3/10