I'm a beta tester for Invisible Fist so here's a review I guess (Patreon)

I don’t usually do game reviews, so I don’t really know how to do them, but I really want to review this game because it’s great and they were nice enough to invite me to beta test it. I think I need some sort of yardstick to measure against. Let’s compare it against the greatest game ever made: Shadow the Hedgehog 2005.
Complex moral decision making: check

Edgy, unlikeable protagonist: check

Battling against the American government: check

Nebulus enemy named after a limb: check

Okay we’re doing well so far. So what is Invisible Fist about? Well, here’s what the game has to say: [GAME INTRO] So in this game you play as three different people, and they serve as three different difficulty settings. It clearly loses a mark here because none of them are Edgy hedgehogs and none of them are Adam Driver, but nonetheless the layout where playing as a tech billionaire is the easiest way to play the economy is hilarious and moreover, correct.

The first protagonist, Jeff, is a real dingus. He’s a silicon valley tech billionaire who is dating his phone (Her) but seems to have reached the resentful long-term relationship stage with it. His mother prefers his brother who has a wife and kids, so instead of making terrible stupid decisions like spending time with his family, or going on some dates he - like a true intellectual - starts designing an AI to replace her. So we play first as Jeff, working towards the launch of his new AI companion MONA - Mother of the New Age - named after his mum Mona… hey guys did you know Steve Jobs once named a computer after his daughter Lisa who he had been neglecting and trying to dodge custody of for years? Cos I did. And then I played this game. And then I chuckled.

So how do you defeat the Invisible Fist? Well, Invisible Fist is a Role-Playing Card Game Video Game… an RPCGVG. Catchy. So if you hate turn-based combat can get back into your sewer of wrong opinions and shame now. You play cards on each turn which cost hours out of the day to either deal damage to the invisible fist, regain health or reduce your stress, as well as special cards that have effects on your other cards.

This is the second place where this game is really fucking clever: In life you have to play the cards you’re dealt, and it’s no different in Invisible Fist. Rather than retaining a strict moveset, you will have different ways to tackle the game. Sometimes you’ll have effective moves to damage the fist, sometimes you’ll have ones that are total piss! Sometimes you can sleep like a baby, sometimes your only options are catnaps and ambien. Sometimes Jeff does wholesome things like diving to relax, sometimes he does drugs or gets more raunchy, which is pretty funny - IF YOU THINK HELL IS FUNNY.

The card game framing for this game is kind of a gift that keeps on giving - the mechanics blend to support the premise in a way that makes you forgive the game for being so on the nose. Actually, the anticapitalist messaging of the game is so on the nose it sort of just passes straight through the awkward zone into being just fucking great.

When you play too many work cards, you have to spend one of your days just playing relax cards because your stress gets too high! That’s great!
When your character interacts with people in their life they have to choose between maintaining their relationships or saving time to fight the Invisible Fist! That’s great! I mean, it sucks for them, but you’re playing and it’s just like wow, okay… that’s… yup.

The fact I’m this excited for the game when it’s only got a third of its content is hopefully a clear enough message, but just in case it isn’t: I think you’re gonna like Invisible Fist. Right now you can only play as Jeff the dingus, but if it continues how it started, I give it a tentative 0.8 Shadow the Hedgehogs!