Film adaptations of novels are still rare in the game. Starward Industries has always struggled to visualize Stanislaw Lem's dense descriptions of alien worlds. Fortunately, however, the end result was positive publicity for the process. The Invincibles largely succeeds in exploring this rarely visited frontier.

For starters, "Star Wars" makes life a little easier on itself by refusing to make a direct adaptation of a 1960s science fiction story. The Invincible is a spaceship deep in the mountains filled with a crew, robots, and enough weaponry to destroy the landed planet Legis III. The game scales down, and shortly before the Invincible's scheduled arrival time, we find ourselves in the space suit of Yasna, one of a crew of six scientists who have landed on Regis III for research. Curiously, what follows could exist in almost the same timeline as Lem's work, but the new characters re-contextualize some of the book's most memorable scenes, effectively remixing the story.

Nevertheless, those familiar with the original story and those who are not will have guessed that Regis III is harboring a sinister secret, so it will not be a simple matter of collecting samples and heading home. The problem begins when Yasna wakes up alone on the planet's surface and loses pieces of her recent memory. The situation is compounded when the commander of the mission from orbit explains that he has lost contact with the other four researchers on the surface. Once he regains his sense of direction, his first task is to locate them.

The journey here is almost linear, focused on the challenges of navigating the terrain and the fresh goals that spring up as you begin to unravel the alarming truth. Indeed, while it is tempting to track down your colleagues, it is often the world itself that inspires you to move on, thanks in part to the game's beautiful aesthetics. Visually, Starward's penchant for 50s and 60s retro-futurism turns the landscape into a living painting. Deep coral reef reds relax beneath ocean blue skies, strange metals cling like cubist poles, and wild weather strikes. Yet somehow, even these grandiose sights are softly staged by the score, a dense electronic hum.

The relationship between this setting and the human technology imposed upon it is equally fascinating. Dome-shaped machines, robots with flexible pipe arms, tape-recorder computer drives, smooth-cased vehicles reminiscent of Soviet space-war triumphalism. Yasna is equipped with delightfully retro gadgets, from maps, a hybrid of book and screen, to binoculars with manual dials for distance and focus, to handheld tracking devices dotted with LEDs. Before you know it, you've incorporated these tools into your navigation process and come to place absolute trust in their display.

As for Yasna herself, she is both a personality and a concrete physical presence. Much of the time she is in radio contact with her irritable commander Novik, the two of them arguing about the next step, one moment analyzing and theorizing the situation like brilliant scientists. When she is alone, she talks a little too much to herself, but her voice conveys that she is torn between fatigue and irritation on the one hand and innate resourcefulness and curiosity on the other. On the other hand, the game's animation and camerawork are more quietly expressive. As they climb the rock face, Yasna's vision is focused on the position of their hands and feet, making sure their grips are secure. Every door handle is pulled with a visible weight. Any difficult task is finished with a pause for breath. Thus, it is not entirely inaccurate to describe "Invincible Man" as a walking sim, but it is very intricate.

The downside in terms of your effort, however, is that actually navigating the rocky terrain of Regis III can be a matter of trial and error. A seemingly climbable ledge may be blocked by an invisible wall, or a similar ledge nearby may point the way. Sure, a small icon appears as you approach the platform you are playing on, but this inorganic solution diminishes the immersive experience built elsewhere. More subtle guidance from natural slopes, surfaces, and textures would be preferable.

In addition, "Invincible Man" should treat the themes of this work with a lighter touch. It makes the right points on major points, such as humanity's purpose in space, the arrogance that accompanies scientific progress, and our crude reactions to phenomena that do not conform well to our understanding of life. It should also be noted that REM's discussion of technological machismo, which was depicted in the Cold War years immediately following the first manned space mission, feels just as relevant in this revival. But rather than let "Regis III" speak for itself, as the plot of "Star Wars" unfolds, Yasna has a habit of twisting these ideas into the script by spelling things out too clearly in the script, including the ambiguity of the title. It's as if he's trying to impress his lecturer after reading the Cliff's Notes of a novel."

One might then say that "Star Wars" has not quite mastered the art of converting a novel into a game. But still, it would be disingenuous to claim that it does not come close enough to deserve praise. A few missteps aside, this is an impressive and imaginative reimagining of a vintage work that should make you think again about the goals of technology and the limits of knowledge. If this film can inspire more novel film adaptations, so much the better.