Platform: PC (Steam)
Genre: Action, Roguelike, 2D, Singleplayer

Oh, what an unfortunate time to be releasing an isometric action game with roguelite qualities around the hype time of Hades 2. But still, any roguelike is a roguelike we just gotta check out, right?

Made by an indie company called Leap Studio, we have Realm of Ink. The story is pretty simple, you are a swordswoman called Red, and while in pursuit of the Fox Demon, you find out your life is literally being controlled by ‘destiny’ within the world of a book. You have to break free and find out the truth of your existence. It’s another “darn it, I gotta make my own destiny, NOTHING CONTROLS ME, but me” storyline. Let me put it out there that if you are looking for a compelling story, you won’t really find one here.

For an Early Access, you go over Four Acts Levels, which consists of 8 bosses in total (for now). You go through the tutorial, which is honestly pretty simple and easy to follow, showing you the mechanics of the game. The tutorial is done pretty well with it teaching you everything you need to know along the way. On your first ‘death’, you are transported to a little temple which is your Base.

I like that there is a ton of things to do here, including feeding your cute little pet. If you go upstairs you can change your weapons between 2 other weapon types, my favourite is the long-range weapon that shoots out slashes of attacks. There is also an area where you can check your passive stats and attributes. The more you play, the more skill points you can put into these trees. Of course the more you play, the stronger you get. If you go further down, there is a portal where you can begin your journey. Before that, you can adjust your difficulty levels (Yay for accessibility!).

If you don’t know how games of this genre work, you essentially have one life each playthrough. If you die at any point, it’s game over and you have to start right from the beginning. You will collect a special currency you can use to upgrade your skill trees later on. Each playthrough will be completely different, with different layouts and the enemies spawning at a different location.

GEMS FOR DAYS

As it is just an early preview, it’s a bit hard for me to judge playstyles, but the gameplay in terms of Ink Gems feels limiting. Essentially, each gem inflicts a different status effect, whether it is burning, frozen, or even bleeding. Regardless, it always feels like I am playing the same setup in the same way.

You can use 2 Ink Gems, which are your ‘Abilities’, and along the way, you will pick up Elixirs and Perks that will make your runs unique. Most rooms will give you two options to go through for your next encounter. The room options are not that many, you have the option to get more Silver, an Ink Gem room, Elixirs, Perks or a Challenge Room which will give you some pretty good rewards. Challenge Rooms feel more tedious than anything as it’s just a mashing of dodging a ton of abilities and enemies.

As I mentioned earlier, your Ink Gems will inflict different status effects on your enemies. Upgrading them makes them stronger, or even gives them additional effects to improve your run. I wish there were more options than just, “Let’s inflict a different status effect on them”.

The pets are an adorable and refreshing addition, I must say! With different Ink Gems combinations, you pet can evolve into unique forms, and they all have different abilities. I’ve had a run where my pet had a shielding ability, and another where it casted a snowstorm across my screen. It’s exciting to see what ability your pets can do, or exactly what your pet can evolve into. The forms are also cute asf.

TALENTS FOR EVERYONE

Just like every other roguelike, there is a talent skill tree. You can spend points you accumulate from your runs after you die and only before you start a run. Most of them are honestly the pretty basic, HP buff, shield buff and so on. You won’t notice anything new here. It honestly took me about 3 hours to put skill points into everything during a normal run, so it doesn’t actually feel like a grind. But that’s the thing, it shouldn’t be that easy to unlock everything that fast. I think the game is too generous with giving out the currencies. Although I can tell you that these upgrades make a massive difference in your gameplay, as it should anyway.

SHOPPING EXTRAVAGANZA

Just before you fight every boss, you get to a little rest stop, where you can upgrade your Ink Gems, buy an upgrade for yourself and also get some really good food. All these will help you not just face the next boss you are about to face, but also to enhance your gameplay for several rooms. Some perks will stay until you die.

THE GOOD AND THE UGLY

One of the worst parts of the game has to be the voice acting. The voice acting sounds like a badly dubbed anime and it can be pretty darn painful to listen through it. On my third playthrough, I just had to mute because it was that PAINFUL. It just feels very fake and you can’t hear the emotions in their words. It feels flat. The music is a delight. It feels like I am wandering around ancient China and it’s pretty darn cool. It has this element of tranquility so props to the sound designers.

What I can tell you though is the art style is beautiful, from the forests to the Buddhist Temples and even the Mausoleums. I’ve always wanted to see the Terracotta soldiers, and I get to see it in game! the splash of ink style is unique and it feels like someone was writing with an Ink and Scroll itself. From your abilities to your dashes, and even the enemy attacks, everything seems carefully done well. However, the downside of this is that, with so much shit on your screen, especially in the later parts where there are more enemies, the performance suffers. It feels like you have bad stutters every time you dash, and it feels laggy. I know it isn’t an issue with my PC, as I have a really good PC built. It only happens in the later parts so you won’t notice it in the beginning.

Turn The Page

I feel like with games like these you should feel some rush of accomplishment when you finish it, but it just felt too easy. Maybe it was just because I played in Normal mode but it still felt too easy. It was clear to see which combinations felt best from early on so it was easy to abuse it as well. Perhaps I am being a bit too harsh since it is still in its early days. There is a Challenge Mode you can play after you finish the last boss, in which it is an Endless Mode. That is pretty fun as you kill a certain amount of enemies, level up, get better equipment, perks or spells and just continue. I see that the game CAN be good, with a ton of improvements. Hopefully with the game’s new Q3 2024 Early Access release date, those changes can help shape Realm of Ink beyond just a Hades knock-off.