In the world of roguelikes, Inkbound is one you have probably not heard of and this wouldn’t have been helped with its Early Access teething issues. Despite this, however, it has since proven to be an exceptionally enjoyable game with plenty of both tactical and gameplay depth and it also happens to be lovely to look at too. It’s also from the developers behind Monster Train, which remains one of the best deckbuilding roguelikes around, so there’s that.
Rather than worrying about cards here though, Inkbound puts you in a world of books and magical stories. It’s set in the Atheneum, which is a magical thing that contains every story ever written, so it’s like the Internet, but infinitely better in most respects. You then go through portals to fight off evils, via an interesting mix of real-time and turn-based battles, and get stronger as you do so.
You move in real time to figure out how to use your attacks and what to do, and then end your turn to let everything else take effect. It’s fun, and it means that there’s always more you can do to get better at the game outside of just learning what all of the abilities are. There are multiple character types too, so you can mess around to find the one you like the most.
One of Inkbound‘s stand-out features though, is that it’s co-op. Co-op roguelikes are always a good time, but while many require you to pull in friends, through brainwashing or bribery, you can just party up with people you find in Inkbound’s little hub area. It’s a nice touch and helps make the game feel a bit more approachable for outsiders and first-timers. Plus, while it’s been in Early Access for a while now, the full release is coming in April, so now’s a great time to get started on it before the full release.
