In a sea of action roguelike games, some stand out more than others.
Realm of Ink, from developer Leap Studio, is one of those action roguelike games that stand out. It’s a deep action roguelike experience that provides plenty of different opportunities for players to customize their characters and the way they play the game, while also delivering a unique visual experience. While Realm of Ink doesn’t do anything too off the beaten path within its genre, it still delivers a helluva lot of fun that is fast and furious. All of that begins with its narrative.
The story of Realm of Ink revolves around a warrior named Red, who discovers that her destiny is tied to a pre-written book. Wanting to break free of its constraints, she tasks herself with going through many different lands to take down evil and rewrite her own path. Realm of Ink’s narrative is respectfully just a nice backdrop to push along the action; it still delivers interesting moments, compelling characters that Red runs into, and keeps the player on track with a lovely linear line to follow repeatedly. In other words, it does what it needs to do to provide a reason for its story rhyme. Honestly, that’s all you can ask from a game like this, as having unique characters sprinkle their personalities and tales into a larger story just gives enough push to make the gameplay memorable. On the gameplay side of the tracks, it goes deeper.
On the surface, the gameplay for Realm of Ink is what players would expect from an action roguelike. Players will fight in various lands in short stints against multiple enemies at once. The game’s action is built on quick hitters, where the player will jump in and hit enemies multiple times, avoid being on the receiving end of the enemy’s response, and then rinse and repeat the process. It is an ADHD player’s most exciting gaming scenario (that’s why I love it), as there is so much going on that it just creates a wonderful, heightened sense of euphoria.
As the player progresses in the game, the game starts to show off what it has underneath the hood. With each level passed, the player will be given a path to take at the end, which offers various rewards, such as money or powerful items. If they choose the least powerful path, then the fights are typically tame and less of a chore. If a player chooses the more powerful path with the better reward, then the enemies become more difficult and far more chaotic. Eventually, both paths will lead to the same rest stop that offers a chance to rest/heal and to purchase powerful weapons and buffs, and then lead to the boss fight for the overall level. Giving the player agency to go down a path of their choice makes this gameplay experience much deeper than anticipated. I know a few games in this genre offer this type of path, but the way Leap Studio built the paths, both fun and meaningful, makes it stand out well.
To make all of the action work well, regardless of path, is how the controls feel. To make a good action roguelike experience, the controls must be seamless and effortless. Having played games like Hades and Lost in Random: The Eternal Die, which contain seamless and effortless control schemes, Realm of Ink’s devs did a superb job of delivering a perfect set of controls for the game to work. I know that sounds like ‘not a big deal’, but if you have ever played an action roguelike, the last thing you need to contend with during chaotic fights is controls that work against you. Maybe it’s a delayed button-to-action response, or maybe it’s just needing to think about how to execute the perfect combo and which button that would be to do so. Whatever the case might be, having controls that don’t get in the way of the action is always the goal in this genre, and Realm of Ink delivers that type of simple, effortless control scheme to the experience. The button response, the ability to break a combo to avoid an enemy, and even executing specialities or combos were easy breezy during my review time. This meant the action could be enjoyed, the enemies could easily be navigated, and player attention could be locked onto something other than just the control scheme. Realm of Ink was built to be controlled easily, and it delivers that sentiment swimmingly.
Now, as for those specialties, this is where the game begins to separate itself from its genre family. Realm of Ink brings a lot of mix and match with its items to create unique special moves that only stand to progress the player through difficult situations and fights. As the player moves through levels, they will gain ink gems that offer different types of special moves. The player can initially assign two of these to the control scheme and can continually use them during fights. For example, there is a fire ink gem that allows for a quick and powerful explosion wherever the player is standing, causing significant damage to common enemies and decent damage to bosses within the proximity of the player. There is also another ink gem that allows the player to make a giant circle around enemies, which initiates damage multipliers when the player hits enemies within that circle. With each level passed, more ink gems become available, which allows the player to find the perfect combination of damage depending on what they like. There is a wide variety of ink gems that provide different ways for the player to launch a huge attack. Players will not be short on choices.
Beyond the gems, there is also a skills tree for the player to gradually unlock. These contain more permanent buffs that slowly build the player’s character, while also giving more reason to keep returning to the battlefield. As the player progresses through each level, and either defeats or gets defeated by a boss, the player will earn XP, which can be used for this multi-tier skills tree. Improving attacks, health, and defense are the main categories of the skills tree, and again, are additional reasons to keep going back in the face of failure in this game. Combined with the ink gems, these allow different paths for the player to take and shape their characters. And that, good folks, is not all.
Realm of Ink features multiple characters that players can choose from to build up from scratch. Each character brings their own personality, power, and playstyle. Beyond the main character, Red, there are a few characters that bring magic, quick swords, and other powerful aspects to the gameplay. Each character can be built, each one has their own story path to take, and because of the multiple characters, the game just becomes a bigger experience. It’s impressive how hard this game goes with different paths for the player to choose, even more so with the number of artifact buffs and weapons the player’s character can use to make the experience even more unique.
In addition to all these deep gameplay elements, Realm of Ink includes a pet that helps the player during fights. While they are somewhat forgettable, outside of the ability to change them through ink gem selections and allow them to bring their own power to the fight, they’re mostly adorable. They hang around the player’s character, get in the scrum, and can be helpful during fights. They’re a cool addition to the gameplay that is more style and cuteness than affecting the gameplay in a major way. Regardless, they are a welcome addition.
Before I wrap this review, I have to give major kudos to the devs for bringing a gorgeous visual style to house all the above gameplay elements. The characters and levels are beautifully crafted and have a stylish ‘ink’ personality to them. The game is truly a gorgeous experience that is also backed by good music and decent acting. Presentation-wise, this game knocks it out of the ballpark and complements the gameplay wonderfully.
Anyway, overall, the gameplay within Realm of Ink is meaningful, deep, customizable, and fun. That’s an exceptional number of positives for a genre overrun with clones of Hades that typically only achieve the status quo of the genre. In short, Realm of Ink is worth a look.
On that sweet note, let’s wrap up this review.
Conclusion
Realm of Ink, from developer Leap Studio, is a deeply entertaining action roguelike that excels through its visuals, stacked buff system, and variety of customizable elements.
