Inkbound review

What is it? A turn-based roguelike from the creators of Monster Train.
Release date April 9, 2024
Expect to pay $30/£25
Developer Shiny Shoe
Publisher Shiny Shoe
Reviewed on ROG Ally, Gigabyte G5
Steam Deck Playable
Link Official site

Oh, Inkbound. I so desperately want to love you. You’re from the studio that mashed together deckbuilders and tower defence to make Monster Train, one of my favourite games ever. This time though Shiny Shoe has mixed a Hades-style isometric roguelike with turn-based tactics and made a bit of an inky mess all over the floor. An interesting mess, with one excellent idea, but I’m still about to use up a lot of virtual ink complaining about its flaws.

Hades didn’t invent the isometric roguelike but it’s clearly a regular haunt in Shiny Shoe’s Steam library. The influence is everywhere, not just in its look, but in how Inkbound uses the roguelike structure as part of its story, steadily adding new dialogue to recurring characters you meet on runs and that gradually populate the main hub and directly acknowledging that you're fighting through these scenarios again and again. 

You’re a Needless (hey!), a warrior in some sort of magical library where evil ink is destroying all the poor storybooks… I think? It’s hard not to tune out when the cast are so tiresomely capital-Q quirky and the plot is the kind of fantasy hogwash where you feel yourself taking more psychic damage with every proper noun. It’s a story about stories, which only draws attention to the fact that it's not a particularly compelling one itself. 

Where it properly breaks away from Hades is that Inkbound is entirely turn-based. Battles start with enemies surrounding you and kindly telegraphing exactly how they’re going to attack. You’ve got a limited amount of movement and attack power each turn to deal as much damage as possible, build up enough shield to block incoming blows, or move out of the way so you avoid them entirely. A number hovers over your head telling you how much