An excellent indie Project

Realm of Ink, developed and published by Leap Studio and Maple Leaf Studio, will be released in the first half of 2024, currently in the demonstration phase, and will be available for Microsoft Windows, Xbox One and Series S|X, PlayStation 4 and 5 .

Realm of Ink is a roguelite style game, with punishing combat, a very interesting story and graphics that have their own art and does a surprising job, even in the demo environment and shows what we can expect in terms of quality for the final product.



An identity of your own

As it is a demo, we only have access to the first chapter of the game, but fortunately it was enough for us to have an excellent experience.

The dynamics of the game work very similarly to Hades, our first life is a kind of tutorial, throughout this first journey, we use the initial weapon which is a sword and we discover other maps with varied rewards, until eventually we die for Some carelessness and we are teleported to a safe zone where we can change weapons, interact with new NPCs and discover even more about this universe.

One detail about the story that really captivated me is the fact that Red, our protagonist, understands that he is a fictional character and that his life depends on destiny. This destiny translates into obtaining ink orbs (skills), ink pets, which appear when performing combinations of up to two skills, collecting silver and a currency that is used to evolve these ink orbs, as well as other items that improve our status. .

It is worth remembering that all paint skills and pets are based on the four elements, water, air, fire and earth.

The most impressive thing about this project is its heritage of acclaimed roguelite games, but at the same time delivering its own identity and being so enjoyable to play that it is easily possible to lose hours and not even see time pass, everything works in a very intuitive, fast way. and sharp, we can just take control and enjoy.



Excellent gameplay

As I mentioned, these inspirations from acclaimed games of the genre are very evident, but it is by no means a negative point, it is very easy to locate the inspirations in Hades, Dead Cells and even Hollow Knight, however, everything has its own style and its own style and its own identity.

Therefore, it is undeniable that the gameplay is the highlight, in addition to being very responsive, it is quite frenetic, my only criticism would be for the behavior of the distance skill launch indicators, which are extremely sensitive and require adaptation so that you make fewer mistakes, but I believe it is a simple issue to resolve, whether by implementing a sensitivity selector or improving the aiming aid, making it more aggressive.

Regarding the difficulty of Realm of Ink, I was able to analyze that it is not an easy game, despite not having puzzles (so far), the difficulty of the combat is a very significant point, there is no difficulty selector, being a standardized experience, but it's all a matter of adapting and understanding the mechanics offered, in addition, attention is a factor that saves you from a lot of damage, several enemies attack you by surprise, without carrying movements, which forces you to memorize your movements and avoid direct confrontations.

To help with the journey, as we progress through the maps, we find an area with merchants, a place where we can buy food to recover HP, evolve our ink orbs and even buy attributes to improve Red's abilities, a very interesting element to contribute even more so with the diversity offered by the game.

Realm of Ink, in general, is very fun and enjoyable to play, despite being a little repetitive, a factor attributed to the style of play, with a lot of trial and error elements, but it doesn't become frustrating.



A bright future awaits

For me, the launch of Realm of Ink will be a huge addition to games of the genre, and besides, as I've already mentioned in other reviews, well-optimized and high-quality games are becoming rarer every day.

Being a roguelite on the rise, combat and the variety of gameplay elements are the main factors in dictating its success, fortunately, Realm of Ink is a full plate in terms of diversity, even though it is in the demonstration phase, there are several types of weapons, varied enemies and very difficult bosses and consequently with a lot of personality.

I would like to highlight the gameplay with the daggers, along with the fire element ink orbs, I found in this combination a unique gameplay style that made me spend a good part of the game so far using this style of play. My tip is to try out all the weapons and as many orbs as possible, in order to create your own playstyle and your own build, it's definitely worth it.

I recommend that Realm of Ink be played on the controller, the commands are simple, very responsive and sharp, with just the high sensitivity detail that I mentioned previously, playing on the keyboard and mouse is possible, but considering the genre I don't believe it is the best option for extract the best experience.

The game is localized in several languages and I believe that until its definitive release, more languages will be added, thus being able to attract more players to this game, which I believe will be a great success.



A brilliant project that will provide lots of fun
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My experience with Realm of Ink was excellent, the fun that this game gave me was great and despite it being just a demonstration, I really wanted to play the rest, try out more weapons and builds, the graphics are very characteristic, but for To my taste, they are very beautiful, a very interesting story that at times even deviates from the norm, excellent gameplay and challenging combat, certainly a recipe for success.

The game is very light, any PC can run smoothly, in addition to its availability for several consoles at official launch.

I would like to mention that its soundtrack is very good, being an oriental game, more specifically Chinese, I noticed that the songs are very regional, the game has dubbing at some points, I believe that due to the initial stage of the project, I hope that at its launch the entire game is dubbed.



For this review, the game was experienced on PC, using the Steam platform. I would like to thank Leap Studio and Maple Leaf Studio for providing the access key.

Reviewed and translated by Luisa Rodrigues