When Hades came out, it helped establish a new subgenre of roguelikes that are often called Hadeslikes, with games like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles : Splintered Fate being seen as good examples of this new subgenre. It is ripe for many developers to ply their trade in, and sadly not all have done so successfully. I do not mean to say that Realm of Ink is a bad game, because it is actually decently made. No, it commits a far bigger sin in my opinion; it is extremely boring.
For me, a roguelike is all about the challenge and getting better with each run. I die often in these games, so I feel a sense of accomplishment when I finally reach the end of the run for the first time. Realm of Ink did not provide me with that sense of challenge, especially since I made it to the end of the run on only my second try. Don’t get me wrong, the bosses were well designed and the visuals were great, and there was an interesting tale taking influence from Chinese folklore. It is just that the lure of repeated gameplay was not there.
Even after I complete several runs of a roguelike, I keep going back until there is nothing left I can do, and then I often just restart because the gameplay cycle is so addictive. I had to force myself to play additional runs of Realm of Ink just to see how the story advances, but I will be honest and say I gave up on it early on because I just felt I had enough. This is actually something that has never happened to me before, and I was kind of surprised with how the game ended up being style over substance. Yes it looks good, but the hook is not there.
This is not helped by slowdown on the Switch version, which is what I played, as well as some visuals glitches here and there, but even those problems are not as big of an issue as the simple fact that Realm of Ink feels unsatisfying to play. You can unlock different character skins, which act as different characters to play as, each with their own style, and you can level up a skill tree, but it ultimately feels pointless with how fast you can rush through the game. There is a hard mode that the game encourages you to try, and I did, only to find it provided no real challenge to me, continuing the dissatisfaction.
I wanted to like Realm of Ink, but cannot in good conscience recommend it. It just feels like a wasted opportunity for a game.
Disclaimer: A review key was provided