A team known as a successful single-player title is suddenly going live-action MMO. There are red flags here.
That probably isn’t much of a spoiler, but it is InkboundAt least the opponents’ AI works – although it’s not designed for something complicated. So it’s already a better show than vampire hunting, and at least they announced up front here that the program is in Early Access only. 2-0 here. The frame’s story, at least for now, is somewhat confusing, and Never ending storyIt reminds us that the book empire was only attacked here, which is why everything was called book printing. Maybe this will evolve into something more interesting or hearsay over time, until then it’s out there and a little weird. But the point is anyway season pass, I mean tactical roguelite gameplay.
Roguelite, Heavy RNG
To be honest, there is no big news in this area. There are a few starter characters, and they have some basic abilities, to which we can add more, develop them on several levels, and sometimes replace them. We also get magic items and small one-time uses. Finally, we can also increase our base ability 1-1 from time to time if we take care of our health, and we don’t have to waste that choice on it. Randomness reigns everywhere, so there is little chance that we will be able to put together the perfect combination, but we can put together very serious combinations relatively easily. All of these can be obtained by going through the usual roguelite takaki / card crossover at the given level, sometimes as gifts, sometimes for money, and often after battles.
The combat itself is amazing and varied, and even though it’s divided into rounds, there are still a lot of moving elements. Including us, as we can move freely, although it consumes our action points if we take more than a few steps. However, sometimes it is worth spending for better aiming, especially to avoid pointless attacks. We will always know in advance what the opposing team will expect and how much damage it will suffer if we do nothing against it. There’s a huge variation on this, in one encounter I was only jostled by a few attackers, but the next a wrong move would cost me 80-90% of my health. Obviously this could be sold as the magic of being a rogue, but I feel like there would still be some improvement. Our attacks are often simple and quick to deploy for co-op (although I appreciate speed in single player), but can be nicely complex with many permanent and random auto effects, just keep those pros and cons in mind.
Nice, nice, but we don’t need live service
The graphics are fun, the look of each location is very different, and the opponents have a strange look to match the look. The dubbing is very good, and most of the characters are notably unpleasant. The sound effects are less colorful and interesting, but they promise improvement. The same goes for the tutorial. There will obviously also be a much-needed bug hunt, because when I left a well-built course early in the morning, and the game couldn’t reload in the afternoon, I resented it terribly. On the other hand, the tactical part has so far fit well. I’m not a big fan of the inevitable attacks and obviously there’s still a lot of balancing to be done but it’s pretty clear how smooth it is InkboundFrom a successful roguelike tactical strategy title. The cooperative part also works thanks to the acceleration, with friends with whom we can coordinate well. The creators explicitly recommend that we play this way, as it will make an already tough challenge easier, which is not an ideal situation, but could be improved upon.
How can an MMO become such a hit with season packs and cosmetic microtransactions? I have no idea. I don’t even understand why it was designed like that, I mean, apart from the fact that if it does, they can mow a lot. But why it is worth it for gamers will soon become clear, because until then it will be dangerous to jump for 20 euros (expectedly) for those who do not want to try out the combat mechanics right now, or who do not shake faith in the developers. monster train because of
