Inkbound on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information
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A turn-based tactical roguelike from the creators of Monster Train. Play solo or co-op, create powerful builds, and save the Atheneum.
Inkbound is a tactical rpg, turn-based tactics and rogue-lite game
developed and published by Shiny Shoe.
Released on April 09th 2024 is available only on Windows
in 5 languages: English, French, German, Japanese and Simplified Chinese.
It has received 3,693 reviews of which 3,225 were positive and 468 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.4 out of 10. 😎
The game is currently priced at 7.49€ on Steam with a 70% discount, but you can find it for 3.89€ on Instant Gaming.
The Steam community has classified Inkbound into these genres:
Media & Screenshots
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System requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS: Windows 10
- Processor: Core i3
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: IGP or better - 2 GB of VRAM
- DirectX: Version 11
- Network: Broadband Internet connection
- Storage: 3 GB available space
User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
Pros: Easy to learn, but with room to nerd out as you get better, relaxing, and can be played with friends pretty easily without needing a PhD in cooldown management. Mechanics make each character feel different enough to be worth playing. Large enough variety of fun and broken builds to keep it interesting for 80+ hours. Colorful, cutesy art style, like Splatoon mixed with League of Legends and World of Warcraft. The animations and sound design are fun and satisfying. Cons: Repetitive back-and-forth fetch quests, "fight-the-boss-again-10-times" quests, and "get-the-right-combination-of-random-conditions" quests for more than half of the game. Some balance issues that make certain characters feel flat and unimpactful if you're not lucky enough to roll specific pieces of gear/augments. (Looking at you, Binder-without-Pulling-Constrict). Higher difficulties just add stats to the same monsters, or take away your resources, rather than presenting new enemies or more creative challenges.
First of all I want to lead with the fact that Inkbound is a roguelite in a weird spot. The closest comparison I can honestly make is the two Hades games, because Inkbound has a surprising amount of story in addition to its turn based position based combat. The story is delivered with some genuinely really great voice acting and you can really see the love that everyone who worked on this game put in. So what about gameplay? Inkbound offers you a selection of classes, each of which supply you with three basic abilities and a passive skill. Over the course of the run you will upgrade these abilities in smaller and larger ways and find some generic skills that each class can acquire. Add to that an item system where you basically have a small inventory of things that have passive abilities but are also each part of a set or family, like physical attack or improving the currency (Kwillings). Quite a lot to consider! In combat you will move around your character to position them so you can line up your attacks and ideally evade those aimed at you. You have a limited amount of energy to use your abilities so more often than not each individual turn is its own little puzzle. You move from combat to non-combat encounters until you end up in a boss fight. Beat them to go to the next region. Each run consists of two regular regions and one very short boss region, so said runs don't overstay their welcome. With all that said, I would recommend Inkbound to everybody who likes tactical combat with a focus on positioning, but also those who enjoy roguelites who do something else than deckbuilding, isometric action or the bullet heaven style.
Bought this thinking it was just another roguelike. Turns out it's actually a philosophical treatise on the nature of narrative wrapped in the most addictive turn-based combat system ever created. Also, the monsters are literally stealing the ink from books and somehow this makes perfect sense after hour 3. Nothing says "innovative gameplay" quite like playing chess with demons while your friend across the country judges your positioning skills in real-time. THE GOOD: Finally, a game where being a bookworm is literally the plot! The monsters are stealing stories and I'm taking this PERSONALLY. Turn-based combat that doesn't make me want to throw my keyboard through the window. I can actually think about my moves instead of panic-clicking everything. My co-op partner and I have developed a telepathic understanding of tactical positioning. We're basically a married couple now, but for roguelike strategies. The art style is so gorgeous I keep getting distracted mid-combat. "Oh look, a beautiful death animation!" proceeds to get flanked by ink demons THE BAD: Started referring to difficult real-life situations as "ink corruption events." My boss is concerned about my mental state. Tried to explain to my therapist why I have trust issues with libraries now. She suggested I "maybe read physical books for a while." Ma'am, the books are COMPROMISED. My friends ask me to play other games and I'm like "But can you play co-op turn-based strategy with perfect synchronous combat?" They don't understand true art. Google thinks I'm having an existential crisis based on my searches: "what happens when stories die" "can ink actually be evil" "turn-based relationship therapy" MEMORABLE MOMENTS: Spent 45 minutes planning the perfect four-person combo attack. Executed it flawlessly. We all high-fived through Discord. Peak human achievement unlocked. My character got so powerful I was one-shotting bosses. Then I realized I was playing on Story Mode. Switched to higher difficulty and got immediately humbled by a book with legs. Discovered there are like 20 different character builds and they all feel completely unique. I now have commitment issues but with statistical builds instead of romantic relationships. My friend joined mid-run and watched me solo a boss with the grace of a tactical ballet dancer. I think I peaked as a human being in that moment. CO-OP RELATIONSHIP DYNAMICS: "Wait, don't move yet, I have the perfect setup!" "Why did you move THERE? We talked about flanking strategies!" "Okay but what if we tried the completely ridiculous combo we theorycrafted for 20 minutes?" Combo works perfectly "WE ARE TACTICAL GENIUSES!" ACTUAL GAMEPLAY BREAKDOWN: 25% carefully planning optimal moves 20% gasping at how pretty everything is 20% debating strategy with co-op partners like we're planning a military operation 15% getting way too emotionally invested in procedurally generated story fragments 10% trying new character builds 10% having existential thoughts about the nature of storytelling LIFE LESSONS LEARNED: Patience is not just a virtue, it's a tactical advantage The best strategies are the ones you plan together Sometimes the real treasure was the synchronized combat we achieved along the way Books are apparently way more dangerous than I previously thought Would I recommend this game? Absolutely, especially if you want to experience what it feels like to be a literary superhero with excellent time management skills. Is it better single player or co-op? Co-op turns it from a great game into a life-changing social experience where you discover who your friends really are under tactical pressure. Should you play if you hate turn-based games? This game might convert you. It's turn-based for people who thought they hated turn-based.
Fantastic roguelike strategy game, every bit as good as Monster Train. Unfortunately feels somewhat unfinished in places (for example, the two conspicuous empty slots on the class selection screen); evidently the developers had more in mind for continued updates to this game that were put by the wayside in favor of Monster Train 2. I guess the game wasn't as successful as they had hoped? Either way this game is well worth playing.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Inkbound is currently priced at 7.49€ on Steam.
Yes, Inkbound is currently available at a 70% discount. You can purchase it for 7.49€ on Steam.
Yes, Inkbound received 3,225 positive votes out of a total of 3,693 achieving a rating of 8.42.
😎
Inkbound was developed and published by Shiny Shoe.
Yes, Inkbound is playable and fully supported on Windows.
No, Inkbound is not playable on MacOS.
No, Inkbound is not playable on Linux.
Inkbound offers both single-player and multi-player modes.
Inkbound includes Co-op mode where you can team up with friends.
Yes, there are 4 DLCs available for Inkbound. Explore additional content available for Inkbound on Steam.
No, Inkbound does not support mods via Steam Workshop.
No, Inkbound does not support Steam Remote Play.
Yes, Inkbound is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.
You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for Inkbound.
Data sources
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Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.
Last Updates| Steam data | 05 June 2026 00:36 |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 13 June 2026 14:50 |
| Steam price | 13 June 2026 12:52 |
| Steam reviews | 13 June 2026 01:46 |
If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about Inkbound, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.
- SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about Inkbound
- SteamCharts - Analysis of Inkbound concurrent players on Steam
- ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck Inkbound compatibility
Game modes
Multiplayer
Features
Online players
55
Developer
Shiny Shoe
Publisher
Shiny Shoe
Release
09 Apr 2024
Platforms
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