Inkshade on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information
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Inkshade is a turn-based tactics game carved out of strange wooden miniatures, wrapped in a web of locked rooms, and orchestrated by an otherworldly game master. Victory is not guaranteed, and the only constant is the cruel black ink that flows within the pieces.
Inkshade is a turn-based tactics, roguelite and atmospheric game
developed and published by Studio Vezelle.
Released on August 14th 2025 is available in English only on Windows.
It has received 440 reviews of which 393 were positive and 47 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.3 out of 10. 😎
The game is currently priced at 19.50€ on Steam.
The Steam community has classified Inkshade into these genres:
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 (64-bit)
- Processor: Intel i5-7400K
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070
- DirectX: Version 12
- Storage: 3 GB available space
User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
A diamond in the rough. There is a lot to love here - the base Inscryption-like gameplay of upgrading your units, playing curated combats segmented by periods of exploration is excellent. The production value is high and the polish is great. There are a lot of buts though. You have a billion different units, but due to the nature of the upgrade system (the fastest and most efficient way through the game is just to spend a lot of money upgrading the best units, usually those with long range and a lot of attack to game the AI) all runs will be similar and likely rely 90% on your starting lineup, meaning the "roguelike" nature of the game is minimal. You are also always forced to repeat boss battles, even if you can skip the rest, and which can be a massive chore because they quickly become trivial. And the balancing means there is really nothing to come back for once you complete the game: You can steamroll every encounter with upgraded lategame units. The exploration segments are fun and well designed and the handful of puzzles are delightful, but by god, why does everything have to be so dark? I understand it narratively and thematically, but it means I easily spent 60% of my exploration gameplay just making sure I didn't miss something in the darkness. You really don't want that. It is a good 6-8 hours of entertainment (my played time reflect having a baby in the house) but don't expect anything worth coming back for, nor something as deep and well-written as Inscryption. If you take it for what it is, though, it is fun and fine at the price point and I will look forward to the next game by the developer.
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An absolute blast of a love letter to Inscryption and Daniel Mullin's style games. Aspiring Inscryption-likes behold what the benchmark is!
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This game is simply marvelous. Inkshade is a rogue-lite that oozes darkness, mystery, and spectacle. What seemed to be a spiritual successor to Inscryption, Inkshade proves itself to be a completely unique experience of its own. The main similarities between the two being the 'demonic, otherworldly narrator that wants you to play their game' gimmick and the escape room type puzzle that is laid out before you to solve in between rounds. On any given run you will select your path and encounter a very sizable amount of enemy types, special events, lore exposition, and loot; all laid out on a beautiful map for you to navigate. Anyone who has played STS or Inscryption should be familiar with this style of level advancement. The runs start out slow but the main element here that really attracts me is the meta-progression and intense strategy involved while in combat. Moving pieces around and determining the best course of action can sometimes be a very methodical exercise in troop allocation and prudence but you're always rewarded for it when your plan comes to fruition. In between games you upgrade your troops using the currency (Scrim) that you earn in your runs, making for a very addicting loop of going as far as you can in a run so you can upgrade your troops as much as possible to make your next run last even longer. The currency you obtain in your runs starts out a little slow but I assure you that as you progress further it starts to snowball and the game starts to become really quite generous in divvying out your upgrade points. Inkshade definitely has a steep difficulty curve after you progress a little bit so be prepared to lose a lot. Inkshade really wants you to learn from your mistakes, upgrade your troops, explore every nook and cranny of the creaky, haunted ship, and come back to the board a more knowledgeable and prepared adventurer. They really went to great lengths to craft such a detailed experience within the escape room as well; with secrets galore to discover, puzzles that are fun and challenging (but not excruciatingly so), and tidbits of lore sprinkled throughout as you interact with the environment. The actual combat itself reminds me a lot of Into the Breach, so if you like that game's strategical mechanics of combat; then Inkshade will feel familiar to fans of that style's gameplay. It's not for everyone, especially if you're not patient enough to min-max rewards from fights or just don't enjoy strategy games in general however, I love it. Along each of the three main paths you must choose, each one features so, so many different locales and aesthetics; all lovingly adorned with charming animations and adorable set pieces and troops. Even when replaying the same boards across your many runs, the environments are always nice to look at and never seem to lose their allure. I will say that the game might need some performance optimizations, especially around the boss encounters as I noticed some slight dips in FPS and overall performance in those areas due to the amount of elements present. In addition to this suggestion, I would also recommend to the devs taking a look at some of the darkest shadows in the game as it kind of strains your eyes to look at in some parts. This can be ameliorated a bit by messing with the gamma and shadow settings but it isn't the most optimal fix. *UPDATE: On the northern 2nd tier boss, upon loading the fight my game froze entirely for about 30 seconds and then resumed normally. I also have had one CTD in about 10 hours of gameplay. Also when messing with the lower shadow settings, it appears to sometimes create strange lighting artifacts on the playing boards. Aside from the very few complaints I have, the gameplay has been top tier in my opinion. The atmosphere is absolutely immersive, the sound design and music is enchanting, and the narrator's dialogue and presence is wonderfully executed. This game is exactly what I was looking for to be honest and it is exactly what it advertises itself to be; a beautiful and addicting rogue-lite with an incredibly inspired art direction. It is an enthralling experience to say the least and it was 100% worth the long time I waited for it to release.
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The inevitable comparisons to Inscryption do this game a completely-self-inflicted disservice. This game is fascinating in its own right. Visually, this is a ripoff of Inscryption Act 1, full stop. It's not trying to not be, and that's, facially, fine, it's a good art style. Unfortunately that's basically where the comparisons end and this game deserves significantly more credit than "It's kinda like Inscryption Act 1" This game has far more in common with Fire Emblem than it does Inscryption. You have a gaggle of drastically-stronger units facing down overwhelming quantities of weaker units that can still sometimes murder you to death dramatically. You are forced to exploit the intentionally-very-simple enemy AI to gain tactical advantages and overcome the odds, and losing a unit you care about is devastating but recoverable. There's no in-map RNG except maybe enemy targeting (letting the enemies do things that matter is a bad idea generally, so it doesn't come up much). I do *not* like the upgrades, at least on the first run. They are both the most important things ever and utterly meaningless at the same time. They're like buying cards in a TCG. You need to have at least one unit that's fully upgraded to get a run off the ground (I went with the Lancer), but that one unit can carry you until you have enough money to upgrade whatever else you need to keep the run going, and units that aren't well upgraded are basically worthless, so you simply are forced to use upgraded units all of the time, so you never experience the arc of the unit going from bad to good because you just don't use them until they're good. ... But none of that really matters. The game you actually play is with your fully upgraded units barely being able to hold out against the overwhelming odds the enemies throw at you, which feels great. The first three sections where you're going against enemies that can't do much of anything definitely feel like a bit of a chore by the end of the third one, but things really ramp up after you start the second lap and the enemies pull out all the stops. The exploration-y bits are cool and all, but they feel a little... tacked on? Like... Inscryption has it so we should have it coded? They aren't bad, they just... aren't terribly interesting, and they don't really lead up to anything except access to unit upgrades and the end credits. I don't know if I'm likely to do more runs, (Though I guess the difference between the time played at review and whenever you're reading answers that) but I'm very glad I played through once.
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This game takes all the right lessons from Inscryption. The atmosphere is excellent and most importantly, the sound design is immaculate.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Inkshade is currently priced at 19.50€ on Steam.
Inkshade is currently not on sale. You can purchase it for 19.50€ on Steam.
Inkshade received 393 positive votes out of a total of 440 achieving a rating of 8.30.
😎
Inkshade was developed and published by Studio Vezelle.
Inkshade is playable and fully supported on Windows.
Inkshade is not playable on MacOS.
Inkshade is not playable on Linux.
Inkshade is a single-player game.
Inkshade does not currently offer any DLC.
Inkshade does not support mods via Steam Workshop.
Inkshade does not support Steam Remote Play.
Inkshade 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 Inkshade.
Data sources
The information presented on this page is sourced from reliable APIs to ensure accuracy and relevance. We utilize the Steam API to gather data on game details, including titles, descriptions, prices, and user reviews. This allows us to provide you with the most up-to-date information directly from the Steam platform.
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 | 12 September 2025 06:36 |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 12 September 2025 03:30 |
| Steam price | 12 September 2025 20:55 |
| Steam reviews | 10 September 2025 06:05 |
If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about Inkshade, 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 Inkshade
- SteamCharts - Analysis of Inkshade concurrent players on Steam
- ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck Inkshade compatibility
Game modes
Features
Online players
30
Developer
Studio Vezelle
Publisher
Studio Vezelle
Release
14 Aug 2025
Platforms