Realm of Ink

I really wanted to like the game, but the entire experience was subpar or just plain average. TLDR; I cannot recommend the game even on discount. There are better, tighter gameplay alternatives & more engaging, insightful meta-commentary on the "character knows they are in a video game". I'll still play to pass time and holding hope for updates to improve it. Would love to change this review to positive because I think the ink art style & chinese mythology are fantastic. Issues: [list] [*] The translation & text is off; the chinese dialogue doesnt match the text & formatting is off whenever there's symbols like '. Terrible formatting in the skins section with text overlapping one another. [*] The voice acting is fine. Not bad, but not great. Rather than the simple script, I had bigger issues with the overall soundscape. [*] The music and sound effects are bland. The soundtrack never built the hype for the moment. The sound effects when hitting enemies or casting your ink spells had little impact. It was never satisfying. Some bosses felt like they were blatantly missing sound effects [*] Speaking of hit feedback, I had no idea what was happening in my status effect build. Numbers were going up, enemies were exploding (with no satisfaction again because of bland sound effects) and the screen was overwhelming with effects. I knew mechanically I was stacking effects and detonating them, and complementing curios adding damages, but I felt indifferent to it. [*] Combat was okay for a bit until I got a legendary curio in said status effect run and it completely trivialised the run. I won a boss fight standing at the edge of the map. Even in standard runs, it didn't click. The combat was not as tight and fluid as it should be. Never mind Hades, even other roguelites have tighter controls. The invincibility frames/dodging times felt off, and I took three continuous hits unable to get the timing down (could be a skill issue). [*] The story really disappointed. I heard about the premise and was excited for meta-commentary and 4th wall breaking narrator; like Icey or Stanley Parable. In the end, it was rather very basic. The story did nothing with the premise of "Character who knows their in a video game/story". No snarky comments, only barebone anger at "not following the script" & simple "you don't control my destiny" lines. [*] Besides the ink art style, the world building, plot & characters leave a lot to be desired. The dialogue (as in actual script), character motivation and lore are significantly inferior to the art direction. [/list] Enjoyments: [list] [*] The art style is beautiful. The team should be proud of the art direction, because the cut scenes, bosses and overall aesthetics are fantastic. It really did feel like I was playing in an ink painting. [*] Despite my gripes with the combat and hit feedback, I see a lot of potential. I am interested in seeing more pet combinations, and the ink combos (passive & active) are systems I'd love to dive deeper into. The other characters/combat style seemed genuinely interesting too. Just not quite enough to get me excited to jump back in. [*] I think the Chinese mythology & aesthetics was realsied quite well. There aren't enough games that take advantage of this. It could be pushed further. [*] Doge was here. It made me laugh. Nuff said. [/list] I really hope either this game gets patches to improve, or their next game is better. I see potential, and I am invested in seeing it realised in this game or their next. It's not a bad game; a passing grade just isn't good enough in this climate.