New strategy roguelike Inkshade will drag you through a DnD-infused nightmare

If you've ever played much Dungeons and Dragons, you've almost certainly sat through a game in unsettling circumstances. Cramped around a table in a darkened room, unsure if that one friend in your group has mastered the roleplaying side of TTRPGs, or if their house is always this creepy. Studio Vezelle's new roguelike Inkshade captures this perfectly. It's best approximated as a tabletop strategy game played over and over in a puzzle house, and comes drenched in the same level of atmosphere that made Inscryption so compelling. Indeed, in a similar manner, your success here will be measured by progress both on and off the board.

Inkshade cold opens in a darkened room. An ornate wooden board sits before you, and from behind it a voice beckons. "We are going to play a game." You are a Captain, the figure explains, and you have one objective: sail your airship into the Abyss. Unfortunately, you're currently lacking both the ship in question, and the means with which to pinpoint your destination. Obtaining it will mean engaging in the strategy game that awaits; a series of battles and events connected via branching paths in the now-familiar manner of the best roguelikes. But it's mere moments before your first attempt ends in failure.

Thus begins the loop. Between runs, you can step up from the table and explore the room around you, where you'll initially find more pieces to play. Each comes with different abilities, and while they can heal between fights, they're gone forever if they die. There's a fantastic tactility to the little wooden figures and the soft 'tick, tack' of pieces being moved, and that's complemented by your dingy DM introducing encounters with short, whimsical descriptions. It's almost enough to put the shadowy nightmare that whirls around you out of your mind.

Earning new pieces for the tabletop RPG at Inkshade's core can be as simple as winning fights and recruiting defeated foes to your side, but you'll also uncover them by wandering the room about you and solving puzzles in the 'real world.' Upgrading units comes through a currency that can be spent as you wish across the wide range of potential classes. Choose to enhance their health, movement, strength, range, and so on, and you'll be able to push that little bit further in the subsequent campaigns.

Much like Inscryption, Blue Prince, or my friend's disconcerting DnD basement, there's of course more to the building you're in than first appearances suggest. The entity acting as your dungeon master seems content to let you wander, at least to start with, although they will gently nudge you away from fiddling with certain ornaments by slipping in off-hand remarks.

I'm unsure quite how deep Inkshade's rabbit hole goes, but there's so much love and attention dripping from every piece of its presentation that I'm eager to find out. There's even a Steam sale to celebrate the game's launch, so you can grab it a little cheaper than its already very reasonable asking price.

"If you play the game, I hope you have fun," developer 'Vezelle' writes. "While Inkshade started as a little personal project, the reason why it's up on Steam today is because I want to try and create cool experiences for other people."

Inkshade is out now on Steam, priced at $19.99 / £16.75, with a 10% launch discount meaning you'll pay $17.99 / £15.07 if you buy it by Thursday August 21. Get it here if you're prepared to sail into the Abyss.

Craving some more traditional Dungeons and Dragons? Our pick of the best games like Baldur's Gate 3 is a great place to start. We've also pulled together the best indie games in 2025 to ensure you don't miss the biggest hidden gems.

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