Dead Ink

Dead Ink is a top-down soulslike set in a hand-crafted, nonlinear brutalist tower. You awaken at its summit and must find a way down to escape. The tower’s layout is central to the game: you explore shortcuts, locked routes, hidden drops and dangerous ledges.

The tower

The game’s story begins in 2207, when the quantum state of your brain is encoded in a stream of photons and beamed into the cosmos. You are meant to be a pioneer of a new age of light-speed travel, destined for fame and glory, but that was not the plan that unfolds.

Combat and equipment

Combat is deliberate and melee-focused, with blocking, parrying, rolling and plunge attacks. Enemies yield ink, which printers use to create your body, weapons and equipment. Printers also form a network of checkpoints throughout the tower.

You can spend ink on a powerful loadout, save it for future attempts or risk carrying it to another printer. Death has a material cost: dying too often or spending too freely can exhaust your ink supply and end the run.

Tower features

The tower and its contents include:

• Multiple weapons, enemies and bosses
• Hidden routes and shortcuts
• Blueprint upgrades