Inkbound,the latest title from developer and publisher Shiny Shoe ofMonster Trainfame, has received a colossal update titled the Starship of Terror. The multiplayerindie gameblends turn-based RPG combat with roguelike ability drafting, and sees players traveling into worlds within magical books. The Starship of Terror update is bringing a slew of quality of life fixes, system reworks, and brand-new modes that will further refine the Early Access title.
Game Rant recently attended a screening of preview footage for the Starship of Terror update and spoke with Shiny Shoe’s creative director, Andrew Krausnick, about the big changes coming toInkbound. In addition to the entirelynew Star Captain class, Starship of Terror is greatly streamlining player progression, introducing a new daily challenge mode, and revising their approach to the game’s optional battle pass to be more consumer-friendly.
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Streamlined Player Progression in Inkbound
The depth and variety of optionsthe best roguelike titlesprovide players with when progressing through runs are central to the games longevity and fun. Shiny Shoe felt that the earliest iteration ofInkboundwas slightly too grindy, and is taking steps to speed up player progression and alleviate frustration. In addition to increasing the sources and amount of experience available, Krausnick explained that progression was being streamlined around a central leveling track rather than through quest progression:
“…you can earn experience however you want now, so you can go on runs, win battles, take on daily challenges, and you can get access to more and more content that way, even if you aren’t super-focused on completing quests.”
Krausnick also acknowledged that some players felt completing story quests was taking too long, and to address this, they have removed nearly half the quests that do not directly progress the story. Furthermore, many of the item unlocks that were associated with story quests have been moved to the primary leveling track, allowing players to gain newmechanical and character building optionseven if they are not focused on completing the main story’s objectives.
Diverse Daily Challenges
One of the most popular features of Shiny Shoe’s first title,Monster Train,is the game’sdaily challenge mode, which imposes modifying mutator conditions on the game’s core formula that will drastically change a given run. Krausnick stated that Shiny Shoe is taking a three-pronged approach for achieving the sweet spot between challenge, fairness, and variety:
“We are shooting for one positive mutator, one negative mutator, and one that sort of balances it into an acceptable challenge, either positive or negative depending on how good or bad the others are. And we really try to make it feel very different every day.”
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Some examples of what thismutator-rich modewill entail include randomizing player abilities, substituting different kinds of enemies in a given level, and causing every enemy to take damage when one enemy is hit. More elaborate combinations will affect the way ability cooldowns work, either resetting every ability every turn, or allowing players to charge an ability on cooldown by using their primary attack. Sometimes these mutators will start players with specific items that synergize well, such as increasing potion drop rate while also providing bonus effects for using potions.
Players who are looking for less-radical adjustments toInkbound’s core gameplay will be well-served by the game’s new trinket system, also launching with Starship of Terror. By selecting unique trinkets at the beginning of a run, players can fine tune their builds, such as taking on an early handicap in exchange for more power later on.
A Better Battle Pass
Inkboundhas enjoyed a “Very Positive” reception on Steam to date, and the majority of the few complaints about the game have related to itsbattle pass system. Krausnick admitted “fundamentally for us, we realized we had made assumptions looking at other games without being critical enough about them.” Krausnick emphasized that Shiny Shoe is listening to players however, and they have rolled back the decision for older battle passes to expire. The goal is to create a FOMO-free experience that will allow the developer to support the game in the long-term.
Other improvements are on the horizon as well. Shiny Shoe is looking to improve controller support,color-blind accessibility, and make the game’s collection system a more comprehensive catalog of upgrades.
Inkboundand the Starship of Terror update are available now on PC.
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