Inkbound 1.0 is out now with the Rise of the Unbound content update!
Welcome to our 1.0 update, Rise of the Unbound! This update to Inkbound includes new quest lines, a new final boss, many balance changes, new items, full controller support, full English voice over, localization into Chinese/Japanese/French/German and a lot more. If you’re interested in all the details, read on!
[h3]New Final Boss: The Unbound[/h3]
Waiting for you beneath the inky expanse, the entity behind the Unravelling is gathering in strength. But in order to reach it, you must dive further than you ever have before. Are you prepared, Needless?
[h3]New Quests[/h3]
Unravel the final mysteries of the Atheneum and its reclusive Inkbound as you embark on the final chapter of the Inkbound story to defeat the Unbound and decide the fate of the Atheneum once and for all.
[h3]Vestige Mastery and Vestige Lore[/h3]
When you win a run with a Vestige equipped, it will become “mastered”. We indicate this in a variety of places in the UI. Upon mastering a Vestige you can read some additional lore about it in the Logbook Collection, fleshing out the story and world.
Can you master them all?
[h3]Challenge Buffs on Villains and Guardians[/h3]
To increase run variety we’ve implemented Challenge Buffs on both Villains and Guardians (book bosses). These modifiers change the gameplay in a variety of different ways. At higher Ranks, your choice of Villain also tells you what the Challenge Buff will be, giving you a gameplay reason to decide to go for one Villain or another.
[h3]New Vestiges and Vestige Sets[/h3]
There are 25 new Vestiges added into the mix, bringing the pool of Vestiges up to 242. We’ve also added 5 new Vestige Sets to a total of 37 vestige sets. Fun fact: that’s over 8 trillion potential Vestige combinations!
[h3]New Trinkets[/h3]
There are 2 new trinkets that have been added, bringing the total up to 20. In addition, several trinkets have been reworked to make them clearer to read and more interesting to use.
[h3]Full Controller Support[/h3]
We’ve implemented support for controllers across the entirety of the game. We support button icons for Steam Deck, Xbox Series, PlayStation DualSense, and Switch Pro controllers. It was challenging to provide controller-based access to all of the UI information in the game but it’s all accessible.
[h3]Keyboard Proximity Interact[/h3]
Prefer to use a keyboard instead of clicking with the mouse? We’ve added the ability to interact with objects in Inkbound with a press of a key. This feature was added for controller support initially but we extended it to the keyboard as well. In case you don’t like seeing these hint prompts, you can disable them in the settings.
[h3]Improved Steam Deck Support[/h3]
Of course full controller support will improve the experience on the Steam Deck tremendously. On top of that, we’ve also implemented support for the virtual keyboard where needed, and made a few other Deck-specific tweaks.
[h3]Full English VO[/h3]
In Early Access part of our NPC dialogue was voiced. Now, at 1.0, all of it is. We hope you’ll enjoy the work of both our returning and new actors.
[h3]Localization into Chinese, Japanese, French, and German[/h3]
Inkbound has been fully localized into these four new languages. You can continue to play in English if you wish, or switch to one of the new languages to give it a shot! If you have any bug reports for the localization you would like to share with us, please join us in Discord or press F8 to report them in-game.
[h3]Story Cutscenes[/h3]
In a few places in the game we’ve upped the polish level by implementing animated cutscenes. The screenshot below is from the start of the game. And yes, you can skip them if you don’t want to watch.
[h3]Added Augments to Logbook Collection[/h3]
Ever wanted to know what all the Augments are for a Binding? Now you can see them all in one place and plan out your build.
[h3]More Steam Achievements[/h3]
We added 11 new Achievements for you Achievement hunters out there bringing the total to 39.
[h3]Major Balance Rework[/h3]
Our goal with balance changes was to make sure the first book wasn't a 'free win' - your build has to start to come together at least a little, and at the same time we added a lot more ways for builds to grow and develop within Book 1. Book 2 and beyond have felt too easy in the live game and we simply wanted those to have increased challenges. In general as we increased the challenge it also pushed us to make things more fair, certain unfair feeling challenge buffs have been cut, and we've generally rebalanced the weight of a variety of player power sources against each other to feel more like even contributions. On top of these changes we've wanted to bring down slightly the total amount of units so that battles can be clearer and cleaner and we've made some of those changes as well. Of course all balance is a process and we will definitely be watching closely in the coming weeks to continue to fine tune these numbers.
[h3]Quest Progression Simplified[/h3]
All existing quests have been reworked and, in some cases, simplified to reduce RNG dependencies and simplify progression. Various pieces of content that are locked behind quests (e.g. the Star Captain Aspect) have been given special attention both to make it clear how to unlock as well as to significantly reduce the amount of time to unlock it.
[h3]Run Types Simplified[/h3]
To simplify starting a run, we merged the concept of an Unranked Run and a Ranked Run into a single run start option. Daily Challenge continues to be a separate option.
[h3]Improved Rank Changing and Daily Challenge Detail UI[/h3]
After the last note, you might be wondering how you can play an Unranked run now. Well, never fear, it’s still possible in a new and improved UI accessible in the Atheneum. From this UI you can lower your Rank if you wish via a handy drop-down and can review the details of the Rank before committing to starting a run.
We also applied the same treatment to the Daily Challenge, giving it a dedicated UI screen for reviewing information about the current Challenge.
[h3]Refreshed Victory Board[/h3]
We’ve fully refreshed the Victory Board with 108 new objectives and new cosmetics to unlock by completing them.
(The cosmetic rewards from the prior Victory Board have been moved into the Cosmetic Vault.)
[h3]Improved Display of Bindings in Logbook Collection[/h3]
We reorganized the UI in the Logbook’s Bindings section to make it easier to see which Ascenions are related to which Binding.
[h3]Change Your Character Name[/h3]
Name yourself “asdf” before realizing that your name would be publicly visible when playing online? Just me? Well you can change it yourself now in the Character Customization screen.
[h3]Improved Support for Various Monitor Aspect Ratios[/h3]
In Early Access we had good support for 16:9 and 16:10. Now, we’ve made polish improvements to wider aspects like 21:9, and have implemented numerous bug fixes for closer-to-square aspect ratios like 4:3 and 5:4.
[h3]Punchier Audio and Visual Effects[/h3]
Interspersed throughout the game we’ve added new visual effects and new audio to juice up and improve the game feel.
[h3]Rearrange Vestige Bar[/h3]
You can now rearrange your Vestige bar by dragging and dropping Vestiges into different slots to swap their order.
Beyond the larger features we have made hundreds of small changes to improve balance, fix bugs, and generally polish the overall experience. We are super excited to be releasing this major update and look forward to hearing your feedback!
Want to see the detailed list of changes? You can view those here.
New Features
[h3]New Final Boss: The Unbound[/h3]
Waiting for you beneath the inky expanse, the entity behind the Unravelling is gathering in strength. But in order to reach it, you must dive further than you ever have before. Are you prepared, Needless?
[h3]New Quests[/h3]
Unravel the final mysteries of the Atheneum and its reclusive Inkbound as you embark on the final chapter of the Inkbound story to defeat the Unbound and decide the fate of the Atheneum once and for all.
[h3]Vestige Mastery and Vestige Lore[/h3]
When you win a run with a Vestige equipped, it will become “mastered”. We indicate this in a variety of places in the UI. Upon mastering a Vestige you can read some additional lore about it in the Logbook Collection, fleshing out the story and world.
Can you master them all?
[h3]Challenge Buffs on Villains and Guardians[/h3]
To increase run variety we’ve implemented Challenge Buffs on both Villains and Guardians (book bosses). These modifiers change the gameplay in a variety of different ways. At higher Ranks, your choice of Villain also tells you what the Challenge Buff will be, giving you a gameplay reason to decide to go for one Villain or another.
[h3]New Vestiges and Vestige Sets[/h3]
There are 25 new Vestiges added into the mix, bringing the pool of Vestiges up to 242. We’ve also added 5 new Vestige Sets to a total of 37 vestige sets. Fun fact: that’s over 8 trillion potential Vestige combinations!
[h3]New Trinkets[/h3]
There are 2 new trinkets that have been added, bringing the total up to 20. In addition, several trinkets have been reworked to make them clearer to read and more interesting to use.
[h3]Full Controller Support[/h3]
We’ve implemented support for controllers across the entirety of the game. We support button icons for Steam Deck, Xbox Series, PlayStation DualSense, and Switch Pro controllers. It was challenging to provide controller-based access to all of the UI information in the game but it’s all accessible.
[h3]Keyboard Proximity Interact[/h3]
Prefer to use a keyboard instead of clicking with the mouse? We’ve added the ability to interact with objects in Inkbound with a press of a key. This feature was added for controller support initially but we extended it to the keyboard as well. In case you don’t like seeing these hint prompts, you can disable them in the settings.
[h3]Improved Steam Deck Support[/h3]
Of course full controller support will improve the experience on the Steam Deck tremendously. On top of that, we’ve also implemented support for the virtual keyboard where needed, and made a few other Deck-specific tweaks.
[h3]Full English VO[/h3]
In Early Access part of our NPC dialogue was voiced. Now, at 1.0, all of it is. We hope you’ll enjoy the work of both our returning and new actors.
[h3]Localization into Chinese, Japanese, French, and German[/h3]
Inkbound has been fully localized into these four new languages. You can continue to play in English if you wish, or switch to one of the new languages to give it a shot! If you have any bug reports for the localization you would like to share with us, please join us in Discord or press F8 to report them in-game.
[h3]Story Cutscenes[/h3]
In a few places in the game we’ve upped the polish level by implementing animated cutscenes. The screenshot below is from the start of the game. And yes, you can skip them if you don’t want to watch.
[h3]Added Augments to Logbook Collection[/h3]
Ever wanted to know what all the Augments are for a Binding? Now you can see them all in one place and plan out your build.
[h3]More Steam Achievements[/h3]
We added 11 new Achievements for you Achievement hunters out there bringing the total to 39.
Reworked Systems and Quality of Life
[h3]Major Balance Rework[/h3]
Our goal with balance changes was to make sure the first book wasn't a 'free win' - your build has to start to come together at least a little, and at the same time we added a lot more ways for builds to grow and develop within Book 1. Book 2 and beyond have felt too easy in the live game and we simply wanted those to have increased challenges. In general as we increased the challenge it also pushed us to make things more fair, certain unfair feeling challenge buffs have been cut, and we've generally rebalanced the weight of a variety of player power sources against each other to feel more like even contributions. On top of these changes we've wanted to bring down slightly the total amount of units so that battles can be clearer and cleaner and we've made some of those changes as well. Of course all balance is a process and we will definitely be watching closely in the coming weeks to continue to fine tune these numbers.
[h3]Quest Progression Simplified[/h3]
All existing quests have been reworked and, in some cases, simplified to reduce RNG dependencies and simplify progression. Various pieces of content that are locked behind quests (e.g. the Star Captain Aspect) have been given special attention both to make it clear how to unlock as well as to significantly reduce the amount of time to unlock it.
[h3]Run Types Simplified[/h3]
To simplify starting a run, we merged the concept of an Unranked Run and a Ranked Run into a single run start option. Daily Challenge continues to be a separate option.
[h3]Improved Rank Changing and Daily Challenge Detail UI[/h3]
After the last note, you might be wondering how you can play an Unranked run now. Well, never fear, it’s still possible in a new and improved UI accessible in the Atheneum. From this UI you can lower your Rank if you wish via a handy drop-down and can review the details of the Rank before committing to starting a run.
We also applied the same treatment to the Daily Challenge, giving it a dedicated UI screen for reviewing information about the current Challenge.
[h3]Refreshed Victory Board[/h3]
We’ve fully refreshed the Victory Board with 108 new objectives and new cosmetics to unlock by completing them.
(The cosmetic rewards from the prior Victory Board have been moved into the Cosmetic Vault.)
[h3]Improved Display of Bindings in Logbook Collection[/h3]
We reorganized the UI in the Logbook’s Bindings section to make it easier to see which Ascenions are related to which Binding.
[h3]Change Your Character Name[/h3]
Name yourself “asdf” before realizing that your name would be publicly visible when playing online? Just me? Well you can change it yourself now in the Character Customization screen.
[h3]Improved Support for Various Monitor Aspect Ratios[/h3]
In Early Access we had good support for 16:9 and 16:10. Now, we’ve made polish improvements to wider aspects like 21:9, and have implemented numerous bug fixes for closer-to-square aspect ratios like 4:3 and 5:4.
[h3]Punchier Audio and Visual Effects[/h3]
Interspersed throughout the game we’ve added new visual effects and new audio to juice up and improve the game feel.
[h3]Rearrange Vestige Bar[/h3]
You can now rearrange your Vestige bar by dragging and dropping Vestiges into different slots to swap their order.
... And More!
Beyond the larger features we have made hundreds of small changes to improve balance, fix bugs, and generally polish the overall experience. We are super excited to be releasing this major update and look forward to hearing your feedback!
Want to see the detailed list of changes? You can view those here.