Aera in the Ink Realm

Aera in the Ink Realm is a third person dark fantasy action RPG from Mr.O, coming to PC with no release date yet. Aera and her friends inherit a long-abandoned ancient library and discover books linked to another realm. When her friends are pulled into different stories, Aera follows a glowing manuscript left by a dead relative into the Ink Realm to bring them back and learn what happened to the library.

How it plays

Combat is fast and up close. Aera fights with a katana and switches to hand-to-hand martial arts, with dodges, counters and combat abilities against cursed samurai, corrupted knights, ink creatures and cinematic bosses. A magical library works as the hub, with portals to five book worlds: ruined kingdoms, cursed dojos, palaces and broken fairy tales, each with its own enemies and secrets.

The good side

Entering cursed books to repair broken stories is a fresh frame for an action RPG, and switching between sword and fists gives the combat some range. The story-led structure, with five friends to rescue, gives each world a clear goal.

The watch-outs

It is a one-person project, and the developer says features, visuals and content may change before release. The minimum PC is high for an indie game: 16 GB of memory and an RTX 2070 Super. English is the only language listed, and the Steam page does not list controller support.

For players around the world

It is a PC game on Steam with a free demo you can download in any region. Text and audio are in English only for now, and there is no release date.

NEXTARCA's take

Storybook worlds and katana combat are an appealing pair, and the demo is the fair way to judge an ambitious solo project. Play it for the feel of the sword and fists switch, and be patient with rough edges: this is an early look, not a finished game.