Inkslinger
Release date: Apr 8, 2021
Developers: Gateway
Publishers: Gateway
Genres: Adventure, Indie
Categories: Single-player, Family Sharing
Supported languages: English

Inkslinger is a 40-60 minutes, story-driven, Romancepunk tragedy with typing-game mechanics and multiple endings. YOU NEED TO WRITE You play as an inkslinger, which is both a profession and a race. Your job is to help formulate the letters and speeches of your Isle Shammer clientele. Else, you start to wither; your inkveins becoming stiff, your body rigid. SO YOU WRITE FOR YOUR CLIENTS One after the other, the eccentric inhabitants of Isle Shammer visit your desk at the Wordshop. You have to find the right approach to each paragraph of their letters, depending on the clues they give you. At our desk, you'll meet: · Tetherheart , a mother whose son never gets back to her. · Smoothie , a young cointaker for a fishmonger by the Waterbed. She needs a poem written for a boy she slapped for calling her a damp oyster. · Humstrum , a beguiling musician. · And several others, making your inkveins thrive or wither! BUT SOMEONE IS TRYING TO REACH YOU Sometimes, however, these client encounters stir up vivid daydreams. You enter a trance in which a mysterious boy tells you about your past. Piece by piece, a timeline slowly forms, telling you about the tragic events that led you to Isle Shammer. But who is this boy to you? And what can he tell you about your past? WHAT'S THE CHALLENGE? All types of players can play Inkslinger. To stimulate newcomers and experienced players alike, Inkslinger doesn't challenge you motorically but cognitively. This game doesn't care about how fast you are but how deeply you connect with your clients through your semantic understanding.

Press reviews: “A unique experience.” PC Gamer “[Inkslinger] understands the horrific potential of language, its capacity to evoke terrifying and hopefully alien situations that live in the mind long after the words have finished.” VICE “Inkslinger has an indisputable understanding of how language and words can have devastating effects” Rock Paper Shotgun 

Notes: INKSLINGER contains written descriptions of violence. While there are no visual depictions of the acts, these gameplay segments are written and designed to be evocative.