| Platform | Nintendo Switch |
| Release Date | 8/26/2021 |
| Cost | $9.99 |
| Developer | PixMain |
| ESRB Rating | E |
Inked: A Tale of Love is a lovingly drawn puzzle game. You play a nameless Hero, not literally that’s his name. You finish your training and go meet your love, Aiko, who is a painter. You both go home to find birds are getting injured and you set out to figure out why.
Inked is a puzzle game and each level is set up the same. There’s a puzzle blocking your way, solve it and move on to the next puzzle, until reach the end portal and move on. The puzzles generally revolve around re-draw mode, where you can move and manipulate certain objects, like ramps, balls, blocks and platforms. They start off east but get more complex as time goes on. Eventually levels start throwing unique mechanics your way, like “scales,” where you push some blocks down to make others go up.
Probably the most interesting thing is the story, where the Hero and Aiko know they’re in a hand drawn world, drawn by an artist. Often you’ll see the Artist’s hands and he’ll do stuff. In each level, you’ll find the Artist’s secret memories of his own love.
Probably Inked: A Tale of Love’s biggest issue for me is the unintuitive controls. You press B to select an object. You press Y to enter redraw mode to manipulate it. Then press Y again to set it. All the while you can move around and manipulate other objects with A. This will actually play a role in puzzles, but for some reason, it never clicked with me.
Honestly, I’m going to give Inked: A Tale of Love a YMMV. The controls were an issue, and beyond that, the game never really clicked with me. I just never cared for the Hero and Aiko’s journey all that much despite it being an interesting idea. Maybe its because Aiko flies around around on her umbrella while leaving the Hero to solve the puzzles. However, that doesn’t mean you won’t find things here to enjoy.
Overall: Inked: A Tale of Love is a tale i did not particularly enjoy, but that does not mean other people won’t find things to enjoy.
Verdict: YMMV
