There’s a certain kind of game that throws you straight into the deep end and trusts you to figure things out as you go. Inkling Cats: Beneath the Dreams is exactly that – colourful, unpredictable, and constantly shifting under your feet in ways that keep every run feeling fresh.
Now available on Xbox Series X|S for £12.49, this roguelike RPG from Linked Rooms Games and Brainium Games blends fast-paced combat with creative freedom, wrapping it all in a world that feels like it’s been pulled straight from the pages of a child’s imagination.
At A Glance
- Game: Inkling Cats: Beneath the Dreams
- Developer: Linked Rooms Games
- Publisher: Brainium Games
- Platform: Xbox Series X|S
- Price: £12.49
- Game Type: Roguelike RPG / Action
A World Built From Imagination
Inkling Cats places you inside a magical book, where each chapter unfolds like a living story. It’s a world shaped by Liam, a young creator whose imagination fuels everything you see.
You don’t play as Liam directly, though. Instead, you take control of his trio of plush companions – Spok, Smuk and Skrat – each bringing their own style and abilities into the fight.
Chaos, Combat And Constant Change
At its core, this is a roguelike built around experimentation.
Each run throws new combinations of enemies, items and upgrades your way, pushing you to adapt on the fly. Ink drops act as your main resource, letting you trade for upgrades or power up your equipment as you progress.
What makes things interesting is how everything links together. Weapons can be modified piece by piece, abilities can stack in unexpected ways, and small decisions early on can snowball into wildly different outcomes later.
No two runs play out the same, and that unpredictability is where the game finds its rhythm.
Play Solo Or Bring Friends
While Inkling Cats works perfectly well as a solo experience, it also opens things up with local co-op.
Adding others into the mix naturally ramps up the chaos. Coordination becomes key, especially when facing tougher enemies and bosses, but there’s also a sense of shared discovery as you experiment with builds and abilities together.
But, one of the more interesting aspects of Inkling Cats is how much control it gives you over your setup.
Each character has a distinct feel, but the real depth comes from how you customise your weapons and upgrades. You can enhance individual components, swap out parts entirely, or make use of specific synergies that suit your approach.
Whether you prefer aggressive, high-risk builds or something more controlled and defensive, there’s room to experiment.
A Roguelike That Leans Into Creativity
Inkling Cats: Beneath the Dreams doesn’t try to reinvent the roguelike formula, but it does embrace the parts that make the genre so compelling – variety, experimentation and that constant sense of “maybe this run will be the one”.
Wrapped in a colourful, imaginative world and backed by plenty of build options, it offers a lively take on the genre that’s easy to jump into and hard to fully master.
If you’re up for a bit of controlled chaos, there’s plenty waiting within the pages of this enchanted book. The Xbox Store page you need awaits your cash.
