Super Fun , Addictive, and Intense, Vellum does a magic Rogue like game RIGHT.

I only have 3 hours of playtime in this game, however it feels like 10. The game is so much fun and easy to pick up and learn that you can easily waste time playing this. The combat is tight and fluid, feeling very similar to risk of rain 2. However remember this game is in early access and has some rough edges, although almost no bugs to speak of thankfully. Plus sometimes the mechanics can get so jumbled up in the midst of combat that i think the game itself can get confused and sometimes throw an effect your way that you didnt even think was supposed to be there.

First things first the games theme and style are both some of the most unique I've seen in a long time. You are a scribe, a wizard tasked with repairing corrupted magic tomes. You do this by entering the books and killing the corrupted entities inside called The Torn. That's another thing about this game, all the flavor text from your abilities, to the enemy types are all book related. Even your character is just a floating Ink pen. Some examples of this amazing flavor text is your main abilities: Jot, Quip, and Passage to just name a few. Even the characters classes which are your Ink Types. To top this all off the enemies are also all named the same way but with more negative connotations involved. Speaking of the enemies, the combat is also extremely fun!

Combat is extremely simple in vellum, and can be picked up by most with ease. Left click to attack which charges up mana, and right click to use said mana to cast a special attack. Combined with your characters special ability on Q, it allows you a very simple system that expands and grows the longer you play. Again the game is a Rogue Like, this means that you get upgrades throughout your runs. These upgrades drastically change how powerful your basic abilities can be. These also change depending on the type of class your currently playing. My personal favorite being the Red Ink, which trades your characters shields for lifesteal. This makes you less tanky, but it also allows you to overheal any damage thrown your way. With so many enemy types and so much variety it makes the game a constant enjoyment to play.

To further improve on the engaging combat the game also allows unhindered access to its endgame right after the first few levels. Bindings which allow the player to make the game intentionally harder by stacking on multiple buffs for your enemies and traps that can hinder the player. Doing so nets higher tiered rewards and unlocks new spells. Plus if you stack on more debuff the game also just makes the enemies tougher and the bosses harder. However to get the most out of this system the game wants you to take it slow and choose only 1 or 2 at first. Each consecutive victory increasing the threshold allowing even more rewards. This being said however the game never stops you from still bumping up the difficulty other than limiting your rewards. This means that only with 3 hours of play time I have conquered multiple levels with binding level 15+ all while the game screams "You arent getting the bonus rewards!". The game however DOES let you unlock the new buffs by completing these levels on higher tiers. This is extremely fun and can even get so crazy that my laptop starts dying and my frames drop below 15. (this is because I play on a low end gaming laptop, NOT THE GAME. Until they put it on geforce now, I will have to deal with it)

Now other than fun gameplay and crazy difficulty the game doesnt really have that much else to offer. That is completely understandable as the game is still in early access releasing less than a month ago. It does have a very simple cosmetic system, where you earn these coins by playing and you can spend them to unlock new styles, however they are jsut some major reskins at this point.

Here is where I'd put my big report so everyone knows how buggy it is right now, however I have yet to find a single one. Even when Im causing my game to scream in agony, it holds up remarkably well.

So what can I see getting changed or any ideas I personally have for the game?
Well first off the animations do feel a bit sluggish at times, and can be a bit slow. This isnt really a big issue however for some attacks it can really take the oomph out of combat. Also I know that it in time there will be tons of new abilities however currently it is barren. There isnt much variety at all with how you can play. It didnt take long for me to find the most OP combo that is allowing me to take on end game content like a cakewalk. That being said, PLEASE dont nerf these things too much. One of the best feelings in this game is playing one of the Ink types only to find a way to make them extremely broken in a run. Instead i feel some of the abilities actually need to be buffed to better fit each Ink, as it took me having to use a specific one to make it actually useable even in the casual dificulty. One example of this is my favorite ink Red. When using red for the first time i swore it was "Too Weak" and that it needed a buff, however i was completely wrong. As the only thing that i was doing wrong was using the incorrect basic attack type. Switching from Jot to Quip instantly made a huge difference, and using Passage also helped a ton. WIth those simple changes I am able to conquer almost any every challenge that comes my way. This however has also locked me into only using those 2 as it is significantly harder while using anything else. This is a major flaw and one way i think this could be fixed/add more incentive to using them, is to add specific buffs tied to specific ability and color combos. One example being: Augments jot to lifesteal X% on hit instead of tethering to enemies. All tethers effects carry over.
This would in my opinion make it much easier to play with other types and add so much more room for creative buildcrafting in game.

If you've read this far thank you. Vellum is an amazingly creative and fun take on the rogue like genre and is 100% worth your time.