If the latest expansion to Risk of Rain 2 left you a little cold, the Vellum 1.0 launch might be just what you were looking for. The third-person action roguelike boasts a distinctive style, allowing you to combine all manner of ink-driven magical abilities to battle through hordes of dangerous beasties. Vellum has proven itself a winner during early access, earning itself a 90% Steam rating from players, and its low price point makes it easier to convince your friends to join you in giving it a try – especially as you can snag it at a big discount right now, thanks to a special sale to celebrate it leaving early access.
The spellcasting system in Vellum revolves around different colors of ink; blue allows you to spread ‘blot’ to deal damage over time to groups of enemies, for example, while green summons and enhances a companion creature, and pink causes you to build up ‘outlines’ on foes that can be detonated for big spikes of damage. With various upgrade paths for each of your ink colors, and a wide list of spells to employ, you’ll have lots of ways to experiment on each run of this action roguelike.
Following a total of 23 major updates throughout early access, Vellum 1.0 is finally here, and its biggest addition is a pair of raids designed as the ultimate test of your builds and skills. The Grey Area is a decaying keep found amid a forested area, where you’ll have to overcome a dangerous arachnid general before coming face-to-face with the Raving Lord himself. The Forgery, meanwhile, plays home to the Splice Lord, who rules over a desert foundry in the Torn Realms filled with creations borne of improper use of pages and ink.
There are eight major encounters and four vignettes to deal with across the pair, with normal and hard mode variations on the table. Come out victorious, however, and you’ll be able to get your hands on new Page of Power rewards along with a fresh range of cosmetics called Curiosities, and even more ways to customize your reading nook. Upon clearing the two raids, you’ll be ready to take on the next challenge, a third such encounter called Yonder, home to the Tangent Lord, which will be introduced in a future update.
Developer Alvios Games has made some more quality-of-life improvements for the 1.0 launch. Among the highlights are the ability to hover over status effects to read what they do. New camera distance and field-of-view settings let you adjust your perspective. When out on the battlefield, you’ll now see more clearly identifiable hints of color among the Torn based on their type. There’s also an ‘abandon run’ option to allow you and your team to return to the Library without having to fully quit out of the game.
Vellum 1.0 is out now on Steam. To celebrate the launch, you can buy it at a 30% discount through Friday May 16, meaning you’ll pay $13.99 / £11.72. Take a look through the full list of balance changes courtesy of the 1.0 patch notes from Alvios Games.
Whether you’re on the hunt for more of the best co-op games on PC right now, or just looking to try your hand at the best action games in 2025, we’ve picked out plenty of potential possibilities.
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