The Pen Has a Date: Graphite, the Roguelike RPG Born from a Kid's Notebook, Launches July 27
RipRed's pen-and-ink tactical RPG, where choose-your-own-adventure nostalgia meets deeply strategic roguelike combat, arrives on Steam this July .
This looks like a neat idea for a roguelike RPG and the art is gorgeous! I’m excited for this! - Janette/PossumCoffee
COLOMBIA — July 9, 2026 — Mark the date on your ruled notebook paper: Graphite, the stylized roguelike RPG from developer RipRed, is set to launch on Steam on July 27, 2026, published by indie.io. A free playable demo covering the game's full first act is available now, giving players an early look at the pen-and-ink world and timeline-based combat that await.
Graphite lives inside a kid's school notebook, drawn into existence one late-night sketch at a time. The world is ruled by paper and household junk, where everyday objects are repurposed by imagination into items. The heroes are beautifully crafted pen-and-ink characters who embark on quests, forge alliances, face prophecies, and take every bit of it completely seriously. The monsters they face are drawn with the same care and conviction, every one of them wholly unaware they are figments of a child's mind. That dramatic irony is Graphite's beating heart: a world of genuine craft and consequence, held inside something as humble as a spiral-bound notebook.
For anyone who dog-eared a choose-your-own-adventure book, rolled dice for a homemade tabletop campaign, or filled notebook margins with characters and maps, Graphite speaks a familiar language. Its tarot-inspired adventure deck presents illustrated, narrated events across each run, with branching choices shaped by your current party, items, and the decisions you have already made, where some paths reward, some come back to haunt you, and some change everything.
Behind the fantasy, a deeper story unfolds. A mysterious figure known as The Scribe has tasked seven heroes with growing stronger and gathering allies before Death arrives. Each of the seven has a distinct personality, backstory, and reason to fight, their paths intertwining across runs as choices, tragedies, and truths accumulate.
Combat plays out on a dynamic timeline where every action has duration and every decision has consequence. The Break system lets players deplete enemy actions further down the line by depleting their poise, but enemies wield those same tools, meaning every tactical advantage is also a vulnerability waiting to be turned against you. Artifacts are powerful stackable items with no upper limit, letting builds grow from methodical to gloriously chaotic across a run. The catch: enemies can pick them up too. Every choice is a calculated risk, because in Graphite, both sides of the battlefield are playing the same game.
Key Features:
• Seven Heroes: Seven playable heroes, each with a distinct personality, playstyle, and narrative arc
• Timeline Combat: Timeline-based tactical combat with a Break system that rewards reading enemy intentions and striking with precision
• Limitless Builds: Unlimited artifact stacking for builds that range from methodical to beautifully chaotic, and enemies who can build right alongside you
• Choose Your Path: A tarot-inspired adventure deck of illustrated, narrated events with party-influenced branching choices
• Ever-Evolving Runs: Procedurally generated enemies and encounters that grow alongside your progress across every run
• Story Rich: A layered narrative where the fantasy world and the real world quietly reflect each other
"We wanted to make something original, something weird and appealing in a way that felt true to the RPGs and roguelikes we love," says Lead Developer Juan Rodriguez. " Graphite is a game we are genuinely proud of, and we believe the experience we have built, the world, the characters, the way every run feels different, will give players something they haven't felt before."
The notebook opens July 27. Wishlist and play the demo on Steam, follow updates on X and Instagram, join the community on Discord.
ABOUT RIPRED
RipRed is an independent game development studio based in Colombia, founded by a small team of developers with a shared passion for crafting original indie experiences. Graphite is the studio's debut commercial release, drawing on the team's background in indie game development and a commitment to building games that balance mechanical depth with emotional storytelling.
ABOUT INDIE.IO
indie.io is a game publishing platform dedicated to helping independent developers succeed. With more than 40 years of combined industry experience, the indie.io team provides marketing, PR, distribution, and strategic support across all stages of a game's lifecycle, from development through launch and beyond. indie.io distributes games across more than 60 channels worldwide.
