Inkulinati [Review]
Inkulinati’s weird little medieval guys make for a charming and engaging strategy game.
Image credit: Yaza Games / Daedelic Entertainment
I’ve always been fascinated by medieval manuscript marginalia, the sometimes ornate and often weird drawings added to medieval books’ margins by scribes. Developers Yaza Games have taken this ancient tradition and made a game about it.
In Inkulinati, scribes do battle within manuscripts by drawing marginalia creatures with magic ink. Two scribes do battle, each with their own army, on a field of 2D platforms. The turn-based combat reminds me of Magic: The Gathering, in that the scribe is using a resource (ink) to summon Beasts that they command to damage each other or the opposing scribe. Inkulinati even includes its own version of “summoning sickness,” where a unit will be asleep when it’s drawn on the page. While scribes can command Beasts to move around the battlefield or attack, they also have special scribe powers. Scribe powers are manifested by the scribe’s hand entering the screen and manipulating the page directly, a nice touch that really helps sell the game’s theme.
Image credit: Yaza Games / Daedelic Entertainment
I appreciated that combat can be puzzle-like in nature. I had to carefully consider units’ range, powers, buffs, damage output, and positioning to succeed, because one wrong move can lead to total loss. Turn order wasn’t quite what I was used to with similar games, as you don’t command all your units at once, rather you take turns with your opponent, each using one unit on a turn. The game’s in-depth tutorial levels do a great job of teaching all this.
One mechanic in particular that I found interesting was “push.” The Beasts or the scribe are able to push Beasts in a direction, and it’ll move either one space or through a row of creatures or objects if the victim is adjacent to them. Falling off the battlefield platforms means death, so the ability creates a lot of strategic opportunities to use placement to defeat more powerful Beasts instantly.
Image credit: Yaza Games / Daedelic Entertainment
The real highlights of the game are the units themselves, all beautifully designed and rendered on the screen. All the art looks like it was ripped straight from the pages of the historical books that inspired it. Inkulinati genuinely feels like a manuscript come to life. The light, often Pythonesque tone that the art and its inspiration brings is also refreshing for a strategy game, since games in the genre tend to be serious. I have a preference for strategy games like Fire Emblem that have named characters in epic stories, but Inkulinati’s joyous execution of its central conceit makes up for that absence.
Inkulinati is now out of early access, so it’s a great time to check it out. If you enjoy turn based combat and strategy, don’t miss out on this one.
Inkulinati is available now on PC (Steam, GOG, Epic), Playstation 4 / 5, Xbox One / Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch.
Overall Score: 7/10
Played on: PS5
