Inkulinati

Inkulinati‘s promotional artwork features a mule shocking a rabbit after farting into a trumpet, and a cat strutting around pretending to be the pope. It seems farcical at first as a videogame premise, until you realise that it’s based on real life medieval marginalia. In fact, considering the actual manuscripts contain penis trees, rabbits riding snails, and rocket powered cats, I’d say that Inkulinati seems quite tame in comparison.

Admittedly, even though I was drawn to the Pythonesque aesthetic, I did go into the game slightly pessimistic. After already being burnt by a medieval strategy game this year, I feared that this may suffer from the same fate.

I’m so glad that the game proved me wrong, as it may very well be the best game I’ve played this year so far.

Many thanks to the publisher for the review code.

KICKING UP A (ST)INK
The Inkulinati are a secret society of Ink Masters that battle each other across the pages of ancient manuscripts. These include your master (who seems to resemble Yoda for some reason), a nun, and Death. As an apprentice, you’ll be taken under the wing of your master who unfortunately is accidentally killed by his friend Death during the course of the story campaign. Your Master can be resurrected, you’re informed, but you’ll need to prove your worth first before you can take on Death and win back his life.

It’s a nonsensical story that doesn’t take itself seriously in the slightest. It knows that it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but it bathes in it. Both the scenarios and dialogue are utterly ridiculous and none of it really matters, but the game just wants you to continue battling until you either win or lose – nothing else really matters all that much. One slight complaint that I do have is that there’s a really fancy cutscene during the tutorial using real actors that is absolutely fantastic, and I wish that the game had more of these scattered around – even if it was only after beating the game.

That complaint is only minor though considering that pretty the game’s aesthetics are absolutely on point throughout the whole of the game. Even people who are unfamiliar with marginalia should get a kick out of the designs due to how sharp and well animated everything us. There re even real world elements mixed into the gameplay (such as your Inkulinati’s hand or the ground the manuscript rests on), that all add to the overall vibe.

As a turn-based game, I didn’t exactly know what to expect going into Inkulinati; I expected it to be like a 2D version of X-Com, but I was surprised to see that it’s more like a medieval version of Worms. With two sides each having an army of colourful characters to choose from, the goal is typically to either wipe out the opposing team or eliminate the opposing Ink Master.

These commanders are like the King chess-piece of this strategic battle, having very limited manoeuvrability, but they also have far more utility too. They have the ability to use certain hand gestures in order to manipulate nearby soldiers, but most importantly they use the living ink in order to paint new soldiers onto the battlefield. Each unit has its own cost, but this price will rise if you end up repeatedly drawing the same unit. After all, these elite maestros get bored easily doing the same thing, so you have to ensure their attention isn’t lost if you want to keep a steady supply of troops when you need them. The boredom mechanic is pretty well done, and helps prevent people from relying on the same synergies over and over again. Experimentation and variety helps stave off your own boredom, so I found this addition pretty welcome.

These basics are taught to you via the game’s ‘Academy’, which acts as an extended tutorial. The initial lessons only really cover how to move and how to fight, leaving many questions left unanswered; however, the extended course that Hildegard (the aforementioned nun) offers does a great job at helping you learn about how much depth the game has to offer. As you work your way through each lesson, you’ll typically be given some small type of logic puzzle to solve using very specific units and actions. Maybe you’ll need to use your arse cheeks to stun an opponent inside a trap, or perhaps you’ll need to align units in such a way so you can push the enemy off the map. It’s really well done, and there are loads of these mini challenges on offer – which is great since these were probably my favourite part of the game. Thinking my way around these smaller scenarios was so rewarding, and makes the game’s tutorial one of the best I’ve ever played.

Each of the units that you can paint have their own weapons and abilities for you to use. There are snails that struggle to move very far, but can gobble up an entire enemy in one turn; Demons with serrated blades can cut open enemies causing them to slowly bleed to death; and rabbits can use their bare bums against enemies before praying not to be pushed. Add to that various field hazards and apocalyptic effects and there’s quite a lot for you to manage. They’ve done a great job at ensuring that every unit and mechanic feels well balanced, allowing you to make the most of that boredom system and always experiment with something new.

The only real issue I had with the game is that the slow pacing of the battles and lengthy campaign doesn’t gel all that well with the game’s roguelite structure, especially as most of the randomisation doesn’t have all that much of a notable effect on the overall experience. It does ensure that you’re not able to do the exact same thing every time and have to adapt to your situation, but it’s also not enough to make every run feel unique. The differing unit sets (with many to unlock) and additional acts certainly help replayability, but I don’t feel like it’s a game that you’ll be playing endlessly like some other roguelites. And that’s absolutely ok. As long as you realise before going in that this isn’t a game designed to be played for hundreds of runs, you’ll still appreciate just how much there is on offer to incentivise you into coming back for more.

VERDICT
Even though certain elements may be inspired from other games, there really isn’t anything much else out there like Inkulinati. It has a really fresh and infectious battle system that is only enhanced by the game’s gorgeous artwork. And when a game has me wanting to squeeze every last drop out of everything (including the tutorial content!), you know it is a solid contender for my Game of the Year.