It’s true what they say: you wait years for a game with authentic medieval aesthetic and then two come along almost at once. Hot on the heels of the fantastic Pentiment comes Inkulinati, but I should stress right at the outset here that these two games share only surface similarities. Where Pentiment is a narrative and dialogue heavy mystery adventure, Inkulinati is a turn based strategy game that takes the famously bizarre creatures from medieval manuscripts and turns them into controllable units. Launching into Early Access and on Xbox Game Pass, I’ve now had the chance to get hands on with this inventive game.
The most obvious and striking aspect of Inkulinati is its medieval aesthetic. Much like Pentiment, Yaza Games has taken inspiration from some of the most surreal and eye-catching illuminations in manuscripts. However, while Pentiment relegated these to the margins (appropriately given this is where they often reside in the original documents) Inkulinati puts them front and centre. The cast of beasts you can command ranges from dog-headed soldiers to enemy consuming snails, but the real star of the show – both in appearance and utility – is the donkey-headed bard. While they don’t hit as hard as some other characters, their ability to give enemy units headaches that prevent them from moving and attacking can be a real game changer. This move also benefits from it being animated through the donkey farting into its bagpipes.
The illuminated aesthetic is consistent throughout the whole game, from menus to dialogue and setpiece battles are even accompanied by a kind of commentary which stitches together the events through stock phrases and makes for a surprisingly entertaining Monty Python-esque read. I played on my Steam Deck and it was a perfect fit, with even the hint text proving to be highly readable on the smaller screen. Controls also worked fine so I imagine it will be a great fit for consoles too. As everything is turn based and menu driven I never missed the accuracy of mouse and keyboard.
The combat of Inkulinati feels like a fusion of chess and Magic the Gathering. You control a Tiny Inkulinati – a character that can summon other units by drawing them and also has specific abilities unique to them. There are a number of these Tiny Inkulinati to choose from and the campaign mode sees you take on each one in turn. The most iconic is perhaps the Master, a figure known in academic circles as ‘Medieval Yoda’ due to their green skin and prominent ears. Other options range from the nun Hildegard to the poet Dante. Multiplayer allows you to choose a different Tiny Inkulinati with the options allowing you to focus either on damage or healing.
While the core gameplay is all turn based strategy, there is also a rogue-lite aspect too. As you work through the campaign you’ll unlock upgrades to your Tiny Inkulinati as well as add new beasts to your ranks. Each battle allows you to choose five beasts which you can summon in any quantity once you get started. The only limitation is the amount of ink that each requires to be drawn (think energy in Pokemon or lands in MtG) with you needing to decide between cheap and relatively weak units or saving up your ink to bring in stronger and heavier hitters. As every unit also has several attacks and abilities at their disposal, it soon becomes pretty clear that there is potential for some complex strategies and approaches.
I managed to reach the penultimate main battle before losing all my lives. As I worked through this mode and unlocked more units, I found myself switching things up constantly rather than keeping the same units as is too often the case in this genre. This approach is encouraged by the introduction of ‘boredom’ points which rise if you repeatedly choose the same units and makes them more expensive to summon. This nudging mechanic is a fantastic addition that successfully pushes you to mix things up.
There are a couple of issues in the current build though. It is sometimes a little too easy to accidentally trigger an action without meaning to (although this could well be a me problem) and some of the environmental dangers are too powerful. My campaign run came to an end after I lost all my lives to a moving hell mouth that swallows any characters on the same space. If you find your Tiny Inkulinati in such a predicament and cannot move them then it’s game over! Again, this is a gameplay challenge that I now know to avoid, but it is a particularly punitive one.
I’m looking forward to see what Yaza Games are going to bring to Inkulinati through the Early Access/Game Preview period, but the game is well worth playing in its current form. There may be scope for some unit balancing and extra units to be added, but the central game is as compelling as its aesthetic is striking. Throw in the option of multiplayer and you have a great and surprisingly accessible strategy title. Just watch out for the donkey farts.
