ABOUT THIS GAMEInkulinati is a turn-based strategy game inspired by medieval manuscripts. Draw your army of Beasts, and spill the ink of your enemy, defeat medieval superstars and collect perks to unleash hidden powers. Being a master of the quill isn’t easy, so make sure you’re focused and plan eve...
Inkulinati is a turn-based strategy game inspired by medieval manuscripts. Draw your army of Beasts, and spill the ink of your enemy, defeat medieval superstars and collect perks to unleash hidden powers. Being a master of the quill isn’t easy, so make sure you’re focused and plan every move wisely. Embark on your journey and become the greatest Inkulinati of all time!
Don’t let the looks fool you. Inkulinati is a game of nuance and brain-sizzling challenge that will test even the most hardened strategists. And as every hardened armchair general knows, it all starts with your units, which we call Beasts. There are multiple deadly (and bizarre) [b]Beasts[/b] to unlock. They all have their special individual skills, as well as class-specific abilities causing different effects. And when these Beasts work in unison, a symphony of destruction, death, until the literal apocalypse will endure.
It’s not just your Beasts that can cause havoc and damage. There are special, battle tide-turning actions performed by the [b]Inkulinati Masters[/b] themselves - such as yourself! Use your unique Hand Actions to smash your opponent's units, draw obstacles to create barriers, relocate your units with a move of your finger, or explode your troops to create pure, pure chaos. Just remember - your opponent can do it too. And to keep it more interesting, each Inkulinati Master can have their own set of Talents too that can help win the battle.
But wait, there’s more. You will need to adapt your tactics to every battle. Each Battlefield is its own domain, with its own particular dangers that you should watch out for, and opportunities that you can use. Look out for objects that are scattered all over the [b]Battlefields[/b], such as exploding Pots of Beans, travelling Hell’s Maws, Clouds of Blessings, and use them to your advantage.
And just when you think you have a handle on the battle, an [b]Apocalyptic event[/b] can come in and flip all of your plans upside down. We’re talking fires, plagues, and the Memento Mori itself. However, when all hope is lost and you’re on the ropes, an Apocalypse might be just what you need to turn the tide in your favour.
There are different difficulty levels to choose from depending on your cunningand know-how, so even younglings will be Inkulinati-Masters in due time. And for those that want to know the ins and outs, you can learn how to master it all in our [b]Academy mode[/b], where we teach you step-by-step all the nuances to win every battle.
Uncover the mystery and secrets of the Inkulinati and face such opponents as Hildegard, Dante Alighieri, and more. Go out into the world and start your adventure! Fight the biggest Inkulinati masters in the land, tame the untamed Beasts, build your ultimate army, try to bring back your Master from the clutches of death, and most importantly, finish your grand quest with the biggest party that the middle ages have ever seen!
The best adventures are those of your own. In Journey mode you will create and develop your own character. As any aspiring Inkulinati Master, you will get to create your own Inkulinati character. During your journey you will learn the secret techniques of drawing new Beasts and Inkulinati Hand Actions, allowing you to choose the composition of your army. You can be a brave knight that has no fear or a nun who with the power of prayer can confuse her enemies and heal thy own servants. Those styles, and more, are waiting to be discovered and made your own. Express yourself!
On your journey you won’t just battle against other Inkulinati Masters. You will face untamed Wild Beasts, go against Beast Lairs, meet interesting characters such Bards and talking Geese, visit shops, scriptoriums, and loads more. It is one heck of an adventure!
Inkulinati will bring you back to the Golden Era of hot-seat mode. Face your friends, family, or foes, and decide who is the greatest Inkulinati Master in the house! Choose your Army, Talents, Inkulianti Master, the Battlefield, and other criteria and options, and face a battle that will be remembered for the ages.
700 years in the making, finally these bizarre art pieces can come alive in a video game and show that medieval people also had their “memes” and that they laughed from the same silly things that we do today. You’ll see sword-wielding rabbits, dogs with spears, trumpets lodged in bottoms, human-eating snails, and more. Much, much more…
The game actually runs on Linux under Wine, on a system much weaker than the so-called "minimum" requirements. Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4770S CPU @ 3.10GHz, with its integrated GPU, is enough - even at 4K resolution.
First impressions: the long next-next-next tutorials are annoying. Animations are funny. Controls are less than perfect - you need to use keyboard arrows to scroll the page if you want to move a beast more to the right than would normally be visible. Thus, four stars.
I'm incredibly happy to inform, that Inkulinati fulfilled my biggest expectations - fun gameplay, easy-to-learn rules, adding something original to one of my favourite genres (turn-based strategy/tactic games) and aesthetically pleasant 2D graphics. Truth be told, I was neither a big fan nor a big enemy of medieval marginalia, but this characteristic style in the case of Inkulinati is working really fine.
I admit that despite managing the only resource (ink), it's rather a tactic game, not a strategy. But for a title, where you're playing on relatively small maps (or rather should I say "levels"), it has a satisfactory level of "tactical depth". I especially enjoy a variety of "beasts" - they are vastly different not only in terms of look but also in their functionality on the battlefield.
The game has some minor lacks - not very intuitive moving the camera when you're issuing orders, a debatable system of "randomized" damage (it's quickly moving indicator, which you need to stop, and depending on where it stops, your troop will deal more or less damage). And while hot-seat multiplayer is a great option (a big plus for that), it would be nice to have also some internet options (but this will probably be added later).
But despite those issues, I still have a lot of fun with this game. I hope it will grow nicely to the "full release" day.
Feel a bit bad about leaving a negative review here as you can tell that the developers really tried to make an interesting and fun game, but it feels unfinished. There are too many times where it gives a ton of handholding for basic stuff like movement, but then presents you with missions where there's literally only one way to win and it's up to you to figure it out by sheer repetition. Like when introduced to the snail you basically are told move it forward, eat the enemy. Then you get stuff like defeat 3 demons with 2 cats, here's a new bleeding mechanic we're not even going to tell you about, good luck. You always feel like you won more by luck than skill and then just barely.
Another issue is the text. Even set to large the main gameplay stuff like damage is tiny, but if you zoom in then the helpful hints clutter up the whole screen. When you hit excape the game doesn't actually pause. Not a dealbreaker for a turn based game, but if I'm in the middle of clicking the damage meter I'd like to actually stop everything if I need to immediately put things on hold.
I feel like if this game were updated so that every battle isn't anxiety inducing, tutorials are actual tutorials where it matters, and a few UI improvements it could easily be 4-5 stars.
Pro
1. Artistic Design: Excellent. The figures and animation are authentic and smooth. It keeps the flavour of the original illustration drawing while adding more micro facial expressions to the figures. A couple of historical figures like Dante certainly make the game more fun to play with. Great work for all the artists.
2. Rouge style map add more possibility for replayability
3. The ruleset is simple while keeping the depth at the same time, and won't be too discouraging for novice
4. Humor: I really appreciate the little humour in the game, starting from little animals' skills (Like farts) to dialogue with the master
Cons
1. Price: The game is still a bit expensive for the earlier access version. Although personally, I understand it is reasonable for a small game company, and I did purchase the support pack for the appreciation of the developers' hard work, it is probably still a little bit overpriced for the game now, considering the lack of other content (such as mini ink master customization) and function (possible online or LAN mode）
2. Replayability: At the moment, I have to say it is a little bit low for solo playing. I haven't finished a complete journey at the moment. But if choosing different ink masters won't affect the journey dialogue and some minor changes to the plot. The repeatability of the journey might be a little bit high. If the player chooses Loony when facing the master having some funny dialogue other than alewife or others, it will make the new journey more fun. I hope the difference between the little ink masters is more than just looking. Their skills or other game interaction should be based on their background story as well
Inkulinati is a turn-based tactical rogue-like. You control a tiny rendition of your avatar and an army of creatures on the battlefield, a piece of paper where you and your enemy will draw creatures and obstacles (other than the ones already present on each map at the start). You'll have to manage your resource (ink) to create creatures, but you also have some actions which cost no ink, but might have a cooldown.
Each creature has different attack ranges, health, cost and so on, and you and the enemy take turns moving one around the map, attacking or interacting with the environment.
The gameplay mechanics are relatively simple, but the interactions created through the various abilities and the positioning of your troops give a wide range of possibilities and tactical challenges. As you progress through the campaign, you'll be able to pick up new units, powers, and expand your ink/health pools, while you meet various enemies and maps, often themed very appropriately. Your miniature avatar (in the battles where it is present) must be kept alive to win, and the same is true for the enemies, so its well-being is a priority, and you must always plan around this.
The "medieval manuscript" style of the game is a joy to see, and works well with the music to create a great atmosphere. The way the creatures emote and move never fail to make me smile. The silly humour of the story also fits with the presentation, which is pretty much all someone could ask in a game where the narrative isn't a significant focus.
In its current state, there are a few flaws (some battles/skills are unbalanced, the amount of content might be too sparse, as it often happens with rogue-lites and some combos can be frustrating to play around) but it's a truly fun game.
I'd recommend this one to all players who like this style of combat and tactics. I bet just watching a few minutes of gameplay should be enough to tell if the game is for you, just as the demo was enough for me.
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