Inkulinati Review: Draw Your Medieval Army (XB)

Based on medieval artwork and culture, Inkulinati is a complex strategy game featuring farting donkeys and sword-wielding dogs. The game appears to be entirely hand drawn from medieval artwork and all the battlefields are drawn on a manuscript. Using the Living Ink to form your army, you journey through 5 Acts across multiple difficulties and play-throughs (the story changes each play-through), leveling up your character into the ultimate Inkulinati master. At first, the juvenile humor and interesting art-style gave Inkulinati its charm, but its deep gameplay and quick progression kept me invested.

Inkulinati is available now on Steam, GOG, PS4 and PS5, Nintendo Switch for $24.99, and on Xbox One, X|S, and PC through Game Pass.

Story: Medieval Chapter Book

In Inkulinati, you play as a Inkulinati master. After your teacher, the Master, is killed by Death (depicted as a skeleton), you must duel Death to resurrect the Master. This journey takes place across 5 acts, with each act having branching paths on a mini-map. This is comparable to a “World” in Super Mario Bros, except there are branching paths with mysterious encounters on the way. Each act ends in a duel with another Inkulinati Master. These are often famous medieval figures like Hildegard of Bingen or Dante Alighieri.

The beginning cutscene in live action.

Without spoilers, don’t be surprised if the game ends abruptly. It is meant to be replayed, like a rogue-lite with an overarching story.

Using the seriousness of medieval religion and the irreverence of farting donkey bards, Inkulinati strikes a very funny tone. The most surprising aspect of its tone is that its not far off from real history. Developer Yaza Games was inspired by real medieval artwork and marginalia found in manuscripts depicting warrior rabbits, dogs, and farting beasts.

Gameplay: Deep Strategy – For a Rabbit

Underneath the humorous art style, there needs to be a captivating game to play. In this regard, Inkulinati delivers. It does not add much to the strategy or tactical role playing genre, but it does present its ideas full-formed and with surprising depth. I was finding new enemy types, unlocking new abilities, and developing new strategies for two entire play-throughs, with more to unlock. At times, this felt overwhelming; for strategy enthusiasts however, there is an exciting amount of variables to sink their teeth into.

Choosing your army and abilities.

Inkulinati features a few battle types, each centering around using up to five total beasts to defeat your enemies. There are many beast types with various weapon configurations. The beasts have different abilities – rabbits always get a buff after each move, donkeys’ attacks push enemies back one space, etc. Many weapons can overlap between beast types, like swords, spears, and bows, but many beasts have unique attacks. You’ll have to advance through Journey mode to access all the kinds of beasts.

Battles are played in chapters. Like chess, players take turns using their beasts until they are all used. You can move a beast within a certain range, then do an action like attack, pray/buff, or push. You’re allowed to “pass” on a turn, but you’re encouraged to keep pressing your enemy in some way for a few reasons. One, the edges of the battlefield will be consumed in Apocalyptic Fire after a few chapter. Two, Living Ink is placed on the map for you to collect. Living Ink is the primary resource during battle. It allows you to draw more beasts, heal your beasts, and contributes to other passive buffs. Due to the small cap on troop placement and the environmental push to continuously act, the battles are fast-paced and quite fun.

The fire on the edges will draw closer to the middle.

Two unique gameplay elements Inkulinati introduces are Tinies and the Push mechanic. In most battles, you are represented as a “Tiny” version on the battlefield. Your Tiny is like the Queen and King in chess; they have the most options and will cause defeat if they die. While your beasts, can move and do one action, your Tiny can do as many actions as they have available. These include drawing beasts (if you have the Living Ink) and using Hand Actions where you (as the master) literally use your hand to affect your beasts or even the enemies. There is a wide variety of Hand Actions you will unlock.

The other element is Push. This mechanic allows any beast or Tiny to push any other troop to the nearest empty space. If there is no empty space, the beast will either bounce off an environmental element (damaging them) or fall off a ledge (killing them). It sounds simple, but if used correctly, any troop can instantly kill another. I quickly found that I needed a much stronger defensive strategy. I would surround my Tiny with beasts in order to protect them, but this actually gave weak enemy beasts the opportunity to push my beasts (and Tiny) through my allies and toward a ledge, killing them in one action. Learning to defend against pushes and to offensively set up pushes became a primary tool in my strategy.

Your Tiny can get up close and personal.

One common strategy game feature I felt was missing was the counterattack feature. In tactical role-playing games like Fire Emblem, I enjoy placing powerful characters as bait for a attacks, only to provide a crushing counterattack.

Graphics: Surprisingly Realistic

Inkulinati expertly captures the medieval look in every aspect of the game. I never doubted these were hand drawn creatures based in the 2nd millennium. Again, the strict religious content juxtaposed with the warrior rabbits and bishop cats was a constant source of humor. The style can be a little too consistent though. Every battle is placed against the same tan manuscript page and black ledges.

One issue with the presentation is with the user interface. Between your abilities and your enemies’, there is a lot of information to juggle when deciding your actions. Not all of it is clear or clearly accessible. Eventually, you find all the buttons to press and the various menus to browse in order to access all the information you need. Still, the UI is a obstacle that players will need to develop a path around.

There can be a lot happening on the screen.

Sound: What Is Expected

Just a floating head biting a rabbit.

Featuring the score you might imagine out of a medieval game, it is a simple soundtrack without much noticeable variation. I felt there could have been more horn and fanfare to accentuate moments, but most moments are highlighted with a silly sound effect from one of the drawn beasts. These can be funny and slightly grotesque as they are stabbed or sliced. Still, it’s only kid-friendly ink being spilled.

The review copy for Inkulinati was provided by Evolve PR. Inkulinati was reviewed on Xbox Series S.