Inspiration can come in many forms, but there’s few video games that have turned to medieval manuscripts [1] for their muse. Inkulinati is something of a trendsetter then, merging modern 2D tactical puzzling while quite literally drawing from the past, creating something both unique and enthralling.
The physical act of illustration permeates your strategic decisions, and as you select and add units to the parchment the giant hand of the artist appears to add them to the page [2], or crush them if you so decide. Each battle plays out in chapters – Yaza Games definitely want to make sure you know that this is a piece of living literature – with turn-based rounds lending encounters the sensation of a game of chess as much as anything else.
You have to sketch out both your strategy and your troops in order to prevent the death of your tiny commander, and you can call upon a menagerie of curious creatures [3] to do so, from salivating dog soldiers to trumping donkey bagpipers. The fact that they’re based upon the genuine doodling of medieval monks in the margins of their parchments makes it all the better, and the quirky and gleeful tone feels positively joyous.
Inkulinati then, is quite unlike anything else you’ll have played before. Its visionary artistic design belies a thoughtful and consuming strategy game.
