Inkulinati Critic Reviews

Inkulinati is impressive in its ability to marry theme, mechanics, and presentation. The ink-driven combat is exciting and tense, rewarding experimentation and good use of gestures and abilities. The world, inspired by the marginalia of Medieval manuscripts, is beautiful and immersive. The campaign is strong but playing against another human, in local multiplayer, is even more fun, especially if both involved players have learned a few tricks while facing the computer. Inkulinati is incredibly inventive visually and features engaging combat mechanics.

I didn’t know if I would recommend Inkulinati when I was first playing it. But it grew on me. You will quickly see a lot of what the game has to offer. There aren’t that many things to unlock. There’s not really a campaign. You can do a one on one battle or a roguelike tower a la classic arcade fighting games. You will see all that the game has to offer pretty quickly. But I wasn’t counting on how strong the actual strategy game is. This is the first release from Yaza Games, but they seem like a team with some fresh ideas and the vision to implement them. Daedalic Entertainment publishes a lot of novel strategy titles that fail to hold your attention for long. Inkulinati earns its place in your library with its depth.

Inkuinati is a rediscovery of who we were in the Middle Ages, of our long lost attitude about games event in serious context. A great strategic game full of jokes and farts diegetically inserted in the game experience.

Inkulinati is a wonderfully quirky strategy game with a great sense of humour and plenty of room to grow. Yaza Games have certainly done something interesting with medieval manuscripts.

Great turn-based strategy game with quirky animals stylized in medieval illuminations. Inkulinati is addictive, illustrations are funny and imaginative, but challenging battles against ink monsters will thoroughly test your logical thinking. Beneath its cute exterior lies a small but complex strategy game.

Inkulinati presents an incredibly fresh game theme with tried and true mechanics. While the gameplay isn’t anything incredibly new or exciting, the game’s unique art, animation, and overall silliness, paired with an engaging roguelike campaign system, should keep aspiring Inkmasters from suffering from boredom.

Whether you’re just in it for the vibes or you’re a history nerd like me, Inkulinati offers plenty of replay value, especially once you’ve unlocked more Beasts and can really get to tinkering with builds. The visual style may be the star of the show, but underneath the farting donkey bards and dancing-plague skeletons is a competent, compelling roguelite that will keep you up well into the night like a monk copying a manuscript by candlelight.

We know that early access is a great way to guarantee good progress to the development of video games that require accurate balance of mechanics and the broadest possible feedback from the public. This technique has done wonders for the likes of Hades, and turned out to be an absolute wonder for Inkulinati too: Yaza Games has greatly expanded the space of possibility available to players, enriching the game content and reviewing in a meticulous way some elements potentially capable of breaking the delicate balance of the game. Too bad for the permanence of some rather unfair situations and for an excessively long tutorial, which runs the risk of alienating players.

Inkulinati manages to blend style and substance, creating a game that is mechanically simple yet has a ton of strategic depth for players to discover. If you’re a fan of board games, strategy games, or even just the art style, I’d recommend checking this one out. Who knows, you might be the next Inkulinati Master.

Inkulinati fits very well in the turn-based strategy genre but at the same time stands out with its distinct style and charm. The satirical approach to the convention is strongly evident, but is not over the top.

Turn-based battles on parchment with ink animations are interesting not only in appearance, but also in gameplay. Although there are also certain pitfalls. However, the originality of the game cannot be denied.

After being in early access on multiple platforms, Inkulinati delivers a satisfying game with an original art style in its full release. The colorful, humorous character art and animations are impressive and entertaining. A lot of effort went into creating a dense and intense combat system. However, Journey Mode becomes predictable within a few runs and could have been more innovative. The lack of online multiplayer is unfortunate too, especially for a game based on dueling. Inkulinati is a fun page-turner, but it’s still in need of several revisions.

Inkulinati will be a very good choice for people looking for light and casual gameplay mixed with a little bit of thinking. It's an original, fun and approachable strategy game, with a fair amount of untapped potential that may yet be realised in the future. A must-play for fans of medieval art and butt jokes.

Overall, Inkulinati can be a fun experience for anyone willing to give it a shot. The art style is incredibly charming, the gameplay is surprisingly deep, and its roguelite Journey Mode can be pretty engaging. However, the game also spends too much time telling players how to play it rather than letting them learn at their own pace. Additionally, the humor, lack of an online mode, and the fact it does not do anything truly groundbreaking with the concept may push some players away. But even with all of that, fans of the genre may still find something to love here.

Inkulinati has its quirks, but it’s dripping with charm. For a small studio’s first game, it’s a solid experience that makes me look forward to what Yaza Games comes up with in the future. The game is on Xbox Game Pass, so it can’t hurt to try it out. Inkulinati’s deceptively robust combat and Monty Python-esque humor makes for a delightful experience that is well worth your time.

While Inkulinati is releasing in early access it is already in a great place. A few bugs with menus not accepting inputs until restarting the game popped up during my time with it, but they were infrequent enough to not detract much from the experience. It will be great to see how the game shapes up as the developers get closer to fully launching the game. The current state of the game is a great foundation for the developers to build upon moving forward.

A rare balance of playfulness and genuine strategic depth, plucked from the margins of history.