Inkulinati, the upcoming strategy game from Yaza Games, looks like an absolute riot with a wacky sense of humour paired with turn-based tactics. Where else might you be put in charge of man-eating snails or rabbits armed with swords? We’ve had our eye on this one for a while, so we reached out to developer Yaza Games for more information, with art director Dorota Halicka having been kind enough to answer our questions. What is Inkulinati?Inkulinati is a turn-based strategy game with a healthy dose of humour and no intentions of taking itself too seriously. In Inkulinati, we fight to become a master of the Living Ink, waging wars over the pages of medieval manuscripts and building our own bizarre bestiary. Inkulinati is in development from Yaza Games and is published by Daedalic Entertainment.When does Inkulinati launch?We don’t yet have a specific release date for Inkulinati, but it is planned to launch this year.What’s it about?Over on the Inkulinati Steam page, we’re told that we’re aspiring to be an Inkulinati Master — a member of the group that can wage war using the pages of medieval manuscripts — and that our opponents will include Death themselves as we fight to “bring back your Master from the clutches of death”, before ensuring that we throw “the biggest party that the middle ages have ever seen.” All-in-all it sounds like quite the to-do list, so we asked Halicka for more information. “Although we can’t say too much at the moment as we are still working on it, what we can say is that we want the single player campaign to be an adventure that’s more than just battling other Inkulinati Masters,” Halicka explains. “On your travels you will make choices that will impact your playthrough. You will also have encounters with Wild Beasts too — those are flights with Beasts who have no Master. So imagine a scenario in which you have to face an army of healing Bishop cats? How would you go about that battle?” It’s a good question. “During the campaign you will also meet a whole range of medieval superstars such as Hildegard from Bingen and Dante Alighieri. We hope that it’ll be an adventure players won’t quickly forget.” How does Inkulinati play?In Inkulinati, we wage war against other Inkulinati by using Living Ink, which brings the creatures they draw to life on the pages of medieval manuscripts. This is where Inkulinati joyfully embraces its silliness, as in the bestiary we’ll be commanding, we’ll see everything from “sword-wielding rabbits, dogs with spears, trumpets lodged in bottoms, human-eating snails, and more.” But how does the combat actually work? “Inkulinati is a turn-based strategy. The whole game is based on this principle,” Halicka explains. “Each player alternates their moves, similar to a chess game. At some point your army will consist of many Beasts fighting for, and against, you. When you make a move with one of those Beasts, the next turn will belong to your opponent. When he/she also directs one of his beasts, it will be your turn again. Once all Beasts on the battlefield have made their move, the chapter ends. At this point, depending on the actions taken, each player will receive a certain pool of ink with which new Beasts can be drawn,” Halicka continues. “And as you fight, pray, play trumpets, inspire, smash with your fists, heal, and more, the game ends when one of the Inkulinati Masters kills the opposing player’s avatar, aka, Tiny inkulinati.”That’s the basic premise, but, as Halicka says, “we want to add a few layers of strategy to the game. Each Inkulinati Master has their unique abilities, each army consists of unique creatures that also behave differently on the battlefield. The battlefields themselves can also be quite different, with different objects on the map with which you can interact. All these elements combined together make it impossible to find and have two identical battles in Inkulinati.”It’s not just Inkulinati Masters we’ll need to keep an eye on, either: “you will also have to watch out for a deadly event called The Apocalypse. These events can turn the tide of battle in your, or your opponents, favour in a flash. As you battle your opponent, a large all-consuming fire might break out on the edges of the manuscript, coming in closer and closer, making the battlefield tighter and tighter with every turn.” Halicka adds that “there will also be other equally unpleasant Apocalypses too, but we don’t want to spoil the surprise!”What’s the world like?“The gameplay takes place on the pages of medieval books. Some of the battlefields are basic, while others are more elaborate,” Halicka begins, explaining that the simpler battlefields might have only one level while others can have multiple levels. “And then each of those battlefields can be filled with objects that can hinder your play — or make it easier to achieve victory. We have other variations of our maps too, such as a battle taking place on two boats that sail around the map. And depending on your style of play and the Beasts you have, each battlefield has their strengths and weaknesses.” You’ll also come across interactive objects on the map. “For example, you will spot a barrel that, when smashed, will leave a stain of living ink, clouds that bless everyone who is standing under them at the end of each chapter, a bell tower that, when struck, wakes up all sleeping Beasts, stones blocking your way, doors, and much much more.”The Inkulinati team mentions that one inspiration for the game is the medieval manuscript Bréviaire de Renaud de Bar. It’s a fascinating idea, to take those medieval images and turn them into a game. “Well, it all started for us when the core of the team met at Warsaw Game Design School,” Halicka says, adding that one of their projects was to make a game. “Now, it took us a few weeks to find that bit of inspiration — what game to make, what vibe, and what genre. And then one day, our Art Director Dorota brought in a book filled with Medieval Marginalia. For the rest of us, this was the first time we ever saw marginalia pieces — and we were blown away by them! We loved the artstyle, the world that they created, and the humour. And once we saw this image here” — below — “that’s when the idea for a turn-based strategy came about. It was the founding image of Inkulinati, you might say.” So, all of the Beasts in the game reflect those real marginalia images. “When adding new units, we make sure that they fit our time period and location. Our game is based on marginalia pieces from 10th to 14th century Europe. So for example, having manuscripts from 16th century Japan could be interesting, but it would be a whole different epoch and time,” says Halicka. “Once we see a marginalia piece that we feel could work in Inkulinati, we speak with our medievalist consultant and try to find out as much info about the creature as we can. For example, our Bonnacon is a mythical creature that’s a bull with inward-curving horns. He’s also a creature that, wait for it, farts giant flames. So we researched this creature more — what personality it might’ve had, what scenarios it could be involved in, etc. And the more info we collected, the better and richer creature that we were able to create.” Halicka adds that the team also took inspiration from other parts of medieval life. “What food people ate, how they lived, how they spent time, what clothes they wore, stories they told etc. We wanted our game to be as historically accurate as possible.” The humour of those bizarre marginalia images still speaks to us now, so many years later, and to Halicka, this is one of things the team is most excited for players to experience when Inkulinati launches: “the fact that all of the Beasts, battlefields, the characters, humour, and world is inspired by real-life marginalia. It’s our ancestors having fun and letting loose hundreds and hundreds of years ago! Hopefully our game will show that medieval times are not just doom and gloom and disease. People had a good time too, and cracked jokes like we did. Hopefully seeing that people joked around a hundred years ago didn’t bring mankind to extinction will let people in our times relax a bit and feel that it’s ok to laugh at silly things too. Occasionally, in moderation of course.”Any news on the Inkulinati achievements?We don’t yet have the Inkulinati achievements, but Halicka gave us an idea of what to expect. “The achievements are still in the designing process,” Halicka says, “But we will try through achievements to give players a hint of what to tackle, so that when they look at achievements list they have an idea what else is worth trying to do in this game — not to say directly what players should do, but to gently guide them in the process of discovering Inkulinati, because there is a lot to discover on your own in the game.”There’s also another “achievement-like thing” we should keep an eye out for, which is “tied into the generated text just above the battlefield. During the course of the battle, some player actions are rewarded with applause and information about what act they did. For example, we have Revenge, and that occurs when a player kills a Beast that previously killed his compatriot,” Halicka explains. “Players will also hear applause if they kill someone with one Health point, or if they kill someone who had full HP — these are recurring achievements, showing up each time during battle to add a little more drama and emphasize the spectacularity of the chosen actions”. And of course, Inkulinati’s sense of humour will be clear throughout. “Well, we have to keep the right tone throughout the game, achievements included. We can’t let seriousness invade achievements. That would be heresy! And what type of achievements will there be? Well, that’s something that you will have to discover yourself!”So, what do you think? Will you be wielding the Living Ink and waging war when Inkulinti launches for Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One? Let us know in the comments!
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