Inkulinati is an upcoming turn-based RPG by Yaza Games which features hand-drawn animals and creatures that can show their butts or fart at enemies to dazzle them. This is one of the most unique RPGs that I have played in my life. This is our preview of Inkulinati in which we use our Donkey Bards to fart on enemy units and push some rabbits into the fire. Currently, live on Kickstarter, Inkulinati is slated for a full release in 2021 however the game looks and plays brilliantly as we find out in our preview below.
Probably the best feature of Inkulinati is its visuals and animations. While the game features hand-drawn visuals, the game is literally played on the pages of an ‘ancient manuscript’. When you hear about hand-drawn visuals, you mostly think that the animations will not be much of a looker but that is certainly not the case here. Inkulinati looks beautiful and plays beautifully. The animations are just brilliant and even the special effects are amazing to look at. I was even surprised that the demo has a cinematic cutscene to kick off the game. Complimenting the brilliant visual design, you have a solid audio design as well where the sounds and the soundtrack is perfect and really puts you in that medievil mood.
Combat is yet another game mechanic that I thoroughly enjoyed. I am certain that the combat is made more fun due to the wacky design of the beasts that you use to fight with your enemies. Your main character or hero in the game is your Tiny Inkulinati who has the power to draw other beasts on the battlefield. Apart from drawing more beasts, the Tiny Inkulinati can also interfere with the battlefield with his various powers such as smashing enemies and moving around here and there to avoid fires. However, your Tiny Inkulinati is also your most valuable character and must survive at all costs. If you lose your Tiny Inkulinati, you lose the game as this is the only way of winning the battles in Inkulinati.
For drawing beasts, you require Ink and Ink is in limited supply. While you can set the amount of Ink you have at the start of a battle, you can also collect more ink by placing your beasts on fields where Ink Stains are present. If your unit remains on an Ink Stain for an entire move, you can collect some Ink at the end of the round. You can attack and use skills while standing on this Ink Stain but you cannot move away from it if you want to collect Ink. Once the chapter is over, you will collect the Ink and will be able to draw even more beasts in the next chapter.
Turns or rounds are called chapters in Inkulinati so every time both your and your opponents play your turns, a new chapter begins. Each beast and your Tiny Inkulinati get a limited set of moves so you will be required to use them to attack, use skills or move around the fields. Special Abilities require a charge time and you can only use them after certain chapters have passed in the game. These are however some of the best moves I have seen in the game which include a Donkey Bard that comes with a fart attack that reduces the accuracy of the enemy units caught in the blast. Both sides of the battle have units that come with unique and special abilities. For the demo, I only had access to one side however it was equally fun dominating the rabbits with my dogs and donkeys.\
Depending on the beast, the attack range and amount varies. Each type of beast comes with its own unique strengths and weaknesses. Certain units such as the swordsmen deal a high amount of damage while lack in range and can only attack enemies that are right next to them. Similarly, spearmen boast the greatest amount of movement fields and can also attack enemies over two fields. Archers on the other hand come with low health but can attack as far as six fields away. Their triple shot attack can also hurt multiple enemies with a single shot which makes it a great attack for crowd control. Similarly, the swordsman comes with a dual-sided attack that can deal damage to enemies on either side. Using these special attacks is critical for your victories because the normal attacks can only deal little damage. The normal attacks are also luck and skill-based as every time you are about to hit, you have to play a little mini-game that will determine how much damage your attack will deal to the enemies. If you are good, you will end up killing certain enemies but if you miss, you will end up with a lousy shot dealing only 1 damage to enemies.
Some more moves that you get for your beasts include Prayer and Push. Push is one of my favorite moves as with a little push, you can push enemies off the field completely for an easy kill. Certain units come with extremely strong push attacks. It also depends if all the fields are occupied than a single push is enough to throw an enemy unit off the field. After a certain number of chapters, one of the best mechanics kicks into action which is known as the Apocalypse. When it kicks in, fire emerges at either end of the stage which continues to move in after every after chapter. Anything caught in this fire will die instantly. During my playthroughs, I absolutely abused this little mechanic, and therefore, this is my favorite mechanic of the game.
You see when the apocalypse happens, the Tiny Inkulinati must move forward and since nearly all the fields ahead are occupied at later times by beasts. This means that a single move forward forces the Tiny Inkulinati to keep on moving forward until it can find an empty field. This was mostly in my area and once the enemy’s Tiny Inkulinati was in my field, all I needed was a single Push attack that would kick the enemy’s Tiny Inkulinati into the fire for an instant win no matter how many beasts they had. I loved this mechanic and probably why I played the game for much longer than the developers might have intended us to spend with the game. This little trick shows that the battles in Inkulinati can change every second.
I won battles with no beasts and ink left but with a single push. However, this little trick can be exploited by enemy players as well but so far, I did not give them enough space to come closer to my Tiny Inkulinati but I hated the spearmen and their annoying long-range attacks. For me, the enemy would mostly just go for my Tiny Inkulinati. They fought with other beasts as well but mostly, especially the enemy spearmen went directly for my Tiny Inkulinati. I did lose plenty of battles as well in the game because it still requires careful planning especially when it comes to spending of the Ink. It is not a common resource and you will be fighting to get Ink. Sometimes you will need to sacrifice attacking your enemies just because you need more Ink so you will need to prepare for the future as well. You can also select Prayer to have your units pray for a powerful attack in their next move.
As you progress in levels, you will also find certain objects sitting on fields. These objects can be used in the battle for your advantage. For example, explosive barrels and carts can be pushed towards enemies and exploded to deal damage to them. Certain blockades can also protect your units from enemy fire but that means that your own units cannot attack through them as well. During my playthroughs, the most useful items I found in the game were the explosive barrels and for some reason, I was unable to fully utilize the potential of using the tall blockades to my benefit. The AI in the demo was a decent challenge on higher difficulties however some of the expected moves were easily missed by the AI. The developer intends to make the AI better in the full game but I still liked the good balance of AI’s offense and defense. The UI of the game is also pretty compact and to the point. Most of the screen is free so that you can look at the brilliant art of the game.
Inkulinati is currently live on Kickstarter however the game has managed to secure more than 200% of its target. This shows that Inkulinati has amazing potential in its full release. The demo I played for my preview is simply a test build with limited features. The full version will come loaded with a full single-player campaign along with a character creator, character skills and progression, and army building with even more funky and unique creatures. I love the brilliant art of the game and I am really looking forward to the full release of the game. You can head over to the game’s Kickstarter to support the developers or head over to the game’s Steam page to add the game to your wishlist.
