Inkulinati Switch Review

I was always a stubborn gamer that stuck to what I knew by staying safely within the confines of my favourite genres of video games. I guess I have this channel to thank for breaking out of my shell to take a look at games that, as a consumer, I would probably overlook due to my own preconceptions. Games like Pocket Jockey, Balatro, and Pentiment challenge gamers to think and play outside the box with unique mechanics and concepts. Inkulinati by Yaza Games and published by Daedelic Entertainment is one such game, releasing right next to Pentiment about a month ago which unfortunately got buried in my schedule due to life happening. What’s it Like? Fill up your ink, get your quill, and prepare your drawing desk as we review Inkulinati on Nintendo Switch.

Inkulinati is a very unique concept, but if I had to box it into a genre, I would say it would be a combination of a strategy and puzzle game. It follows your character, an Inkulinati, as they go on an epic quest to bring back your Inkulinati Master from the clutches of death, who accidentally kills him while reaching for some cheese at a party. As you can probably tell, the story doesn’t take itself too seriously and is full of humourous moments, funny characters, and well-written dialogue that makes progressing through the story mode a delight that had me smiling from ear to ear. While the story may not take itself too seriously, the gameplay certainly does with a tutorial section that can take over three and a half hours to complete it fully. As a rather impatient gamer myself, I think this would be Inkulinati’s biggest drawback that would put off a lot of players, but don’t despair, as you can complete the basics and move on to the main story within 30 minutes should you choose, allowing you to discover things as you play along by making mistakes or experimentation like all good games do.

The core concept of gameplay is the Inkulinati battles, which are essentially artist battles where you “draw” your army so to speak, and duke it out on the page. It revolves heavily around the concept of living ink, a fantasy concoction that sees your creatures come to life, and a strategic resource that influences your actions on the page. You can draw up to 5 different units, depending on the amount of ink you have, and the game features a “boredom” concept, meaning if you spam archers, your character will be bored of drawing them, increasing the living ink cost to deploy that unit. To keep on top of boredom, you simply have to vary your units and actions which forces you to experiment and makes the gameplay more varied at the same time. The artist can also interact with the battle by moving placed animals and objects, as well as unique ability such as “waking up” your units for an extra turn, healing your allies, or whacking enemies for a small damage increase.

In between battles, you navigate a multi-path world map that features battles, locations to enhance your ability, and merchants to purchase new unit types and build your army. These paths and choices are also littered with Inkulinati’s trademark humour, allowing you to drink an ale to permanently increase health, or shame them for fame. It’s all very funny and enjoyable. Admittedly, I stumbled through the first few maps until I realised I could make myself stronger by choosing specific paths with harder challenges, allowing me to have a better experience.

Each unit has unique abilities like a rabbit archer giving you ranged attacks, a heavy unit able to cleave on both sides of them, or a fart donkey that can debuff enemies and provide support for your own units which, to be honest, is probably the wildest sentence I’ve ever written. This offbeat humor doesn’t over-do it, and keeps things light-hearted so even in the face of defeat, it’s still an enjoyable experience, as well as a learning one. Stages, or pages, can feature multiple levels and objective types, such as an artist battle where you have to whittle down your opponent’s health before they defeat you, beast caves that provide a bigger challenge and a bigger reward, and battles where you have a limited number of characters duke it out, forcing you to cautiously approach the battle ahead. All of this is made even strategic knowing a single push can mean victory or defeat.

The art style of Inkulinati is gorgeous, with hand-drawn characters popping on the paper further highlighted by photo-realistic backgrounds. Each unit is varied and has its own style and charm. Enemies are varied, effects are unique, and the levels are surprisingly interesting despite being simple 2D sketches. It’s bright and colourful and is very similar to Pentiment in style, with beautiful script filling the page as battles go on, which you can pause to read should you be inclined to do so. Andreas from Pentiment also makes a surprise cameo as a playable character in this game and as I absolutely adored Pentiment, this nod towards the character made me enjoy Inkulinati all the more, and I really appreciate clever little cross-overs like that.

For my vision-impaired Inkulinati Artists, there are a few UI options available to increase the text and UI size, and as the game contrasts for the most part on a white background, it makes the action easier to discern. You can also reduce effects and screen shake for a more enjoyable experience should you wish to do so. Surprisingly, there’s no touchscreen support for Inkulinati which was a bit baffling, as this game would work very well with point-and-click controls. That being said, the entire package of Inkulinati is well-polished, performs well, and looks great in both handheld and docked. Sound design is well thought out with the sound of both units and pencil scribbles, as well as a relaxing and whimsical score that further immerses you into the game.

For $36 AUD, there’s a decent amount of gameplay and replayability on hand, as well as the ability to quickly play skirmishes or play against another person. Couple this with a multi-path campaign that can have different outcomes every time you play and you’ve got a lot of value for strategy enthusiasts.

All in all, Inkulinati is a great game that features a lot of depth, strategy, and unique gameplay. Its well-written humour makes it an enjoyable romp, and its unique gameplay certainly warrants a look. It has a gorgeous art style and accessibility options for vision-impaired gamers making it an enjoyable experience, and despite not having touchscreen controls, it is a fun and rewarding experience that will get you thinking about how to approach each challenge. For Yaza Games I say there’s no need to go back to the drawing board, you certainly have a winner with Inkulinati.

In the interest of full disclosure, a review copy was provided by Daedelic Entertainment, but this does not influence my score.