We loved Inkulinati, the turn-based strategy from Yaza Games, for its gameplay as much as its striking visual style. And striking it is; an absolute banquet of weird and wonderful illustrations from knights and princesses to giant, besaddled snails. Medieval illumination fans (yes, there are loads of us, actually) were well fed indeed. And you all know how we feel about the brilliant Balatro – and its errant mascot/narrator/commentator, Jimbo. These are, forsooth, a few of our favourite things.
So you can imagine the excitement in the Rogueliker office this morning at news that Yaza’s cosy, creative Inkulinati spin-off Scriptorium: Master of Manuscripts has teamed up with LocalThunk to squash together two things we like. Hurrah!
Even better: they’ve done it for FREE!
What is Scriptorium: Master of Manuscripts?
In the cosy world of Scriptorium, you play as a medieval scribe handling an ever-whimsical client list to create illuminated manuscript commissions to their specific (and often, erm… curious) requirements.
At your disposal is a massive library of parchments, manuscript illuminations and illustrations – and your own creativity.
In this major update, Scriptorium players will encounter a familiar face – Balatro’s irreverent mascot and “simplest of the Jokers”, Jimbo. Jimbo appears in Scriptorium’s Story Mode with a custom set of Balatro-flavoured commissions for your artistic services. And Jimbo himself can star in your creations as a series of assets.
Jimbo isn’t your only new client, though, as Yaza has lined up real-world history nerds, such as Eleanor Janega (of Gone Medieval fame), to bring you their custom commissions too, building a star-studded client list for your hard-working (and very patient) scribe.
Scriptorium’s Gallery Update
It’s not all about Jimbo, though. This update is pretty big, and Yaza made sure to listen to fan feedback, fine-tuning everything from controls to content with you, the player, in mind. This drop brings a whole new set of assets, tools, parchments and features, including the much-asked-for Sandbox Gallery, PNG export and better saving and sharing.
Across the game, broader updates to keyboard and mouse inputs, tooltips and fixes give the whole thing a bit of a functionality glow-up – well worth an exploration for existing fans, and a smoother experience for new players. All the finer details are on Steam – it really looks as though they have listened and delivered.
Oh, and did we mention that the whole game is on sale for the next two weeks – so, if curious cats, rampaging rabbits and fire-breathing frog princes are your thing (but only on paper), get over to the Scriptorium now!
