Inscryption
Genres: Puzzle, Horror, Point & Click, Story Rich, Thriller
Play modes: singleplayer
Release Date: 19-10-2021
Developer: Daniel Mullins Games
Our verdict
9.5/10
- Difficulty: Medium
- Players: 1
- Playtime: 12–20 h
Inscryption is a single-player roguelike deckbuilder wrapped in an escape room and a psychological horror story. You sit at a table in a dark cabin, playing cards against a shadowy figure, and between hands you can get up, search the room and solve puzzles that feed back into the card game. It suits players who like card battlers, meta twists and stories best experienced unspoiled.
With about 97% of more than 84,000 Steam reviews positive, it is one of the most acclaimed games in this catalog. Players repeatedly advise going in blind and say the game keeps changing shape across its three acts, in both rules and visual style. Even reviewers who are not deckbuilder fans call the card play competent and addictive, and the free Kaycee's Mod adds an endless challenge mode.
The main criticism is that the first act, the cabin escape room shown on the store page, is the strongest part. A minority felt the later acts were a step down, and some lost interest once the game moved on. The escape room side is only one piece of a longer card game. For anyone curious, it is an easy recommendation at full price.
Pros
- Cabin escape room puzzles feed directly into the card battles
- Story twists keep reshaping the rules across three acts
- Free Kaycee's Mod adds a long challenge mode for card fans
Cons
- Some players feel acts two and three fall short of act one
- Escape room puzzles are a side layer, not the main game
About
From the creator of Pony Island and The Hex comes the latest mind melting, self-destructing love letter to video games. Inscryption is an inky black card-based odyssey that blends the deckbuilding roguelike, escape-room style puzzles, and psychological horror into a blood-laced smoothie. Darker still are the secrets inscrybed upon the cards...
