Welcome back to The Backlog! For February, we are diving into strategy games. This week we will be looking at the mysterious roguelike deck-building game of “Inscryption.”
Published by Devolver Digital and developed by Daniel Mullins Games, “Inscryption” was a 2021 hit among YouTube Let’s Players, some as notable as Markiplier. The game also received a few videos by The Game Theorists. Daniel Mullins had previously released other notable indie games like “Pony Island,” which also had a large following on YouTube. “Inscryption” has its own creative twists while being similar to games such as “Magic: The Gathering” and incorporates mystery to it.
Besides the point-and-click segments, “Inscryption” mainly uses a turn-based card-fighting system. Players can build their decks as they progress through the game, and employ their own tactics for defeating enemies. These cards have varying healths, effects and features, not to mention that some of them can talk to you. The beginning segment of the game has a creepy aesthetic and atmosphere. The card game aspect of it resembles sessions of “Dungeons and Dragons,” where the dungeon master portrays various characters that you come across by impersonating voices and using masks.
Spoilers for the story of “Inscryption” beyond this point!
The best way to summarize the story is that the game itself is a puzzle you have to solve. Initially, the game seems straightforward, despite the fact that you cannot start a new game, but continue, as if “Inscryption” has already begun without your knowledge. Moving on from that, the player sits at a table across from an unsettling pair of eyes, ones that teach you how to play the game and essentially act as the game master. As you progress the game becomes more and more difficult, with harder bosses such as the Angler or the Trapper. You also gain the ability to explore the cabin you are playing in, this allows you to solve puzzles that grant you new cards and items.
Yet it becomes obvious that there is more than what’s on the surface, the talking cards, the Stout, Stinkbug and the Stunted Wolf, reluctantly come together to help the player defeat Leshy, the game master we’ve been battling against. Their help is necessary because after each run, if you lose, you are commemorated through a death card, in which the player can choose certain stats from cards in their deck, input their name and their photo is taken by Leshy. During each of your runs, you may find your previous death cards and even some that don’t belong to you. Leshy is the final boss of this act, but players might be disappointed to find out that even if they win, their photo is taken with the special camera. Once again, the run begins again.
Throughout the game, you come across various videos of The Lucky Carder, also known as Luke Carder, a content creator who mainly unwraps card packs from a franchise called “Catch Monsters” along with “Inscryption.” These videos reveal how Carder came into possession of “Inscryption,” which is on a floppy disk, and the game studio that created it would go through any means necessary to get it back. There are various videos from The Game Theorists and others on the internet who have dissected the story to its fullest. The entire story involves a complex alternate reality game, or ARG, that pushes people in real life to solve the full mystery of “Inscryption.”
The full story of “Inscryption” is far too long and complicated to dive into in this article. Various YouTube videos can explain the story, but I recommend that you play the game for yourself. Leshy’s cabin is not the end of the game, there are many more acts and battles to come for the player. Each one reveals more about what “Inscryption” truly is and who the talking cards really are. For an indie title, “Inscryption” is a wonderfully polished experience. An insane amount of thought and detail is present throughout the game, from minor secrets to full-on ciphers that you can decode. Of course, there are players like me who may fall in love with the simplest yet most complex aspect of the game, the card battles. For those who are like Leshy and want to play the game forever, after beating the main story you are given the opportunity to play through “Kaycee’s mod.” It expands upon the story for those who have an unyielding thirst for knowledge, but also gives players a chance to endlessly battle against Leshy.
Even though “Inscryption” came out in 2021 and has been solved, it remains one of the best games I’ve ever played. From the simple act of card-dueling to the seemingly endless puzzles, “Inscryption” stands out as one of the greatest indie games we’ve ever covered.
Rating: 5/5