While Act 1 is everyone's favorite part of Inscryption the actual card game mechanics were, at least for me, one of the smallest parts of that. The cards are good throughout, what elevates act 1 is the immense sense of mystery and intrigue, the stoat and stinkbug, clues from previous victims, the feeling that even in your deaths you're building toward a plan to outsmart your captor, stakes being so high that your dude is willing to rip out a tooth for one extra point.

Turns out when you strip all that down and amp up the RNG/roguelike stuff it makes for a significantly less captivating experience. By the end of the core game the story contains practically zero of what initially hooked me, so even though there's probably more lore to uncover in here I'm not really interested in hearing it. Can't help but feel the existence of this narratively undermines the main game a little, too.

It's still good, and I'll probably return to it often enough, but I have to massively disagree with those claiming this is the better version or what the core game should be. On paper, sure, it's the universally-agreed best part of game expanded, but missing all the elements that made that part feel so fresh, made it feel more than just an addictive card battler.