Inscryption is one of those blends that not only doesn't make sense on paper but also proves challenging to understand how it could be enjoyable. The game is, in fact, a kind of mix between a card game, a roguelite, and an escape room, all seasoned with a creepy atmosphere that never quite delves into true horror, and an engaging story.
We take on the role of an anonymous challenger seated at the table of a mysterious warden who invites us to play cards against him. The rules of the game itself are fairly standard. We have a set of animals to deploy on the playing field, each with an attack value and hit points. To deploy more powerful cards, it's necessary to sacrifice one or more creatures already on the field. At the end of our turn, the cards on the playing field will attack what is in front of them. If it's another animal, it will lose hit points; if there's nothing, we'll directly hit our opponent. The first to inflict damage totaling 5 points higher than their opponent wins.
So what makes it special? Everything around it. When we start a new game, the game presents us with a kind of staged path. The stages are procedurally generated, and depending on the type of square we land on, we can have new encounters, enhancements to our deck, new cards, new "special" items to use during matches, and even clashes with special rules and real boss fights. Each game will be diametrically opposed to the previous one, in true rogue-lite style. But always in the full rogue-lite style, the more we play, the "stronger" we become. New cards with new effects are added, rules change, and, above all, we have items and knowledge that we can carry outside the game board. We can indeed get up at any time to wander around the room we are in. Here we have various riddles, puzzles, and escape room-style enigmas to solve. Because yes, our goal is, in a sense, to escape from our warden and this loop of games in which, if we lose, our life is also taken away.
The game is truly addictive, and reaching the final quadrant to finally challenge the final boss requires some effort, but not too much. But it's here. It's here that true madness happens. It's here that the game changes. Completely.
The rules change, the cards change, the gameplay changes, and even the style changes. Despite staying in the creepy realm, we abandon pixel art and shadows for something else... perhaps something worse. But I don't want to spoil any further.
Suffice it to say that breaking the fourth wall is behind the door, and not everything is as it seems
We take on the role of an anonymous challenger seated at the table of a mysterious warden who invites us to play cards against him. The rules of the game itself are fairly standard. We have a set of animals to deploy on the playing field, each with an attack value and hit points. To deploy more powerful cards, it's necessary to sacrifice one or more creatures already on the field. At the end of our turn, the cards on the playing field will attack what is in front of them. If it's another animal, it will lose hit points; if there's nothing, we'll directly hit our opponent. The first to inflict damage totaling 5 points higher than their opponent wins.
So what makes it special? Everything around it. When we start a new game, the game presents us with a kind of staged path. The stages are procedurally generated, and depending on the type of square we land on, we can have new encounters, enhancements to our deck, new cards, new "special" items to use during matches, and even clashes with special rules and real boss fights. Each game will be diametrically opposed to the previous one, in true rogue-lite style. But always in the full rogue-lite style, the more we play, the "stronger" we become. New cards with new effects are added, rules change, and, above all, we have items and knowledge that we can carry outside the game board. We can indeed get up at any time to wander around the room we are in. Here we have various riddles, puzzles, and escape room-style enigmas to solve. Because yes, our goal is, in a sense, to escape from our warden and this loop of games in which, if we lose, our life is also taken away.
The game is truly addictive, and reaching the final quadrant to finally challenge the final boss requires some effort, but not too much. But it's here. It's here that true madness happens. It's here that the game changes. Completely.
The rules change, the cards change, the gameplay changes, and even the style changes. Despite staying in the creepy realm, we abandon pixel art and shadows for something else... perhaps something worse. But I don't want to spoil any further.
Suffice it to say that breaking the fourth wall is behind the door, and not everything is as it seems