To win here, sacrifices must be made.

Story:

I'll begin this section by saying, READ AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE OR NOTHING AT ALL GOING INTO THIS GAME. It's story is a journey of many twists and turns all the way to the ending credits and I cannot say this enough that knowing how the story will play out will ruin it's impact so this is why I'll try to be as vague as possible.

You wake up in a dark cabin, no idea of who you are or where is this cabin. A mysterious thing emerges from the shadows and tells you to survive you have to beat him at a card game. They teach you the rules and so the game of your survival begins, but the more you play, the more you realize that things aren't what they seem.

If you played a Mullins game you can already expect Meta storytelling and tons of hidden lore you have to dig deep to get and this one does not disappoint. Daniel has truly outdid himself on the story for Inscryption, I can't recall the last time an indie game story has gripped me as much as this game did, it's an emotional rollercoaster that left me thinking about what just happened when the ending credits started rolling.

Graphics:

Not only does Inscryption ooze style, it also oozes atmosphere. It's a very pleasing game to look at from the moment it begins and to the time the credits roll. There are times where the atmosphere lets up, but when the atmosphere creeps back in like a mist it does so with power.

I loved how the game constantly adapted to the moments you were entering. Like the moment you end up in a boss fight with someone like The Prospector and the cabin looks like the entrance to a mining cave or someone like The Angler, where the cabin gets a blue tint, with fishing themed backgrounds.

Audio:

I want to start with the sound effects cause they are the absolute highlight of the game. The moment the game begins and the eyes of your opponent shrouded by the darkness open and he starts to speak, it sounds like the rumbling of a demon. The moment you hear that rumbling of a voice it sets the scene perfectly. Everything is done with the utmost care and I honestly can't recall the last time I was this satisfied by audio.

One of my favorite things is the points landing onto the scales. It gives you an audio feedback when you're winning and it actually gives you a sense of relief, but once you start to lose and the scales tip against you, the audio is lower and the sense of impending failure starts creeping in. It's so well designed that I just have to give props to it.

The soundtrack is also spectacular. Everything from the battle themes, boss themes and just the ambient tracks perfectly encapsulate the situation you currently face. I honestly was super impressed by the soundtrack and honestly quite a few tracks like The Scribe of Magicks have been stuck in my head for the past couple of days.

Gameplay:

Inscryption is a deckbuilding card game where you assemble a deck and try to beat your opponent in battles that get constantly harder. You have two decks one of which is filled with offensive type of cards which are used to attack and they have different health and attack stats, plus a sigil which gives them a passive ability like armor, attacking in multiple directions, etc. The other deck is filled with fodder cards which are represented by squirrels, these are used as sacrifices to summon the more powerful creatures onto the field.

The main objective is to tip the scales which are placed on the table in your favor. Let me begin by saying that this scale mechanic is probably the most intense thing I have witnessed in a game and will constantly put you on the edge of your seat. When the scales start tipping down against you, panic sets in and you start looking for solutions out of the situation and the game provides many ways to turn the tide in your favor like items to cut your own flesh which add weight to the scales.

You can also get up from the table when you're not advancing on the map to look around the cabin and solve puzzles and a lot of them are so cool and actually have some practical value like making the game slightly easier by introducing better cards you can encounter when playing the game or items that can greatly reduce the difficulty, but for these you're going to have to work for. This is also not counting the other ways you can help yourself which are too cool to spoil here.

This next part will be a minor spoiler (NO STORY SPOILERS HERE, Only for gameplay). The game consists of three acts and while the main deck building aspect is here, the changes are very minor. I found Act 2 a bit too easy once you realize how you can easily cheese a lot of the fights, but I still had a blast. Act 3 is more of the same and actually at points I found it slightly harder, but once you really catch onto the new mechanics it's really simple.

There's a few minor nitpicks of mine that I have with the game, but nothing really that detracted my enjoyment of the game. First thing is if you don't really know what you're doing you can very quickly make your deck a hinderance instead of something good. Since the ability to remove cards out of your deck is very rare you tend to have plenty of cards that might make some fights impossible to win. Plenty of my runs ended cause my starting hand would be cards that I could not summon onto the field.

Verdict:

Inscryption is Daniel's magnum opus, it's so good that I have trouble thinking how he can outdo himself after this game. It's a wild ride from start to finish and probably the most memorable experience I've had in ages. Honestly I can't think of a bad thing to say about this game even if I tried, maybe just the fact that I will not be able to witness the final moments of the game for the first time like someone pointed out in the steam reviews.

Final Rating:
10/10

Pros:
+ The scale mechanic is amazing
+ Gameplay is incredibly strategic and insanely addictive
+ Story which is a crazy rollercoaster of emotions
+ Amazing audio design
+ Art style is great

Cons:
N/A

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