Inscryption

About Inscryption

Inscryption is a horror card game by Daniel Mullins Games, the maker of Pony Island and The Hex, published by Devolver Digital. It came out on Windows in October 2021, on Mac and Linux in June 2022, on PlayStation 4 and 5 in August 2022, on Nintendo Switch in December 2022 and on Xbox in April 2023. Its makers describe it as a blend of deckbuilding roguelike, escape-room puzzles and psychological horror. It was built in Unity, with music by Jonah Senzel.

You wake at a table in a dark cabin. Across from you is Leshy, a figure you see only as a pair of eyes in the gloom, who runs a card game across a little tabletop map of woods and wetlands. You choose your path along the map as in Slay the Spire, stopping to fight, to pick new cards, to strengthen or give up the ones you have, and to collect odd items that help in a pinch.

The fights are played on a small board of three rows of four spaces. Each card attacks the card across from it, or Leshy himself if the space is empty, and he places his next cards a turn ahead so you can see them coming. Damage is counted in teeth on a brass scale; tip it five teeth your way and you win. The strongest woodland cards are paid for in blood, by sacrificing other cards on the board, and some cost bones, which you earn as your cards die. Sigils on the cards give them abilities, and learning how they fit together is most of the skill.

Lose twice on a map, or once to the boss at its end, and the run is over. Leshy takes your picture with his camera and turns you into a death card, which can turn up in a later run.

At any time you can stand up from the table and explore the cabin. Its clocks, safes, cabinets and paintings hold escape-room style puzzles, and solving them gives you new cards, items and clues about where you are and how to leave.

The fear is less about scares than unease. The cabin is lit only by candles; cards speak; the game asks you to hurt yourself to win; and more and more it feels that the rules, and the game you think you are playing, hide something else. The game changes in ways that are better found than read about, so go in knowing as little as you can.

It suits players who enjoy card games and puzzles and want them wrapped in dread, and anyone who liked Pony Island or The Hex.

How to play Inscryption

1. Draw a card each turn, either from your deck or from a pile of squirrels, and place creature cards on your row of the board.
2. Pay for strong cards by sacrificing cards already on the board, one drop of blood for each; some cards instead cost bones, which you collect when your cards die.
3. At the end of your turn each card attacks the space across from it: the card there, or Leshy directly if it is empty. Watch the back row, where his next cards wait.
4. Tip the scale five teeth in your favour to win the fight. Lose twice on a map, or once to its boss, and the run ends.
5. Move along the map between fights to pick new cards, change the ones you have and gather items, then stand up from the table to search the cabin for puzzles and clues.

Tips

• Squirrel cards are free and make good sacrifices; keep enough of them to pay for your strong cards.
• Look around the cabin often; many puzzles give powerful rewards.
• Read card sigils carefully, since a well placed sigil wins more fights than raw strength.
• Check Leshy's back row before you place cards, so you can block what is coming next turn.
• Avoid spoilers before playing; much of the game is about its surprises.

Questions