Inscryption (2021-22) - Horror Video Game Review (Playstation 5)

I listen to a few different video game podcasts, earlier in the year there had been lots of talk about a really unique sounding card based game called Inscryption. Card games normally hold little to no interest for me, but the passion with which this game was spoken about really had me wanting to check it out for myself, especially due to it seeming to have a creepy horror aesthetic to it. Seeing it on sale on the Playstation 5 I snapped it up, hoping it would be something I would enjoy. I can happily report that this was one stunner of a game, one that cements the fact that gameplay and story can trump amazing graphics every single time.

To go too much into the story would ruin the surprise, for this is a game that thrives on constantly surprising the player. At its core, this has you playing as a man, who is playing the fictional video game Inscryption on his PC. In the game within the game you find yourself in an old cabin deep in woods on a dark and stormy night. This cabin is home to a creepy old man shrouded in darkness who asks you to play a card based adventure game with him. This takes the form of a rogue-like (meaning each new attempt features randomised elements so that no two playthroughs are the same). In addition to playing the card game, you can get up and explore the cabin at any point, playing the game slowly reveals clues as to how to solve various puzzles dotted around the cabin. You also encounter a few cards who appear sentient, a fate you discover awaits you, as each failed attempt sees your character transformed into a card, with each subsequent attempt having you play as a 'new' arrival at the cabin.

At first I didn't fully understand that I was playing a man who was playing a video game, but this becomes far more apparent later on with more elements that refer to this concept. As I said in my intro, card games hold little interest to me. Here, with such a strong horror element I was hooked. The basic set-up for each match has a board with twelve places for cards, set up into three rows. You only have access to the first row, and it is here that you must place cards, with the intention to cause damage to your opponent. Each point of damage puts a gold nugget onto a scale, the goal being to tip the scales in your favour and win the match. Your opponent has the same goal, and with him he is able to utilise the other two rows, with his cards advancing. Both of you need a clear path to the opponent in order to damage them, and so the cards battle against each other to kill each other off. Cards have both health points and damage points, and get a whole host of specific abilities, such as being able to attack the opponent directly even if there is a card in their way, or instantly killing any enemy card they hit.

Sacrifice is the name of the game however, with many of the cards only able to be played onto the board once the required number of your own cards currently already on the board have been sacrificed. This later gets expanded upon with some cards requiring bones to be used (bones gained from when cards you have placed are killed), some cards requiring specific magical gemstone cards to be present on the board before they can be used, and some requiring a specific store up of energy for them to be used. 

These card games take place within the context of a rogue-like adventure game. You have a map with which your player piece advances through three different areas. Along the way there are branching pathways that give you access to various events. Some of these grant you additional cards, others give existing cards more power, health or abilities. Some of these take the form of card battles that include more normal ones, and ones that have constraints to them (such as having to win within a specific number of turns). At the end of each area of the map is a boss battle, signified by the cabin owner donning a specific wooden mask and pretending to be the boss character. Upon failure of each run you are turned into a card, which then joins your deck on a new attempt, so you are always starting the next attempt in a slightly better position than before.

The horror element is strong here, the game uses a first person perspective, with a graphical style that felt like it was towards the mid to late nineties. The rough look, coupled with sound effects that can only be described as disturbing, and the sinister music really unified to create a very atmospheric experience. There are vast changes over the life of the game, which I can't go into detail with. As wild as the changes are (and they go places!) this remains at its heart the same card game. The story became really engaging, managing to fit in some found footage elements, and plenty of moments when the (fictional) real world bleeds into the game, such as when the game crashes, or the person your playing as comments on what is happening in the game. It uses some clever ideas, one example is that at one point in the game, people from my Playstation friends list started appearing as cards in the game (using their username and profile picture).

It's frustrating attempting to write a review about a game whose best moments lay in its secret reveals. Inscryption was a disturbing game that constantly surprised and delighted me, ending somewhere completely different to where it started, yet keeping the interesting card game consistent throughout. I have never played a game like this before, and I loved every second of it from start to finish. 

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