It's a pretty tough game for new players, and I'm really bad at card games, but I still managed to learn after a few games. As for advice, I can tell you to make the most of the stones that give abilities to another card. For example, having a mantis and giving the double-hit ability to another card is a very good way to generate a lot of damage right off the bat. There are many combinations that completely break the game, and if you add the totems you'll be untouchable. It's a matter of trying until you find the style of play that best suits you. Regarding the first boss, you'll want to defeat his mule as soon as possible. Also try to find a fairly powerful death card. If you're lucky, you can get a bear attack card for the value of a mantis. In any case, don't feel bad about losing. Don't forget that card games are very much based on RNG, and many times you'll lose through no fault of your own. Cheer up and I hope you can move forward. Oh, and if you do encounter the Mantis God, get it at all costs. It's a very broken card, but it always tries to find interesting synergies. I'll leave that to your experience. Have fun getting the most out of these.

It sounds like you are still learning, so that's actually pretty normal. This game wants you to explore, to tinker, and yeah you are supposed to fail a surprising amount but each failure also tends to help you do better next run. I don't want to give so much advice that i end up in spoiler territory but I can give some tips at least:

Totems (like your flying squirrels) come in two parts. The base of the totem will have a sigil like the cards do and you can right click to bring up the book and check what effect that sigil has. The head of the totem will represent a "tribe" and any card that falls into that "tribe" will gain the effect of the sigil in the base of the totem. In game, when you look at the cards in your deck, if they have a tribe it will appear almost like a watermark on their card (except squirrel, thats a unique one). The reptile tribe kind of looks like a snake head, the hooved tribe looks like a deer head, canine tribe looks like a dog head, avian tribe is a bird head, and insect is like a hornet or ant head (never really was sure what insect that head belongs to).

Map nodes are something you tend to figure out the hard way over time, and some will have special interactions as well. Like a campfire typically has a chance of buffing a card or potentially destroying it entirely but there are a few cards that, if they get destroyed, will have a special effect on the campfire node for the rest of that run. If interested in the details and you dont mind a minor spoiler for a specific mechanic: ringworm or any natural card that bears touch of death (like adder) can be intentionally fed to the campfire survivors to end that "survivors" part, leaving the campfire unattended the rest of that run so you can buff freely every time you visit...there is still a limit to how many times you buff before you leave, you just dont risk losing the card anymore

Deck management isn't AS important in the base game (there's a challenge mode it matters so much more in) but the principles are the same. Avoid taking cards you dont need, visit nodes that destroy or merge cards to reduce the cards you had to take but didnt necessarily want, make sure everything you do have in your deck can at least be useful, make sure you have preferably multiple "win condition" cards (basically the cards that the moment you can play them, you win). Can make win condition cards in a ton of ways, your flavor of destruction is personal preference but pretty much anything that can deal 5+ damage in one turn will work You can also end up making death cards when you lose that can get the power or sigils from the cards in your deck so that by itself can make instant win cards you can pick up in future runs as well.

(edited to remove some references to cards i realized OP may not have encountered yet)

Hello, can't talk about the deckbuilder side but it's definitively normal you lose many times, the game has a roguelite aspect and lets you guess how things work for the first times before eventually giving a hint.
You could memorize the sigils book to get an idea of what most things do but that's less fun than looking while/after having those

On my side I had an amount of tries until getting far but it's rewarding the more you find out how you can play with the cards and game mechanics.
I would highly advice to experience stuff if you can enjoy the roguelite side and trying to not keep too many cards in your deck but rather focus on some and strengthen them, that should help if that's a playstyle that fits you
Have a nice time ^^

Damn. Well, thanks for all the advice everyone. I'll give it another few tries, but based on what's been said here so far, it seems like I just made a mistake buying this. I just don't jive with games that are based on luck, rng, or figuring out things over time that could have easily been explained with a bit of text. I knew this was classified as a rougelike before I bought it, but I figured being based on cards would mean everything would have a clearly stated purpose and consistent rules. That's my bad. I'll know better for future "deck-builder" games, I guess.

Originally posted by Therion:

Regarding the first boss, you'll want to defeat his mule as soon as possible.

See, this really confused me. He placed the card down on the far left (relative to me), and the cards effect stated that it would shift left at the end of his turn, but we went through like 5 turns and it didn't do any of that, so I have no idea what it does. I wish I could have learned something from that failure but I learned nothing.

This game is a story first and a roguelike deckbuilder second, it just comes from a dev kind of known for their hidden stories told through the medium of "old games with a weird twist" so that part isn't the most heavily featured in the marketing. On one hand it means if you just keep trying the game will practically hand you the victory one way or another because it does want to tell it's story but also that this one isn't the best reflection of the overall "roguelike/roguelite deck builder" genre either. RNGeezus is not your friend here, but the game hands you ways to just outright brute force your way through and that can be a part of the fun to.

Oh related to the mule and it's movement sigil, it will move but only if there is an available/open space to move.

Originally posted by Neonetik:

I knew this was classified as a rougelike before I bought it, but I figured being based on cards would mean everything would have a clearly stated purpose and consistent rules. That's my bad. I'll know better for future "deck-builder" games, I guess.

Rules are consistent but many aren't told explicitly yes, that's to help on the "mystery" side of the game I think. If it doesn't annoy you, looking online when you find stuff you don't know can really help but also make the game quicker to beat for sure (overall game mechanics) even if there is still a bit of RNG and items/cards you unlock by playing

Originally posted by Therion:

See, this really confused me. He placed the card down on the far left (relative to me), and the cards effect stated that it would shift left at the end of his turn, but we went through like 5 turns and it didn't do any of that, so I have no idea what it does. I wish I could have learned something from that failure but I learned nothing.

I had the same issue findout how it works lol, I believe I understood clearly when I played a game with this sigil. It does move one the side the arrow points to but what it doesn't tell is if there's an obstacle it will turn to move on the other side.
In this case the left has no empty spot and the right has a wolf card until you kill it, so it can't move (and that can be really useful)

Originally posted by Neonetik:

Damn. Well, thanks for all the advice everyone. I'll give it another few tries, but based on what's been said here so far, it seems like I just made a mistake buying this. I just don't jive with games that are based on luck, rng, or figuring out things over time that could have easily been explained with a bit of text. I knew this was classified as a rougelike before I bought it, but I figured being based on cards would mean everything would have a clearly stated purpose and consistent rules. That's my bad. I'll know better for future "deck-builder" games, I guess.

*Any* game based on a deck of cards will have randomness. That said, this game goes a long way to remove unfairness. In particular, fair hand, which roughly speaking for act one means Your starting hands works as follows: Take one squirrel card, and two random cards from your deck. Now, look at how much blood you can get from free, sacrificeable cards. Normally that's one from the squirrel. It can be two if you drew geck (a zero cost sacrificeable). Your fourth card is guaranteed to cost no more than this, as long as you have one. In practice, this means that you avoid the free sacrificeables, and keep a single one-blood card in your deck. You will draw it, guaranteed. It also means that if you make 1-blood death cards, you are more likely to start a battle with them.

As for the puzzles in the cabin: When you got your second talking card, their conversation has an important hint. If you have not yet gotten three talking cards, you have not solved the cabin puzzles yet. There is more to accomplish.

Also note this: You are still in the first 1/3rd of the game. You have a lot more to find.

Keep playing. You *cannot* lose if you keep playing. The game will get easier:
0, you can unlock a "mulligan" option, if you do not like the cards you drew, you can get a new set of cards.
1, death cards will become powerful cards to use in your deck,
2, bone cards are an alternative to blood -- instead of sacrificing live cards, you use the past dead to power your cards.
3, Pay attention to the map symbols. Learn which symbol refers to what story event.
4, You can turn your teeth (overkill damage) into pelts, that can then purchase really good cards from the trader. Don't over buy pelts, but do buy at least 2 of the second and third tier if possible
5, Find the mushroom spot on the map. Learn what it does.
6, Campfires can improve your cards, or destroy unwanted ones. The first powerup is always safe at each campfire. Note that the first few runs, you are *only* allowed the one safe powerup; later you can "risk it".
7, *USE YOUR ITEMS*. If you have all 3 items at an item replenish node, you get a good rare card. Otherwise, you get enough replenish nodes that it really is ok to use 2 or three items to help out a tough spot.
8, There are two really powerful items that have to be unlocked over the game. Defeating the angler will give you one. Unlocking the knife will give you the second. You cannot get either of those at the start of the game.
9, If you have gotten squirrel totems (you said you solved all 4 of the "win in one" puzzles), they are horribly abusive. You know how you can get all those squirrels? You can give them abilities. The "head" of the totem determines which tribe of your cards gets the bonus, but for now, just use squirrels. The wood carver will give you a choice of three parts to use; just select the body part that has the special power you want your squirrels to have.
10, it is possible to upgrade your squirrels. It isn't necessary, it isn't automatic/easy, and I never needed to.

By now, you've made a bunch of death cards, right? Have you drawn them yet in-game? You will, and they can be really high-powered.

While there are *consistent rules for each card*, a few of them do have special case behavior. Experiment with them. As an example of a really strong hidden card: One card is "strange larvae" or "strange egg" (I forgot what the base name is). It becomes an absurdly powerful card, but you need to keep it alive..

figuring out things over time

Sorry, that *is* Inscryption. You do not have things explained to you. The basic rules of the card game itself, yes; what you are doing here, why you are here, what happens next, etc -- all that you will need to learn later as you play. The figuring out is part of the game.

dying is fine in this game. Plus, 5 times is not too muchLOL

I have managed to complete the game once, but the first part of the game is hard enough that I just can't recommend this genuinely good game to anyone who is is below high IQ.

The key trick seems to be taking paths that net you minimal card count increase, so that good cards you want to play will be much easier to draw AND will be more powerful since you will be taking sacrifice-and-merge path. If you get a 5+ attack card and some way to play it easily, chances are that many battles will end on your first turn.

Dying is intended because it's how story elements progress. But the game does want you to actually experience the story so it hands you a TON of tools that break the game wide open in your favor, as long as you're doing the cabin puzzles and such.

A few notable bits:
-Solving puzzles gets you the squirrel totem. This is ridiculously powerful, it can make your squirrels do things like be worth three blood, or return to your hand when killed, or just straight up replicate themselves.
-The Orouboros says it gains power whenever it's killed. This is a PERMANENT upgrade for the entire game.
-Things start getting pretty nutty when you think about how multiple sigils can interact with each other on the same card. My favorite example is Unkillable from the Cockroach (return to hand when killed) and Corpse Eater from the Corpse Maggots (plays itself for free when something dies). If you combine them, you get a card that plays itself every time it dies, meaning you have an immortal blocker in a lane for an entire fight that can chip away at any threat.

has no-one realised to tell you you can right click cards and bottom halves of totems to know what they do

Originally posted by cszombie25:

has no-one realised to tell you you can right click cards and bottom halves of totems to know what they do

The tutorial says it already and even if they didn't read it they may be likely to have found it out when having the cursor over any card or item and see a key logo appear each time
But now it's said anyway