Recent reviews by Nnaath

Inscryption


Inscryption is a deckbuilder escape room roguelite with horror elements, however the gameplay changes the further into the game you get.

The basic premise is to use your cards from your deck and get a +5 damage advantage on your opponent. Each card has health, damage, and a cost to summon (Can be nothing). Each card can have multiple abilities which can turn the battle in either direction. Opponents can have special abilities themselves and bosses always have a special gimmick.

The following is a rundown of the game:
The game is separated into three Acts, however each Act has different rules on how the cards work, forcing one to use different strategies in each one. For me, the beginning was rough in the second and third ACT, but that's just how typical roguelites work.

The following is a more in depth look at each section of the game:

Act 1 is by far the most enjoyable out of all the Acts as it is centered around sacrifices and bones. Sacrifices are defined by blood. For example, a three blood cost card requires three cards to be sacrificed in order to summon it. Each time a card on your field dies, sacrificed or defeated, you obtain a bone for the rest of the battle until it is spent. Bones can be spent to summon cards that have a bone cost, which is the only difference from other cards. Bones and sacrifices when used in tandem create an enjoyable experience and allow one to create truly overpowered decks which can easily defeat any opponent. However, if the player is defeated, they are forced to start the whole run over. The only things that carry over are the things that are unlocked during the escape room portion of the Act, which can be accessed during any time a battle isn't occurring. Act 1 left me wishing for more, which not too many games are capable of. 10/10

Act 2 starts you over playing the same game with different rules, like being allowed to destroy your own cards or having new abilities. Act 2 also adds two more cost elements into your cards: Energy and Mox. Energy is refilled every turn and max energy is increased by one every turn. Energy can be spent just like bones to summon cards, which typically have stalling abilities until they can overwhelm an opponent. Mox is very different from the other three costs. You play a Mox card for free, which has a base 0 damage and gives you one of three gems, then you can play a gem cost card, which doesn't remove your gem, allowing one to completely fill their board if they built their deck right. One isn't punished for losing in Act 2, and can keep throwing themselves at any battle until they win, as such one gets to collect a technically infinite number of cards to build a deck of 20, allowing themselves to deal infinite damage. The escape room portion is removed. 9/10

Act 3 starts you over once again, but this time you start out with only energy in your deck and cannot play with sacrifices or bones. The early game is slow and quite unforgiving in your decisions, however you get to add a large amount of abilities to your cards the further you go, thus allowing you to get over powered quickly, but you typically cannot win in under two turns. Mox cards are reworked and are instead buffs to your cards if you have the gems on the field (+1 to damage or health, or -1 to energy cost). The escape room portion is added back in. 8/10

The lore is engaging, but isn't easily followed as the game constantly redacts itself, but one can glean a basic understanding from the secret interactions all over the game, which are never too difficult to find.

To conclude,
The gameplay is harsh at times, super easy at others, and enjoyable.
The graphics and sounds establish the horror elements quite well.
The story needs a bit digging into.
The escape room puzzles leave one with feelings of satisfaction.
Only a few achievements are tedious.
9/10 game, would highly recommend to people that enjoy the roguelite genre, and it was an enjoyable experience to complete.

It's a beautiful and difficult game. I truly enjoyed it greatly as I started off slowly and rose in power. Especially in the harder runs. I would recommend this to anyone.

10/10 will play again

Honestly, I found this puzzle game easy, but that may be my bias. I found it enjoyable to find the correct solution, as most puzzle games offer. I would recommend this game to anyone that wants to ease into the puzzle world, but I would recommend against it for the puzzle masters out there.

To sum up, great game, but I beat it too fast.
Still enjoyed it. 7/10