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This game is rated PEGI 16
Our review includes potentially triggering words:
Horror, Supernatural and Surgery.
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GAMES Inscryption
Inscryption Review
Posted: 21 months ago, last updated 4 months ago.
Author: @GeekDadGamer and Jo Robertson.
Overview
Inscryption starts as a card-based adventure where you build a deck of cards to take on adventures and battles. To this, it adds escape-room style puzzles, both in the card game and in the room in which you are playing. The result is a psychological horror that slowly reveals bloody secrets inscribed on the cards.
Made by the creator of Pony Island, this has the same third-wall breaking play. You are never quite sure what is the card game and what is the wider world in which are playing. Solve lock combinations, access writing bureaus, deal with buried artefacts. The challenges soon start to mount up as you unlock the secrets lurking behind the walls of Leshy's cabin and embark on an unexpected and deeply disturbing odyssey.
As you progress you acquire a deck of woodland creature cards that grow in power. Obtaining these cards however, require more than luck and judgement. Your character in the game is called to perform surgery and self-mutilation.
Made by the creator of Pony Island, this has the same third-wall breaking play. You are never quite sure what is the card game and what is the wider world in which are playing. Solve lock combinations, access writing bureaus, deal with buried artefacts. The challenges soon start to mount up as you unlock the secrets lurking behind the walls of Leshy's cabin and embark on an unexpected and deeply disturbing odyssey.
As you progress you acquire a deck of woodland creature cards that grow in power. Obtaining these cards however, require more than luck and judgement. Your character in the game is called to perform surgery and self-mutilation.
Game Details
Release Date: 19/10/2021, updated in 2022
Platforms: Mac, PC, PS4, PS5 and Switch
Content Rating: PEGI 16
Players: 1
Genres: Adventure, Brain Game (Collecting, Communication, Narrative and Puzzle)
Accessibility: 25 features
Components: 2D Overhead, Cards and Hand-Made
Developer: D Mullins Games (@DMullinsGames)
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Duration
We haven't documented duration data for this game yet.
Play Style
This is a single-player game.
You can play this game in the following styles:
Age Ratings
Content Rating
Costs
Accessibility
Our Inscryption Accessibility Report documents 25 accessibility features:
Most of the gameplay consists of using the cards to play matches against your opponent, and the cards are large with high contrast images and, but there are a few parts of the game that have smaller or harder to see elements.
You can sometimes explore the physical area around the card table and have opportunities to interact with items and solve puzzles you find there. This part of gameplay is atmospherically low light and low contrast, making some objects more difficult to see as part of the challenge. Additionally some of the items you can obtain can be difficult to see when sitting in your item area because they blend in to the background. Several of the characters you meet are shrouded in darkness as part of their aesthetic as well.
The map shows a clear view of what options you have for the possible paths ahead of you, but there is no explanation anywhere of what the various symbols that can appear on that map throughout the game mean, so it takes a lot of trial and error and exploration to be able to figure out what all your choices are when evaluating a game map and making an informed choice about your path and which objects to interact with. The cards have symbols for the abilities the creatures have, and most of these are visible in a physical rulebook your character can pick up and look at, however this book does not actually explain the rules of the game or many of the other things you will encounter in the game aside from those symbols, be prepared for a lot of experimentation.
You can turn off the screen shake, fliker, and "noise" effects in the options menu, but there are also occasional flashes with no option to disable them. The flashes are not a repeated strobe-like effect, but more of a fast switch to a bright screen, so it may not affect people who are sensitive to flashing lights the way many games with this feature would.
There are not jump-scares in the traditional sense of something jumping towards you quickly, but there are several points in which something shocking and/or creepy happens, like hands slowly reaching out towards you or turning to have a scary looking face revealed in the darkness.
The game is auto-saved very frequently so you will not lose progress on a run by exiting the game during a run, but if you exit duiring during a battle you will have to restart that battle when you resume play.
Most of the gameplay consists of using the cards to play matches against your opponent, and the cards are large with high contrast images and, but there are a few parts of the game that have smaller or harder to see elements.
You can sometimes explore the physical area around the card table and have opportunities to interact with items and solve puzzles you find there. This part of gameplay is atmospherically low light and low contrast, making some objects more difficult to see as part of the challenge. Additionally some of the items you can obtain can be difficult to see when sitting in your item area because they blend in to the background. Several of the characters you meet are shrouded in darkness as part of their aesthetic as well.
The map shows a clear view of what options you have for the possible paths ahead of you, but there is no explanation anywhere of what the various symbols that can appear on that map throughout the game mean, so it takes a lot of trial and error and exploration to be able to figure out what all your choices are when evaluating a game map and making an informed choice about your path and which objects to interact with. The cards have symbols for the abilities the creatures have, and most of these are visible in a physical rulebook your character can pick up and look at, however this book does not actually explain the rules of the game or many of the other things you will encounter in the game aside from those symbols, be prepared for a lot of experimentation.
You can turn off the screen shake, fliker, and "noise" effects in the options menu, but there are also occasional flashes with no option to disable them. The flashes are not a repeated strobe-like effect, but more of a fast switch to a bright screen, so it may not affect people who are sensitive to flashing lights the way many games with this feature would.
There are not jump-scares in the traditional sense of something jumping towards you quickly, but there are several points in which something shocking and/or creepy happens, like hands slowly reaching out towards you or turning to have a scary looking face revealed in the darkness.
The game is auto-saved very frequently so you will not lose progress on a run by exiting the game during a run, but if you exit duiring during a battle you will have to restart that battle when you resume play.
Diversity and Inclusion
We haven't documented diversity and inclusion information for this game yet.
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