Rough sensation on the face, rough sensation on the palms of the hands. Absolute darkness all around and no, opening your eyes makes no difference. Where are we? What happened? Who we are? Riddles that rummage through our upset heads find nothing that vaguely resembles an answer or a clue. Then, suddenly our eyes begin to get used and the darkness becomes less inscrutable. And that’s when we see it.
In a corner of what looked like a completely abandoned hut there is a figure sitting in front of … a table and at the other end an empty chair that, like the clearest of invitations, awaits only us. The eyes of the silhouette are strange, sparkling and swirling spirals that open wide and pass through us, then a deep and cavernous voice: “Ah finally a new challenger! Come, come, sit down and let’s play cards. Are you confused? Don’t worry, I’ll tell you the story. your story. It all started when you got lost in the heart of the forest … “
Daniel Mullins is a genius. Yes ok, maybe it’s an exaggerated definition and maybe the term genius has gradually lost value just like the word masterpiece did. However, it remains the most fitting to talk about the father of Pony Island, The Hex and now Inscryption, a brand new project by Mullins published by a name that is practically always synonymous with quality like Devolver Digital.
If Devolver brings quality and style as a dowry, Mullins has in his baggage two characteristics not so easy to find these days, not even in the indie field: uniqueness and madness. Those who have tried firsthand (and those who have not done so, don’t waste time) Pony Island and The Hex know at least in part what to expect from a creative who has a very marked authorial imprint on his and is capable of capturing players and professionals. It is an added compliment that talking about Inscryption reminds us damn what it feels like when it comes to talking about Outer Wilds.
The spoiler risk is around the corner and given that first-person experience is everything, even in this case we will remain deliberately vague. We will only let you guess some of the directions of an epic that saw us reach the end credits in about 13 hours, giving us the feeling of hiding even more than a revelation and a mystery capable of surprising and fascinating.
The premise of Mullins’ latest work is exactly what we told you in the very first sentences of the review. A protagonist that we control through a first-person view unexpectedly wakes up inside a hut apparently with no way out, in the company of a strange figure who from the darkness invites us to sit at the table and play cards. In the absence of alternatives, answers or other escape routes, playing the game is all we can do.
Thus begins what is in effect a card game with features and rules that those who have at least glimpsed other physical and digital card games will soon be able to master with good fluency also thanks to the first clashes they do in all respects from rather in-depth tutorial. The battlefield is made up of four spaces per player and both our cards and those of the shady figure sitting in front of us are mostly animals. Everyone has an attack and defense / life score on their side and everyone but squirrels can only be played by paying a “price”, just by sacrificing something. Many also have other effects that are more or less useful offensively, defensively and in deck management.
Let’s take the Wolf for example. It is one of the most powerful and useful starting cards, especially for the good attack score, it costs two and therefore requires at least two sacrifices to be played. Since squirrels have no cost, they will soon become the most logical creatures to sacrifice also because they are unable to inflict damage (0 to the attack entry) and have a minimum defense of just 1. When we no longer have the possibility to play others cards we just have to finish the turn by starting the actual attack phase. If our creatures have other cards in front of them, the attack score will have to contend with the opponent’s defense / life score leading to the death or injury of the opposing animal while otherwise the damage is dealt directly to the dark figure on the other side of the table. Once we or our tormentor have suffered a certain amount of damage, the game is over.
In case of victory we have the possibility to continue our peculiar adventure by moving a pawn on what appears to all intents and purposes a board game, a sort of goose game whose stages are other card games but also the possibility of enriching or upgrade our deck, to hybridize different creatures creating monstrous and powerful chimeras or to trade and exchange resources with some sort of NPC called the Hunter and the Trader. To further enrich the challenge also real bosses very dangerous not only for the cards in their possession but also and above all for the fact of having two lives (and therefore having to be defeated twice in a row) and being able to show off skills very dangerous. The Prospector, for example, after being defeated the first time turns all our creatures in play into gold nuggets incapable of any action.
But what if we lose a game instead? In normal clashes we have from our two lives and therefore the possibility of losing twice in the course of the journey while with the bosses losing means a brutal and inevitable death. Here comes the roguelite soul that characterizes at least a part of Inscryption since we are granted the creation of a particular card by combining the cost, attack, defense and abilities of some animals we met on our wanderings in the forest. This card will be able to enter our deck later, when we take control of a new challenger who begins his journey to defeat all the bosses and be able to survive by looking for an escape from the hut.
Yes, because the other element that remains even after the death of a challenger are all the clues collected up to that moment. Playing cards and continuing with the board game after the very first stages is closely linked to the possibility of getting up and exploring the many small and curious elements of our wooden prison. Between a safe and a mysterious cuckoo clock, Inscryption alternates between roguelite card games and videogame escape rooms with puzzles and enigmas that are intertwined with some very strange hidden cards.
Card game, a pinch of roguelite, puzzle game with an escape room soul. In short, a nice cauldron of ingredients but if you thought that Mullins had stopped here well, you will have to change your mind. This is just a taste of what Inscryption really is but the risk of ruining one of the most unique experiences of recent times is too high to go further and go into detail explaining in detail all the unexpected turns and the bizarre to which we have assisted.
Under the surface there is space for a narrative adventure with a thriller soul, for a handful of reflections on videogame genres and for a cross-section of the world of YouTube just to highlight some of the predominant souls of a very multifaceted and difficult to frame project fully. Doing so would mean revealing it completely by breaking, in an unforgivable way, the undoubted magical aura that pervades it.
The simple but inspired graphics typical of indie that does not seek jaw-breaking impact and the localization in Italian do their job more than admirably in combination with music as ineffable as it is perfect for the disturbingly bizarre atmosphere dashed by the title. A title that we obviously adored but that especially in the central phase did not fully convince us and that in some sections in our opinion did not know how to best dose the complexity of some mechanics and repetitiveness of certain mechanisms, accompanying us to an unexpected and impactful ending but not as satisfying as we hoped.
Inscryption has captured and fascinated us by going beyond the confines of the classic video game to “talk” directly with our PC and with us players by breaking the fourth wall and trying to make us really experience a bizarre and absurd journey firsthand. Not all the pieces fit together perfectly and perhaps the journey does not end in the best possible way but if the indie universe still knows how to be so fascinating, the merit is out of the box madness like these.
8
/ 10
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