The roguelike deckbuilding genre has seen countless titles follow in the wake of Slay the Spire‘s critical and commercial success in 2019, with some truly diverse subject matter as the basis of many card-based games. We’ve seen numerous fantasy and sci-fi set deckbuilding games, but also more unusual titles such as the swashbuckling, underrated Pirates Outlaws, the last-locomotive-from-Hell in the incredible Monster Train, or the poker-based phenomenon, Balatro.
However, few titles have tackled horror in any meaningful way; you could argue that the aforementioned Monster Train, with its cast of demons, ghouls, and goblins, is at the very least horror-adjacent, but it doesn’t go out of its way to scare the player at all, instead telling a more comic book-style struggle of good vs evil, with players on the side of the supposed bad guys, who are just trying to keep themselves from going extinct.
Yet one game, Inscryption, which was originally released in 2021 and has flown under the radar of most players, really does go out of its way to mess with the player’s mind. With Inscryption having just been added to Microsoft’s Game Pass service, Xbox and PC subscribers can now play it in full, with no cost other than the usual monthly fee they’re already paying.
What Is Inscryption?
At its core, Inscryption is, just like the other games we’ve mentioned, a roguelike deckbuilding game. You’ll play against The Game Master, a creepy individual who occupies a dark and extremely unsettling cabin. The environment you’re in isn’t the only unsettling element of the game; practically every facet of Inscryption is designed to creep you out, and its folk-horror aesthetic is very effective at doing just that.
If you win a round of Inscryption‘s card game, you can pick the next one from a map, making this, despite its unusual, scary setup, feel a little like just about any other roguelike deckbuilder in its structure. At least, that’s what the creators of Inscryption want you to think. Get comfy, they say, before pulling your chair out from underneath you.
The game’s deliberately off-kilter, fever dream surrealism of the art style, along with its creepy sound design, create an oppressive and unsettling ambience, with all of Inscryption‘s design elements combining to make it a truly unique experience.
It feels like anything more that can be said to describe Inscryption veers into spoiler territory, because there are layers upon layers to peel back, secrets and shocks to discover, and much, much more lurking under that dark exterior than you may be expecting. Part of the enjoyment, or at least the experience, of Inscryption is to poke around in as many of its dark corners as possible, to see what can be found.
One of the advantages of digital deckbuilding games, over their physical counterparts, is the fact that the system can handle so much more than is possible with a deck of cards and some counters. That’s almost never been as true as it is with Inscryption, which is an experience that couldn’t be properly replicated on the tabletop.
Given that spooky season is well and truly upon us, with the nights drawing in and the darkness well and truly taking over, it’s the perfect time to discover Inscryption‘s card-based, psychological tricks and shocks for yourself. If you’re a Game Pass subscriber, you now have the perfect excuse to check it out. Note that Inscryption is also available for purchase on other platforms, so if your interest has been piqued, you can play it on the Nintendo Switch, PS4/PS5, and Mac, as well as on the Xbox and PC.
If you’re too much of a scaredy cat (honestly, having experienced Inscryption for ourselves, we wouldn’t blame you), why not check out our guide to the best deckbuilding video games (of course, Inscryption is on there!), or even our recommendations for the best tabletop deckbuilding games?
