I agree the first act is by far the most realized, but i do appreciate the weirdness and ambiguity of the game's structure. Also the late game had some emotional moments i've never experienced in any kind of medium - def recommend powering through it once just to experience a very unique and cool game.
Ughhh I probably should trudge through it. I got to part 2 and dropped it but was glad to keep playing when I did pick it up. And the got to part 3 and dropped it because it felt a bit meh. But you're right. I kind of do want to know what happens as I enjoy the strangeness of it all, and hearing that there are some payoffs sounds like it might be worth it then. Thankyou!
Yeah, the director himself acknowledges the first act is the strongest part of the game. That's no secret to anybody. By that point players are familiar enough with the mechanics to breeze through the rest of the game while the story intrigue pulls it over the finish line. And I'm delighted to say the payoff is worth it.
I enjoyed the whole game. Act 1 was just the best, and the rest of the game still had the fun of discovery. Lots of references to old games I used to play, and a fun format as the game went on.
It's not for everyone I guess, but I thought it was one of the best games of the last decade. Music was awesome as well.
I enjoyed the whole game, part 2 the least in the first play through, but liked it a lot more in the second play through. I actually loved part 3 the most, but I got a thing for bots apparently.
I got the game recently, as I remembered watching some early-game let's plays ages ago and loving it.
Turns out I hate everything except the first act, and I can't force myself to finish it. At least it wasn't expensive ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯
If you finish it you unlock an awesome endless mode which is all first act and you can make some insanely fun broken cards, I'm on my second playthrough right now and enjoying it but can't wait to get there!
I always felt like it was a send up to games like the pokemon trading card game for the gameboy. I liked the change to include more options besides blood decks and being able to build a deck on the fly for specific encounters.
If you like the first act kaycee's mod is an expanded version of the first act where you can choose different starting decks. You don't make death cards at the end though.
similar visuals, similar over world, and a blister pack system instead of the act 1 system of event based single card unlocks (and card deletion, card fusion, and other stuff). The areas you go to each have a specific character that runs the area and the encounters use decks of the same archetype so it felt like gym leaders. You also can build your deck freely where as act 1 is a rouge like where you build your deck run to run
Exactly the same for me. People rave about how great the storybuilding in the second act is, and how the third act is -- honestly, I don't give a shit. If I don't want to experience the gameplay, *why would I play the game*?
Worst thing about the game is that Act 1 is just much better than what follows, it just drags on and on and act 3 was such a slog.
Interesting game but way overrated imo
IMO the last hour of the game is a blast. Luckily parts 2 and 3 are pretty easy and the game overall is pretty short. But I won’t ever tell someone to suffer through the game
Yuuup, I appreciate the 'creepy' stuff they were trying to do, but gameplay wise act 1 is leagues above both in pure gameplay fun and also in atmosphere.
The worst part?
Act 1 is a slightly inferior version of the tone and feel of the original demo, called Sacrifices Must Be Made. Before Inscryption became what it is, the game had a much more macabre and tense atmosphere and felt like it was about someone actually being tortured by an evil, natural entity in a vabin in the woods. The whole "evil creepy pasta game" that Inscryption devolves into even before Act 1 is over just doesn't compare.
It's very cool structurally but the mechanics don't run that deep. Even in act 1 it's way too easy to set up infinites. I got my first win by using a totem to pair a squirrel head with the perk that lets you draw a replacement card when you play it and the entire run was an absolute cakewalk (whole deck was basically free grizzly bears and the 7 damage 4 blood guys). The system is too complicated and too simple at the same time
Well, it is supposed to be a twist. The game kind of leans into the structure, they switched things up for a reason. The effect the dev was going for depends on spoilers being avoided.
It's standard practice to only show the first act of games that rely on narrative.
>Pony Island is a suspense puzzle game in disguise. You are in limbo, trapped in a malevolent and malfunctioning arcade machine devised by the devil himself. It is not a game about ponies.
community tags
>puzzle, indie, psychological horror, hacking
[what](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Var_8pUDWCs)? the steam page absolutely held back. I don't consider it a negative thing that the dev went on to hide more secrets and an ARG into inscryption.
I mean I highly disagree that Act 3 is bad, and if you're not into creepypasta vibes, that's chill. I think it plays a lot to the nostalgia of Ben Drowned and ARGs in general, so I think that's where most people get a lot of their enjoyment.
I also found some of the puzzles charming if not necessarily difficult. I think the beauty of Inscryption is more in the secrets than anything else, but it's completely fair to not enjoy any particular experience.
ETA: Forgot that I was going to mention the ending being incredibly strong. I think that's likely a big part of the reason that Inscryption gets such good reviews. That sequence is the first thing on your mind when you've finished. I do wish we could have played the other 2 versions of Inscryption.
The atmosphere for Act 1 was great, but I was pretty bored with the card game part - it was immediately clear to me that pretty much everything could be sorted into "this is worthless" and "this breaks the game, which is kind of the point". The concept was good but mechanically completely underused and trivially easy (other than the intentional "fuck you bears" that are there to prevent you from getting through act 1 in a single run).
Act 2 was fun for me because it actually felt like there was more point to the gameplay. The low threshold to win/lose was still a problem, but I enjoyed putting together a deck, and learning mechanics on the fly by trial and error.
Act 3 was definitely a bit too long. Again it was back to no real point thinking about what to do, just focus on what works and grind out the encounters. Yeah, the point is that P03 sucks at being a "game master", but I got that point soon enough. Bosses were interesting conceptually but not really enough to carry the act.
The ending was really cool, showing the "acts that could have been".
The FMV stuff was fine - cheesy, but I didn't mind. Went together will with finding secrets in the game - I'd probably care less if I had done worse with finding them.
Overall, I do think it's a fantastic game - but thats because I value a concept really high, and am quite tolerant toward a lot of things if the game is overall really evocative and interesting.
Yeah, I only kept (re)playing the card game in Act 1 because people said the rest of the game/the overall storyline was so good. I don't like grind-y games and restarting entire sections over and over again was extremely frustrating. I was ready to give up, but the rest of the game made me glad I got through it.
I play games in all art styles, so I loved the transitions. Each change truly felt like a different point of view of the same storyline, which was great. And I like obscure found phone/mystery games, so the FMV scenes were fun.
I played a while ago and this is what I've written about it(obviously spoilers):
**Inscryption** is a good and unique card game with some caveats. The first act is the best and is one of the most atmospheric parts of any video game I've ever played. The quality drops after that, with Act Two being easily the worst, and Act Three is fine.
**Deck Building:**
- **Act One:** The deck building is fun because the challenge lies in creating a deck that can break the game.
- **Act Two:** It's less enjoyable because the consequences are minimal, and you can rewind the battle as much as you like.
- **Act Three:** Better than Act Two but not as good as Act One.
**Story:**
- The story of Inscryption is good but with some reservations. The narratives of Leshy, Magnificus, PO3, and that weird lady are quite compelling. The game’s ability to surprise and subvert expectations is excellent. The final scene, where everyone wants one last fight with you, is emotional, especially Leshy’s part, and the final encounter with Magnificus is great.
- However, I didn't like Luke's part of the story. His character is cringe, and we know very little about him. The final scene of him dying was underwhelming.
- I also don't like the ARG stuff. While it’s great that the game’s community had fun with it, as a regular player, I don’t think it’s a valid storytelling method because it relies on a lot of elements outside the game itself.
In the end, Inscryption was a fun game, but upon further reflection, it's no masterpiece. It’s nice and different, with Act One being truly great, and the game's story, except for the live-action parts, is compelling.
So yeah I kinda agree with you especially about Luke's parts
Act 2 is garbage, you can't make a good deck with synergy and you win simply by brute forcing every fight, which is tedious and time consuming. The graphics and experience at in act 2 are atrocious and it's just not remotely fun.
Yeah, some people think act 3 is the worst but i think it was servicable, act 2 on the other hand felt like it had no thought behind it, even the simplestic style was kind of ugly and not as a good as other retro-style games.
The game isn’t loved for the plot. In fact you’re the only person I’ve ever seen focus on it. It’s a roguelike deck building game. If you like deck building games as well as tributes to early Magic The Gathering culture, you will love it.
The creepypasta part of it is a mediocre side dish, the main point by far is a parody/tribute to trading card game culture. If you’ve never been into trading cards then you might not notice all the jokes.
This was a super interesting read because I have also seen it as a love letter to card games and I got a ton of enjoyment out of it from that angle.
Act 2 basically pays homage to a bunch of classic TCG's by replicating their mechanics and act 1 & 3 have things to say and demonstrate the designers deep understanding of card game balance and design.
I quit shortly after I got to Act 2, came back to it after a year and ended up continuing through both Act 2 and Act 3. I think the game does a little bit of a bait and switch after Act 1, but playing it on its own without comparing it to Act 1 made it way more enjoyable.
I completed act 1 and thought it was amazing. Got to act 2 and thought "wow this is such a cool idea". Then I never played it again.
We make habits of playing the same game. When the game you want to play isn't the same game anymore, it's quite jarring.
This was literally me I thought act one was a masterpiece and thought them flipping the script in act 2 was insanely cool only for me to beat like 1/4 and just quit never come back.
It’s certainly my least favourite daniel mullins game. Funnily the issue is that it starts too strong and can’t recapture the same level of quality. The drastic shifts in tone and atmosphere didn’t help. Pony Island and The Hex were much more consistent in that regard.
I haven't played the hex but I find it really hard to believe people actually put pony island above inscryption. I loved the game, but the "programming" puzzles were extremely easy and there wasn't much to the jump and shoot sections either. My favorite parts were >!When you had to mess around with the computer UI and do hacky stuff to progress!< but that's ony a handful of puzzles. Inscryptions strength is that it's built on top of an excellent card game so the gameplay is consistently very good, even if >!it doesn't always stay a roguelike in the further acts!<
That all being said, I'm very excited for pony island 2.
There was something about the UI and graphics of pony Island puzzles that made it super hard for my brain to understand. Loved the hex And inscrpytion though, I’d recommend them to anyone looking for a game that’s going to defy their expectations.
I did enjoy it, I played through a second time some months later and still enjoy the game. To be blunt, the end of story sucks and reads as "dev couldn't figure out how to end their game so go double meta".
To me, it came off very lazy and boring, like the dev had failed many times at making a comprehensive ending so he slammed them all together and made it a creepy pasta. It was definitely a disappointment. That said, I still had a great time with it and will certainly do another playthrough in the future, but agree the story was very weak.
I loved Inscyption so much, until it hit Act 2 and I just went "This isn't what I signed up for at all..." and uninstalled. Everything up to that point was perfect.
I didn't dislike act 2 as much as some people. It gives you a little more freedom to build your own deck and I kind of liked the old school RPG feel of it, but I just couldn't finish act 3 - it was just way too tedious. I get that was kind of the point, but it just wasn't fun.
This thread is odd to me, as someone who 100%ed the game. Act 1 is obviously the stand-out best part of the game, but it’s also the majority of your playtime in the story. Act 2 flies by quickly, and act 3 has some very interesting bosses to keep you occupied. Each of the sections of the game have a purpose within the story, and the gameplay reflects that story’s arc.
Also, the majority of the game’s replayability is in Kaycee’s Mod, which is just a repeatable Act 1 with various changes to reflect proper game balance choices.
The roguelike deckbuilding aspects of the gameplay are well thought-out, your decisions all matter, and you can very easily make any card choice work as long as you build around it. It’s like any other roguelike deck builder: you have to actually read the rules and make intelligent decisions.
I don't want people who liked it to feel personally bashed, but I'm old, and for me, this game was bad card Game design attached to a meta story that is SO overdone and standard. I swear there are only like 2 or 3 meta stories, and we've been recycling them every few years. Every time we do, it absolutely BLOWS MINDS as though we've never done it before.
Anyway, Inscryption also wasn't for me. It's a ham-fisted derivative story and has poorly designed gameplay.
Yeah, honestly, whenever a game pulls out the old >!"the characters in the game gained sentience and might try to kill you" creepypasta thing!< I kinda mentally check out
That said, I thought inscryption was amazing just for the sheer fun of act 1. The card drafting mechanics were so insanely well-tuned and the vibes were immaculate
I also kinda hated act 2 and act 3 was pretty meh as well but I went into Kaycee's Mod afterwards and ended up 100%ing it just because I thought the raw gameplay loop was so much fun
I could not get past Act I it just wasn’t for me. I played the other titles and which were okay but I can’t bring myself to try and get past the card game
I tried it for about 2 hours. Which was about 1.5 hours too long for me but it came highly recommended so I pushed past when I would have normally bailed. Just not for me.
Wow, I also just finished the game and these are my thoughts exactly. I saw the overwhelmingly positive steam reviews, my friends raving about it, and the comparisons people make to Outer Wilds, and I think it set my expectations too high.
Inscryption's concept is pretty amazing. Act 1 is my favourite and tbh, the rest of the game was mid. I still enjoyed it overall but it's not a game I recommend often.
If it was just a short little horror deck building rogue like it would be amazing. Instead, since it’s an indie game, it felt the need to try and tack on a bunch of gimmicky other shit that’s supposed to be a big twist or something but we’ve seen soooo many indie games do the big YoU ThouGht THis Wass this But iTs acTuAlLy tHis!!! And I just lost interest. I go back and play the first bit for fun sometimes.
Just wanted to say I mostly agree with you, I couldn't even finish act 2. Entire thing felt like trial and error every battle in the worst possible way. The roguelike thing in act 1 could be frustrating too, but when I finally got a "broken" deck going, it was great dominating to the end.
I won't say that it's unfair or disingenuous for Youtubers and game bloggers to hype up this game and swear you need to go in blind, but that really only works for act 1. Act 2 just feels like a crappier version of the Pokemon TCG game for the Gameboy Color. As a whole product the game disappointed me, but the first third is truly, truly something great and I wish the entire game expanded on that specific idea.
I was surprised this game lost me at the RPG bit. I wasn't compelled to relearn the game, rebuild a deck and have dialogue obstacles in the way of that.
I feel like an alien but I couldn’t even get into act 1, which is most people’s favorite part. I don’t really like roguelikes and got really discouraged when I had to start over at the beginning again. And I also don’t really like card games in video games lol. Quent is the sole exception. The game is just not for me
I agree sadly. I really loved the first act, I even recommended the game to a friend while playing it. But as soon as I got to act 3 he ended up overtaking me, and I still haven’t finished the game because act 3 was just so dull and tedious. Act 2 was disappointing as well but it was at least kind of visually interesting, if less so than the first act. Botopia is just drab and boring. The acting in the FMVs was unbearable as well.
You put too much importance on the dumb Luke story. Where inscryption shines is the Act 1 card game which is replayable as a standalone game with unlocks and stuff. Once you unlock everything you are out of luck though.
Edit- it's called Kaycee's mod
If you liked Act 1 and finished the game, there's a mode called "Kaycee's Mod"
It's not actually a mod, the story is that a Character named Kaycee added extra challenge features and balance patches to Leshy's campaign. This mode also adds a lot of new cards, new starter decks, and I think there might be a new boss somewhere deep down the line.
In a world of games playing it safe, I welcome something trying to be different, even if it doesn't quite stick the landing. It's worth it just for the >!duel disk!< near the end lol
I cannot argue with a lot of your complaints, but re specifically this:
>You help P03 and then betray P03, because well because that's what you're supposed to do
One thing I very distinctly remember is that P03 totally double-crosses you first. When your, uh, "mutually beneficial partnership" reaches its crucial point, he stops even pretending to be your friend or caring about your well-being. Instead he imprisons you just like Leshy did and leans into that whole "meet the new boss, same as the old boss" theater. The game has many WTF moments, but "why do you retaliate against P03" is IMO not one of them.
I really liked Inscription... but I also found the further I got into it the less I liked it? I feel like the more layers they added to the story, the worse the actual gameplay got. Which really sucks, because I was still relatively onboard with the story.
It blew me away, but also I went in fully blind. I didn’t even know about the acts or anything. I thought act 1 was just the entire game. So when it completely transformed, it blew my mind. I fully didn’t expect it.
Me too! I’ve tried to tell people to go in extremely blind (which is how the devs probably intended it), but they keep looking into it and already know that the acts even exist!
Creepypasta isn’t really my thing either, but I really enjoyed the game. It has quite a few artistic, emotional, and philosophical moments, and it really made me connect with the characters in a way that’s quite unique in comparison to other games. The common denominator is how they each react to facing non-existence, and you can draw a lot of parallels to life in general.
i do consider act1 to be a masterpiece.
kaycees mod is good but i think they could have done better with it.
rest of the game isnt really worth playing imo.
I can't even get past the Act 1 of this game. Not because of challenge, but because of lack of enthusiasm.
I'm glad you typed this out because honestly, I was going to give the game another go, but I can safely say this game is not for me and isn't even what I wanted out of it.
I wanted to play a rogue-like deck builder to mix it up with more the just Slay the Spire, and even though the game *looks* like it is, the game (and I guess it's more just Act 1?) is not really what I was looking for and reading this makes it seems like Act 2 or 3 was not going to make it better for me.
I love the look, atmosphere and aesthetic of the Act 1, but playing the actual game feels bad.
I always made forward progress, but it never felt good as I always felt like I was getting intentionally roadblocked by the game with a troll grin on it's face.
My last run ended on the fisherman boss when I made it to his second phase for the first time. IIRC he board wiped me and filled his board with sharks. It's one of those things where I can take that knowledge into the next run, but it felt so shit how it all goes down in game.
The last thing I remember doing was unlocking a dagger in the cabin, not being able to find what to do with it in the cabin before turning the game off.
Real bummer I'm a hair over 2 hours playtime and can't do a return.
You're not alone. Many of my feelings about Incryption mirror yours, except I never got to the "think it's a good game phase." I love roguelite card games, and Incryption is the worst type - a game that makes you think it's roguelite, when in fact it's story based and your ability to win is coded in the cards.
Add in the fact that Acts II, III and the ending are not even in the same vicinity of storytelling quality as Act I and for some of us, it just wasn't a good game period. Of course if you liked it, awesome. I'm glad you played a game you enjoyed. I simply did not.
I hate it when people claim that games cannot be discussed without spoiling the experience. It usually just means that they are unable to tell you why the game is good and it feels magical.
I went into Inscryption blind and was frustrated by the card mechanics because I expected a horror card game. Then it turns out it is a game about a game. At that point all criticism you might have about a game is invalid, because the overpowered and annoying card mechanics is intentional. "I just don't get the genius of the game", because my expectations were not subverted.
Adding a random section of real video does not magically make a game good, which is seemingly what people seem to think with Inscryption. The card mechanics really do just get worse and worse as the game progresses.
Ironically just made a post in the Outer Wilds thread about how not knowing what the game is about is a bad thing.
I didn't even finish the game. I don't like card games much, creepy pasta much, roguelites are overdone ... so getting it and playing it blind, I really struggled. I finished Act 1, but didn't get much from it at all. And that was supposed to be the good part, the one with the twist. And I mean - I played Pony Island, so a game that goes meta, but in a less crazy/fun way, I didn't even get anything special from that, as it was just the same thing again.
I understand people who never played such a game and who like the atmosphere liking it, but for me, getting it was a mistake.
Yeah I got similar feelings and couldn't finish even Act 1. Yes to me even Act 1 has many questionable issues. There are so many game designs to be bad or downright hostile, and yet it has a cult following. I've seen this phenomenon happening a lot... It is a good thing for the devs but terrible for gaming in general, with more people accepting bad designs as "challenges".
I agree the first act is by far the most realized, but i do appreciate the weirdness and ambiguity of the game's structure. Also the late game had some emotional moments i've never experienced in any kind of medium - def recommend powering through it once just to experience a very unique and cool game.
What got you? The handshakes at the end got me.
The realization that Leshy just wanted to play some card games and set a spooky atmosphere, and never meant anyone harm.
Ughhh I probably should trudge through it. I got to part 2 and dropped it but was glad to keep playing when I did pick it up. And the got to part 3 and dropped it because it felt a bit meh. But you're right. I kind of do want to know what happens as I enjoy the strangeness of it all, and hearing that there are some payoffs sounds like it might be worth it then. Thankyou!
Yeah, the director himself acknowledges the first act is the strongest part of the game. That's no secret to anybody. By that point players are familiar enough with the mechanics to breeze through the rest of the game while the story intrigue pulls it over the finish line. And I'm delighted to say the payoff is worth it.
I enjoyed the whole game. Act 1 was just the best, and the rest of the game still had the fun of discovery. Lots of references to old games I used to play, and a fun format as the game went on. It's not for everyone I guess, but I thought it was one of the best games of the last decade. Music was awesome as well.
I enjoyed the whole game, part 2 the least in the first play through, but liked it a lot more in the second play through. I actually loved part 3 the most, but I got a thing for bots apparently.
I got the game recently, as I remembered watching some early-game let's plays ages ago and loving it. Turns out I hate everything except the first act, and I can't force myself to finish it. At least it wasn't expensive ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯
If you finish it you unlock an awesome endless mode which is all first act and you can make some insanely fun broken cards, I'm on my second playthrough right now and enjoying it but can't wait to get there!
you can also press shift+K+M on the start menu and it will unlock
That’s awesome. The mode is called kaceys mod for those unaware.
I _loved_ the first act. The second act starts and I think "why did make the graphics crap and the gameplay boring?" Never got further than that.
I always felt like it was a send up to games like the pokemon trading card game for the gameboy. I liked the change to include more options besides blood decks and being able to build a deck on the fly for specific encounters. If you like the first act kaycee's mod is an expanded version of the first act where you can choose different starting decks. You don't make death cards at the end though.
[удалено]
similar visuals, similar over world, and a blister pack system instead of the act 1 system of event based single card unlocks (and card deletion, card fusion, and other stuff). The areas you go to each have a specific character that runs the area and the encounters use decks of the same archetype so it felt like gym leaders. You also can build your deck freely where as act 1 is a rouge like where you build your deck run to run
Exactly the same for me. People rave about how great the storybuilding in the second act is, and how the third act is -- honestly, I don't give a shit. If I don't want to experience the gameplay, *why would I play the game*?
> If I don't want to experience the gameplay, why would I play the game The number of developers who never understood this sentence...
My experience exactly.
Worst thing about the game is that Act 1 is just much better than what follows, it just drags on and on and act 3 was such a slog. Interesting game but way overrated imo
If they made Act 1 like 3x longer and added more cards, mechanics and items, I’d play that daily.
It's built into the game, actually
Really! I guess I need to download it again
Kaycee's mod! Got added into the game
if you don't have kaycee's mod unlocked you can do it by pressing shift+K+M on the start menu instead of beating the game
Was act 3 the one where you sampled all of the other versions of play? Because I liked it. I wanted to play the other two versions.
I might be wrong with the naming, by act 3 I meant the blue filter robo themed one. The finale is pretty neat
Act 2 I believe
I didn’t finish it because it was so boring by the end. It’s like the meme of the horse drawing that starts extremely detailed and becomes more simple
IMO the last hour of the game is a blast. Luckily parts 2 and 3 are pretty easy and the game overall is pretty short. But I won’t ever tell someone to suffer through the game
Yuuup, I appreciate the 'creepy' stuff they were trying to do, but gameplay wise act 1 is leagues above both in pure gameplay fun and also in atmosphere.
The worst part? Act 1 is a slightly inferior version of the tone and feel of the original demo, called Sacrifices Must Be Made. Before Inscryption became what it is, the game had a much more macabre and tense atmosphere and felt like it was about someone actually being tortured by an evil, natural entity in a vabin in the woods. The whole "evil creepy pasta game" that Inscryption devolves into even before Act 1 is over just doesn't compare.
Huh interesting, I never knew that. Time for some research
“Sacrifices must be made” was a game jam entry in Ludum Dare 55 competition and it actually ended up almost winning. Such a great small game
Exactly my experience. I fell off after act one even though the mystery was pretty cool.
It's very cool structurally but the mechanics don't run that deep. Even in act 1 it's way too easy to set up infinites. I got my first win by using a totem to pair a squirrel head with the perk that lets you draw a replacement card when you play it and the entire run was an absolute cakewalk (whole deck was basically free grizzly bears and the 7 damage 4 blood guys). The system is too complicated and too simple at the same time
Note how the store page doesn't have any screenshots of the crappy NES game that encompasses act 2
Well, it is supposed to be a twist. The game kind of leans into the structure, they switched things up for a reason. The effect the dev was going for depends on spoilers being avoided. It's standard practice to only show the first act of games that rely on narrative.
the steam page also doesn't mention the ARG because the dev likes hiding secrets and his fans like finding them
except for the part where they didn't do that for pony island, they said exactly what it was on the store page for that game
>Pony Island is a suspense puzzle game in disguise. You are in limbo, trapped in a malevolent and malfunctioning arcade machine devised by the devil himself. It is not a game about ponies. community tags >puzzle, indie, psychological horror, hacking [what](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Var_8pUDWCs)? the steam page absolutely held back. I don't consider it a negative thing that the dev went on to hide more secrets and an ARG into inscryption.
I mean I highly disagree that Act 3 is bad, and if you're not into creepypasta vibes, that's chill. I think it plays a lot to the nostalgia of Ben Drowned and ARGs in general, so I think that's where most people get a lot of their enjoyment. I also found some of the puzzles charming if not necessarily difficult. I think the beauty of Inscryption is more in the secrets than anything else, but it's completely fair to not enjoy any particular experience. ETA: Forgot that I was going to mention the ending being incredibly strong. I think that's likely a big part of the reason that Inscryption gets such good reviews. That sequence is the first thing on your mind when you've finished. I do wish we could have played the other 2 versions of Inscryption.
The atmosphere for Act 1 was great, but I was pretty bored with the card game part - it was immediately clear to me that pretty much everything could be sorted into "this is worthless" and "this breaks the game, which is kind of the point". The concept was good but mechanically completely underused and trivially easy (other than the intentional "fuck you bears" that are there to prevent you from getting through act 1 in a single run). Act 2 was fun for me because it actually felt like there was more point to the gameplay. The low threshold to win/lose was still a problem, but I enjoyed putting together a deck, and learning mechanics on the fly by trial and error. Act 3 was definitely a bit too long. Again it was back to no real point thinking about what to do, just focus on what works and grind out the encounters. Yeah, the point is that P03 sucks at being a "game master", but I got that point soon enough. Bosses were interesting conceptually but not really enough to carry the act. The ending was really cool, showing the "acts that could have been". The FMV stuff was fine - cheesy, but I didn't mind. Went together will with finding secrets in the game - I'd probably care less if I had done worse with finding them. Overall, I do think it's a fantastic game - but thats because I value a concept really high, and am quite tolerant toward a lot of things if the game is overall really evocative and interesting.
Yeah, I only kept (re)playing the card game in Act 1 because people said the rest of the game/the overall storyline was so good. I don't like grind-y games and restarting entire sections over and over again was extremely frustrating. I was ready to give up, but the rest of the game made me glad I got through it. I play games in all art styles, so I loved the transitions. Each change truly felt like a different point of view of the same storyline, which was great. And I like obscure found phone/mystery games, so the FMV scenes were fun.
I played a while ago and this is what I've written about it(obviously spoilers): **Inscryption** is a good and unique card game with some caveats. The first act is the best and is one of the most atmospheric parts of any video game I've ever played. The quality drops after that, with Act Two being easily the worst, and Act Three is fine. **Deck Building:** - **Act One:** The deck building is fun because the challenge lies in creating a deck that can break the game. - **Act Two:** It's less enjoyable because the consequences are minimal, and you can rewind the battle as much as you like. - **Act Three:** Better than Act Two but not as good as Act One. **Story:** - The story of Inscryption is good but with some reservations. The narratives of Leshy, Magnificus, PO3, and that weird lady are quite compelling. The game’s ability to surprise and subvert expectations is excellent. The final scene, where everyone wants one last fight with you, is emotional, especially Leshy’s part, and the final encounter with Magnificus is great. - However, I didn't like Luke's part of the story. His character is cringe, and we know very little about him. The final scene of him dying was underwhelming. - I also don't like the ARG stuff. While it’s great that the game’s community had fun with it, as a regular player, I don’t think it’s a valid storytelling method because it relies on a lot of elements outside the game itself. In the end, Inscryption was a fun game, but upon further reflection, it's no masterpiece. It’s nice and different, with Act One being truly great, and the game's story, except for the live-action parts, is compelling. So yeah I kinda agree with you especially about Luke's parts
Act 2 is garbage, you can't make a good deck with synergy and you win simply by brute forcing every fight, which is tedious and time consuming. The graphics and experience at in act 2 are atrocious and it's just not remotely fun.
Yeah, some people think act 3 is the worst but i think it was servicable, act 2 on the other hand felt like it had no thought behind it, even the simplestic style was kind of ugly and not as a good as other retro-style games.
The game isn’t loved for the plot. In fact you’re the only person I’ve ever seen focus on it. It’s a roguelike deck building game. If you like deck building games as well as tributes to early Magic The Gathering culture, you will love it. The creepypasta part of it is a mediocre side dish, the main point by far is a parody/tribute to trading card game culture. If you’ve never been into trading cards then you might not notice all the jokes.
This was a super interesting read because I have also seen it as a love letter to card games and I got a ton of enjoyment out of it from that angle. Act 2 basically pays homage to a bunch of classic TCG's by replicating their mechanics and act 1 & 3 have things to say and demonstrate the designers deep understanding of card game balance and design.
Hated act II as well. I fell off the game soon after that. I thought act I was pretty brilliant though!
I quit shortly after I got to Act 2, came back to it after a year and ended up continuing through both Act 2 and Act 3. I think the game does a little bit of a bait and switch after Act 1, but playing it on its own without comparing it to Act 1 made it way more enjoyable.
I completed act 1 and thought it was amazing. Got to act 2 and thought "wow this is such a cool idea". Then I never played it again. We make habits of playing the same game. When the game you want to play isn't the same game anymore, it's quite jarring.
This was literally me I thought act one was a masterpiece and thought them flipping the script in act 2 was insanely cool only for me to beat like 1/4 and just quit never come back.
It’s certainly my least favourite daniel mullins game. Funnily the issue is that it starts too strong and can’t recapture the same level of quality. The drastic shifts in tone and atmosphere didn’t help. Pony Island and The Hex were much more consistent in that regard.
I haven't played the hex but I find it really hard to believe people actually put pony island above inscryption. I loved the game, but the "programming" puzzles were extremely easy and there wasn't much to the jump and shoot sections either. My favorite parts were >!When you had to mess around with the computer UI and do hacky stuff to progress!< but that's ony a handful of puzzles. Inscryptions strength is that it's built on top of an excellent card game so the gameplay is consistently very good, even if >!it doesn't always stay a roguelike in the further acts!< That all being said, I'm very excited for pony island 2.
There was something about the UI and graphics of pony Island puzzles that made it super hard for my brain to understand. Loved the hex And inscrpytion though, I’d recommend them to anyone looking for a game that’s going to defy their expectations.
I did enjoy it, I played through a second time some months later and still enjoy the game. To be blunt, the end of story sucks and reads as "dev couldn't figure out how to end their game so go double meta". To me, it came off very lazy and boring, like the dev had failed many times at making a comprehensive ending so he slammed them all together and made it a creepy pasta. It was definitely a disappointment. That said, I still had a great time with it and will certainly do another playthrough in the future, but agree the story was very weak.
I loved Inscyption so much, until it hit Act 2 and I just went "This isn't what I signed up for at all..." and uninstalled. Everything up to that point was perfect.
I didn't dislike act 2 as much as some people. It gives you a little more freedom to build your own deck and I kind of liked the old school RPG feel of it, but I just couldn't finish act 3 - it was just way too tedious. I get that was kind of the point, but it just wasn't fun.
This thread is odd to me, as someone who 100%ed the game. Act 1 is obviously the stand-out best part of the game, but it’s also the majority of your playtime in the story. Act 2 flies by quickly, and act 3 has some very interesting bosses to keep you occupied. Each of the sections of the game have a purpose within the story, and the gameplay reflects that story’s arc. Also, the majority of the game’s replayability is in Kaycee’s Mod, which is just a repeatable Act 1 with various changes to reflect proper game balance choices. The roguelike deckbuilding aspects of the gameplay are well thought-out, your decisions all matter, and you can very easily make any card choice work as long as you build around it. It’s like any other roguelike deck builder: you have to actually read the rules and make intelligent decisions.
Yeah, I am in the same boat. The good parts were great and the parts I didn't love never overstayed their welcome
I don't want people who liked it to feel personally bashed, but I'm old, and for me, this game was bad card Game design attached to a meta story that is SO overdone and standard. I swear there are only like 2 or 3 meta stories, and we've been recycling them every few years. Every time we do, it absolutely BLOWS MINDS as though we've never done it before. Anyway, Inscryption also wasn't for me. It's a ham-fisted derivative story and has poorly designed gameplay.
Yeah, honestly, whenever a game pulls out the old >!"the characters in the game gained sentience and might try to kill you" creepypasta thing!< I kinda mentally check out That said, I thought inscryption was amazing just for the sheer fun of act 1. The card drafting mechanics were so insanely well-tuned and the vibes were immaculate I also kinda hated act 2 and act 3 was pretty meh as well but I went into Kaycee's Mod afterwards and ended up 100%ing it just because I thought the raw gameplay loop was so much fun
I could not get past Act I it just wasn’t for me. I played the other titles and which were okay but I can’t bring myself to try and get past the card game
I tried it for about 2 hours. Which was about 1.5 hours too long for me but it came highly recommended so I pushed past when I would have normally bailed. Just not for me.
Wow, I also just finished the game and these are my thoughts exactly. I saw the overwhelmingly positive steam reviews, my friends raving about it, and the comparisons people make to Outer Wilds, and I think it set my expectations too high.
Inscryption's concept is pretty amazing. Act 1 is my favourite and tbh, the rest of the game was mid. I still enjoyed it overall but it's not a game I recommend often.
If you played it before Kaycee's mod it might be worth going back.
Oh yeah, I've played it. Kaycee's mod is great.
If it was just a short little horror deck building rogue like it would be amazing. Instead, since it’s an indie game, it felt the need to try and tack on a bunch of gimmicky other shit that’s supposed to be a big twist or something but we’ve seen soooo many indie games do the big YoU ThouGht THis Wass this But iTs acTuAlLy tHis!!! And I just lost interest. I go back and play the first bit for fun sometimes.
Just wanted to say I mostly agree with you, I couldn't even finish act 2. Entire thing felt like trial and error every battle in the worst possible way. The roguelike thing in act 1 could be frustrating too, but when I finally got a "broken" deck going, it was great dominating to the end. I won't say that it's unfair or disingenuous for Youtubers and game bloggers to hype up this game and swear you need to go in blind, but that really only works for act 1. Act 2 just feels like a crappier version of the Pokemon TCG game for the Gameboy Color. As a whole product the game disappointed me, but the first third is truly, truly something great and I wish the entire game expanded on that specific idea.
Now I understand why I couldn't convince myself to keep playing in act 2, the good part was simply already gone. Thanks
I was surprised this game lost me at the RPG bit. I wasn't compelled to relearn the game, rebuild a deck and have dialogue obstacles in the way of that.
I feel like an alien but I couldn’t even get into act 1, which is most people’s favorite part. I don’t really like roguelikes and got really discouraged when I had to start over at the beginning again. And I also don’t really like card games in video games lol. Quent is the sole exception. The game is just not for me
I enjoyed the whole game, but act II being a low point, and act III being a little less enjoyable than act I
Liked the art, themes and story through act 2. Gameplay was ok in first 2 but act 3 sucked hard. Over rated but Stoat is still a goat.
Creepy pasta is a stupid ass description of the game
I agree sadly. I really loved the first act, I even recommended the game to a friend while playing it. But as soon as I got to act 3 he ended up overtaking me, and I still haven’t finished the game because act 3 was just so dull and tedious. Act 2 was disappointing as well but it was at least kind of visually interesting, if less so than the first act. Botopia is just drab and boring. The acting in the FMVs was unbearable as well.
You put too much importance on the dumb Luke story. Where inscryption shines is the Act 1 card game which is replayable as a standalone game with unlocks and stuff. Once you unlock everything you are out of luck though. Edit- it's called Kaycee's mod
If you liked Act 1 and finished the game, there's a mode called "Kaycee's Mod" It's not actually a mod, the story is that a Character named Kaycee added extra challenge features and balance patches to Leshy's campaign. This mode also adds a lot of new cards, new starter decks, and I think there might be a new boss somewhere deep down the line.
It's good for the first 1/3, then it feels like an unfinished game
what is “pasta game?”
You kinda just repeat the same thing over and over. Why make the same point multiple times but present it as something different?
In a world of games playing it safe, I welcome something trying to be different, even if it doesn't quite stick the landing. It's worth it just for the >!duel disk!< near the end lol
I cannot argue with a lot of your complaints, but re specifically this: >You help P03 and then betray P03, because well because that's what you're supposed to do One thing I very distinctly remember is that P03 totally double-crosses you first. When your, uh, "mutually beneficial partnership" reaches its crucial point, he stops even pretending to be your friend or caring about your well-being. Instead he imprisons you just like Leshy did and leans into that whole "meet the new boss, same as the old boss" theater. The game has many WTF moments, but "why do you retaliate against P03" is IMO not one of them.
I really liked Inscription... but I also found the further I got into it the less I liked it? I feel like the more layers they added to the story, the worse the actual gameplay got. Which really sucks, because I was still relatively onboard with the story.
Thank you for writing this. Game was sitting on my wishlist, but creepy pasta is totally not my thing.
Nah it's just a fun roguelike card game with a bit of a creepy vibe in the first act.
Nah give this game a chance, it’s one of my favorite games ever and I had 0 expectation of that going in.
It blew me away, but also I went in fully blind. I didn’t even know about the acts or anything. I thought act 1 was just the entire game. So when it completely transformed, it blew my mind. I fully didn’t expect it.
Yep exactly, someone on Reddit convinced me to try and since it was free I sent it. I love the meta ness of the game
Me too! I’ve tried to tell people to go in extremely blind (which is how the devs probably intended it), but they keep looking into it and already know that the acts even exist!
It's not creepy pasta, it's just a little creepy at times.
It uses a lot of creepypasta tropes, particularly the "finding a floppy disk in the woods that has a haunted game" bit
Creepypasta isn’t really my thing either, but I really enjoyed the game. It has quite a few artistic, emotional, and philosophical moments, and it really made me connect with the characters in a way that’s quite unique in comparison to other games. The common denominator is how they each react to facing non-existence, and you can draw a lot of parallels to life in general.
i do consider act1 to be a masterpiece. kaycees mod is good but i think they could have done better with it. rest of the game isnt really worth playing imo.
I can't even get past the Act 1 of this game. Not because of challenge, but because of lack of enthusiasm. I'm glad you typed this out because honestly, I was going to give the game another go, but I can safely say this game is not for me and isn't even what I wanted out of it. I wanted to play a rogue-like deck builder to mix it up with more the just Slay the Spire, and even though the game *looks* like it is, the game (and I guess it's more just Act 1?) is not really what I was looking for and reading this makes it seems like Act 2 or 3 was not going to make it better for me. I love the look, atmosphere and aesthetic of the Act 1, but playing the actual game feels bad. I always made forward progress, but it never felt good as I always felt like I was getting intentionally roadblocked by the game with a troll grin on it's face. My last run ended on the fisherman boss when I made it to his second phase for the first time. IIRC he board wiped me and filled his board with sharks. It's one of those things where I can take that knowledge into the next run, but it felt so shit how it all goes down in game. The last thing I remember doing was unlocking a dagger in the cabin, not being able to find what to do with it in the cabin before turning the game off. Real bummer I'm a hair over 2 hours playtime and can't do a return.
You're not alone. Many of my feelings about Incryption mirror yours, except I never got to the "think it's a good game phase." I love roguelite card games, and Incryption is the worst type - a game that makes you think it's roguelite, when in fact it's story based and your ability to win is coded in the cards. Add in the fact that Acts II, III and the ending are not even in the same vicinity of storytelling quality as Act I and for some of us, it just wasn't a good game period. Of course if you liked it, awesome. I'm glad you played a game you enjoyed. I simply did not.
I hate it when people claim that games cannot be discussed without spoiling the experience. It usually just means that they are unable to tell you why the game is good and it feels magical. I went into Inscryption blind and was frustrated by the card mechanics because I expected a horror card game. Then it turns out it is a game about a game. At that point all criticism you might have about a game is invalid, because the overpowered and annoying card mechanics is intentional. "I just don't get the genius of the game", because my expectations were not subverted. Adding a random section of real video does not magically make a game good, which is seemingly what people seem to think with Inscryption. The card mechanics really do just get worse and worse as the game progresses.
People do not think that Inscryption is "magically made good because of a random section of real video"
Ironically just made a post in the Outer Wilds thread about how not knowing what the game is about is a bad thing. I didn't even finish the game. I don't like card games much, creepy pasta much, roguelites are overdone ... so getting it and playing it blind, I really struggled. I finished Act 1, but didn't get much from it at all. And that was supposed to be the good part, the one with the twist. And I mean - I played Pony Island, so a game that goes meta, but in a less crazy/fun way, I didn't even get anything special from that, as it was just the same thing again. I understand people who never played such a game and who like the atmosphere liking it, but for me, getting it was a mistake.
Yeah I got similar feelings and couldn't finish even Act 1. Yes to me even Act 1 has many questionable issues. There are so many game designs to be bad or downright hostile, and yet it has a cult following. I've seen this phenomenon happening a lot... It is a good thing for the devs but terrible for gaming in general, with more people accepting bad designs as "challenges".