Inscryption is a Spooky Deckbuilder Coming Later This Year

Deckbuilders whip. In terms of popularity, they rank up there with roguelikes. Horror deckbuilding roguelikes are everywhere, with varying quality. Daniel Mullins (The Hex, Pony Island) is making a stamp on the genre with Inscryption. A spooky deckbuilder being described by publisher Devolver Digital as, “the latest mind melting, self-destructing love letter to video games. Inscryption is a narrative focused, card-based odyssey that blends the deckbuilding roguelike, escape-room style puzzles, and psychological horror into a blood-laced smoothie. Darker still are the secrets inscrybed upon the cards…”

Pony Island and The Hex are both amazing games. The deconstructive, metatextual nature of Mullins’ games is second-to-none. In Pony Island you’re dealing with a haunted arcade cabinet. In The Hex, you’ll be trying to solve a murder with a rag-tag group of video game protagonists. Based on their previous output, I expect Inscryption will fall along the same lines as those previous works. The art style of Inscryption can best be described as “spooky”. Card games look to be played in a candle-lit cabin full of secrets to find and puzzles to solve. Eerie, stark visuals populate the world and create an art-style unlike anything I’ve personally seen before.

Devolver Digital is a publishing company based in Austin, Texas. Founded in 2009 by Mike Wilson, they specialize in the publishing of indie games. Initially starting out working with the Serious Sam franchise, they’ve branched out now to publish indie games from studios like Vlambeer, Croteam, and No Code. Inscryption is slated for release in 2021. You can wishlist the game on Steam here, and watch the trailer below.