Inscryption is the latest sensation horror puzzle game, combining elements of retro titles with slow-burn horror and card games. Tips for playing Inscryption include observation, patience, and nerves of steel (which apply to many indie horror titles), but also one other important skill: deckbuilding.
Players will need good deckbuilding prowess to progress through most of Inscryption, since the only way to make full progress is to defeat various bosses through card battles. This is further complicated by the fact that the card game's rules continue to change as the game goes on. To help players improve their game, here's a guide to building the best decks in Inscryption at each of its chapters.
CAUTION: Spoilers ahead.
Act 1: The Cabin
The beginning of the game appears to be the entirety of its world at first. In this cabin, the player battles the enigmatic Leshy. Deckbuilding here is done in roguelite fashion: as players progress through randomly generated maps, they will have the opportunity to add new cards to their decks. Beating a boss grants three rare cards to choose from, and some hidden things like the Static Card have special, malleable stats.
Obtaining Unkillable Squirrels
Oddly enough, building the best deck doesn't require much actual deckbuilding, just a healthy amount of luck and puzzle solving. First, unlock the safe using the code in the rulebook. This provides the player with a key to unlock a cupboard, and solving its first two puzzles unlocks the next two. The last puzzles is the hardest to solve, but doing so gives an item vital to this strategy: the Squirrel Totem Head.
After unlocking this item, lose at least twice. (Most of the bosses in Inscryption won't let the player progress past them until they've lost enough times anyway.) Each time the player loses, Leshy puts more items into the game, including the Woodcarver, whom players must meet. This is where the luck comes in. The Woodcarver alternatively offers bodies and heads for totems; players need to obtain the Unkillable Body from her to combine with the Squirrel Head. Once this is done, all of the player's Squirrels (the weak, fodder creatures sacrified for real creatures) gain Unkillable.
Use Squirrels To Win
Once Unkillable, any Squirrel that dies returns to the player's hand. This means they can be sacrificed to pay summoning costs or used as blockers as many times as necessary. This breaks the game's difficulty completely, and makes all the cards in Inscryption's first Act laughably easy to summon. Players should focus on high cost, high power/life cards and Airborne cards to take advantage of the infinite resources and cheap blockers. Urayuli, Grizzly, Great White, and powerful Deathcards become easy to play, so roll right over Leshy and his bosses.
Act 2: All The Cards
Mechs, Undead & Beasts
Act 2 allows players the most freedom to deckbuild with cards from all four Scrybes. There's a lot to cover here, but the path to the best deck is fairly straightforward. First, choose P03's starter deck (the Mech deck), the second rightmost deck at the start screen. These mech cards can be summoned without needing other cards on the board to sacrifice or by spending bones, making them a great base for the final deck.
Head to the bottom right area (Grimora's mausoleum) first. Solve the grave marker puzzle to progress, all the while winning duels and gaining new Undead cards. In particular, aim to get the Tomb Robber card. It costs nothing to play, and can spend a bone to add a skeleton to a player's hand any number of times in a turn.
After getting a few of these and defeating Grimora, head to Leshy's cabin to obtain the Beast cards, the Mantis God and Horkkall. Mantis God's triple strike lets it punch well above its cost, and Horkkall increases energy, helping mech cards come out earlier. Equally important are Field Mice and their Myconid equivalent: Spore Mice. As a bonus, the Spore Mice are one step towards getting Inscryption's secret ending.
Utilizing The Deck
The final deck utilizes mech cards for fast sacrifices or blockers. This summons Horkkall and Mantis God early, then Tomb Robber can swarm Skeletons forever. The Skeletons are also good for sacrifices, which summons Field/Spore Mice. These Mice add more of themselves to a player's hand on being played, so the Skeletons and Mice can swarm forever. If a player is short on foils for these cards, they can get more by farming them from the dummy on the second floor of the Wizard's Tower.
Act 3: Botopia
Botopia is the final Act where players can build a deck. Deckbuilding here is a lot less free, following the "choose one of three" method from the first Act, but without the roguelite element. Since there are few ways to remove a card, players are stuck with whatever they choose.
Abilities Are Key
Aside from solving the robot slider puzzles, the most important part of this Act is once again the player's side deck. After beating each boss, players can choose a bonus ability for their Empty Vessels. When available, players should prioritize the ability Energy Filler, as it accelerates the rate players can play cards.
Beyond that, give additional abilities to cards that are already valuable, like Sniper Bot and Double Gunner. These are game winners, and later in the game, players can make their own cards. The three best abilities for created cards are Brittle, Annoying, and Bifurcated Strike. These three together allow for a game winning card that, depending on its power and cost, can be played at varying stages of a match to win the game. These cards can shatter the meta elements of Inscryption, but only appear towards the end of Botopia.
Inscryption is available now for PC.