Inscryption (Deck builder from Pony Island Developer)

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Lordnine
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Inscryption (Deck builder from Pony Island Developer)

Post by Lordnine »

The latest game from the Pony Island developer is a deck builder rogue-lite. If you’ve played Pony Island and enjoyed it, know that the game follows a similar path with story and gameplay twists. I am about four hours in and so far, love it. You should probably play it without knowing anything more.



--=-=-=-=-=-=

If you do need more info. The game starts out as a run-based deck builder and gives me Hand of Fate vibes. You advance your player marker on a top-down map and interact with either card battles against the dealer or take part in events that can make your deck stronger, give you new cards, or give you items to use in future card duels. The card mechanics and deck building are fun enough that I honestly would have been happy had that been the whole game.

All that said, be aware that the game gets weird and there is more to the game than card play mechanics. These “puzzles” get added in slowly and then there is a major gameplay shift about 3 hours in the game. I don’t want to spoil what these changes are but so far, I am wholly entertained.

Definitely worth a look!
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Re: Inscryption (Deck builder from Pony Island Developer)

Post by hitbyambulance »

Lordnine wrote: Mon Oct 25, 2021 12:06 am The latest game from the Pony Island developer is a deck builder rogue-lite.
that's all i needed to hear - wishlisted
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baelthazar
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Re: Inscryption (Deck builder from Pony Island Developer)

Post by baelthazar »

Lordnine wrote: Mon Oct 25, 2021 12:06 am All that said, be aware that the game gets weird and there is more to the game than card play mechanics. These “puzzles” get added in slowly and then there is a major gameplay shift about 3 hours in the game. I don’t want to spoil what these changes are but so far, I am wholly entertained.
You are a much better player than me. I got to that shift at about 6 hours in. It really depends on what you end up doing and your strategy.

But I was HOOKED for about two days while getting it. I still have some ways to go, I think.
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Lordnine
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Re: Inscryption (Deck builder from Pony Island Developer)

Post by Lordnine »

baelthazar wrote: Mon Oct 25, 2021 9:07 am You are a much better player than me. I got to that shift at about 6 hours in. It really depends on what you end up doing and your strategy.

But I was HOOKED for about two days while getting it. I still have some ways to go, I think.
I can attribute that to two things really. I realized early that the game gives you a lot of freedom when it comes to making overpowered cards.
Spoiler:
As soon as I realized how powerful the mantis are I took every opportunity to acquire and buff them.
Then on I think my 4th death, the game allowed me to make a zero cost 7-7. That thing was death incarnate and was an instant win against everything except the bosses.
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baelthazar
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Re: Inscryption (Deck builder from Pony Island Developer)

Post by baelthazar »

Here is what I did:
Spoiler:
I managed to make the 7/7 free card as well, but didn't draw it when I needed it and got taken out right at the last moment. What was my major OP moment was getting a totem where all squirrels sacrificed for 3 blood each. Then it was just a matter of focusing on getting the highest cost card, since I could do turn-one Moose and Bears.
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Lordnine
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Re: Inscryption (Deck builder from Pony Island Developer)

Post by Lordnine »

I've been in the 3rd Act for a while now. I'm curious for anyone else playing, does who you choose to replace in Act 2 have any impact on what the world looks like?

I chose the
Spoiler:
Robot
and my world is also
Spoiler:
robotic
.
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baelthazar
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Re: Inscryption (Deck builder from Pony Island Developer)

Post by baelthazar »

Lordnine wrote: Tue Oct 26, 2021 10:14 pm I've been in the 3rd Act for a while now. I'm curious for anyone else playing, does who you choose to replace in Act 2 have any impact on what the world looks like?

I chose the
Spoiler:
Robot
and my world is also
Spoiler:
robotic
.
I just beat the game. Like the other famous Daniel Mullins game, Pony Island, it is requiring people to dig in files and decipher them to get the full answers.

To answer your question:
Spoiler:
No. I chose the Necromancer and I still got PO3's world. Act 3 is ALWAYS the robot world. Choice of who to replace in Act 2 has minor effect on the dialog but nothing else.
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Re: Inscryption (Deck builder from Pony Island Developer)

Post by WYBaugh »

So I'm probably being old and dense. Am I on the right track with the game?
Spoiler:
I have opened the safe and did the puzzles in the 'dresser'. I have died 3 times so far and am currently in a run past the prospector and into the next area.

I'm thinking that I have to progress successfully through the areas until reaching another point in the game?

Have been trying to figure out the meaning behind the cards in the picture.
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Re: Inscryption (Deck builder from Pony Island Developer)

Post by Lordnine »

WYBaugh wrote: Wed Oct 27, 2021 12:41 pm So I'm probably being old and dense. Am I on the right track with the game?
Spoiler:
I have opened the safe and did the puzzles in the 'dresser'. I have died 3 times so far and am currently in a run past the prospector and into the next area.

I'm thinking that I have to progress successfully through the areas until reaching another point in the game?

Have been trying to figure out the meaning behind the cards in the picture.
Spoiler:
You do have to beat all the bosses to progress but things you find in the environment will make it easier. The more bosses you beat the more hints you will get. You MUST find one particular object to break the cycle and the game will give you hints on what and where it is. Also, dyeing can be helpful.
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Re: Inscryption (Deck builder from Pony Island Developer)

Post by baelthazar »

WYBaugh wrote: Wed Oct 27, 2021 12:41 pm So I'm probably being old and dense. Am I on the right track with the game?
Spoiler:
You also have to USE an item in a fight to progress. If you are, like me, leery about using items until you need it, then try to be less so. If you want the exact item to use, look at the spoiler below.
Spoiler:
Once you get it, use the knife. It allows for progression on certain things.
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Re: Inscryption (Deck builder from Pony Island Developer)

Post by WYBaugh »

Thank you guys!
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Lordnine
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Re: Inscryption (Deck builder from Pony Island Developer)

Post by Lordnine »

Just finished the game. That is basically impossible to discuss without ruining it. In short, I still recommend the game.

I honestly would love just a longer version of Act 1.
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Re: Inscryption (Deck builder from Pony Island Developer)

Post by baelthazar »

Lordnine wrote: Wed Oct 27, 2021 7:56 pm Just finished the game. That is basically impossible to discuss without ruining it. In short, I still recommend the game.
Soooo.... (DON'T CLICK UNLESS YOU WANT MAJOR SPOILERS)
Spoiler:
Be sure to check out the meta and Augmented Reality stuff that is currently still being researched. There are a LOT of clues that people with more time and tenacity than I have are tracking down. Some of it is visible in the names of cards, or on sticky notes in the videos. But they are piecing together the codes and using them to unlock various different bits of info (culminating in a website where people are getting actual things mailed to them, so we wait for that).

The long and short of it is that the OLD DATA mentioned is some sort of reality altering pattern derived by Nazi occultists using a deck of Karnoffel cards (Karnoffel is often credited as the oldest identifiable card game and is from the 15th century - it also has a connection to Tarot). The game states that Hitler had a deck of Karnoffel cards in his pocket when he died. Anyway, the Russians get a hold of this code during the war and turn it into some nascent computer code, which resonates with evil power. The CIA steal it from Russia and, when trying to escape, put the code on a blank disk which somehow gets to Gamefuna (which also might be a CIA front). Inscryption is written on the disk, and the power of the OLD DATA makes the world real and sentient (but also evil and corrupted). This was what Kaycee did - made the world - and she apparently found out about it all and hid the disk. People are debating whether she faked her death (and might be the woman at the end) or if she was killed and it was covered up.

There is other backstory hinted at in the game - Luke's sister was killed/died at some point around 2006, which led him to use his Lucky Carder videos as an outlet for his grief. Nobody is sure how this is connected, but it seems odd that they mention it so prominently.

There is more to it, but people are still working on the mystery. It is very weird stuff, which is to be expected from Daniel Mullins.
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Lordnine
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Re: Inscryption (Deck builder from Pony Island Developer)

Post by Lordnine »

baelthazar wrote: Sun Oct 31, 2021 11:28 pm
Lordnine wrote: Wed Oct 27, 2021 7:56 pm Just finished the game. That is basically impossible to discuss without ruining it. In short, I still recommend the game.
Soooo.... (DON'T CLICK UNLESS YOU WANT MAJOR SPOILERS)
Spoiler:
Be sure to check out the meta and Augmented Reality stuff that is currently still being researched. There are a LOT of clues that people with more time and tenacity than I have are tracking down. Some of it is visible in the names of cards, or on sticky notes in the videos. But they are piecing together the codes and using them to unlock various different bits of info (culminating in a website where people are getting actual things mailed to them, so we wait for that).

The long and short of it is that the OLD DATA mentioned is some sort of reality altering pattern derived by Nazi occultists using a deck of Karnoffel cards (Karnoffel is often credited as the oldest identifiable card game and is from the 15th century - it also has a connection to Tarot). The game states that Hitler had a deck of Karnoffel cards in his pocket when he died. Anyway, the Russians get a hold of this code during the war and turn it into some nascent computer code, which resonates with evil power. The CIA steal it from Russia and, when trying to escape, put the code on a blank disk which somehow gets to Gamefuna (which also might be a CIA front). Inscryption is written on the disk, and the power of the OLD DATA makes the world real and sentient (but also evil and corrupted). This was what Kaycee did - made the world - and she apparently found out about it all and hid the disk. People are debating whether she faked her death (and might be the woman at the end) or if she was killed and it was covered up.

There is other backstory hinted at in the game - Luke's sister was killed/died at some point around 2006, which led him to use his Lucky Carder videos as an outlet for his grief. Nobody is sure how this is connected, but it seems odd that they mention it so prominently.

There is more to it, but people are still working on the mystery. It is very weird stuff, which is to be expected from Daniel Mullins.
The lengths people go to always amazes me. The biggest secret I decoded was the woman's name. :lol:

It is
Spoiler:
Amanda
if anyone cares.
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baelthazar
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Re: Inscryption (Deck builder from Pony Island Developer)

Post by baelthazar »

This was the big reveal from the ending of the ARG.
Spoiler:
What this indicates is:
Spoiler:
P03 succeeded after all and the copies of Inscryption we played were all part of his master plan and Transcendence. If you want to dive into the lengths people went, it is quite staggering: https://docs.google.com/document/u/2/d/ ... V99Qt7/pub
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Re: Inscryption (Deck builder from Pony Island Developer)

Post by Lordnine »

Wow that is wild.
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Re: Inscryption (Deck builder from Pony Island Developer)

Post by baelthazar »

Lordnine wrote: Tue Nov 02, 2021 11:32 am Wow that is wild.
Yes, the ARG included getting drinks with Daniel Mullins! :D
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