Daniel Mullins, creator of cult-hit games Pony Island and The Hex, has unveiled the trailer for his latest game, Inscryption. Based on the footage and description, players can look forward to a creepy game that mixes some fairly distinct game genres, including deckbuilders and escape rooms.
Daniel Mullins has built something of a reputation for creating games that constantly surprise, both with their use of game mechanics and their commentary on the games industry. His first game, Pony Island, released in 2016 to rave reviews, despite only being two hours long. The player started out playing a simple 80s style computer game, but poking around in the computer code quickly revealed a sinister secret. His follow-up game The Hex was a somewhat longer adventure of around six to eight hours, and involved a murder mystery at a tavern with six video game archetypes as the suspects. Inscryption will be the third game from Mullins and will release in 2021.
During the trailer reveal for Inscryption, Mullins proved true to form in keeping game details close to the vest. While the premise itself wasn't revealed, Mullins stated Inscryption was a "card-based odyssey that blends the deckbuilding roguelike, escape-room style puzzles, and psychological horror into a blood-laced smoothie." That sounds like a lot of genres in one game, and yet the trailer indicates the description is only the beginning.
Inscryption's Gameplay Shows More Than Just Deckbuilding
The bulk of the gameplay seems to focus on Slay the Spire-type mechanics of building a deck and navigating a board game-like map to progress to a final destination. The combat appears to have more in common with Magic: The Gathering, as cards do battle against one another. It isn't long, however, before the trailer starts showing mechanics more familiar to players of puzzle games like The Room, with hidden compartments revealed by manipulating items in a room.
But it's the last twenty seconds that hint at the kind of twist-based gameplay fans have come to expect from Mullins. There's quick shots that hint at other game styles, including an FMV recording and a sprite-based game playing on an old TV, all while sinister faces move in the shadows, and the trailer proclaims that "If you wish to survive, sacrifices must be made." Based on Mullins's other games, what begins as an already unsettling-looking card game will likely quickly devolve into an attempt to escape from some kind of supernatural horror. What the threat is and how it will use all these different mechanics work together are just some of the many secrets sure to be hiding inside Inscryption.
Inscryption will release on PC in 2021.
Source: Inscryption