Good Game Design - Inscryption: Dismantling a Genre (Spoilers!)

Inscryption is good because of [REDACTED] (Spoilers obviously)

[davidnishball]

I'd summarize Inscryption as "It's a card game where the rules are constantly changing, drastically, based on the narrative, and you have to cheat to win."

[ethanhinton]

fun fact: if "the file dear to you" dies during the archivist fight, it isn't actually deleted of course, that would make the game considered malware, BUT a text file will be downloaded containing a message from PO3 asking you to delete it yourself. And he comments on it in-game if you do!

[Mornal]

Inscryption is probably one of my favorite games of 2021 so I'm really happy to see a video from you on it!

[doublesystem]

please add a spoiler warning on the video's title, it makes no sense to completely ruin the game's twists in the first minute of the video and give a spoiler warning after doing so.
edit: well he did it, that's much better now

[archermon]

One of the things I love the most is that the brokenness isn't just from the game itself but it also comes from the scrybes personalities.

Leshi's broke because he didn't care if it wasn't balanced, he just wanted to have fun playing with the player. He tells you not to poke around his cabin, sees you take his stuff and calls you out, but still let's you use it. When you lose an eye, he gives you another because it wouldn't be fun otherwise, even though it just makes the knife even better. He gives all his npcs not just boss fights or a card, but interactions throughout, like the prospectors mini game and the trader/trapper stores. Even when he mocks you, gets annoyed at you, or "kills" you, it's all just him playing the role of villain, literally acting. He knows you won't die for real, and the only times he gets upset for real is when you touch his camera, or try to skip a tutorial. For better or worse, if it keeps the game fun, he'll allow it.

The robot is actually not bad at balance, it's alot harder to break, and most are on his terms so he can get to the ending. However, he doesn't care if you have fun, he barely has fun. He's bored and annoyed when you win, and when you lose he either mocks you, or gripes about the game dragging on. But if you win when he docent want you to, he gets passive aggressive. He's the definition of a "That Guy" DM. He refuses to let you interact with npcs more, railroads at HIS pace, takes advantage of you, uses self insert Gary stus, refuses to use flavor text, threatens the player for real(file deletion, leshi knew he wasn't doing any real damage) and forces his "correct" ending. He strips his mechanics down, to the point he says "it's an upgrade, just give me your cards and don't worry about it", rather than any mystery or personality like the campfires or altars. His section would be a fun game, if he wasn't in it.

Grimora, like leshi, would have mood and personality to hook you, but with more lore, she'd probably give more quests directly(leshis were not part of "his" game itself), and have a fun interesting story. However, her obsession with death, the same source of her stories inspiration, is what ruins them. It makes them become predictable, they'll all have the twist of, they were dead all along, they die at the end, you die at the games end, your quest was meaningless, strongest death flags possible. In the game she misses her boss battle, because she wanted to delete herself, she literally self sabotages as a goal. Even if she got control normally, she'd likely delete herself midway anyway. Her quests and stories, while predictable, are interesting, though the same reason she comes up with them, is why we'd never see their endings. Shed also be missing the replayability the previous two had, in their loops, leshi gives you death cards, and changes progression run to run, the robot gives checkpoints at least and seeing him die makes it worth it, but she wouldn't alter the story for ease of starting again, she'd have you start over completly, she wouldn't give checkpoints, you'd die, at best you'd get dark souls bloodstains. Hers would be awesome, if we could finish it.

Lastly, is the wizard. He's got artwork, interesting npcs, villainous presence, interesting mechanics on paper, ACTUAL ATTACK ANIMATIONS, and presentation. Shame half is thrown away, and the other half is held together with scotch tape. He experiments on his npcs and they actually suffer, and when he gets control, he discards them. He gives us motivation to fight him, by method of his students, but its not like leshis fake villianousness, the wizard is actually just a d***. The others care about their npcs and the player, except the robot, who is at least upfront in his manipulation, the wizards students actually trusted him, even liked him. He discards everything else, because he thinks he's the only one necessary. He wants to go out with a bang, and wants to be the last star to go out. His art is good, but that's all that's important to him, he'd never allow other mechanics in his version. As a result, we see just how terribly balanced him mechanic is, and not in a fun way like leshi. I like to play a game while watching someone else play that part, and when it got to his fight, I stomped through it, and the guy I watched, literally couldn't play a card, he drew only cards requiring 1 color mox, but he could only draw the other two most, so he couldn't do anything. His mechanic is symbolic of himself, he can't stand on his own the same way his cards need other card types. He thinks he's the only important part, and destroys the parts around him that build him up and make him functional, even depriving himself of a final handshake. His part would work, if he just let others join in.

[Polaris]

The problem of telling people of the three other chapters is that it ruins the surprise.

[csidesummit]

My main issue with the game was that the first arc, the fight with Leshy, was the most fun. I didn’t really enjoy the second two arcs and the finale to the story was disappointing. I also felt like the game was only half done once given the chance to fight the other scrybes, however briefly.

[Rene-xiso]

I'm not sure how to feel about the spoilers before the warning. On one hand, I almost understand why you would reveal the later acts - it shows there's more than just Leshys cabin; that you can expect something else and not be disappointed when it changes from that. On the other hand, a spoiler is still a spoiler dude. I really enjoyed the confusion I felt after beating Leshy, after leaving the game and being able to press new game. Telling people "yo, the game changes after a certain point" is... idk, a little crappy. It's not like it's been out for a decent amount of time either, it came out last year. You cant dictate what others view obviously, if they click and they havent played the game then that's on them, but there was definitely a better way to go about the changes in gameplay than just revealing the changes. Maybe stating it has diverse gameplay and what players can expect instead of outright saying it

[joseluispcr]

You realy should have warned about spoilers sooner this time, but is realy good to have you back. In fact scryption is a surpring game. The hex of the same creator is actualy a game with a surpring ending as well

[SpartanXVII]

It doesnt tell you about the later acts in any of the trailers intentionally to keep them as a twist so you don't know what to expect. If you see this, probably smack a spoiler warning somewhere. To clarify, somewhere Before talking about and showing footage from the second and third acts.

[vyt]

So glad to see this video! I'm mediocre at roguelike deckbuilders and rarely like horror, so I probably wouldn't have tried the game on my own. but after 3 different sources listed it as their top game of 2021, I had to try it. It is now one of my absolute favorite games. The creator clearly had a story they wanted told, and the game play is designed around getting the player to see that story and have the intended experiencem regardless of their card skill level. Like Leshy himself, the intimidating aspects are a veneer, an aesthetic that looks punishing while really just trying to give you a rich and fun experience.

[hansdieter]

Giving a spoiler Warning after already spoiling is always nice. Would be more wage than saying exactly what the 3 Acts are, as it was my favorite Moment of the game when it basically changed it changed midway through

[Drakull_Art]

nice spoiler warning after the spoiler lol

dont get me wrong, the video is good but talking about the other acts before the spoiler warning just ruins the surprise

[cosmicspacething]

Also Kaycee’s mod gives it a whole new level of replayability, and some decent balance too. I hope they do that for other acts as well.

[AutumnReel]

Very spoilerific review lol, ah well. Not every review need be so coy as to hide every little detail. Love the game, Act 1 is my favorite but the whole package is very very good.

[WadeAllen]

I'm always wondering how these youtubers who review so many games in so short a time have the time to play all these games. So maybe the reason that they haven't mentioned the other parts of this game is because they didn't play far enough into it to know those parts exist. They buy this game, play it for five hours and go "this is a really cool game about playing cards in a cabin where you can rip out your eye to cheat" without realizing how much more there is to it than that already unique start.

[VampPhoenix]

"Eight impenetrable bears" Snoman says, having 5 power on the board and two sets of scissors.

[The-EJ-Factor]

This is the first game I got to experience completely spoiler free and I’m so glad I did I’ll forever remember the experience.

[zackwalker]

I really think you should add a spoiler warning before revealing the other acts of the game

[Malefic]

Am I happy to see this review? Yes. I am going to watch it? For sure. Am I fucking pissed because of how you handled spoilers for such a game? Also yes.