"An inky black card-based odyssey blending deckbuilding, escape room puzzles, and psychological horror"
(Image credit: Daniel Mullins Games, The Northern Light)
The devilishly delightful card game Inscryption is out now on Nintendo Switch.
Inscryption – described by publisher Devolver Digital as “an inky black card-based odyssey that blends the deckbuilding roguelike, escape-room style puzzles, and psychological horror into a blood-laced smoothie” – has been available on PC since last year, and PlayStation since August, but this marks its debut on Nintendo’s handheld system.
Not come across it before? Inscryption is officially the first game to win Game of the Year at both the GDC awards and the IGF awards (opens in new tab), the accolades coming just weeks after Inscryption passed one million copies sold (opens in new tab).
Securing the Independent Game Festival’s Game of the Year puts Inscryption alongside heavy-hitters like Outer Wilds, Night in the Woods, and Minecraft, and it was also a recurring nominee across other categories such as excellence in narrative, excellence in design, and excellence in audio, too.
Likewise, in taking the top prize at GDC, Inscryption sits among juggernauts that include The Last of Us, God of War, and Breath of the Wild.
As Austin summarized for us at the time, “it’s easy to see why Inscryption has been so widely praised and recognized”.
“It starts off as a grim and clever card game and quickly evolves into a compelling meta-narrative which uses the fourth wall like a punching bag that it pummels with your reeling brain,” Austin said.
“Without wishing to spoil, it’s actually several excellent card games in one, but it’s the characters that keep you coming back to its seemingly bottomless well of unraveling stories. And to think it all starts with an army of dead squirrels (opens in new tab).”
If you’re jumping into Mullins’ new game and struggling, you can check out our Inscryption clock puzzle solution (opens in new tab) guide to solve one of the more perplexing puzzles in the game.
Here are our picks of the best card games (opens in new tab), best board games (opens in new tab), and the best tabletop RPGs (opens in new tab) right now.
Vikki Blake
Weekend Reporter, GamesRadar+
Vikki Blake is GamesRadar+’s Weekend Reporter. Vikki works tirelessly to ensure that you have something to read on the days of the week beginning with ‘S’, and can also be found contributing to outlets including the BBC, Eurogamer, and GameIndustry.biz. Vikki also runs a weekly games column at NME, and can be frequently found talking about Destiny 2 and Silent Hill on Twitter.