History VideoGame / Inscryption

The primary gameplay is a CardBattleGame where you embark on a tablelop RPG-like adventure, moving space-to-space on a map while collecting cards you will use to battle. Almost each card requires you to sacrifice at least one of your cards to power them up before they can be played- with the exception of the Squirrel cards, which cannot attack and are your main sacrifice fodder. Both you and your enemy attack either other cards or, if there is nothing in the way, the opponent themselves, which will tip the scales one way or the other- victory is achieved if you tip your opponent's scale all the way down and vice versa. You will collect a variety of cards with a variety of stats and sigils- special rules the card follows- and space types that can be used to do things like get items, power up cards, or trade cards.

--->'''Lonely Wizbot:''' Ah! Is it- Who are- Is this? STIMULATION.

* BigBadFriend: The Stoat/[=P03=] is one of the first friendly faces you see, but it becomes the final BigBad rather than risk having its position as a Scrybe usurped by you. Even in its version of the game, it's relatively more jocular and friendly with you - but also literally chains you to the table until it needs you to get something.

* BookEnds: The first thing you do when you start playing is to play the Stoat with its eyes closed, which is the trapped PO-3. The video at the end of the AR game shows the Stoat winking at you, now very much free.

* ContractualBossImmunity: {{Averted}} in the base game: The Moon is vulnerable to both the Stinky and Touch of Death sigils, allowing you to easily render it harmless or kill it in one hit. Played straight in ''Kaycee's Mod'' thanks to the Made of Stone sigil, although the mod also adds a brush item which can negate all sigils.

** Whenever Leshy encounters one of the changes Kaycee has made as one of her challenges for the first time (e.g. making it so that bosses no longer reward rare cards) he'll remark on it.

* MyRulesAreNotYourRules: Your opponent [[NotPlayingFairWithResources does not have to make sacrifices to play cards like you do]]. He ''does'', however, still have a limited deck... [[ZigZaggedTrope but he also doesn't suffer from Starvation cards when he runs out like you do]]. This applies to your opponents in Acts 2 and 3 as well.

* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl3NTzzw-2o The initial reveal trailer]] has brief, out-of-context clips of the real-world and "New Game" segments, as well as [=P03=]'s "face" in 3D towards the end. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnDCRmLDakw The Demo trailer]] has them at the start, in addition to a shot of shaking Grimora's hand during deletion from the game's final moments. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDAJ10sjpPI The Release trailer]] also spoils, with FreezeFrameBonus shots of P03 as a new Game Master in addition to the Reveal Trailer spoilers.

* YouShouldntKnowThisAlready: The combination for the safe, which contains the Stinkbug and the key to the drawer puzzles, is not revealed until a certain point in the game. While you can open the safe with the combination before that, all you'll find is a pile of rancid meat. In a similar sense, you can't solve the clock puzzle containing the Stunted Wolf before you receive what you need to learn the solution.

** The BonusBoss, the Mycologists, have conveyor belts similar to P03's on their side of the field; if two cards are moved onto the same space, their stats and abilities are fused, similar to the effects of using the Mycologists in Act 1. At the start of the second phase, they fuse all the cards on ''your'' side into one as well.

* TarotMotifs: The Trader is hidden away in Act 3, and finding her will allow for a tarot reading of 5 cards provided you have enough holo-pelts to trade for. The 5 cards she reads are The Fool (representing Barry Wilkinson, a key player in the AlternateRealityGame), The Empress (representing Kaycee), The Devil ([[VideoGame/PonyIsland Who else?]]), Death (a skeleton holding the Karnoffel Code in its pocket) and The Tower (a building with a blue triangle above it, heavily implied to be [[VideoGame/TheHex The Gameworks]]).

* AdaptationExpansion: The original prototype demo (''Sacrifices Must Be Made'') lacked the meta plot entirely and instead had more of a focus on horror, and was about a starving parent and child playing against a sadistic card-playing stranger in order to secure food for the night.

* StealthSequel: To ''VideoGame/TheHex'', as [=GameFuna=], the gaming company that Lionel Snill sold his characters to, is revealed to be the creator of ''Inscryption''.

** Even though your choice on which Scrybe to replace is meaningless, P03 will comment on it during Act 3.

The primary gameplay is a CardBattleGame where you embark on a tablelop RPG-like adventure, moving space-to-space on a map whiile collecting cards you will use to battle. Almost each card requires you to sacrifice at least one of your cards to power them up before they can be played- with the exception of the Squirrel cards, which cannot attack and are your main sacrifice fodder. Both you and your enemy attack either other cards or, if there is nothing in the way, the opponent themselves, which will tip the scales one way or the other- victory is achieved if you tip your opponent's scale all the way down and vice versa. You will collect a variety of cards with a variety of stats and sigils- special rules the card follows- and space types that can be used to do things like get items, power up cards, or trade cards.

** The Ijiraq appears as a different card entirely, identifiable only be its red eyes until played.

** In a less terrifying vein, flipping through the rulebook during the ending sequence against Grimora and Magnificus includes some new sigils with silly effects.

** The Fledgling sigil causes cards to evolve into a stronger form after one turn, but naturally only appears on animals such as Wolf Pup and Strange Larva. Using a sacrifice or totem to give this to adult animals typically just adds "Elder" to the name but there are also several unique name changes. For example, Child 13 becomes Child 14, Alpha becomes Omega, and Opossum becomes Awesome Opossum.

** The code to Leshy's safe, 273, consists of the first three digits of the password to the Hopeless Soul's user profile in ''VideoGame/PonyIsland''.

* MythologyGag: Many of the card games and individual cards referenced by Luke are named after games and characters from ''VideoGame/TheHex'', Daniel Mullins' previous game.

** Roughly a month before the game's official launch, a Youtube account known as "[[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJRJ0UymMLfutSy0RBxYH4w Lucky Carder]]" was created and started uploading videos connected to ''Inscryption'', hinting at secrets "Beneath the Surface." When ''Inscryption'' was actually released, it took on an entirely new level involving the game's prototype and Daniel Mullins' other works, most of which has been cataloged [[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1faTHC2Yp9ep7apKoVOj-DR6Gj8MvgK680D5UHvxlh8U/edit# here (SPOILERS)]]. [[AllThereInTheManual Alongside several backstory revelations]], it ends with the reveal that P03's online upload of ''Inscryption'' somehow restarted and finished, putting the game out in the open just as he intended.
** Gameplay is periodically interrupted by more Lucky Carder videos, and it keeps the same ARG feel.

** Dying after acquiring the knife but before retrieving the Stunted Wolf plays a short cutscene of Magnificus standing next to a painting of the knife.
** If a player grabs the Stunted Wolf, but misses the roll of film right next to him, Wolf will mention it whenever you draw him from the deck. If that hint isn't enough, winning a few runs without the film will show a short cutscene where Magnificus is standing next to a painting of the clock containing the film.

** The Moon Strike and Tidal Lock sigils unique to Leshy's Moon card can be seen in the rule book as soon as you gain access to it.

* EvolvingTitleScreen: The main menu takes on slightly different colors reflecting the atmosphere of each act: earthy brown for the first, light green for the second, and grayish blue for the third.

** During the Finale, Grimora's Pirate boss fight starts with bombastic music and cannons falling from the sky, only to be cut short as her mask is deleted. [[spoiler:However, the pirate returns as the secret boss of Kaycee's Mod.]]

* TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou: In Act 3, you can sacrifice the files on your computer. Not the in-game player's, but ''your own''. Thankfully, rather than affecting your actual files, it just copies their names. The one moment where P03 threatens to actively delete a file, all he can do is leave a .txt telling you he was unable to do so, requesting you do that yourself if you respect the rules. There's also an in-universe case of this when P03 addresses Luke by name and informs him that it's using his hardware to try and upload itself to the internet.