With each act of “Inscryption,” a unique style is evoked through the visuals, storytelling and sound. While the first act focuses heavily on the rustic wood cabin, the in-depth roleplaying and the creaky floorboards, the second act relies heavily on the dated pixel art, the casual lore implications and the crunchy audio.
At the end of act one, the player traps Leshy into a card with his own camera and unlocks the new game button. Starting this new game will bring the player into a whole new world, one of mystery and chiptune music.
Upon entry, the player is introduced to four different scrybes: Grimora, Scrybe of the dead, Leshy, Scrybe of beasts, PO3, Scrybe of robots and Magnificus, Scrybe of magics. Each of them has a specialized class of cards that each brings with them their own costs for casting. Leshy still uses blood, but Grimora uses bones. I usually run a blood and bone deck, because they fuel each other, and because mantis god is the objectively best card in the game.
The player is free to challenge Leshy or Grimora initially, but first they will need to defeat their underlings. Each Scrybe has their own style of puzzle, revolving around their respective card type. For example, Leshy has the player take pictures of various objects or creatures to appease the Trapper, Angler and Prospector, respectively.
Each of the Scrybes also has a unique battle mechanic. Grimora brings her cards back from the dead, keeping up a
constant supply of new threats to deal with. These make for interesting combat, and force the player to experiment with different solutions for each area.
Along with this, there is a bridge that is repaired upon defeating Leshy or Grimora. Once the bridge has been crossed, the player can take on Magnificus and PO3. Magnificus is often regarded online as the hardest of the Scrybes, as his mechanic involves removing the sigils from cards. This can easily interrupt well thought out strategies.
Notably, some interesting lore can be obtained during this act. The Mycologist appears on a small mushroom island next to Grimora’s crypt and, in their hut, the player may choose to fuse two cards into a stronger version of themselves.
The Mycologist appears to be a man who has a fungal infection of some sort, having a second, smaller head sprouting from his own and finishing his sentences. Or perhaps, he is a fungus taking the form of a man. Either way, after fusing six or so cards with his powers, the player will gain access to a strange purple key, rendered in 3d wireframe as opposed to the 2d retro style that the rest of the game takes place in. This key unlocks additional content in act three – content that confirms several suspicions the player may have about the world of “Inscryption.”
A character from act one, the Bone Lord, is back again in act two in his complete form. By placing two broken obols next to each other in battle, the player will receive a completed obol. They may present this to the Bone Lord in the basement of Grimora’s Crypt. The Bone Lord will accept the offering, and reveal information about the OLD_DATA to the player, speaking about how it is cursed and will destroy everything. Sounds rather vague, but things come together further in act three.
While it is odd and even suspicious that Grimora holds these major secrets in her domain, there are various pictures of real-world documents containing personal information that relate to the broader story at play here. This is not something I will break down, as that would take far too many words and far too much time. If this is a topic that interests one more, I would recommend searching for breakdowns of the ARG on platforms like YouTube. BeamBuddy on Youtube has an amazing hour and a half long breakdown of the topic, which I would recommend watching if you find this topic interesting, after playing the game first of course.
