the short review: you should play this game. you do not need to know more than that. if you think you need more details than that feel free to read more. i will still be keeping things vague. i purrsonally don't care about spoilers but i understand many people do.

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inscryption is a game that is heavily concerned with what goes into the making and playing of games. it is not designed to be a "furever game" like many roguelikes are. the base game of inscryption is actually not a roguelike at all, only borrowing a structure that is loosely analogous to the structure of other well-known roguelike-hybrid games, and only fur one part of the game.

it's a short and sweet ~15 hour game that i think is best described as an incredibly stylish guided tour through many diffurent ideas fur card games. multiple layers of framing devices are used to get the player in the headspace fur this. inscryption is built upon multiple diffurent mysteries that fold into one another and reveal themselves over time, each of them engaging in diffurent ways. the reveal of a new turn in the meta-narrative of the game carries the same impact as the reveal of new mechanics within the actual card game being played.

it is a game that allows ideas to breathe fur just long enough to allow the player to become acquainted with them before introducing new twists. full of unbelievably memorable moments and truly endearing ideas; this game is special.

i had small complaints during my time playing it but none of them amounted to anything in the end--it was a situation where the gripes or concerns i had were purely a result of me failing to even begin to understand the scope of what the game was doing. the biggest nagging issue i had was the game's interface being far more tilted toward aesthetic and narrative effectiveness than pure gameplay functionality. in the end i think the way it pushes you away from easily being able to make optimal decisions at all times makes it easier to settle into a mentality of allowing yourself to be lead by the game through its various diffurent ideas, even as it encourages you to do what you can to push at the limits and boundaries of those ideas.