09/16/2026 - Besu's Best Games
Besu Tadesse is back with another horror game review! This week, he brings us his thoughts on Inscryption.
Some spoilers ahead... proceed with caution.
INSCRYPTION
reviewed by Besu Tadesse
Released in October 2021, Inscryption is a card-building Rogue-like tabletop psychological horror game developed by Daniel Mullins Games and published by Devolver Digital. You play as an unnamed silent protagonist forced into playing a tabletop card game by a mysterious game master that demands your participation in order to kill you and preserve you in the cards.
To play the game, you must build a set of cards out of two sets of animal creatures – attack and defense cards that provide different attributes based on their position and enhancements (e.g., attacking the player directly instead of the cards in front of them, switching positions to take damage), and fodder, as represented by squirrels that can be used to either absorb damage or act as blood sacrifices (more on that later). The game master takes your avatar across a small map, where it rattles a tale about people you meet in the forest, sets up boss battles complete with costume changes, or shuffles you into areas where you can enhance your cards. Each part of the game board requires action and choices, which create many different ways to play the game, and it’s up to you to learn the rules and adapt as needed.
While the game rules are fairly simple in theory, they come with real, consequential decisions. For example, many of the cards require blood sacrifice, where you must eliminate your fleshy animal creatures to allow certain cards on the board. For example, you may have to eliminate two squirrels to allow a wolf in the playing field, or even a squirrel and another character. Later, you find that some require bones that are collected when your cards are defeated. And as you continue to play, you unlock new animals with new abilities (of which there are many), and you begin to give the game master a run for their money. As with any Rogue-like, death and reclamation of what you have built is part of the fun, with the added twist of turning your fallen character into their own card that can be used in subsequent rounds. It took me a few rounds just to pass the first major boss, and when you finally get through, enduring the story made it that much more satisfying. There is still so much more to unlock, from environmental secrets and new creatures to new maps and levels. And with an overarching mystery to solve, there's always something new for experimentation and intrigue.
Inscryption is available on PC via Steam. I’ve never played anything else like it, so if you’re into card games, roguelikes, or just overall weird vibes, this is a game for you. Enjoy!
MORE ABOUT BESU TADESSE
An author based in Maryland, Besu Tadesse loves to write horror and speculative fiction. He has published two books – The Ghosts of Poplar Valley, a paranormal horror novella about our history’s echoes into the present, and Broken Persons, a short story collection that deals with broad themes of grief, trauma, and speculation on the future.
His short stories have been included in several works, including Devour the Rich!, Arsenic and Grandma’s Refrigerator: Horror Told in Colours, Dark and Dreary: A Basement Horror Anthology, A Chronicle of Horrors: An Anthology, Recipes for Newlyweds: Stories of Marital Bliss, With Teeth: A Dark Fiction Anthology, and several upcoming projects. He also works as a gaming writer and reviewer for Calcopia and Uncomfortably Dark.
You can find him on all social media platforms under the handle @stickybearartist.
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