Hype has a lot of power over me. I succumb to the Game of the Moment hype pretty often, and even if it doesn’t result in me buying a game, I will certainly feel some degree of FOMO. But as somebody who does not own all gaming platforms out there, sometimes the hype happens around me and I’m just left helpless. Such was the case with Inscryption (Daniel Mullins Games), which originally released only on PC, and my computer at the time struggled to run games in 3D, regardless of how old they are. And to add a little salt on the wound, Inscryption is one of those games where people tell you “Don’t spoil ANYTHING before you play it. Go in TOTALLY blind!”. So I waited, and waited, and waited, until it finally released on Playstation earlier this year.
I had managed to stay relatively unspoiled, though I’m familiar with Daniel Mullins’ shtick. And despite all of the hype, and all of the hush-hush…Inscryption lived up to the hype. At its core, it’s a brilliant, yet simple card game. Surrounding the core, however, are aesthetic, atmospheric and story elements that simply have to be experienced for yourself. The marriage of Halloween-colored aesthetics, low-fi 3D visuals and incredibly effective sound design build an atmosphere you can cut with a knife, setting the scene for seemingly high-stakes card games as you work to unravel the mystery.
Joining me in episode 55 of Tales from the Backlog to help make sense of it all is John Rogers, host of the gaming podcast Gaming in the Wild. John describes GITW as "a look at games from the artistic and creative side of the tracks", where he talks about what he's playing and reviews new games, trying to focus on indies that are worth your time. You can find everything GITW by following this link or searching in your favorite podcast app.
You can listen to episode 55 of Tales from the Backlog (Inscryption) of Tales from the Backlog in the player below, or you can follow the links to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podcast Addict, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or search "Tales from the Backlog" in your favorite podcast app!