With Pony Island and The Hex, indie developer Daniel Mullins proved he's no stranger to experimental genre mixing. He's back at it again with Inscryption, a horror game that combines roguelike deckbuilding and escape room puzzles.
The player finds themselves trapped in a decrepit cabin, and forced to play a series of life-or-death card games with their mysterious captor. In between rounds, they can explore Inscryption's cabin and try to solve its escape room puzzles, earning extra cards and clues to escape.
Updated on December 21, 2021, by Greysun Morales: The mystery roguelike deck-builder game Inscryption has gained lots of popularity since initially launching, even receiving a nomination at The Game Awards 2021. The indie has puzzles and other secrets that will certainly stump new players, such as the Inscryption Clock Puzzle, being one of the most devious in the game. However, this guide will go over all of the details needed to complete it so that players can move on with the thrilling narrative.
The most devious puzzle is the cuckoo clock, which contains a secret compartment that only opens if the hour, minute, and second hands are in the right place. It's possible to brute force, but considering each hand has 12 different positions, there are 1728 possible solutions.
Players should note that the clock is the last necessary puzzle in the cabin's puzzle chain. If there are other obvious puzzles still undone, then the player should shift their attention there.
Unlocking the Safe
There's a safe in the cabin that requires a 3 digit combination to unlock. The player can find the combination written in Inscryption's card effect rulebook, found on the stand next to the playing card table, or accessed by right-clicking a sigil or item.
Even if the player doesn't stumble on this themselves, the stoat card will eventually tell them where to look. Inside is a stinkbug card, the player's Second talking companion, and a large key.
Unlocking the Cabinet Drawers
The key opens the faceplate to the ornate cabinet, revealing 4 locked drawers. Each one is protected by one of Inscryption's sliding block puzzles. They follow the rules of the card game, each block represents a card, and the player has to arrange them so they deliver five points of damage in one turn.
Inside the drawers are multiple new cards and a carved squirrel head, which unlocks the totem mechanic. The most important card here is the caged wolf card.
Getting the Knife
On the shelf next to the cabinet is a wooden wolf statue in a cage. The caged wolf card is needed to unlock it. The player has to get into a card match, play the caged wolf, and let it get killed. Due to its high health, placing it against a card that can insta-kill, like the adder, is the easiest method.
Once the card is killed, it'll transform into a standard wolf card, and the player will hear a crashing sound. After the match, they can check the shelf and take the freed wolf statue. The corner of the cabin has a squirrel statue holding a knife, and placing the wolf statue in the opposite slot will let the player take it.
Eye for an Eye
Inscryption's original game jam title was Sacrifices Must be Made, and the player needs to make a big sacrifice here. The knife is an item that the player can use mid-match. Just as the tweezers can pull out a tooth for a minor health boost on the scales, the knife lets players gouge out an eye for a major health boost.
After winning a match with a gouged-out eye, the captor will offer a choice replacement eye from a box. One of them should have blue glowing lines on it. Choosing this eye will let the player see magical hidden messages. The clock face will now have markings showing where to place each hand, letting the player get the stunted wolf card and a roll of film. Now all the player needs to do is complete the captor's challenge to finish Act 1.
Inscryption is available now for PC.