Released on October 19th, Incscryption is a card-based horror game that has much more to it than players may expect at first glance. A blend of solid card-based gameplay, horror, and hidden puzzles, there’s a lot to appreciate about Inscryption, with its various elements potentially catering to different types of players.
As a single-player card-based game, there’s much within the game that would not be found within a traditional tabletop card game. Most notably, while the player’s opponents will often bend the rules of the game, the player is able to do so as well through the use of various items they can acquire throughout the first segment of the game. While each of these items supplies some form of one-time-use benefit, they vary in their usefulness. So today, we’re going to shine a light on the items of Inscryption and see which are the most useful and why.
Before we begin, we should note that due to the fact that how some of these items are obtained is tied to the game's plot, there are minor spoilers ahead.
8 Fan
An item that can be used to swing a game in a player’s favor for a single turn - upon using the fan, it provides each of a player’s cards with the flying property. In a round in which the opponent has access to several flying cards of their own, this is far from spectacular.
However, in a situation in which the board is clogged up with opposing blockers that would prevent a player from getting through, the fan can help eke out a win and slip damage through.
7 Scissors
While traditional card games like Magic: The Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh tend to have cards available to players that can be used to remove an opposing card from play, the only cards available to players in Inscryption come in the form of animals, creatures, and the occasional roadblock or pelt. That’s where Scissors come in.
If you acquire this item, it can be used once to destroy an opposing card, immediately removing it from the game. This allows you an option that can reliably deal with some of the bulkiest cards in the game such as a Bear, Tortoise, or a Mole-Man.
6 Pliers
One of the first items introduced in Inscryption, Pliers offer one of the most straightforward yet effective effects in the game. Upon using these pliers, you are able to remove one of your own teeth in order to tip the scales by one point.
While the use of an item for a single tipping of the scale may not seem like much of a big deal, sometimes a single point of damage is what stands between you and victory.
5 Piggy Bank
While the sacrifice of your cards tends to be the most frequently appearing resource in Inscryption, some cards utilize a secondary resource in the form of bones. Whenever a card is sacrificed, a player receives a bone as a byproduct. While cards with bone costs are somewhat less common than those that require sacrifices, Piggy Banks can be used to instantly acquire four bones.
This means that if a player has a card in their hand that requires four or fewer bones, they can hypothetically cash in this item to play that card without expending any other resources.
4 Squirrel In A Bottle
One of the most integral elements of Inscryption is making the most out of your resources, and few resources are as constantly useful as Squirrels. A weak card incapable of dealing damage that can only sustain one hit, Squirrels can be reliably drawn on turns when they’re needed and they allow players to reliably play their other cards.
One type of item that players can find are cards in bottles, causing the card to be added to the player’s hand when used. While a squirrel in a bottle may not seem like much, it allows a player to reliably have access to an additional resource they wouldn’t have otherwise, functioning as a free blocker or an additional sacrifice to play a more powerful card earlier than a player normally could otherwise.
3 Hourglass
While providing yourself with additional resources is nice, so is preventing an opponent from playing. An hourglass is easily one of the most effective cards that a player can obtain from backpacks on the map.
Upon being used, it skips the opponent’s next turn. Not only does this stall their ability to play new cards and deal damage to the player, but it also allows the player to squeeze more damage through, unopposed.
2 Fish Hook
An incredible item that is obtained from defeating the Angler boss - while players are only able to obtain a single fish hook, it is easily one of the best tools at your disposal. Upon being used, the player can choose from the opponent’s cards, gaining control of it for themselves.
It should be noted that it causes the card to be brought into play on an open space controlled by the player, but this not only provides a comparable effect to the Scissors, depriving the opponent of acrad, but it provides the player with one for free.
1 Dagger
Like the Fish Hook, the Dagger is a special item that can only be obtained once and can only be used once. However, it offers what is easily the most impactful effect of any item in the game. Obtained from solving the Caged Wolf Puzzle, while the Pliers allow you to remove and place your teeth on the scale, the Dagger can be used to remove your own eye, placing it on the scale.
While a tooth moves the scale one point in the player’s favor, an eye moves the scale four points in the player’s favor, allowing them to potentially make short work of many of the most difficult opponents in the game.