I didn't have pliers, but I did have a dagger that would cut off your hand or eye. Especially the really gruesome stuff, like taking your eye out with a knife, or yanking a tooth out of your mouth with pliers - that stemmed from that original game jam.

'In that mindset, a lot of the horror stuff just followed. 'That sets the stage for creepy and macabre things to happen,' Mullins tells me. You aren't glued to the gaming table though, and can (and are encouraged to) wander around a dark cabin, solving puzzles as though you're in an escape room. You're in a dimly lit room and are barely able to see your opponent - who uses ominous masks to act as characters you meet on your roguelike journey. The opening feels like a horror game, too. A lot of the really core stuff came together right then and there - including the evil character across from you, with the weird googly eyes that are always watching.' You cut out your eye and you can't see half the playing field. 'If you chop off your hand, then you can't hold the cards. 'I thought, maybe you sacrifice your body parts somehow, what implications would that have for playing a card game?' He says. Even with all that bloodshed, Mullins tells me he wanted to maximise his interpretation of the theme, so started thinking about what else you could sacrifice. It was partially inspired by Magic: The Gathering, which has a sacrificing mechanic, albeit not quite so macabre as Inscryption's. Mullins developed it in 48 hours for the theme 'sacrifices must be made', birthing the grisly roguelike that makes you spend blood and bones to lay down new cards. Inscryption, or at least the beginning of it, started life as a short game jam project in 2018. But for those of you who've already played, read on for more detail on how Mullins created an excellently unsettling world. I won't say more above the cut, because I'd hate to spoil it. If you've played Mullins' other games you'll know his work can go to some weird, meta places.

Then, just as you start getting the hang of things, the game evolves into something way more complex.

But I kind of understand his point.Īt the start, Inscryption is like a hostage situation, where you're forced to play a card-based roguelike against a sinister games master. He immediately follows this up by telling me a friend of his had nightmares because of the menacing figure you play cards against, so yeah, maybe it's a bit horror-like. Daniel Mullins says he's not sure that ' horror' is the most accurate way to describe his gruesome new card battler Inscryption.

Dunkey playing spooky