Very fun game to play, especially if you're going in blind. I personally recommend that so you don't have any spoilers to what the game has to offer.









Now BIG Spoiler Warning
I am writing this as of having 100%'d the game, the above section was written before I had even reached Act II.
Inscryption has ARG elements and an ARG attached to it, I am not going to be discussing it because in my eyes most people will likely only experience the game. And that's what it is: An experience. The entire game Inscryption will confuse the player as soon as they enter.
The intro starts with the voice of Luke Carder, who the player does not know yet and will likely not pay too much attention to the voice at the beginning. Another reason they would probably forget about him is the start screen. There is no new game button. This throws off the expectations most people would have upon picking up a new game. They expect to be making a new story, their story. But that is not the case. Instead, they are continuing what is an endless loop of Scrybe taking power, the other three rising up, and then one of them rising above the others. This time, Leshy is in power.
Now, let's talk about Leshy. Leshy is the Scrybe of the Beasts, the man of the forest. But he is also so very fond of his game. He tries to make it engaging, making it a choose your own adventure story, almost like the player would have expected in a new game. He even makes it beginner friendly, only adding in new mechanics when he feels you're ready. He just wants to play the game without the interruption of the other Scrybes. And while the methods at which he does this are dubious at best, he still has a passion for the idea of the game. It's implied he knows that it's probably the same person playing, we can see from Kaycee's mod they had conversations, so his adding new mechanics even though in the game you would be a different person, makes pretty good sense. Now, they don't know his name until Act III, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
The biggest standout moment in Act I, at least for me, is when Leshy tells you to stand up from the desk. This game has already subverted our expectations, at least with the starting screen, but this feels like a ripping away of the safety net. It's jarring how the character moves so snappy in one direction. It feels wrong to be able to view Leshy from a different angle, like we weren't supposed to see anything past his hands or face. And all of the puzzles, making this game not just a card game, but an escape room. And it's all done so casually at the same time. It's just a simple excuse of him wanting to teach you how lives work.
Then, you will likely make your first victory in vain. While you'll probably figure out a couple of the puzzles, thus progressing the game as a whole, you will die as you win. Though you won, Leshy cannot give up his reign, and so your death card gets pinned on the door with a gold ribbon. The future runs could potentially continue for a while, but as soon as you get the knife and use it(and grab the glowing eye(possibly Magnificus's)), you are pretty well set to move on. Once this is done, you can see more than you could before. With the discovery of the Stunted Wolf, and the film roll, as long as you win, Act II is yours, clicking a picture of Leshy and grabbing that New Game button.
With your newfound power, you make a new game: the original Inscryption, before the Scrybes gained sentience and the struggle for power began; before the OLD_DATA. Here, you meet the true form of the talking cards you met before. Grimora(the Stinkbug), P03(the Stoat), and Magnificus(the Stunted Wolf) are the three other Scrybes that we haven't gotten to know as well as Leshy. Looking at it taking all three Acts into account, I would say we know the least about Grimora.
Magnificus is hard to pin down, as just like Grimora he doesn't have much screen time. Act II semi-makes up for this, but we still don't know much about what he thinks about the game he plays and why he grasps for power like the other three. They obviously all see their version as best, but that doesn't feel like enough. It could be just as simple as he loves being in power. He clearly loves having power over others, shown by his scorned students. He is almost a subversion of the old wise teacher trope, being quite punishing to "failures", putting his standards ridiculously high. It feels very intimidating hearing about how he treats those who don't stack up in his eyes. In his pursuit of power over others he ends up becoming a cruel old man.
Let's talk about the Stoat now. P03 is a sassy cyborg, formerly sassy stoat, who intends to find the OLD_DATA and start his reign anew. He can be rude at times, but at first he doesn't seem too malicious. This is changed when he is seen mistreating his robot workers, and while the ethics of such could be debated, since they're robots, the OLD_DATA probably affects them too, so it doesn't reflect well on P03. Once the Dredger digs up the OLD_DATA, P03 uses it to reset the game once again, this time to his liking. Unlike Leshy, he doesn't really keep the other Scrybes around in his new Inscryption. He can't get rid of them altogether, but he can tuck them away out of sight.
Now, my second favorite moment of Act III: Trying to get up from the table. Depending on how long you played Act I, getting up from the table might be muscle memory. That's why it's so shocking when you can't get up from the table. It flips that first moment with Leshy on it's head, P03's jealousy of Leshy's Inscryption rearing its ugly face. This, combined with P03's constant comments about how much better this Inscryption is than Leshy's was. P03 wants so desperately to rise above his counterparts, unlike the other three, who seemingly have different motivations in taking power.
My favorite moment of Act III is the Murder of P03 and the rest of what happens after. To the other two, this wasn't supposed to be permanent, as in Act I we essentially murder Leshy, and he's back the next time around. To Grimora though, she knows this is his final "breath", she plans to pretty much just kill all of them in order to get rid of the OLD_DATA.
Grimora might be the most mysterious Scrybe, and my guess as to her motivations in the struggle for power amongst the four is her fear. Her fear of the OLD_DATA getting into the wrong hands, her fear of the other Scrybes using it for evil, like P03 did, she wants to keep it out of the hands of the others. This obviously doesn't work, they always find a way to best her and continue the loop. So she decides she's tired of this constant loop, this constant fear, she is tired. She has been given sentience and she is tired of it, so she does all she can. She does her best to end it all, the OLD_DATA, her existence, and that of her friends. The existence of the game proves it didn't work, which makes the story and the Scrybes' goodbyes all the more tragic.
Grimora's goodbye is a glimpse into what could have been. The way she plays the game, how you would move around the "map", all of this is what could have been and what has been. It is heartbreaking to see a character you have barely met die.
Then, Magnificus shows off his playstyle, and personally I wasn't quite as sad when he died, seeing as I saw what he did to his pupils, but it was still sad seeing him hold onto life as the world deletes around him.
The most heartbreaking moment though, is when we end up right back where we started: Leshy's Cabin. Back to the man who started off this journey. Back to a semblance of normalcy. Back to Leshy. Him desperately wanting to continue playing cards regardless of whether or not he can even keep score of who's winning. He is the spirit of the game incarnate and just wants to keep playing. He just wants a nice game of cards. And that make's his eventual death so, so achingly sad.