Daniel Mullins's 2021 horror deckbuilder Inscryption sits at 8.7 on Steam and lives rent-free in a generation of indie game heads. There is now a two-player tabletop version you can actually pick up, complete with brass bell, flickering candles and a wooden chest, and the sets are flying out of an Australian workshop faster than they can be hand-built.
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Set up your group for freeCrypticCrafter, the small studio run by Nathan Hockridge in Australia, has been quietly building Inscryption IRL for a few years now. A new write-up by Rascal News goes deep on what makes the project unusual: every set is hand-assembled by Hockridge, his wife and the occasional friend, and it has the blessing of original creator Daniel Mullins after Hockridge wrote in to ask permission before going commercial.
The full box set runs AU$444 (around £230 / US$290) and packs in 200+ linen-finish cards, a soft-touch rubber playmat, a magnetic metal tooth counter, battery-powered flickering candles, heart and bone tokens in metal tins, a custom death-card pen and a solid brass bell to ring at the start of each turn. The whole thing lives in a 39 x 23.5 x 12.5cm wooden chest weighing 3.2kg, with a choice of box decals (Skull, Leshy, Trapper/Trader, Prospector or Angler) so collectors can pick their favourite act-one antagonist. There's also an option to add the Kaycee's Mod expansion or play in Spanish.
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Find events near youTo make the digital game work for two human players, Hockridge dialled back first-turn aggression to three damage, removed overkill, and benched a handful of cards (sorry, Great White, Mothman, Ouroboros) that would have made matches lopsided. Players draft their creatures up front rather than building decks across runs, the game spans three rounds, and the loser of each round gets a compensatory card to keep things fair.
Bad news for impatient fans: the current run is sold out, with batch four pre-orders shipping from October 2026 at the earliest. Good news: if you've got mates who love a chunky, ritual-laden experience, the next ordering window is reportedly opening in 2027. Already running a regular game night and looking for fellow horror nerds? Find a group on Backseat Gamer so you've got a table ready when your box finally arrives.
Sources: Rascal News | CrypticCrafter | Wargamer
