Inscryption, Polygon’s 2021 game of the year, heads to Game Pass

Game Pass is clearly celebrating October in style by teeing up a creepy old Polygon favorite, Inscryption, to be released on the platform on Oct. 10. Inscryption is not your typical horror game — it doesn’t exactly have jump scares — but the far-reaching tendrils of its fictional premise definitely filled me with unease when I played it back in 2021. It starts out as a simplified roguelite card game played against a mysterious, dimly lit opponent. Of course, you’re playing this card game while locked in a cabin. You do get some opportunities to stand up from the card table and attempt to make your escape, but to where? The world beyond the card game only gets stranger.

The card game at the outset of Inscryption is fun on its own — easy to recommend even if you never manage to escape the cabin — but once you do escape, you’ll stumble into the deliciously weird parts of Inscryption’s overarching story. And much like my colleague Cass Marshall wrote in their article “Inscryption fans solved the game’s wildest puzzles, but it’s just as brilliant without them,” I enjoyed this game more when I was basking in its vibes, not tying myself in knots trying to understand what was really going on. If you want to unravel the mystery, though, you can certainly go off the deep end and read the extensive lore that fans have pieced together post-release.

Before you do any of that, you’ll want to play it first. Inscryption will be available next week Oct. 10 via Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, and Game Pass Standard. That’s not all — MLB The Show 24, Open Roads, and Sifu will be coming to Game Pass on Oct. 2, and Mad Streets will be on the service on Oct. 7. All You Need Is Help, Legend of Mana, Trials of Mana, and We Love Katamari Reroll + Royal Reverie are all available now on Game Pass, too.

Here’s what will be leaving Game Pass on October 15:

• Dyson Sphere Program (PC)
• Everspace 2 (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• From Space (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• F1 Manager 2023 (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Scorn (Cloud, Console, and PC)

Of that list, Dyson Sphere Program was another favorite of ours here at Polygon, so don’t miss it before it’s gone.