The Captive File is a tech-card present in Act III of Inscryption, solely available during the fight with The Archivist. Its stats are variable depending on the age of the file used for its creation. While P03 threatens that the death of the Captive File will result in the deletion of the corresponding file, it is important to note that this is untrue, except for Luke Carder's files in the Console Versions of the game.
When the Captive File dies, rather than deleting the file used to create it, a text document is created (called {documentname} DELETED.txt), requesting that the player kindly respect the rules of the game, and delete the file themselves.
The file prompting the player to delete the file reads: "At least... I tried to delete it. But it seems my powers of FILE ACCESS do not extend that far. Play by the rules you agreed to. Delete it yourself. Have an ounce of respect for the rules. Come on."
Deleting the file before the end of the fight earns the Agonizing Remorse Achievement.
In Console Versions, when the Captive File dies, the file is deleted from Luke Carder's PC;
Choosing System32.dll will cause the game to crash if the file is killed.
These will not harm your console.
Creation[]
Upon the beginning of the Archivists second phase, they will prompt the player to select an old file- one that has existed on their system for a long time. The age of this file is used to then calculate the stats of the Captive File, which will also take the name of the selected file once the creation process is complete. The Captive File has the default stats of 1 Power and 1 Health, and gains +1 Power and +1 Health for every 360 days the file has existed, capping at 4/4 (or +3 Power and Health) on a file that is three years or older.
Strategy[]
The usefulness of the Captive File depends solely on the file selected to create it. This means that the majority of strategy involved in this card has to do with searching for an appropriate file rather than anything in actual play. The Hostage File Sigil does not affect gameplay, and as such the Captive File has no special behaviours that affect its use, and can be considered a mostly better Automaton.