Slay the Spire

Deckbuilding happens to be my favorite tabletop mechanic at the moment and Slay the Spire is a pure deckbuilder wrapped in a roguelike/dungeon crawl skin. After playing a bit on Game Pass I bought a copy on the Switch, which is of course the natural home for a game like this. The dungeons are randomly generated and you play until you die, upon which you lose all your cards and relics and start over at the beginning.

As you traverse the dungeon you proceed along a map with icons for the types of encounters: enemy, elite enemy, treasure chest, camp, ?, shopkeeper, and boss. ? events are often CYOA-style choices, like whether to barter with a stranger or attempt to steal a gold idol from a pedistal, but sometimes they are one of the other type of encounters.

One of the most interesting aspects of the game is relics. These items bestow permanent boons and curses (or a mixture of the two) with no limit. Each of 3 three starting characters begins with a relic and others are earned through chests and after battles. (Think perks in Fallout.) The combinations of relics and different cards keep things interesting and make every run different, as you end up relying on different strategies. I love collecting relics and there is a starting option that allows you to trade your starting relic for a random boss relic that can really shake things up, since some of the relics have a positive and negative aspects.

The RNG is strong, but it’s a solid card game and I hardly mind. It scratches a very similar itch to Unexplored for me. I wish I could write a more informative review to be honest, but it Just Works.

That being said, I may be about done with games with roguelike elements (more roguelite roguelikes, I suppose?) for a while. It seems I always get about 10 hours into these roguelikes before I wander off. If a game doesn’t have an interesting storyline or some underlying progression I can only play so much before I need new stimuli. I think ASCII roguelike are ultimately a better fit (Cogmind and Caves of Qud have been on my list forever) but playing games on my PC with a keyboard does not appeal right now.