Slay the Spire (2019)

It's a great rouge like deck builder and super addicting. My go to game to play in the background.

My biggest problem is that it relies to much on RNG so some runs it just feels like your screwed no matter what. Especially since there aren't many moves that heal and you don't always draw blocks. While it feels great when you get the perfect run, i feel there's more restarts than perfect runs.

Overall it's addicting and i do recommend but if your not a fan of massive RNG and grind i would stay away.

I came late to Slay the Spire after it was made available on PS Plus. I'm a huge fan of deck-builders but harder to please when it comes to roguelikes, so my anticipation for playing this one fell somewhere between interest and apprehension. Turns out it was a solid and fun challenge, but for me and my tastes, didn't last longer than a handful of hours.

The story

More or less non-existent, as far as my playthroughs could decipher. You choose 1 of 4 hero archetypes (that can be unlocked after successive playthroughs) and you're trying to make it to the end of the dungeon. There's very little in the way of exposition in flavour text or reasoning as to why you're in the dungeon.

The gameplay

Great as far as deck builders go! Lots of card variety for each player archetype and some great implementation of this or that mechanics, like sacrificing health to gain a new card, or choosing to upgrade a good card at the cost of losing two cards. It made for some really fun and tense situations as I was nearing the end of a run, trying to min/max in my mind what's the best chance of getting me across the finish line.

The replay value

This is where my opinion may be an outlier. I really enjoyed playing a couple of the archetypes but a few of the others were lacklustre to me. Also, the deck and build variety can probably be seen as a great challenge for some players, but I found myself wanting to just keep building the same poison deck with the thief rather than trying something new. I can't say that's a knock against the game though, more about my personal playstyle. So that being said, the drive to continue playing the same style over and over wore off quick.

The conclusion

As far as PS Plus games go, this was a huge winner. It made for a really enjoyable afternoon and I can see how certain gamers will dump hundreds of hours into this trying to chase all the trophies or master every deck build for every archetype. While that wasn't my style, I was still content with my time with Slay the Spire.

I can finally write a review as I beat the heart with one of the characters (Ironclad). I'm not a min-max player and I feel like the folks who get really into this game take a really strategic and holistic view to their deck. I never gamed out what the level 3 boss would be like with early card picks, but just went for easy synergy. Similarly, I'm awful at skipping card rewards which bit me in the ass with huge decks at the end of the game.

I'll probably keep playing from ttime to time to see if I can get my other characters past the end game, but I won't be shooting for 100% achievements. Some seem damn near impossible and sadistic, like beating the game with 1 relic or just common cards. Not my idea of fun.

Way better than I expected. I have been feeling drained lately from video games and really don't like play that much at the moment. This however has been sitting in my library for so long that I felt it was a shame not to even try a little bit. Many hours later I'm still "trying" this game out.

I admit that there is a lot RNG involved so if you hate that look something else. But for me the RNG element gives me that tickling feeling where I'll try again to see if my luck gets any better and when I beat the boss while remaining 2hp of healt the feeling is just pure "YEEEEEAAAAS". What I love in this game most is that there is no time limit while making your moves. I have been playing games like Heartstone a lot and the feel where you can think your plan slowly and read thoroughly the info in your cards makes me feel so relaxed and easy.

Holy shit! I took a gamble for a run and ended up getting a relic that removed my ability to see enemy intents (for +1 energy each turn), which was scary as fuck, because I had to go entirely off memory (and I've only gotten to the third boss once before), and I fucking got my first Defect win!

I am damn proud of that run!

Card based battle game where your health carries over between fights and one life. This sort of endurance based approach to card games is certainly a great twist. Inbetween fights you can upgrade your deck and decide which path down the dungeon to take, choosing between safer vs more rewarding paths, or aiming for specific types of encounters. The decision making about which path to take, what items to grab, when to heal, what cards to upgrade/add is highly tactical and dynamic. You won't just find one good thing you should do every run, it's all highly situational.

There's also a fantastic variety in decks: turtling decks that slowly build up poison on enemies, engine decks that start out just doing set up and grow exponentially better the longer they play, draw-engines that can play 10+ cards a turn, aggressive decks that set to expend all their resources in a single whirlwind early on, decks that win with attrition, and ones that just need draw 'that one card' to really go off. This gives it fantastic replayability, there's even rare events which are so potent you can base your entire build around them.

What's more there are enemies and even bosses specifically made to hose each one of those tactics forcing you to mix up your strategy and counterplay. There's also no bullshit gimmicks or filler it's a game of pure tactics and the interface is clean and quick!

All in all the RNG is very fair. I never felt like I was given a dungeon that I just couldn't win, loses were from making too many bad plays or just lousy deck-building. Good tactics and foresight will overcome bad RNG.

Some people complain you can't just pick any build at any time, that you need to adapt and work with the cards you are dealt. Nigga that's why it's a strategy game, so you have to think about things! What's more that's philosophy, you gotta play the cards you are dealt! And people say video games don't have deep philosophical insights!!