![]() ![]() Other map locations, marked by a question mark, can trigger far-flung special Events of many kinds - some of which are just fun and beneficial, while others are less pleasant or require you to make a tradeoff or tough judgment call. You’ll also typically want to stop at as many Rest Sites as possible, each one granting you a choice to either heal a percentage of your current max HP, or upgrade a single card to its full potential (usually consisting of either an increased effect or a decreased cost). ![]() Over the three “Acts” or Spire levels that form the game’s core gameplay loop, you’ll of course gain new cards, find powerful passive Relics, and collect one-shot potions, all usually via battle drops or Shop visits. The dungeon’s map system itself is also an integral part of the strategic experience, a simple yet deep feature that isn’t necessarily signaled by the basic pitch of “Battle your way to the top of the Spire!” Based on word of mouth and screenshots, I had originally assumed StS‘s roguelike structure would simply entail going from one semi-random battle directly to another, with opportunities to heal/upgrade/etc at metered intervals between matches - but unlike more minimal deckbuilders I’ve played on mobile, such as Meteorfall: Journey and Night of the Full Moon, here you get to genuinely chart your own course through each level’s semi-randomized map, deciding which encounter types to seek out and which to avoid. “I am once again asking for your financial support.” So an alternative way to look at the game’s widely recognized status as an exemplar of the genre is that it set the template on which most other roguelike deckbuilders have been based - including both its many shining attributes, and its sometimes frustrating flaws. It also just so happens that five years ago is, you guessed it, when Slay the Spire was released. This perfect marriage of genres has led to a rapid proliferation of variants on mobile, console, and PC alike. ![]() Over the course of at least the last five years, self-contained “deckbuilder” games - usually digital-first or digital-only card games focused on collecting and upgrading a new, different combination of cards over the course of each play session - have, organically, almost all evolved into roguelikes. ![]() And while there are plenty of games that apply the roguelike formula to all kinds of overlapping genres - from the fast-paced hack-and-slash / bullet hell / action-RPG genre pastiche of 2020’s universally accoladed Hades, to the methodical, tactical, every-decision-counts turn-based gameplay of old-school titles like the one that gave the genre its name - as you might imagine, this approach meshes extremely well with card-based gameplay. Pretty much all of this should sound familiar to players of more traditional collectible card games like Magic, where millions have long been acquainted with the intoxicating potential of limitless possibility within a reassuring range of constraints. This perpetual tightrope walk between familiarity and novelty can, and often does, offer near-limitless replay value as you strive over and over and over and over to either get farther than you’ve ever gotten before, or to get to the end of a game’s (or game mode’s) predetermined number of levels with a climactic finish. On the odd chance that there are still any gaming enthsuiasts out there who remain unfamiliar with the sometimes contentiously specific “roguelike” premise, suffice to say the term has become a catch-all for games where you grind your way through randomized or semi-randomized dungeons or levels, each time encountering a cyclical variety of threats and rewards drawn from upward-scaling pools, resulting in highly varied and excitingly unpredictable scenarios and character builds. Of the games I’ve played of this kind, SLAY THE SPIRE is by far the deepest, at times feeling like a nascent but full-fledged CCG - though it isn’t safe from the typical pitfalls of its increasingly common genre hybrid. Deckbuilder games seem to have collectively realized, at some point over the years since I first played Ascension on my phone, that they’re at their true potential in a roguelike format. ![]()
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