A roguelike in which you fight your way to the top of the titular Spire, using a variety of cards from a deck you assemble along the way.

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Each run, the game will generate a random room layout, letting you choose your desired path through different encounter types towards a boss. Most of these rooms will see you battle different enemies with a variety of abilities using your card deck. These fights are turn-based, with each turn seeing you draw a set number of cards, which can then be played in exchange for energy, which refills between turns. Most cards either deal damage to one or more enemies or apply block to yourself, preventing your character from taking damage. They may also inflict different status effects, set up combos or provide you additional options, like increased card draw. After each turn, all remaining enemies take an action, basically any combination of attacking, blocking and applying statuses, which is foreshadowed during your turn, letting you act accordingly.

Fights along with some other room types reward you with new cards, currency as well as consumable items. Other rooms allow you to upgrade cards, remove cards from your deck or rest to regain health. You’ll also stumble upon different relics, which give your character a variety of small yet noticeable and distinct bonuses. Cards, relics and consumables can additionally be bought in stores along the way. For some more variety, there are also event rooms, which present you with a short text prompt and task you with either choosing one of a couple of options or playing a minigame, with either option granting you various rewards. The way all of this is set up strikes a nice balance between allowing you to freely build up your character and simultaneously keeping things interesting through fair-feeling randomness.

Slay the Spire sees you play as one of four characters, each having a different set of cards available to them and utilizing different mechanics through said cards. Each run starts you of with a small deck of basic cards, from which you can build towards a few different archetypes. The Spire is split into three distinct segments, referred to as acts, which become more and more challenging as you progress through them. Each act features unique enemies, events as well as bosses and tests different strengths and weaknesses of your deck, forcing you to adjust your strategy as the run goes on.

Beyond the regular roguelike loop, Slay the Spire also features an ascension system, giving you 20 levels of challenge modifiers. Beating the game for the first time will unlock ascension level one, with subsequent ones being unlocked as you complete a run on the previous ascension level. This very much raises the game’s difficulty, with the highest ascensions requiring a lot of strategic thought to beat consistently. There’s also a daily challenge mode, tasking you with completing a run with a unique ruleset in order to enter a leader board. The challenges available in these two modes can also freely be combined in custom runs, granting you even more variety in the way you play Slay the Spire. Additionally, Steam Workshop support allows you to easily install a plethora of mods, granting you custom characters, items, events and more.

Slay the Spire is set in a rather interesting universe, which is explored through a couple of small bits of narrative placed predominantly in events and relic descriptions. These certainly managed to peak my interest, but sadly aren’t nearly expansive enough to properly explain the world, its characters or even just the titular Spire. However, the setting gives decent enough context to the gameplay and is portrayed well through the game’s art style, animations and the fantastic soundtrack.

Slay the Spire manages to strike a good balance of randomness and strategy, with luck ever-present due to the nature of draw-based card games alone, yet seldomly overbearing to the point of feeling unfair. Given the time required to finish a run is about half an hour to an hour at most, losses also hold little weight. In spite of the short completion time, each run tends to feel like a proper journey, with your characters power level noticeably rising as you ascend the Spire. A good amount of variation in individual runs as well as the challenges available to you keeps things from feeling stale and make the game very much addictive.

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Overall, I can’t recommend Slay the Spire warmly enough. Do yourself a favour and try it out; it’s the perfect time killer.

A roguelike in which you fight your way to the top of the titular Spire, using a variety of cards from a deck you assemble along the way. [hr][/hr] Each run, the game will generate a random room layout, letting you choose your desired path through different encounter types towards a boss. Most of these rooms will see you battle different enemies with a variety of abilities using your card deck. These fights are turn-based, with each turn seeing you draw a set number of cards, which can then be played in exchange for energy, which refills between turns. Most cards either deal damage to one or more enemies or apply block to yourself, preventing your character from taking damage. They may also inflict different status effects, set up combos or provide you additional options, like increased card draw. After each turn, all remaining enemies take an action, basically any combination of attacking, blocking and applying statuses, which is foreshadowed during your turn, letting you act accordingly. Fights along with some other room types reward you with new cards, currency as well as consumable items. Other rooms allow you to upgrade cards, remove cards from your deck or rest to regain health. You’ll also stumble upon different relics, which give your character a variety of small yet noticeable and distinct bonuses. Cards, relics and consumables can additionally be bought in stores along the way. For some more variety, there are also event rooms, which present you with a short text prompt and task you with either choosing one of a couple of options or playing a minigame, with either option granting you various rewards. The way all of this is set up strikes a nice balance between allowing you to freely build up your character and simultaneously keeping things interesting through fair-feeling randomness. Slay the Spire sees you play as one of four characters, each having a different set of cards available to them and utilizing different mechanics through said cards. Each run starts you of with a small deck of basic cards, from which you can build towards a few different archetypes. The Spire is split into three distinct segments, referred to as acts, which become more and more challenging as you progress through them. Each act features unique enemies, events as well as bosses and tests different strengths and weaknesses of your deck, forcing you to adjust your strategy as the run goes on. Beyond the regular roguelike loop, Slay the Spire also features an ascension system, giving you 20 levels of challenge modifiers. Beating the game for the first time will unlock ascension level one, with subsequent ones being unlocked as you complete a run on the previous ascension level. This very much raises the game’s difficulty, with the highest ascensions requiring a lot of strategic thought to beat consistently. There’s also a daily challenge mode, tasking you with completing a run with a unique ruleset in order to enter a leader board. The challenges available in these two modes can also freely be combined in custom runs, granting you even more variety in the way you play Slay the Spire. Additionally, Steam Workshop support allows you to easily install a plethora of mods, granting you custom characters, items, events and more. Slay the Spire is set in a rather interesting universe, which is explored through a couple of small bits of narrative placed predominantly in events and relic descriptions. These certainly managed to peak my interest, but sadly aren’t nearly expansive enough to properly explain the world, its characters or even just the titular Spire. However, the setting gives decent enough context to the gameplay and is portrayed well through the game’s art style, animations and the fantastic soundtrack. Slay the Spire manages to strike a good balance of randomness and strategy, with luck ever-present due to the nature of draw-based card games alone, yet seldomly overbearing to the point of feeling unfair. Given the time required to finish a run is about half an hour to an hour at most, losses also hold little weight. In spite of the short completion time, each run tends to feel like a proper journey, with your characters power level noticeably rising as you ascend the Spire. A good amount of variation in individual runs as well as the challenges available to you keeps things from feeling stale and make the game very much addictive. [hr][/hr] Overall, I can’t recommend Slay the Spire warmly enough. Do yourself a favour and try it out; it’s the perfect time killer.