We are back with another review of a game. This time is one that I acquired after getting a Steam Gift Card as my Christmas Gift, Slay the Spire.
It is another roguelike game. In this particular case, it is a deckbuilding game with elements RPG. The premise is easy. You are climbing a tower called The Spire. You have 4 classes of characters to choose from and you need to defeat enemies, go through special events, collect relics and cards in order to get more powerful. You also need to be very wary of your choices. All of them will impact your progress and how far you climb.
The game has a simple aesthetic design. It is not the most beautiful game, but it delivers hours of gameplay. Each character has its own strengths, weaknesses and complexity layers. Some of the relics offer buffs; others, both buffs and debuffs.
I was stuck on trying to use the Ironclad character, the first playable character available in the start of the game and could never finish. It takes a lot of time to understand which cards are good, what relics work with your build and when to skip a reward. All of these factors are only learned through experience. That is the gist of the game. It was not only when I changed the character to The Silent, the assassin, that I was able to beat the game. But it still took me several runs.
The game is designed to die a lot of times before getting completion. It is a normal element of roguelikes. However, your progress unlocks rewards like more relics available, more powerful cards and some other secret stuff.
I have already played for more than 20 hours and still try to complete a run with the Ironclad. And there are more characters available with other kinds of abilities and I intend to go over the Spire with each one of them at least one time.
This brings me back to its replay factor. Every run is randomized. So your relics, cards and everything changes according to a RNG. There is something extra called Ascension. It is a game mode unlocked after beating the game. You have to complete the game 20 extra times to get the true ending. And this mode offers some extra difficulties according to the level of Ascension. For example, elite enemies spawn more frequently. That is a wonderful thing to spend hours an hours going on playing.
The best thing about the runs besides having a starting choice is that you get a map of the floors of the Spire when you start. You can select your path and see how it forks into other directions to choose the best one for you. Or is it? The game is kind of addictive and that is a good thing.
I give this a solid 8/10 for game with such simple graphics to have a complexity of gameplay that makes it so entertaining is an amazing thing! If you like card games and RPG, this mix of both games is actually a quite nice option to try out!
Photos 📷: Redmi Note 13
Thumbnail 🖼️: Canva.
Editing 🎬: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.
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