I pretty much knew after five minutes of watching Slay the Spire gameplay that I was going to love it.
Slay the Spire is a roguelike strategy card game from developer Megacrit and, despite currently being in early access, it’s already absolutely brilliant. I’ve spent around six hours with the game so far and there’s no chance the addiction is going to stop there.
In Slay the Spire you’re able to choose between two different characters (with one more to come with release of the full game). Each has a completely different set of cards and stats to play with. The Ironclad character, for example, starts with 10 higher overall health than The Silent character. They both have their own unique card decks as well as starting relics, which are items that give characters certain abilities. For instance, the Ironclad’s “Burning Blood” relic allows the character to heal six hit points at the end of combat.
Much like a dungeon run, the further you get in Slay the Spire, the closer you get to the boss, but every step of the way you’ll come across enemies, treasures, and random encounters that can help or hurt you. You’ll need to do quite a lot of strategising to reach the boss in order to make it there in one piece with enough strength to kill it. The only way to do this is by slowly building up your card deck, buying new gear, and upgrading your character. Be especially careful when making your choices because if you die at all during your dungeon run, you must start completely over at the beginning of the first dungeon.
As of right now Slay the Spire features over 200 unique cards, over 50 combat encounters, over 100 items to be found, procedurally-generated levels, and tonnes of unlockable items to enjoy. It’s available now on Steam via Early Access, and if you’re a fan of strategy card games, I heartily recommend you give it a go. Look forward to its full release soon!
