Remarks and Comments on Slay the Spire - a review of the Nintendo Switch port of the game
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I am a fan of games that are difficult for all the good reasons. Games that make you make choices that have downsides are very simple to understand and very simple to play. The mere act of showing the player two options, and what each of those entails is a never ending cycle of coming to a fork in the road where you have some information about the skill you’re about to gain, but no understanding of what subsequent choices will be available to you.
This is what Slay The Spire does so very well. It is a card game where you are roaming through a multi layered, multi-pathed sequence of dungeons over three acts, where with each successful combat, you obtain a new skill (represented as a card) to add to your deck.
Inevitably, you die. If you reach the very end of the game, well, you do not exactly die, but you come back to fight, armed only with a small boon, to do it all over again.
You can do this with four different classes, which you unlock following success with each of the prior classes. As you go, you can also unlock other game modes as well. It is all very addicting, owing to the first paragraph I wrote above.
By making a chain of choices where the option you don’t select is made very available (and very obviously presented) you are constantly making selections with the hopes that you can create a set of skills for a particular run that will have some sort of synergy to allow you to succeed.
With each class, and with each run, you tend to find favourites along the way, and try to recreate these on subsequent runs, when in truth, success in Slay the Spire looks like taking stock of what it is is put in front of you, and making the best of it, instead of attempting to railroad yourself into something that you tried before and like a lot.
This constant experimentation and playfulness gives you new ways to approach familiar situations and foes, but even these encounters are made very different by the fact that as things change in your build, other creatures that would not normally pose a threat, suddenly do.
Even after playing Slay the Spire for over thirty hours I am still finding new ways to die, and new ways to destroy myself and my perfect builds, because they’re totally unbalanced against a certain set of foes, or, alternatively; the game leads you into a false sense of security, and you choose to take more risks that lead to your death.
It is fun. It is a rogue like. It is addicting. It is something that does not require every single element of your attention, and it definitely has the notion of “just one more turn”, just like Civilization does.
That is a very good thing. The best part about having this game on the Switch is the pick up and put down element of it. I’ve played it while working out on an exercise bike. I’ve played it on a plane. I’ve played it in bed, and dropped the switch on my face at the point of fatigue. It is a game that has made me angry at myself because I can’t stay awake longer to play it even more.
As a result, if you have a penchant for becoming addicted to rogue likes, card games, and of course video games, avoid Slay the Spire. If you like getting games that leech away your every waking hour and every spare moment, then please go get Slay the Spire on whatever platform you can get your hands on it from.
You will not be disappointed for a single moment, except for when your carefully created character perishes and is no more.
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