Slay The Spire

[Duck]

As i kinda explained in the new purchases thread this is rogue-like RPG dungeon crawl/deck builder mash up that is currently in early access. (it's about 12 quid)

 

When start the game you choose from 1 of 3 characters all of which have different perks and attributes, then another perk/gift much like in rogue-likes/Dark Souls/Hearthstone etc. 

 

Your aim is to get to the end of the game without dying as it's perma-death. Game over. I think there currently 3 Acts at the moment and in each map you're given a map and have to chose one of 4 starting points at the bottom, with the boss at the top finishing the act. Once you've chosen you get to pick the next step to move along that path... like this..

 

- Unknown is Unknown  . It's a story event. I could end well (with a new passive perk or something) or badly. 

- Merchant is a shop where you can buy new cards or items. He usually has some sales too. 

- Treasure is a treasure chest

- Rest you have the option to gain some of your heal back or upgrade a card. 

- Enemy is a enemy.  

- Elite is like a mini boss.

 

You see this map even before you set off so you can plan a bit. Do i go after that treasure or have a rest on the other path?.. etc  Risk/reward, it's cool. 

 

Ok, now the turn-based combat. It's all card/item based. Looks like this..

 

Like Hearthstone/most card based board games, at the start of each turn the player has a certain about points that they can spend to lay cards. This can be modified with other cards/relics as you progress tho.

 

And like Dominion/rogue likes you start off with very basic cards but after every fight you get to choose 1 of 3 cards to add to your 'deck'. So as you are progress and building your deck, your character is getting better. Enemies/bosses drop loot like money which can be spend at the shop or relics which give you a passive ability. 

 

Once you've spent you're points, you end the turn and the remaining cards are put into the discard pile. When your draw pile is empty, the discard pile is shuffled and you start again. That's it basically. 

 

It's simple but fuck, it's reeeally good. It merges the deck building with the rogue like stuff really nicely. I wish every turn-based RPG had the same combat/deck building loop this has. 

 

It's much more approachable and pick up and play than any card-based video game i've played too. Even more so than Hearthstone. But it still does a lot of the things i like about deck builders. 

 

So, yeah if you've ever thought of giving a card game a go but were scared off how impenetrable they can be. Then this maybe the gateway drug. Very addictive. Great game, still in early access too so it should only get better.  

 

[Duck]

I've been playing this everyday since i got it. 

 

I'm really impressed with the cards. Once you've got a few new cards, you can start to spec your character almost like an RPG. But what i found is a lot of the 'better' cards you pick tend to synergise with your build for example one run i was getting lots of poison based cards so i spec'd towards that. Poison does low first damage but does damage over turns and it stacks, so you can fuck them up pretty quickly but you have to 'wait' a couple turns for them to bleed out. Defence is just as important as attack in this (once your health gone that's usually it) so i needed to tank a little, i didn't really have enough defensive cards and i needed to save my points to play my poisonous cards.

 

Luckily i got a 2 cards that helped. The first card let me copy any card in my hand for no point deduction at all so i was able to copy a high defence card and then i had a card that used all my points for that turn and didn't let you draw any new cards but made everything in your hand cost zero so i could play all my defensive cards too so i could tank. It's really fun trying to think up tactics like that every time you do a run.

 

I also had a interesting think happen in one of the question mark events yesterday too. I met a group of vampires and they asked if i would like to join. If you joined you get a 30% permanent reduction to you health BUT you also get 5 'bite' cards for your deck. The bite cards do 7 damage but also give 2HP every time you use one too. I think you get a damage buff if you use more than 1 bite card too. But HP is very hard to find but i seriously considered doing it. I guess it would be a cunt and risky to rely on the bite cards if your deck is too big. But it's cool things like that happen, i hope there's more stuff like that. 

 

So yeah, the more i playing the better i think it is. 

 

 

 

 

[Duck]

I noticed this has exploded a bit on Twitch. I have no idea why though as i think it'll be pretty boring to watch. But they've added an ancension mode which makes every play though get harder which is quite nice.  

[Duck]

This is the weekend deal on Steam this weekend (for about 7 quid)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/646570/Slay_the_Spire/

 

I can't recommend this game enough. Even if you don't like card games. It's simple to play but very deep. 

It also gets updated with new stuff every week too which is great. 

 

Dooo it!

 

[Whiskey_chaser]

Awesome, now I have a laptop winging it's way to me I'll be able to play it! 

[Whiskey_chaser]

Played this for a few hours last night and it's amazing. Not much more I can add to what Duck has already said but it's well worth a look. It's a rogue like deck-builder that allows some crazy card combinations. Can see myself sinking a considerable amount of time into this.

[Duck]

It is amazing. 

 

I think the card/deck building stuff might be scaring some people away but it's no more complicated than a basic turn based RPG. But instead of picking actions, it's cards. 

 

The basic loop can be understood in about 30 seconds. 

 

 

[Whiskey_chaser]

I think I got lucky as I beat it second game, got a card cloning anger loop which meant I did ridiculous damage each turn and ploughed through it. Haven't even come close since.

[Duck]

@ChimayWTF!? How did you do that? The anger stuff only multiplies if you play it, right? How many of them cards did you have? ?

 

Have you tried all the characters? Who do like best?

[Whiskey_chaser]

I had an upgraded card that let me duplicate a card in my hand twice and then another that let me put a card fromy discard back in my hand, so id clone, do double anger at zero each then pull the clone back and hope I had another few anger cards come out. 

 

I tried the second character out tonight, plays a lot different. Not sure which I prefer yet. 

[Craymen Edge]

15 hours ago, Duck said:

 

I think the card/deck building stuff might be scaring some people away but it's no more complicated than a basic turn based RPG. But instead of picking actions, it's cards. 

 

 

For me, it's the presence of the two currently most-used and off-putting terms in gaming: "rogue-like" and "early access".

[Whiskey_chaser]

3 hours ago, Craymen Edge said:

 

For me, it's the presence of the two currently most-used and off-putting terms in gaming: "rogue-like" and "early access".

 

In terms of early access, i've had no issues with the six - seven hours i've played. I'm not a massive fan of rogue likes either but this doesn't seem quite so bad, might be because it plays more like a single player tabletop game. It seems to throw in enough unlocks to keep things interesting each time and the random distribution of artifacts (objects that cumulatively give a buff) means each game has played pretty differently so far.

 

I just had a pretty good game on the daily challenge, where I started with five cards that let me play a card from my exhausted pile (can't be played again). Coupled with some powers that meant all skills were free, they just got exhausted and a few cards which meant I did damage every time I blocked and got 3 block each time I exhausted a card, meant I could sometimes cycle four block cards for free, hitting for 25 damage a time as well as getting 3 block every time a card was exhausted. 

 

Makes more sense in action ?

[Duck]

11 hours ago, Craymen Edge said:

 

For me, it's the presence of the two currently most-used and off-putting terms in gaming: "rogue-like" and "early access".

Well, that too. ?

 

But I think Slay must be nearing completion. I think it's been updated every week since launch but must of the recent updates have been quallity of life stuff, balances or a few new events/enemies. I'm guessing it will be "out" end of the year time.  

 

It's actually been quiet nice following the game getting made because it's updated so regularly.

 

 

[Whiskey_chaser]

I'm completely addicted to this. I think the term 'rogue-like' is a bit of a loose term, yeah, you die at the end and go back to the start, but each run through can be beat in around fifty minutes so it never feels punishing. Learning to build around the early cards and relics you get makes it a pretty different experience each time as well.

 

I've still only beaten it once (more luck than judgement) but have come very close - it's amazingly well designed in that no matter how good your build is, there's an enemy that'll exploit it's weakness hiding somewhere. I had a great run through with the Defect, with a dark power build that could generate up to nine orb slots all with dark cycling through and building up. Got cocky with an elite fight and lost.

By far the best game i've played this year.

[Whiskey_chaser]

So, after repeatedly failing with the Defect, I decided to give Ascension mode a try with Ironclad, beat it first attempt

[Whiskey_chaser]

I'm now up to 62 hours in this game, though it seems to be incredibly punishing recently. I've had about ten games with the defect, where i've managed to get a solid deck together only for the game to throw in a few fights in a row that completely smash open it's weaknesses.

[Whiskey_chaser]

The final act has now been release in one of the games final pre-release patches.

 

I'm now up to 82 hours on this. GOTY for me.

[Whiskey_chaser]

Someone beat this in just over 5 mins...
 

 

[Whiskey_chaser]

Still hammering away at this. Just beat the 'final' boss for the first time, with a Silent build on ascension level five. I'm at ascension seven with Ironclad and five with the construct. Looks like I have to beat the final with those two now.

145 hours in. 

[Whiskey_chaser]

Meant to add this yesterday, but StS now has mod support:

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2019/01/04/slay-the-spire-mods/