Slay the Spire vs Dicey Dungeons – The Definitive Comparison

It may seem that comparing the 2 yields an obvious winner but that is simply not true. Slay the Spire and Dicey Dungeons have both their merits and their flaws.

Let’s see what the games offer and (hopefully) help you make a decision. This comparison will compare the games in their storyline, gameplay, and visuals. I will also have a personal thoughts section to round up my thoughts. Without further ado:

Storyline

Slay the Spire tries to keep its storyline mysterious and convoluted. It gives you lore bits through its character introductions, random events, and endings.

Generally, the story is about 4 characters that want to ascend a corrupted Spire, each with their own reasons. That’s most of what you can get, the rest are up to you to determine.

Dicey Dungeons is about a few people joining a game show called Dicey Dungeons. The host of the show, Lady Luck, turns them into big anthropomorphic dice and leaves them to play.

The players soon realize that the game is rigged and they are trapped, so they try their best to escape.

There is no clear advantage in either game in the storyline department as both the mysterious background and general moodiness or Slay the Spire and the looming threat and hopelessness of Dicey Dungeons are things that help the player feel the right mood when playing.

Gameplay

Slay the Spire is a deck-building purity. The game actually brought the genre to relevance!

You begin the game with a basic deck, and as you move on, you get more cards and various trinkets to help you improve your chances of winning. Each character has different decks and cards to choose from.

You have a map, and you have to choose a path. Paths can have enemies, elites (harder fights with more rewards), random events (dnd like events that may give you an advantage or disadvantage), fireplaces that heal you or upgrade a card, shops, and one chest in the middle if every path that gives a free trinket.

Being a deck builder, the size of your deck is really important and you never know what you’ll draw. You can also remove and upgrade cards and generally, the game has lots of decision-making. That’s the gist of it.

Dicey Dungeons is considered a deck builder as you have to build a “deck” with various equipment you find. That deck can be used with dice. Every turn, you roll a number of dice depending on your level. You can use these dice on your equipment for various effects.

For example, a piece of equipment can have a requirement of 1-3 die roll and deals double the damage of the die you put.

You have a map to explore and various enemies to fight. The enemies have the same mechanics as you with the difference being that every enemy has the same equipment every time.

The map also has chests with equipment and shops with more equipment. You can also find upgrade anvils or copy scrolls to either upgrade something or copy it respectively.

Of course, there is a limit to how much equipment you can use. You have space for at most 6 equipment and many equipment are double-sized, taking two spaces instead of one.

I suggest beating all enemies as you get more dice as you level and you heal to full. You have to beat all enemies to reach the max level before the boss fight.

Each character is his own class with different abilities and some unique equipment and mechanics.

Comparing the two games you will see that Slay the Spire is much more convoluted, with lots more decision-making to do. Dicey Dungeons is easier and more pleasant to pick up and much more casual.

It’s all about whether you want something more casual or harder and more skill-based.

Visuals

The Visuals in Slay the Spire are pretty good. They set the mood perfectly and are not distracting.

Dicey Dungeons is more cartoony, which is good, as the game is about anthropomorphic dice after all. The game is more colorful which adds to the casual experience I mentioned.

Final Thoughts

The games have similar playstyles and patterns but, as I mentioned, there are some distinct differences.

It all comes down to what kind of experience you want.

Slay the Spire is more high skill cap, with more decision making, and generally is much more intense.

Dicey Dungeons is moe chill, casual, and much more accessible.

Both could be good of course but if you have to choose one, take a look at your preferences and pick. You’re not going wrong either way!

That’s it for my comparison. Have you played both games? If so, which do you prefer? You can tell me your opinions below.

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