Slay the Spire is one of the newer games that’s been released. Its reviews are overwhelmingly positive on Steam, and it’s only been launched from early access in
Loosely following the rest of our reviews, I will refer to its storyline, gameplay, visuals and finally, my personal thoughts. I will also give a personal rating in the end. And without further ado:
Table of Contents
Storyline
There’s nothing notable about its storyline, For the most part, there is no storyline, and only if you beat the final secret boss, you will get an “ending”. Other than that, the main premise is that you are a character that tries to scale a tower called the “Spire” and it’s full of enemies and weird creatures.
There exists a sliver of lore through events, mostly, but it’s one of those games with a mystery behind it.
Gameplay
The gameplay is where the game truly shines. Having bought the game since early access, it is easy to see why the game has overwhelmingly positive reviews. The game has elements of deckbuilding, roguelikes, and dungeon-crawling.
The premise is that you have a character with his basic starter deck, and by climbing the Spire and facing various challenges, you improve upon your original deck.
There are three characters, each with a different starting deck, relic (relics are powerful trinkets with passive effects), and card options for your run. That not only makes each character have different gameplay from the other, it also makes each run vastly different.
When you start out, you pick a bonus offered at the start. Afterward, you are presented with a map and different possible paths (some of which cross with each other).
Every path has a different combination of the game’s predetermined floor types; an enemy, an elite enemy, a rest site, a shop, and an event. The game has 3 Acts in total (and a secret fourth Act, if you complete its requirements that is), and every Act has 15 floors.
In the middle of every Act, there is a treasure. At the end of each Act, there is a random boss from the pool of each Act’s specific bosses.
An enemy floor is marked by a monster face and is a simple fight. It rewards you with gold (the game’s currency) and a choice of 1 out of 3 random character-specific cards.
An elite enemy floor is marked by a horned monster, and it’s like a regular enemy floor except it’s much harder, but rewards you with more gold and a free random trinket.
A rest site is marked by a campfire. You have the choice of healing 30% of your Max HP, or upgrading a card from your deck, thus making it stronger.
A shop is marked by a loot bag. Here you can buy a card from the ones offered (there are also two random white cards; cards that can be used by any character), or remove a card from your deck. You can also buy exclusive shop trinkets.
Finally, an event floor is marked by a question mark. Here, a random event takes place, and (usually) presents you with options. Some events can be extremely helpful, others can be very hindering, but most just give you options between very good effect for the cost a very bad one versus a decent effect with no cost. The event floors are what make this game truly unique, as they give the game a D&D kind of vibe.
A treasure floor gives you a free trinket. Finally, the boss is a very hard enemy with its own set behavior and rewards you with 100 gold, a choice between 3 rare cards, and a choice between 3 random boss trinkets.
The game utilizes energy. Each character begins with 3 energy. Every card has an energy cost, so hand managing is crucial to success. Every time you lose or finish the game, you have to start over again. That is not bad, however, as mentioned already, every run will be completely different from the last.
The game was being updated with new enemies, acts, trinkets, etc every week while in early access, but since release, the developers reduced the frequency of updates.
Finally, SFX. There are also decent sound effects. To be honest, the developers put in a lot of thought and effort in the VFX and SFX departments, even though they are not the main selling point here.
[adinserter block=”1″]
Visuals
The graphics are nothing spectacular to look at, but that does not mean they are bad. For starters, the game is 2D, and there is nothing too complicated. Every character is polished, and every enemy is as well. There are also some mini animations for some of the cards. The graphics should suit you unless you only like AAA games.
Personal Thoughts
I really have enjoyed the game, and I even got it at a lower price than its current one, as I bought it during its early access phase. I am very happy with the purchase, I play it to this day.
The game is definitely worth it and will keep you hooked despite not having an actual story, and that’s coming from a guy who prioritizes the story. It’s definitely a game to consider, especially if you have a low budget PC or Laptop.
The developers are planning to add more content to the game soon, so in the end, there really is no reason not to buy this game (unless as stated, you only like AAA games).
Final Verdict
Storyline: 4.0
Gameplay: 9.5
Graphics: 6.5
General Rating: 6.7
That’s it for my review. I hope you enjoyed it. If you have anything to add or any question, feel free to ask me in the comments, and I will answer as soon as I can. Also feel free to disagree, again with a comment. Until next time.
You can support us and get notified when we post a new article by following us on Twitter, liking our Facebook Page and sharing our articles.
Follow @GamerWelfareThe images I used are from the following sites: