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Hello ladies, gentlemen and those of a non-binary nature, my name is Daibhi and this is the Gamerhub. Slay The Spire is a game that has entered my own personal videogame hall of fame, and has won countless awards, but after our review of Nif Nif, it struck us at the Hub that I haven’t got a review of it on this site. So, as you’ve seen me reference this game in multiple reviews, and everyone keeps asking about it, I’ll hopefully convince you that you should get it. Is it good? Is it great? Do I have it on every gaming platform I own capable of playing it? All will be revealed.

Slay The Spire is a roguelike deckbuilding game developed by MegaCrit and published by Humble Bundle. We first got a look at this game in 2017 on PC, before it launched on Xbox One and PS4 in 2019. Finally in 2021, we got it on mobile phones and it’s taken the gaming world by storm. It has a unique blend of strategic card play, brutal challenges, a steep difficulty curve and randomized dungeon crawling. Simply put, this game is to Roguelike Deckbuilding games what Red Dead Redemption 2 is to Cowboy games.

Gameplay

At the heart of it, Slay The Spire takes deck building mechanics seen in Tabletop games like Magic The Gathering and Pokémon TCG and combines it with both the roguelike structures of The Binding Of Isaac and the difficulty curves of games like Dark Souls. Players choose one of three characters (with a fourth unlockable character later on) and embark on a journey through a series of different levels called “acts” as they climb the titular spire. Each character has a different power and a different set of cards to help them beat the procedurally generated monsters on the way.

The knack to beating this game is to be careful in how you construct your deck, and choosing the right moments to improve your cards as you go through the run. At the start, the characters have a basic set of cards, and as you defeat an enemy, you add a card to that deck.

The key to success lies in how you construct your deck over the course of the run. At the start, each character has a basic deck of cards, and as you progress, you can earn new cards by defeating enemies or finding them in treasure chests. The challenge comes in carefully selecting cards that complement each other while balancing attack, defense, and utility options. Some runs may benefit from aggressive, offensive builds, while others may require a more tactical, defensive approach.

The randomness of the card and relic drops, as well as the events you encounter along the way keeps every run feeling fresh, and gives a lot of replayability to the game. However, the downside to this is that particularly in earlier runs, whether you do well or not is often down to sheer dumb luck. You can have all the potions, the best cards and orbs ready to evoke, but the events will throw a curveball into your run and ruin what was otherwise the best run you’ve had yet. Try to be prepared for that, as sometimes, Slay The Spire can be really, really frustrating. The game developers seemed to have been aware of this, however, and allowed you to add a card after each successful encounter to help here.

Visuals & Art Style

Slay The Spire’s visual style has been… controversial at best. Some people sit in the camp of “it’s not realistic enough”, and to that, I simply say “Bollocks”. Since when has a giant bloody monster, or a murderous softball ever been realistic? Do the people who say that live in an alternate reality? This game has a wonderful visual art style that often has me wasting a couple of minutes to appreciate hand-drawn art done to perfection. It’s just what you want in a game of this genre. It’s not perfunctory, it’s not basic, but it’s beautiful, nonetheless. The style focuses on visual clarity with an easy-to-read battlefield. There’s no Persona or Final Fantasy style complicated art to be found here.

Let’s start with the encounters. Slay The Spire has a multitude of monsters to beat, ranging from rats and thieves to a giant donut. No, I’m not pulling your proverbial leg here, one of the bosses is a giant donut. However, all the monsters have a simple, yet instantly recognisable silhouette that most people can get behind. The thieves, for example, wear bandanas, and the knight and mage present themselves as a knight from Arthurian Legend and what looks like a 19^th century British nurse. The graphics in Slay The Spire aren’t groundbreakingly realistic, but they don’t need to be. They fit the genre perfectly.

Sound & Music

There are plenty of games I’ve written about where the soundtrack has been great, but that’s simply a shift in the industry as we move on to consoles and tech capable of supporting better quality. Most games I review have soundtracks that are a feast for the ears, but forgettable afterwards. Slay The Spire is not one of those games. It has an ethereal orchestral soundtrack reminiscent of the music of Danny Elfman and John Williams. It uses the full orchestra to create an auditory soundtrack seldom heard in gaming, and it will stick in your head long after you put the game down.

Difficulty & Replayability

Slay The Spire is a game that can really be a test of your patience, as the difficulty curve is steep. I’m not going to peel the curtain back too much, but it’s a bit like learning how to play D&D for the first time. For the first few runs, you’ll get absolutely nowhere, but by turn 5, you’ll find yourself getting better and better at it. There’s a lot of strategy hidden beneath the surface of these games and I honestly really love it. Due to the design of this game, no two runs are ever the same, not matter how much you try. This randomness leads me to point out Slay The Spire’s greatest strength: replayability. There is reason I have this game on my smartphone, my Xbox consoles and on my Nintendo Switch. The reason is simple- this game is addictive as hell and I love it. Particularly the ascension modes.

“What are they”, I hear you ask? Well, questioner that is just an overblown metaphor, Ascension modes effectively let you add your own mods on to the game and let you take on a series of 20 challenges, with each one getting harder and harder. They come with their own rewards and Gamerscore, and some of them are infuriating, but it really is worth it. For the masochists among us (hello Gavin Divers) who like a real challenge called Endless. It does what it says on the tin, with each run survived adding a blight on your deck. Play as long as you want, but a word of caution from the game itself: “The blight consumes all in the end”.

Weaknesses

Despite Slay The Spire having a great many strengths, it isn’t perfect. It does feel unfair when the RNG (random number generation) reliance means you have to face three bosses in a row completely unprepared. Whilst strategy and skill are essential, there will be moments when you feel that lady luck is decidedly against you. This is particularly notable when you are on a very good run, only for you to be sniped at the penultimate hurdle.

Also, whilst I personally don’t get bored playing this game, the lack of a strong narrative has put many a gamer off. For some, the absence of a deep storyline makes players look for deeper, more immersive gaming experiences elsewhere. I feel sorry for them, because this genre clearly isn’t for them.

Conclusion

Slay The Spire is an absolute masterclass on how to make roguelike deckbuilders and how to do it properly. The gameplay set the standard for the genre and the artwork is sublime. The orchestral and ethereal soundtrack rings in your ears hours after the game ends. The strategy and replayability will keep you glued to your console for hours aft er the game has ended and this game is addictive as heck. Whilst the soundtrack, reliance on RNG and lack of depth create anger among some gamers, this game is my bag. The design of the game rewards careful planning and adaptability, and as someone who reviews videogames for a living, this game fits perfectly with my skills. It’s challenging, and yet deeply satisfying. Go get a copy.