4/5 ★ – Kalle_Deimos's review of Slay the Spire.

TLDR: Hang on, is this Peglin? Gameplay: After the rouge-like boom of the mid to late 2010's, I have been hesitant to try a new rouge-like unless it's extremely appealing to me. I purchased Slay the Spire on PC a long time ago but never played it. I got it on sale on Switch however and this was a genius move. Slay the Spire is a great game for long trips, lunch breaks and just for something to do while listening to something else. Slay the Spire is also a card battler which is another thing I was hesitant about but you know what, I was wrong and this game is fun as hell. It's your basic rouge-like card game in essence, synergize your deck to the best of your ability. Fights are strategic and you need to be constantly thinking about your long game, because your chances to recuperate are small. Slay the Spire also prioritizes quality over quantity, having only 4 playable characters each with a totally unique deck, playstyle and unlockables. However there is also a limited amount of enemies and events, and by the time I reached about 20-ish hours I feel like I have seen almost everything. This isn't necessarily a bad thing for everyone but I could have done with maybe a bit more things to see to make runs more unique. Getting a great deck is extremely satisfying and it can be addicting to pull off your grand strategy, however by the nature of the game the game will rarely tell you go fuck yourself and hard counter you spectacularly. Even if you are able to slip by a hard counter to your build there is always a chance you will draw 0 block cards when the enemy is about to do 12x6 damage, and that is so soulcrushing. But that's the name of the game. Don't want that to happen? Build a better deck. I'm not able to do that but I'm sure most of you can. Story: There's a narrative here somewhere I think but it is so far on the backburner that it's not even relevant. Graphics: The graphics are a bit hit or miss. It's a style you may have to grow a taste for but it's definetely a pleasing looking game, unique at the very least. The art of the cards is very colorful and iconic, as you'll be able to pick from them just from a glance. Most sprites are 2D art that generally don't move but some enemies seem to be 3D models? That's pretty cool. But some enemies look pretty jank and have some stiff animations, like the muggers. Sound: It's like one song throughout most of the game. It's a good song but there's not a lot of catchy tunes to pick from. Lowkey kind of generic but that's the worst I can say about it. Extra: There's a decent amount of unlocks all stemming from character XP from playing each character. I actually like this a lot because many rouge-likes have items locked behind absurd challenges or secret combinations that require absurd luck and that is simply not the case. As far as I know there is nothing to unlock during the runs themselves so there is no stress in them besides "survive til the end". Favorite Thing: Fat Goblin Not My Favorite Thing: I have to kill Fat Goblin :(