How All Card Battler Games Came To Be Gold Standard With Slay The Spire

My contempt for the card battler genre was complete and totally uninformed until November 14, 2017. It’s fair to say that, despite my prior attempts at games like Blizzard’s Hearthstone and others, card battlers simply didn’t appeal to me. Over time, I also couldn’t figure out why I kept abandoning this apparently well-liked and well-liked genre. Fortunately, my ignorance would be shockingly dispelled on that day when independent group Mega Crit made Slay the Spire available on Steam Early Access, thereby upending my dislike for card battlers and providing me with the most surprise contender for Game of the Year ever.

Here’s how the original Slay the Spire rose to prominence in the card battler genre and what makes it stand out from the other games that followed, especially with Slay the Spire 2 now in development.

Above all, clarity

The clarity and conciseness of Slay the Spire’s content is often disregarded, despite its potent quality. Slay the Spire’s minimalist user interface (UI) is a breath of fresh air compared to many of its competitors in the card battler genre. Its refreshingly clutter-free screen, along with a stubbornly clean presentation and color-coded cards that indicate their purpose, allow newcomers get started right away. There’s little doubt that Slay the Spire’s understated and very efficient presentation would teach other card battlers a lot.

A Short, Sweet Gameplay Loop That Anybody Can Pick Up

What principally permits Slay the to Spire to succeed in embracing genre beginners is the stunningly streamlined and exciting gameplay loop that forms the heart of its experience. Slay the Spire is extremely straightforward to learn — you take turns playing cards against your foes, utilizing energy which is restored each time. The idea is to employ your suitably numbered cards until you whittle down their HP to zero by utilizing a combination of attack, protect, skill and power-based cards.

When you’re not fighting with enemies, you’ll be making your way up through the map that each act provides, collecting treasure chests, dealing with random multiple-choice, gamebook-style events and tackling toweringly tricky bosses – and it’s all devilishly easy to pick up and play at a moment’s notice. Slay the Spire is both an entrance to the card battler genre and also an offering that stands at its zenith.

Four Very Different Characters With Unique Mechanics

One of the major ways that Slay the Spire truly distinguishes itself from the competition is in how it gives you four distinct characters (most of them are unlocked – but we’ll get to that in a minute) that each vary up the moment to moment gameplay in a variety of unique ways.

The barbarian-like Ironclad has the greatest beginning health of any character and automatically accumulates six health points at the end of each combat, making him a highly ideal option for less-tenured players. Meanwhile, the poison-loving assassin, Silent, not only leverages damage over time poison cards but also obtains two additional cards at the outset of every combat. Veering into the more intricate region, the Defect is a strong automaton that may channel various elemental orbs which are activated at the conclusion of every round, strengthening its attacking or defensive powers substantially. Finally, the Watcher exploits distinct postures that enhance the defensive or attacking capabilities of specific cards. Put simply, there is something for everyone with Slay the Spire’s quartet of playable characters and the potential for mastery of each character for those willing to commit the time is significant, easily ranging into the high hundreds of hours and beyond.

You Always Make Progress, Which Is Fantastic

Beyond its very captivating gameplay loop, Slay the Spire keeps players interested by using its roguelike design DNA to ensure that you’re constantly making progress even when you lose. Slay the Spire divides progression into two sections: micro and macro. It allows you to customize your deck, acquire potions for use in individual battles, and find strong relics that can help you for the duration of your run. However, you forfeit all of your in-run loot if you die or defeat the final boss in the third or secret fourth act. Beyond this micro-progression per playthrough, Slay the Spire also features macro-progression. At the conclusion of each playthrough, you earn valuable experience points, even if you die. These points can then be used to unlock a wider range of new cards for each character, which are shuffled into each subsequent playthrough.
Slay the Spire also cleverly encourages you to play with every character, as the Ironclad is the first and only one you can access on your first playthrough. However, by trying to play with the Ironclad, you can unlock the Silent, which can then be unlocked by trying to play with the Defect, and so on. Slay the Spire is a very alluring card battler, made even more so by the advancement it offers, when combined with its simple UI and simple principles.

Raising the Bar on Risk and Reward

Throughout Slay the Spire’s four acts, you will progressively gather money, potions, and a plethora of relics. There are plenty of chances throughout each playing to risk your treasure in exchange for a chance at greater loot, often at the sacrifice of something else. For instance, when you defeat one of the numerous bosses in Slay the Spire, you’ll have a choice of three special relics. Depending on which one you select, you might be able to play fewer, more powerful cards with more energy points per turn, or you might be able to play more cards overall, but at the expense of not being able to upgrade your cards at the different camps scattered throughout each level. This then prompts you to really evaluate whether the advantages of that certain relic outweigh the drawbacks it presents.

There are other places in the Slay the Spire where this dedication to integrating risk and reward into the entire design is evident. You are presented with an overview of five or six possible routes to the boss battle at the outset of each act. You are free to choose the path you want to take initially, and you may even decide to modify it later on if you are comfortable taking on more risk. Notice a battle with an elite adversary that you would want to avoid so you can recover in the next camp? You can do that, but it will cost you the chance to defeat that formidable foe and get an exceptional relic that could ease future battles. Another excellent example of this is the ascension levels, which can only be unlocked by beating the game and meeting a number of requirements. This means that in addition to more difficult runs that present more difficult elite encounters, there may also be more opportunities to loot elite relics as a direct result.

Authentically Astute Boss and Enemy Encounters That Put You to the Test

Maybe The variety of boss confrontations that Slay the Spire requires the player to face at the conclusion of each act is one of the best examples of the game’s amazing design. These formidable foes in Slay the Spire are not your average card-battling tests; rather, they are cleverly designed enemies who disrupt the game’s gameplay cycle in a variety of unexpected ways. Consider the eerie-appearing Time Eater. A towering demonic monster, the fight first seems to be rather simple until they activate a mystical clock that gradually reduces the duration of each turn, putting pressure on you to move swiftly and think rapidly with the little time you have.


Another instance is three black slime creatures that provide an intriguing danger due in part to their connection via a “life link,” which causes them to come back to life as long as one of their allies is still alive. This means that instead of taking them down one at a time, you have to evenly distribute your damage output among the three to ensure that they all die at the same moment. The many bosses and opponents in Slay the Spire are a true delight and are undoubtedly one of the game’s main draws. They always help to encourage you to give it another go whenever you encounter one of them.