Slay the Spire

paulbaxter · Post by **paulbaxter** » Sat Jun 23, 2018 5:15 pm

Just bought this due to the buzz from Bill Harris and others. Really enjoyed it so far today. Neat version of a deck builder, not too complex up front (as in very easy to get started). Figured it's worth its own comment thread.

The general idea is that you have a deck of cards, and you ascend a tower of rooms fighting baddies with relatively short card battles. Lots of opportunities throughout to modify or upgrade your deck in various ways. I can see already that it could get complex going ahead, a bit like Hearthstone.

MonkeyFinger · Post by **MonkeyFinger** » Sat Jun 23, 2018 5:45 pm

I wasn't going to bite on another Early Access title but did for this one. Liking it so far, also liking the fact that I can easily play in short bursts.

Fishbelly · Post by **Fishbelly** » Sat Jun 23, 2018 6:12 pm

I played it pretty obsessively for a couple of weeks, and I still go back to it for a quick dip from time to time. I need to pay attention to indie titles more, because this one was a gem.

Baroquen · Post by **Baroquen** » Sat Jun 23, 2018 6:40 pm

I picked it up during the sale too. Lots of quick fun. Reminds me a lot of Monster Slayers, not that it's a bad thing. I wish there were different player profiles implemented though, because my son has unlocked half of the game so my 'progress' is sort of confusing.

Sudy · Post by **Sudy** » Sat Jun 23, 2018 9:53 pm

Fishbelly wrote: Sat Jun 23, 2018 6:12 pm I played it pretty obsessively for a couple of weeks, and I still go back to it for a quick dip from time to time.

Similar with me. I'm afraid I wore it out over a short period and haven't been back since the third class launched. I like deck builders and the daily challenge is a nice touch, but for me I'm afraid it actually doesn't really feel like it has massive replay value. Still completely worth the cost of admission, though.

Defiant · Post by **Defiant** » Sun Jun 24, 2018 11:19 am

I've enjoyed it a lot. Well worth getting if you like Deck Builders. Each game is about an hour long, but it takes a bunch of play throughs to win (as well as unlock all the cards). Also, it's got three different playing characters with their own very different decks.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Mon Jun 25, 2018 3:00 pm

I played through it once and then set it down. Give me some time to digest if I like it or not. Also, it's still in Beta, so it's also possible that it could shine more for me later.

I thought some of the dynamic was interesting. Build a new deck based on like something like 36 procedural generated choices with your clock essentially being a life counter that resets every 12 decisions or so but it wasn't enough to hold me. I'll let it do some cooking.

Archinerd · Post by **Archinerd** » Mon Jun 25, 2018 4:44 pm

Sorry LM, I've failed you.

Fretmute · Post by **Fretmute** » Mon Jun 25, 2018 4:48 pm

Defiant wrote: Sun Jun 24, 2018 11:19 am I've enjoyed it a lot. Well worth getting if you like Deck Builders. Each game is about an hour long, but it takes a bunch of play throughs to win (as well as unlock all the cards). Also, it's got three different playing characters with their own very different decks.

Have you enabled speed mode in the settings? It speeds things up drastically by reducing animation times. My games (the wins, at least ) are typically about 40 minutes.

I adore this game. The developer has been excellent with regard to listening to feature requests, and things like the recently added special modifier seeds have upped the replay value pretty significantly.

[edit] - LM: The only complaint I have (had, at this point) about this game is that it doesn't really shine until you've unlocked all of the cards and relics, and that, unfortunately, takes an awful lot of losing with weak decks.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Mon Jun 25, 2018 4:55 pm

It happens. I don't feel ripped off when I spend $10 on a game, play it for a chunk of an evening and then decide, meh. Especially if it's not not done yet. I just get different thrills than most, I guess.

Sudy · Post by **Sudy** » Mon Jun 25, 2018 5:31 pm

The new class is super-fun!

Fretmute · Post by **Fretmute** » Tue Jul 03, 2018 3:45 pm

I'm in the middle of a record breaking (for me) endless run with the Defect right now. I'm running a frost/claw deck, and I just finished the third play through. I haven't taken damage since floor 92. On the other hand, I'm pretty certain that the "you can't play more than 15 cards per turn" debuff is going to be the death of me. If it weren't for that, I could reliably play about 30 cards per turn.

[edit] - Sample turn:

[edit the second] - Died on floor 181 to a snake plant on the first turn. He was hitting for 21x3 and I only had 18 HP. My innate cards depended on Chills to give me turn one block, which is clearly weak against a single target, and I didn't manage to draw a Reinforced Body or an Apparition. Still though, I had an 85 card deck, and 100% of them were upgraded:

I understand that the _proper_ thing to do would be to curate some sort of super killer 13 card deck and just cycle the Hell out of it, but . . . I sees a card I likes, I grabs it.

[edit the third] - If I were to change something, I wouldn't have gotten the spoon (50% chance for exhaust cards to not exhaust) because that caused All for One to choke on Chills and the like instead of giving me a fist full of Claws.

Fretmute · Post by **Fretmute** » Wed Jul 04, 2018 11:32 pm

Finally beat the fourth run through on Endless. I get the feeling they don't want me to succeed any more:

Cortilian · Post by **Cortilian** » Wed Jul 11, 2018 6:54 pm

I like it. I stink at it but I like it. Made it to Act 3 once so far. Still have a couple of unlocks to go though. I really stink at deck planning.

Fretmute · Post by **Fretmute** » Wed Jul 11, 2018 11:22 pm

I kept notes on my current playthrough on endless. I went for a smorgasbord of modifiers: Draft, Endless, Inception, Heirloom, Time Dilation, Big Game Hunter. Inception/Heirloom/Time Dilation are all pure buffs. Big Game Hunter is mixed, in that it makes more elites spawn, but they all drop rare cards. As long as you can get a good deck rolling pretty quickly, it ends up being pure advantage as well. That said, the debuffs on endless start stacking pretty seriously after a couple of times through, so I don't feel too guilty about it. The draft (as the Defect) :

Spoiler:

With the Unceasing Top from Inception, a deck with a bunch of zero costs in it is super powerful early. I got lucky here and got quite a few Claws, but when this deck turns into what I want it to be, the only cards I'd keep around are Defragment and Capacitor. The goal is a fistful of upgraded Storms (power, innate, channel one lightning when you cast a power) and Electrodynamics (lightning hits all enemies) in a Tornado in a Bottle to make it innate. Eventually, every power I play hits every creature for 40 damage or more.

Run 1:

Spoiler:

Run 2:

Spoiler:

Run 3:

Spoiler:

As I enter Run 4, here are my stats:

Spoiler:

I'm more or less guaranteed to get do more than 100 damage to all creatures on turn 1. On the other hand, they're getting pretty strong now, so I'll need either more Storms or to make a Thunder Strike innate with a bottle soon if I want to beat bosses.

[edit] - The boss of run 4, turn 1:

Turn 2:

Turn 3:

It may not be immediately obvious, but I made a mistake and now have more innate cards than the maximum hand size, so there is a chance that Electrodynamics doesn't get drawn on turn 1 (unless I go through every other card). I need to get rid of a Machine Learning. Still, this deck is now capable of 1200+ damage on the first turn of a fight.

Now that I have a Du Vu Doll, this is turn one:

Cortilian · Post by **Cortilian** » Fri Jul 13, 2018 8:41 am

I finally did complete my 1st run through the spire. Was able to get a deck with Barricade, + armor relic and a couple of + strength items. One I had removed several card and had a pretty trimmed down deck it went pretty well.

Fun game.

Fretmute · Post by **Fretmute** » Sat Jul 14, 2018 1:01 am

My endless game has become bugged, somehow. The muzzle no longer works, so I can gain HP again, and the bosses are dropping relics instead of debuffs. I'm now on floor 357, with 535 HP and a deck of 133 cards, of which 75 are curses. I still haven't taken damage (aside from the 1 point for playing curses with Blue Candle) since the second run. Now I'm torn between abandoning it (since it's purely tedious at this point) or going for the most absurd score ever.

Tao · Post by **Tao** » Sat Jul 14, 2018 11:56 pm

Reading through this thread and other discussions on the internet, where folks are claiming to have cleared the game on the first try, leads me to believe I am not understanding the game.

I have made it to the 3rd act boss several times but have yet to clear it. I have faced the Awakened One several times and the Time dude a couple. The Time boss I nearly beat with The Silent, I had 6 hit points and the boss had about 10 with a stack of 8 poison on him but his last attack hit me for over 20. The Awakened just mops the floor with me once he gets his 2nd phase. Just played a run where the first encounter in Act II the opening attack hit me for about 25 damage, and I finished the first battle at 60% health, it just went down hill from there. I don't really see a way to improve in the game. Unlike in games like Monster Slayer, Card Hunter or even Dungeonmans there doesn't appear to be much carry-over from one run to the next. What am I missing? Poor card picks, bad RNG?

Fretmute · Post by **Fretmute** » Sun Jul 15, 2018 4:22 am

Have you unlocked all of the cards and relics? The biggest barrier to entry, in my opinion, is that the key cards or relics that you need to make the various viable builds are unlocks, and it takes a lot of (probably failed) games to unlock them. It took me something like 20 hours before I won a game.

That said, RNG is definitely a factor, too. There are quite a few viable builds for each class, but they all require _some_ sort of synergy, be it card or relic combos. Broadly speaking, the two win conditions are either overwhelming damage or overwhelming block, and sometimes, you just don’t get what you need.

Another losing strategy is to take a card that you know is good, but that doesn’t really fit your current deck. That’s my biggest problem. I’m only at Ascension 5 with all of the classes; I feel that past that point it takes a perfectly tuned deck to win, and I just don’t pull it off.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Sun Jul 15, 2018 9:16 am

Steam says it took my 4 hours to win my first game. I think it was my 3rd try and a chunk of that four hours was spent not playing. It took me too tries to "get" the game. I basically played the *Dominion* card shuffling method of paring out most of the starting attack cards, keeping the deck small and choosing cards with small effects, additional energy to take additional actions, and draw more cards, finally building offensive (strength?) multipliers. I wasn't afraid to say. "No. I don't want any cards from that selection" If memory serves my deck was under 20 cards at the end I reliably drew the entire deck every turn. The magic bullet to the was the enemy putting damage cards in my deck but that bullet was never strong enough to take me down.

Maybe I try again today...

Neat. It was my third try and it was this (click to embiggen)

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Mon Jul 16, 2018 7:55 am

Played the second guy... The silent? and last night and it took considerably more than three tries to beat it.

Archinerd · Post by **Archinerd** » Mon Jul 16, 2018 8:19 am

Yeah, the Silent is tough at first. Not sure if it's learning curve on a different style or if you just don't have enough tools unlocked at the start. Probably both.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Mon Sep 24, 2018 4:44 pm

Got pulled back in this weekend probably inspired by the am I broken thread and the predictions of what GWENT could be.

I must have played the Silent Ascension level 3 30 friggen times, with 30 friggen losses. Now I'm feeling obsessed. If I ever knock this out, I can only imagine what level 4 will be like.... Impossible ramping up after a game started very doable... Now that's what drove us to play video games in the early 80s...

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Mon Sep 24, 2018 5:15 pm

LordMortis wrote: Mon Sep 24, 2018 4:44 pmI must have played the Silent Ascension level 3 30 friggen times, with 30 friggen losses. Now I'm feeling obsessed. If I ever knock this out, I can only imagine what level 4 will be like.... Impossible ramping up after a game started very doable... Now that's what drove us to play video games in the early 80s...

I'm up to level 5 on the Defect line, and it's really becoming a PITA (you no longer heal to full between Acts).

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Mon Sep 24, 2018 6:02 pm

Are you raising them each one at a time? That's what I'm doing. Level 3 Silent is absolutely unforgiving and I am sloppy. Click the wrong card and instantly regretting that you've likely just ruined 20 minutes of doing really well.

Fretmute · Post by **Fretmute** » Mon Sep 24, 2018 6:03 pm

That was my line of demarcation as well. I’ve switched to zany custom runs that prove that I’m not as good at the game as I could be . . . but they’re great fun.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Tue Sep 25, 2018 9:02 am

Finished level 3 with silent last night. Looked up and it was 00:30. I'ma be miserable today.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Tue Oct 02, 2018 8:27 pm

Made it through level 5 with the Iron whatever it's called.

At level 5 it already really does take a very lucky pull. I pulled the infinite upgrade card before my first fire and that was all I needed. By the third act it was already doing 72 points a hit in a 9 card deck. I screwed up and lost my ability to upgrade cards in the third act at the rest site and it was still a stroll in the park.

Matrix · Post by **Matrix** » Wed Oct 03, 2018 9:47 am

I had some great times with game this summer. I beat the game with all 3 characters.Easiest was poison guy, hardest was electric. Took me a bunch of trials to figure out good deck, playsryle and get right artifacts.
I also played a few daily chalanges. I have put it down, but if they add more I will be back. Really good game.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Wed Oct 03, 2018 10:33 am

Heh, when I first played through I thought it was easy but it must have been the luck of the cards. A lot of the game is the luck of the cards (and relics and enemies...) My experience to date has been the poison dude (the silent?) is the hardest. Previous to getting to level 5 I found Orb dude (The Defect?) to be the easiest. Now that planning for health is a much more complex task, I think the regenerator (Ironclad?) is the easiest, but he is by no means easy.

Level 6 say's I will start hurt in addition not regenerating between rounds in addition to everyone being tougher. Oi (when I get there. I am still on the silent round five)

While the amount of luck involved to move to the next level is high, this has managed to pull me in more than I thought it possible when I started. Having to change my game as I advance to cover known handicaps while I hope this run comes together with the right combos is interesting. Previous to level 5 I almost always took a bonus at the sacrifice of damage and never volunteered to take a curse card. Now I occasionally do things like accept a vampire bite and I jump at the chance to pick up five in....(substantiate?) whatever reduces damage to 1 per source for a turn and sacrificing HP for gold or to pull or upgrade a card, etc... Nope.

Runs used to take to like 30 minutes of click and go. Now, if I run is serious, I take over an hour, sometimes a lot more than an hour before I scream dying at an elite or the end guy on the third act.

The worst is when you you are doing well toward the end of the second act and you have like 500 gold stored, just itching to get merchant to go on a spree and a ? hits you with three muggers. "Get 'em bear" I rarely can defend against their 1,2,3 punch on turn 2 and then it's all she wrote. And even knowing that my greed forbids me from giving them my 500 gold and running. I also have a hard time accepting that one of the two cutpurses in Act 2 is likely to get away 30 gold and I take damage trying to prevent it, and then he gets any way.

Greed is too often a problem I need to overcome in level 5. I feel I have a handle on it, and then like an alcoholic falling off the wagon, I find myself pursing the wrong direction even as I tell myself it's a bad idea.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Sat Oct 06, 2018 10:16 pm

Time disappears when I play this game. Made it through level 6 with Ironclad. level seven increases regular monster difficulty again. I should probably stop for a while and move to something else, getting obsessive as the game gets more difficult is a way to lose an entire day.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Wed Jan 23, 2019 3:06 pm

1.0 released.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Wed Jan 23, 2019 3:26 pm

I've still been playing this more than any other PC game lately. It's a steal if it looks at all appealing to you, and the 1.0 release is pretty great already.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Wed Jan 23, 2019 4:09 pm

Anything exciting in the 1.0 release that wasn't there a few months ago?

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Wed Jan 23, 2019 4:12 pm

They've been steadily adding relics/enemies/cards over the past few months. So no single large feature to point to, but a series of small improvements.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Wed Jan 23, 2019 4:19 pm

Yeah I think that is reasonable for Slay. It was already enough.

Baroquen · Post by **Baroquen** » Wed Jan 23, 2019 7:29 pm

Slay is one of those games, where I don't play for awhile, and then when I do, it's very satisfying, and I'll play it extensively. And then I'll let it sit. But, it's nice to have solid, fun games to come back to when the urge strikes.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Thu Aug 15, 2019 7:32 pm

First, this is just as awesome on Switch.

Second, new character coming soon (in beta form, on Steam):

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Mon Sep 09, 2019 7:01 pm

4th character is out, if you opt into the beta channel on Steam.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Mon Sep 09, 2019 8:49 pm

Thanks for the heads up