Post a Comment On: Digitally Staving Off Boredom

Slay The Spire certainly took up a lot of my free time over the last week.  I only had the game since Humble Bundle released it as a part of their September bundle, but Steam reports I have clocked in 26 hours.
[Image] Learning enemy behavior patterns is an essential part of getting good at Slay The Spire. As of a few hours ago, I have finally beaten the game with all three of the starting characters:
The Ironclad, based on RPG fighter stereotypes, they reinforce their strength score to do more damage while having some pretty strong defenses, but little in the way of frills.  My first choice, it took me five attempts to beat the game with this relatively straightforward character. The Silent, based on RPG rogue stereotypes, they reinforce their dexterity scores to get bonus defense, but mostly get by with outstanding trick decks.  It took me twenty five attempts to beat the spire with The Silent because I had to learn to keep my decks thin and specialized, and several runs were lost by not getting the right cards.  I finally pulled it off with a deck that had several Footwork and Noxious Fumes cards, along with Calipers to reliably bring stacks of unspent block over from the previous round. The Defect, based on RPG mage stereotypes, newest of the classes and the last one I played.  As with strength for the Ironclad and dexterity for The Silent, The Defect has a prime statistic, "focus."  However, focus is unique in that only The Defect can use it, since serves only to increase the potency of summoned orbs that only that character can access.  The orbs possess passive and active effects and can become an inexorable force when numerous and focused.  I beat the game on my second attempt with The Defect (my first after I finally won with The Silent) by stacking a ridiculous amount of powers with the assistance of a Runic Pyramid. If it seems like I am talking gibberish, too deeply steeped in the terminology of the game, that is basically the effect that being immersed for any period of time in a collectable card game does to you.  The individual game pieces (whether they are attack card, skill card, power card, or artifact) ended up things I was excited to see, and covet.  They all have lovely names, pictures, and game mechanics attached, so I end up referring to them like they are actual desirable things.

Yet, regardless of how much I want a card or artifact in any given run, players of Slay The Spire are more or less at the mercy of what the random number gods see fit to send their way.  That's both a strength and a weakness of the game.  A weakness because I prefer to have more power over my decisions in a game; what's the point of having a player if victory was never in the cards?  But it is a boon because you cannot simply settle into a winning strategy and switch your brain off.  You constantly have to adapt to what you get, and that is more fun than the alternative.

Despite being annoying to deal with, perhaps it is life's little imperfections that make it worth living, not because they keep you wanting, but because they necessitate your involvement.
[Image] Win or lose, playing a character earns points towards unlocking additional cards and artifacts, at least for a while. As a thought-evoking game, Slay The Spire has been a joy to play, but I find myself wondering why I should continue to play it now.  After over thirty runs between all the characters over the past few days, I sort of feel like beating the game with each of the classes is accomplishment enough.  There is a fourth character being worked on that should be worth a play but, aside from that, it is just repeating where I have already been, in much the same core gameplay loop setup as something like FTL.

I have to admit that I have an irrational fixation for games with more persistent state consequences.  It is why something like Animal Crossing or Minecraft generally has me by the short hairs until the endgame fizzles out.  I can see that Slay The Spire is an elegantly succinct design but, when it comes to persistence, it will simply drop its unlocks and then slaying the spire has all the point of taking a walk in the park.