Slay the Spire

⭐9/10

This is a rogue-like deck building game, which are not genres that necessarily speak to me, but some recommendations forced me to give it a try. I have been struggling to really get into a game, leaving my last few unfinished, so maybe it's enough to say that I became COMPLETELY addicted to this game almost instantly. I went from not wanting to play anything to not wanting to do anything else overnight. 

This game is excellent. What I appreciate about this game is that they get you playing immediately. There is no story to speak of, no drawn out tutorial, no introduction, just enemies and cards to kill them with. Like all great games, it is simple on the surface but has incredible depth. As you go, you learn to synergize your cards and abilities, you learn your goals, and you feel like a god by the end. The feeling of "one more enemy" or "one more level" or "one more run" will have you stuck in this loop for hours. When you close your eyes you will be thinking of how much energy you have to manage, how much block you need to build up, or quickly adding up your damage to see if you can kill an enemy this turn rather than blocking their damage and waiting for later. It will have you thinking risk vs reward, long-term vs short-term... Man, what a game. 

I really think the only flaw is that it is too addicting and does not have that substance that you can appreciate when you finish a 6 hour session. This will delete hours off your day and you feel miserable after. Obviously I think that's a me problem, and i don't want to blame the game, but I do think that to get a 10, it would have to offer something that feels a bit more fulfilling or moving. This kinda feels like a monkey-brain game of watching numbers go up. 

So that's really it. I think mechanically, this game is near flawless. Maybe some minor nitpicks, like the secret boss being way too hard, or that other final boss being a pain in the ass, or even the reliance on luck. But I love playing this game. That's also the problem. I love it too much, and it can feel like cheap thrills if you have a monkey brain that doesn't know when enough is enough. It's a fantastic game, but I wouldn't call it fantastic art.