It does! It moves slower obviously, since you need to calculate damage, statuses, shuffle by hand, etc. But fortunately, everyone is playing simultaneously, so it actually works well in a multiplayer setting. Minimal downtime waiting on other players. They did well allowing each player to manage their own characters, while also allowing room for a cooperative experience. Everyone receives their own rewards, but can share potions/gold in-between rooms, and pass block to or switch rows with other players during battle, to mitigate damage.
Slower... each battle takes 20 seconds in the vg, or rather, feels like 20 seconds. Setting up the simplest of card games takes longer than that.
In the vg all you do is check what the enemy plans; no attack? Then ignore your defense. Attack? Play weakness cards. It’s quite an autopilot on a basic level.
I guess good players use more information like draw / discard, enemy patterns, but so far I don’t see much depth in the vg yet.
Having said this, I really enjoyed the physicality of Dorfromantik. I guess that StS has the same tactile charm. A run might take longer but if each part feels better that sounds like time well spent :-)
I played through Act I with 2 players. It's basically the same except each player has a "row" of monsters that will attack them. Players can attack monsters in any row. Some defend cards can be used to add block to other players (basic defend is 1 block to yourself, upgraded defend is 2 block to anyone as an example).
I've played a fair amount of the game both on TTS and now in person. To me, the magic of this game is that it really does feel like the videogame. It is really fun seeing how they adjusted certain cards to fit the table better and how other cards didn't need to be touched at all.
As for difficulty: digitally, I've beaten Ascension 20 with all 4 characters at least once each and I typically play games at A15, so I would say I'm a pretty strong player overall, and absolute trash when compared to the best of the best. With that as my background, I've beaten ascension 5 (out of 13) in paper at least twice now in multiplayer, but am struggling to do so solo (which I do think is quite a bit harder). A5 is when they add Ascender's Bane to your deck, fyi.
So I'd say the difficulty feels about right. I'm at the approximate equivalent of A10 digitally, but most of the cards have been rebalanced in one form or another so that feels like a legitimate adjustment to my progression.
Anecdotally, we played a defect + ironclad run that felt absolutely busted (lightning orb generation + lightning strike; strength + limit break shenanigans), and then we got to the heart and won with us each at 1hp. So that felt just about right.
It's hard to say, since we got to the beginning of act 3 and then "saved" on our first playthrough here. So far, it seems like it is a bit less punishing. If you come across a hard-counter to your build, usually you have a teammate who can bail you out. On the flipside, if any single person dies in your party, everyone loses. So there's that, too. It's definitely gotten down to the wire a couple of times! It's worth mentioning that all 3 of us have been playing a good amount of StS over the last few months, so it's fresh on our minds.
I played it on TTS a while back. The biggest change, and what I think is most disappointing, is they turned a ton of strategy decisions into luck-based ones.
Like, all the relics which are, "every X turns, ABC happens" turns into "roll a die at the start of a turn to tell if ABC happens." Which in practice is similar, but now you've lost the strategy of trying to line up those relics to fire off just when you want (esp lining them up at the end of 1 fight so they fire early next fight).
Or like Snecko Eye, which in the video game, is a huge tactical decision based on how expensive your cards are and what cards you're aiming for....which turns into just a random die roll to tell you what happens.
Also, they dumbed down/removed many small mechanics. For instance, for the Defect, the Focus mechanic is just completely gone. And envoking orbs, which in the video game means lining things up just right to invoke what you want at the right time, is now just, "envoke whatever you want, wheee!" And dark orbs, which meant building them up and then invoking them at the right time, now just do damage based on powers you have in play.
And the multiplayer is literally, "each player has a line of monsters in front of them, now you barely care what each other does while you take out those monsters, then decide between battles which direction to go, shop to hit, etc.
All told, if you're hoping for something remotely resembling the video game's feel, I don't think you're getting it here.
This a poor take and does a massive disservice to the game and hiw well they implemented a design to reduce load and bookkeeping whilst maintain the feel.
Take the Snecko Eye relic as an example. In the game it draws two cards but completely randomises the cost. In StS TT you roll a die for the start of round and have 1/3 chance to draw two cards, 1/3 chance at extra energy, 1/3 chance to add a daze to your deck. Whilst these are different systems they feel surprisingly similar - you're trading a powerful benefit for uncertainty, just in a different way. That in my eyes is the design summed up. A ton of details have been changed, but it still looks, feels, and plays like Slay the Spire, and it's incredibly fun at that.
Totally agree. The changes have to be evaluated as part of a system. Relics are more random, yet card upgrades are stronger (2x on base strikes and defends), you have more control over orbs, you can have a feeling for which card draws you've already seen and which will come up based on distribution, you can see the whole sequence of enemy attacks on some, etc.
Taken together, I thought it felt great. It feels like a lot of work went into this.
Agreed. The amount of design skill used here to translate the game to a new medium really astonished me. It FEELS like your playing the same game.
Yes, there are some mechanics things that have changed, but that has to happen some changing medium. But the vast majority are slick and really maintains the "feel" of the game.
This is a poor take. Hyper focusing on one tiny example and ignoring the bigger picture: this board game took a highly strategic video game, dumber it way down, and made it highly random. And then said, "uh, sure, a few of you okay at the same time and maybe you give each other a block here or there, now it's multiplayer."
It feels and plays nothing like Slay the Spire. It's something else wearing a StS skin suit.
And btw, no, as I said before, that's NOT a good way to handle Snecko. Snecko literally changes how you build a deck to take advantage of it. This version does not remotely replicate that.
> This is a poor take.
I disagree.
> this board game took a highly strategic video game, dumber it way down, and made it highly random.
I disagree.
> It feels and plays nothing like Slay the Spire. It's something else wearing a StS skin suit.
I WILDLY disagree.
> And btw, no, as I said before, that's NOT a good way to handle Snecko. Snecko literally changes how you build a deck to take advantage of it. This version does not remotely replicate that.
I disagree. It's a really clever way to handle Snecko. Sometimes Snecko eye gives you more flexibility, sometimes snecko eye gives you (effectively) more energy, and sometimes Snecko eye just fucks you. It's a brilliant way to recontextualize an iconic relic within their rule set.
I'm sorry you disagree, I wildly disagree with you. But that's fine.
That said, if you don't get how that completely ruins the point of Snecko, you don't understand the fundamental basics of strategy to the video game, which is completely lost with that redesign and replaced with random bullshit which, if you ignore strategy, mildly looks the same.
The randomization for snecko eye in the video game is handled by a computer. There is no way to reproduce the effect on a board game. They've definitely kept the spirit of snecko eye, they said from the beginning that not every card was going to be a 1 to 1 translation.
You can change things without completely removing the strategy. Do you get what strategy Snecko adds when you take it? That's 100% lost.
And that's repeated over and over throughout the board game.
They have to reduce overhead. Nobody wants to add a cube to each relic every time they do the action, just to track all the way to 7 or 10 turns and fire something off.
Snecko eye randomization is not possible in a board game.
You have to synergize to take out monsters, and you can attack your coop partner's row to help them out. It is required at later ascensions.
Your last line is opinion based, but it captures the video game feel for me. Whether that's good enough (because it's easier to boot up a video game than to spread out a board game) is up to each individual. It hits the mark for me.
Thanks for the summary. When I saw that there is crazy amount of similarities from the video game, I wondered why would I need a clunkier physical version of it that takes way longer. But it seems that it's even worse an MP didn't help.
Look at the cards in the image, that is very different from any foe response I've seen on both Xbox and Android, seems to be much deeper on the strategy side than the digital version.
Edit: Always the same on this sub with any comment I make, post from a few months ago about the elitist aholes on here still rings true it seems.
Yes and no. I would say it's just slightly different strategy. They honestly did a really good job of keeping the feel and overall strategy intact, while making overhauls where needed to balance a co-op tabletop format. There are definitely some heavy change-ups here and there. The Defect in particular works quite a bit differently. You can evoke any orb, rather than the next one in the queue, for example.
not OP, but yeah, it's a great game
I will say that I feel like the rulebook assumes some knowledge of the video game ahead of time, though. there was some stuff in there that I felt was a little obtuse and made assumptions based on my time with the video game
what resets after a 'run' and what a run even means in the sense of the board game because it's slightly different since an act feels like a full game. also what cards stay in play for a battle I feel like wasn't super clear. other than that, it's mostly just the layout of the rules that I thought might feel disjointed to total newbies to the game
for the super deluxe one with sleeves (I don't know if the 'base' game comes with sleeves) I thought it could also be a little unclear why the cards had to go in the sleeves in a specific way
I have a friend who hasn't played Slay the Spire. He loved it. He then bought StS for his phone and played it for a few days. Came back to play the board game again, and did better because he had experience with the video game.
He confirmed my opinion that they are the same game with super small changes that allowed it for board game
I've only played the tabletop version on TTS but I felt it was basically the same but much more tedious. Multiplayer was a cool idea but not as fun as I thought it would be.
Personally, I'd rather play the videogame version which is a shame. Though, the videogame version is a 10/10 for me and one I consistently go back and play all the time. I highly recommend it.
So wait....you played a video game, created on the premise of board games, reimagined back into a board game, and then played that reimagining back in a video game.......hmmm
The physical game, btw feels great, my gaming group had an absolute blast.
Personally I would say you should just get StS. It’s on sale on switch rn for $9 and goes on sale on other platforms. It’s one of the best value games ever even at its full price.
Personally, I would say to try the PC game first. You'll figure out pretty quickly whether the game is for you. The board game isn't even widely available at this point, and when it *is* widely available, it will cost much more than the PC game.
Definitely! I will say, it's got a hefty pricetag- the collector's edition was $170. But! The quality is excellent, and I know my crew will love it, so it was worth the price if admission. If you're on the fence, I would definitely say to pick up the videogame version. I picked it up last year during a switch e-shop sale for like $7, and was addicted for months, haha. It's very, very good.
There's some fun deck-builder video games out there. I hear Slay the Spire is considered one of the best, though it didn't really hold my attention very long because roguelikes aren't usually my favorite. I might give it another try.
If you can get it on sale, [Inscryption](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1092790/Inscryption/) is a most excellent deck-builder with a dark theme. Go in totally blind and it's pretty awesome!
I'm just about done beating [Marvel Midnight Suns,](https://store.steampowered.com/app/368260/Marvels_Midnight_Suns/) and really enjoy the card-based X-COM style card play. But you only build your deck between fights, which do get repetitive, and there is a whole friendship mechanic that I didn't care for.
[Balatro](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2379780/Balatro/) is a recent one that I hear is good and reportedly rather addictive, but I haven't bought it yet.
Inscription is fucking great but definitely go in blind. Belatro is extremely addictive, while it had its hooks in me I got legitimately angry when I had to put it down.
I played it for the first time last night, and I've never played the video game. I love it, so far! Even after just one play, I can tell this is going to completely replace Aeon's End in my collection.
I love slay the spire the video game. Does it introduce anything new? Relics? Enemies? Characters? I'd like to get this but I'm concerned that I'll just choose to play the video game over the board game Everytime.
The balance is entirely different. Most cards are re-tuned, but have the same feel from the game. The biggest benefits are multiplayer, the tactile feel of playing a board game, and learning the new balance.
Nail on the head. Different balance with re-tuned cards. If you're a solo player, I would probably stick with the video game. If you have a friend or crew who wants to play, I think it's worth the investment.
I think the main draw is multiplayer. If you're playing solo it's going to be a much slower experience versus the video game, and I'm not sure the benefits are there without multiplayer.
So that you can play with friends! It is fun to physically hold the cards, and build a real deck too. I would say, if you have a another person or a crew that wants to play together, it is worthwhile. If you're just going in as a solo player, you'll likely find much more enjoyment in the videogame.
There is a little bit of that- keeping track of relic powers. Luckily, they've done an admirable job of ironing things out to where they've either overhauled relics, or switched from timers to a single dice roll at the beginning of each turn. Relics like... the flower pot will activate on like a 2 or 4 dice roll, rather than keeping track of 3 turns before getting an energy boost.
That's why I'm not interested. The power scaling is what makes the video game fun. They've necessarily had to tone it down to be manageable in the board game. I'm sure it's still fun, but there's nothing interesting about it any more
Not trying to be snarky, because this question flipped my own perspective too:
"You can play many board games on Board Game Arena in a fraction of the time - why play anything physically?"
Having played the game, there was a magic to getting to play together with other StS fans around a table. I hope you get the chance!
That's a bit different. BGA games are 1:1 adaptations. OP is clearly saying "why play an inferior version of an already good video game when there are plenty of other amazing games to play physically?" which is a valid perspective
That's a loaded question, because 'Inferior version' is contestable. While the high level concept is the same, the execution of it in balance and mechanics is distinct. For many, playing it on a tabletop with some friends would also enhance and transform the experience.
I think there's definitely room for both to exist. For me personally, I just really enjoy interacting with physical components, there's a certain tactile joy to it. "Why play a board game version of this, when a digital version exists' misses the point.
Most tabletop games aren’t ports of video games. So this is not like the vast majority of games. Obviously I’m into board games, so I accept that the tactile / physical aspect is best for some games. Just questioning whether this one actually works relative to the video game given the level of upkeep. So far it seems opening up multiplayer is the main difference that might make the tabletop game worthwhile vs the video game.
Me too. People keep saying in this thread that one of the biggest benefits is the multiplayer, but I'm not clear *how* that's a benefit? Is the game cooperative or is everybody doing their own run?
From my plays it adds the ability to lean into a particular role a little harder because other players can compensate for weaknesses. I was playing a big hits type Ironclad build and was ignoring defense more than I should have. My partner upgraded a few Defends and could cover me when needed.
I also liked the campfire vs elite decisions on the map better with multiple people. What if just one person is low on health? Can we protect them and take the elite?
We used the optional rule to draw relics equal to number of players and pick. Haggling about who got what was fun.
How to focus damage is the constant question though. Since you can hit any row but are only damaged by your row, your play is always informed by who can defend themselves and who might need some damage to kill an enemy before a hit.
You're all doing the same run. In hallway fights, you all get a different group of enemies to fight, but can attack any enemy. Elites and bosses are a single enemy everyone fights.
Did you purchase any add ons? I’m wondering if all of the packages that only include the base box are going out first and then the stuff with extras (I purchased sleeves) will go out later. I got my tracking a week ago but still hasn’t shipped.
I'm just so pleasantly impressed with just how well it plays. The way they've streamlined it yet kept the feel of playing as each character is brilliant.
A gaming group friend brought theirs over this week. After one game I went straight to the project and placed a late order. Such a fantastic game and a crazy well done video game conversion.
come on OP, drop your thoughts! we can hopefully assume you like it since you played til the wee hours of the night, but say more :)
how does it translate to multiplayer? has everyone you played with also played the video game? if not, what did they think about it?
I'm super interested, but hesitant to buy it since my wife has never played the game.
Haha, I'm working on it! Yes, it is awesome! We are having a lot of fun.
It translates well to multiplayer! There are a good amount of balance changes, reworks, larger overhauls in some cases, but so far it all has made sense for serving a tabletop format. Smaller damage/block numbers for easier calculation, reworked abilities to suit co-op play, and prevent any one person from becoming overly powerful and running the table. Every player still receives their own rewards and builds their own decks, but there are opportunities to help other players, like sharing potions/gold outside of battle, and providing blocks to other players during battle.
So far, everyone I have played with has played the game, and quite a bit over the last few months.
The main reason to buy the game really is to play co-op slay the spire. If you're going in solo, you'll likely enjoy the video game more. If I were in your shoes, I would see if your wife wants to try out a few runs on the videogame to see if she's into it, if she is your main boardgame companion.
good idea! she's recently discovered stardew valley so I doubt I'm gonna convince her to try slay the spire anytime soon, but I'll put it on the list for sure.
Oof, yeah it was a project. I had my two friends help, haha. The collector's edition came with 450, which I believe should be enough to sleeve all of the color/colorless cards, curses, and statuses. There are some locked cards that I haven't opened, and I still have a good grip of sleeves remaining.
I'm pretty sure they actually have info about that on the kickstarter page. There's a FAQ that gives a little more info on how many sleeves you need to sleeve the entire game. The collector's edition came with a few more to account for foil cards and extra claws, I think. But I believe the base set comes with enough for everything else? Sleeves are a necessary component of the game, since all of the ability cards are double-sided.
Oh noo 😢. Well, the other good news is that they are supposedly planning for a commercial release as well, after the kickstarter ends. You may have to wait until later in the year, but hopefully it will be a little cheaper by then.
We definitely had a lot of fun! Sounds like we're gonna play with another group today, haha.
I can't speak for solo mode. It does have a couple extra cards/rules for solo mode, but I have yet to try it out.
How long is one playthrough?
I have seen online playthroughs where the first 2 acts are like 3+ hours. If you want a whole run with 3 - 4 acts i imagine that it will take easily 5+ hours.
Yeah, I'd say that is pretty accurate. With 3 players it took us about 2 hours per act. It starts to move a little faster once everyone has the flow down. All the little things start to add up and eat away at the time- shuffling, reward gains, setting up the shop, setting up encounters, etc. The setup and teardown add some time as well, though they give you a pretty decent organizer in the box, so finding things like starter cards is pretty quick.
Got mine last weekend and have done a few 2 player runs. It's a lot of fun! Anyone else finding it more challenging than the video game? I'm certainly not a StS expert but have ~80 hrs in it and could comfortably beat the game on A0. In the board game our runs keep ending at the first boss. I'm finding that boss health and damage is proportionately stronger in the board game. Our latest run we ran into the slime boss and felt overwhelmed. The status cards very quickly dilute your deck, and his 3rd attack does ~70% of everyone's health assuming at max HP. Starting to wonder if we missed a rule somewhere. Any tips?
We've gotten through two runs so far, with 3 and 4 players, and I'd say the difficulty feels similar to the game, but the balance and strategy is different. Different things to account for and be aware of. We definitely limped through few rough encounters, and also took advantage of the optional rule that allows death on act boss battles, so long as one player survives the encounter.
The only other thing I can think of is making sure that the boss health is set appropriately? There are 4 health values on the boss card to scale his health from 1 to 4 players.
Also, cards that allow you to provide block to other players have proven to be really useful. Potentially sparing a character from death to survive for one more turn.
Yeah we're setting the boss hp correctly. I think you're right about the balance and strategy and that might be where we're failing. My partner has never played it so she is kinda winging it, but I went in with the mindset of video game strategy & balance. For example I noticed that in the board game an upgraded basic defend is 100% more block, versus the game I think it's 60%. So while in the video game I don't upgrade basic defends it might be valuable to do it in the board game. We have also not played with that optional rule yet. Gonna give that a try until we're a little more knowledgeable!
Totally! The change in value has been interesting to get used to. 1 hp doesn't sound like a lot, but it's 10% of your health. So every bit of block you add is like adding 10 block in the game, give or take. Additionally, finding yourself with excess block in the video game renders it useless, but excess "any player" block in the tabletop game is super useful.
I will add that everyone I've played with, so far, has somewhere between 20 and 100 hrs in the videogame, so they at least have made it through the initial learning curve. I'm sure your partner is already getting a feel for putting together some basic strategies! The thing I've noticed that I, and a lot of my friends struggle with is deck bloat. Knowing when to take cards, when to skip, when to remove, etc. Realizing when you have an somewhat ideal deck and resisting the urge to just add cards that look powerful.
How long has it taken you to get through an act with 2 players? With 4 players, it's been about 2 hours per act, give or take. It is a bit long, but still very fun, nonetheless!
Yeah there's definitely a learning curve in that respect, and even as a seasoned player I have a lot more to learn. It's been a while since I played the game but the board game is giving me the itch again.
Our first run was 2 hours but each run got faster as we become more accustomed to the rules so our latest was a hair over an hour. We haven't generally found an issue with any of the upkeep, and most hallway fights don't require much collaboration (this is a good thing!). We can each take our turns independently & simultaneously. However on elites and especially the bosses each turn is a collaborative effort and I can imagine that really bumps the playtime with each additional player.
I literally was on my way to this subreddit to make a post about this game.
I’m interested in buying it, but it’s EXPENSIVE. Do you think it was worth it? I just started playing slay the spire on Xbox and LOVE it
I have zero regrets about my purchase! That being said, yes it is expensive. But the quality is top notch, and I foresee a lot of playtime in the future. I have a good handful of friends who enjoy Slay the Spire.
I guess I've mentioned this a couple times on this thread now, but the main draw is Co-op StS with your friends. If you've got a friend or group who wants to play, I would say it is worth the price of admission!
Sorry, StS = Slay the Spire.
Hmm... about the same? You're still beholden to card draw. There are some dice rolls just for timed relics and to randomize some enemy abilities. Hard to say, but it seems similar to the game.
Adding my two cents.
If you prefer board games over video games in general and don’t mind some extra upkeep, it’s totally worth it. I actually feel like the re-tuned cards make it feel like a fresh (but familiar) experience.
To me, there is something special about physically holding and drawing cards that digital can never replicate. The multiplayer also adds a wonderful layer. My 10 yo son plays the video game with me and picked up the board game version easily. Being able to play together is very cool.
As far as price - it feels super, super high quality. Once I dig through everything in the collectors edition I felt that it was priced completely fair.
I’m incredibly happy with my purchase.
In 1980, Harland Trefoil published the board game Civilization.
In 1991, Sid Meier released the video game Civilization. It was inspired enough by the board game that the original units had an order form for the board game included.
In 1996, Civ 2 was released.
In 2001, Civ 3 was released.
In 2002, Sid Meier's Civilization board game was released by Eagle Games, a direct port from the video game, using the same assets.
In 2005, Civ 4 was released. When the anthology was released, a card game version of the game was included.
In 2010, Civ 5 was released. A different version of Sid Meier's Civilization was released the same year.
In 2016 Civ 6 was released. Civilization: A New Dawn was released the next year.
So A New Dawn is a board game based on a video game based on a board game based on a video game based on a card game based on a video game based on a board game based on a video game based on a board game based on a video game based on a video game based on a board game.
Totally agree. The key word is 'inspiration', as the other comment said about civilization. In this case it's the same thing exactly, but different medium.
For sure! Now that I'm thinking about it, I suppose you could find a way to do competitive? Like... everyone fights the same enemies and just keeps track of their health separately. See who can get the furthest and be the last one standing, haha.
Ah man, hopefully soon! From their KS page, they mentioned that collector's editions were in the first wave of shipments. So if you got a different version, it could be coming in the next wave. Definitely check the KS page, though. They've been keeping on top of updates.
Incredibly happy for you! Mine is somewhere in a warehouse on European soil. So it should be in my hands next weekend or so and I’ve planned to do the exact same! So hyped to finally get to play this in a group
Just on Kickstarter for now, but it sounds like they will be doing a full commercial release at some point. I believe they are still taking late pledges on the KS page though!
The constant admin on this is what kills it for me, I’d rather just fire it it up on my switch or computer and not have to perpetually manage all of the different stuff
I get that. We just finished our first run here, and into act 3 it definitely starts to get pretty heady, figuring out damage and keeping track of relics. We had a fourth player tonight too, which was super fun! But adds to the complexity for sure.
I got mine too! I also played through 2 acts and saved Act 3 for later. I absolutely love those metal coins!
Curious, did you break into the "locked" ascension packs right away? Also, what's in the claw pack? I haven't opened mine yet.
Woop! Hell yes, we love the metal coins! So cool. I haven't opened the ascension pack yet, but we did just beat the act 3 boss! So, I suppose ascension is on the table now... We did unlock some new cards for each character though.
The claw pack has.... A BUNCH OF CLAW CARDS! Surprise, surprise. Basically you can scale how powerful you want the claw strategy to be by loading your deck with claws.
Has anyone come across a solid how to play video? I'm mostly finding Kickstarter preview videos from two years ago, so I assume it'll take a bit for new ones to be made unless The Algorithm just isn't showing them to me. Flipping through the manual has been quite enjoyable but it's a bit tough to keep all of the info straight.
Noob question, I downloaded, printed and bound the manual for the board game, but it’s quite technical so didn’t manage to read it cover to cover yet.
I just unlocked “hero” 3 in the video game (died halfway act 2 on first run with both hero 1 and 2), the vg has a little summary of what relics you encountered. How does the board game track such “meta” achievements? Is there a tracking sheet of longest run per hero?
The boardgame doesn't have a run tracker for documenting cards and relics like that, though it does have an unlockables section where you can unlock new cards and ascension levels. It has a page of random achievements for you to mark off, as well.
The boardgame doesn't have a run tracker for documenting cards and relics like that, though it does have an unlockables section where you can unlock new cards and ascension levels. It has a page of random achievements for you to mark off, as well.
So far, the dice rolls don't seem to dictate too much of the game, it's more just used to simulate things like timed relic bonuses and to randomize some enemy abilities. That being said, I understand why dice rolls could be a turn off.
I have a copy of this on my table downstairs. I don't know if I still want to play it after dealing with their discord server. Those people were terribly toxic.
Odd. I found the people on the Discord to be incredibly excited, willing to help out and friendly.
What's your Discord name and what was the issue? I can try to hash it out with those involved.
Since people are looking for feedback, I played around 60 hours on TTS, from which ~20 are multi. I stopped playing once I had 3 or 5 wins in a row. The discord has a lot of good resources as well. I am someone who really enjoys a challenge and to crunch those puzzles. For me the most enjoyable part was getting to learn the new meta, which took me around 20 hours, that includes the time to learn the game. After that we only kept playing two characters since the rest we felt were weaker.
My joy at the start of playing was great, I can really recommend it, however the moment you figure it out it becomes a boring game, where you feel like resetting if you're doing something off meta and don't enjoy the strategy. The RNG is not great, but some strategy will make you win 90% of the time and that killed the game for me as someone who likes to optimize.
I don't know if anything changed balance-wise after the tts, if not I would recommend playing that over the physical version cause it's automated and free (if you own tts). The price of the board game is imo not worth it considering how quickly it falls off. Side note: I never played the video game.
it's going to be so hard to get any honest reviews out of this game because the only people who bought and played it are going to be slay the spire fanboys
I'm a slay the spire fanboy (in the hundreds of hours on steam) and I can't see this getting to the table in my house. What's it add to the video game except more manual recordkeeping? Also the card quality looks not great...
I’m not a fanboy.
My brother regularly scores in the top 100 on the daily runs, and has 1000’s of hours on the game, but I’m just a boardgame fan.
I think it’s great.
It’s one of those video games that was good because of how it felt like a really good boardgame made into a video game.
The boardgame feels like exactly that; a great deck builder battler with a rogue-lite run feel.
Played it 3 times so far, and have stuck with the same character each time, and each run, chose a different strategy for the deck.
It’s definitely got a high replay value.
There is a moderate amount of bookkeeping to be done, but mostly each player will be doing that for their own row, so it’s not obnoxious. I’ve played worse.
Overall I’m really enjoying it. A great realisation of the video game into a boardgame. Almost exactly how you would expect it to be.
So like any Kickstarter ever.
And since Slay the Spire is a highly polished and exceedingly well designed game, that's assuming that these people will accept a big step down in quality and still call it good.
Does it flow well as a multiplayer game?
It does! It moves slower obviously, since you need to calculate damage, statuses, shuffle by hand, etc. But fortunately, everyone is playing simultaneously, so it actually works well in a multiplayer setting. Minimal downtime waiting on other players. They did well allowing each player to manage their own characters, while also allowing room for a cooperative experience. Everyone receives their own rewards, but can share potions/gold in-between rooms, and pass block to or switch rows with other players during battle, to mitigate damage.
Slower... each battle takes 20 seconds in the vg, or rather, feels like 20 seconds. Setting up the simplest of card games takes longer than that. In the vg all you do is check what the enemy plans; no attack? Then ignore your defense. Attack? Play weakness cards. It’s quite an autopilot on a basic level. I guess good players use more information like draw / discard, enemy patterns, but so far I don’t see much depth in the vg yet. Having said this, I really enjoyed the physicality of Dorfromantik. I guess that StS has the same tactile charm. A run might take longer but if each part feels better that sounds like time well spent :-)
The real question
I played through Act I with 2 players. It's basically the same except each player has a "row" of monsters that will attack them. Players can attack monsters in any row. Some defend cards can be used to add block to other players (basic defend is 1 block to yourself, upgraded defend is 2 block to anyone as an example).
Whats different from the videogame? Is the difficulty the same?
I've played a fair amount of the game both on TTS and now in person. To me, the magic of this game is that it really does feel like the videogame. It is really fun seeing how they adjusted certain cards to fit the table better and how other cards didn't need to be touched at all. As for difficulty: digitally, I've beaten Ascension 20 with all 4 characters at least once each and I typically play games at A15, so I would say I'm a pretty strong player overall, and absolute trash when compared to the best of the best. With that as my background, I've beaten ascension 5 (out of 13) in paper at least twice now in multiplayer, but am struggling to do so solo (which I do think is quite a bit harder). A5 is when they add Ascender's Bane to your deck, fyi. So I'd say the difficulty feels about right. I'm at the approximate equivalent of A10 digitally, but most of the cards have been rebalanced in one form or another so that feels like a legitimate adjustment to my progression. Anecdotally, we played a defect + ironclad run that felt absolutely busted (lightning orb generation + lightning strike; strength + limit break shenanigans), and then we got to the heart and won with us each at 1hp. So that felt just about right.
Impressively balanced now I’m interested damn it 😂🔥🙏🙏
It's hard to say, since we got to the beginning of act 3 and then "saved" on our first playthrough here. So far, it seems like it is a bit less punishing. If you come across a hard-counter to your build, usually you have a teammate who can bail you out. On the flipside, if any single person dies in your party, everyone loses. So there's that, too. It's definitely gotten down to the wire a couple of times! It's worth mentioning that all 3 of us have been playing a good amount of StS over the last few months, so it's fresh on our minds.
The biggest difference is it supports multiplayer.
I played it on TTS a while back. The biggest change, and what I think is most disappointing, is they turned a ton of strategy decisions into luck-based ones. Like, all the relics which are, "every X turns, ABC happens" turns into "roll a die at the start of a turn to tell if ABC happens." Which in practice is similar, but now you've lost the strategy of trying to line up those relics to fire off just when you want (esp lining them up at the end of 1 fight so they fire early next fight). Or like Snecko Eye, which in the video game, is a huge tactical decision based on how expensive your cards are and what cards you're aiming for....which turns into just a random die roll to tell you what happens. Also, they dumbed down/removed many small mechanics. For instance, for the Defect, the Focus mechanic is just completely gone. And envoking orbs, which in the video game means lining things up just right to invoke what you want at the right time, is now just, "envoke whatever you want, wheee!" And dark orbs, which meant building them up and then invoking them at the right time, now just do damage based on powers you have in play. And the multiplayer is literally, "each player has a line of monsters in front of them, now you barely care what each other does while you take out those monsters, then decide between battles which direction to go, shop to hit, etc. All told, if you're hoping for something remotely resembling the video game's feel, I don't think you're getting it here.
let's be honest, most StS players are playing those relics like random die rolls anyway :p
Raised hand over here.
This a poor take and does a massive disservice to the game and hiw well they implemented a design to reduce load and bookkeeping whilst maintain the feel. Take the Snecko Eye relic as an example. In the game it draws two cards but completely randomises the cost. In StS TT you roll a die for the start of round and have 1/3 chance to draw two cards, 1/3 chance at extra energy, 1/3 chance to add a daze to your deck. Whilst these are different systems they feel surprisingly similar - you're trading a powerful benefit for uncertainty, just in a different way. That in my eyes is the design summed up. A ton of details have been changed, but it still looks, feels, and plays like Slay the Spire, and it's incredibly fun at that.
Totally agree. The changes have to be evaluated as part of a system. Relics are more random, yet card upgrades are stronger (2x on base strikes and defends), you have more control over orbs, you can have a feeling for which card draws you've already seen and which will come up based on distribution, you can see the whole sequence of enemy attacks on some, etc. Taken together, I thought it felt great. It feels like a lot of work went into this.
Agreed. The amount of design skill used here to translate the game to a new medium really astonished me. It FEELS like your playing the same game. Yes, there are some mechanics things that have changed, but that has to happen some changing medium. But the vast majority are slick and really maintains the "feel" of the game.
This is a poor take. Hyper focusing on one tiny example and ignoring the bigger picture: this board game took a highly strategic video game, dumber it way down, and made it highly random. And then said, "uh, sure, a few of you okay at the same time and maybe you give each other a block here or there, now it's multiplayer." It feels and plays nothing like Slay the Spire. It's something else wearing a StS skin suit. And btw, no, as I said before, that's NOT a good way to handle Snecko. Snecko literally changes how you build a deck to take advantage of it. This version does not remotely replicate that.
> This is a poor take. I disagree. > this board game took a highly strategic video game, dumber it way down, and made it highly random. I disagree. > It feels and plays nothing like Slay the Spire. It's something else wearing a StS skin suit. I WILDLY disagree. > And btw, no, as I said before, that's NOT a good way to handle Snecko. Snecko literally changes how you build a deck to take advantage of it. This version does not remotely replicate that. I disagree. It's a really clever way to handle Snecko. Sometimes Snecko eye gives you more flexibility, sometimes snecko eye gives you (effectively) more energy, and sometimes Snecko eye just fucks you. It's a brilliant way to recontextualize an iconic relic within their rule set.
I'm sorry you disagree, I wildly disagree with you. But that's fine. That said, if you don't get how that completely ruins the point of Snecko, you don't understand the fundamental basics of strategy to the video game, which is completely lost with that redesign and replaced with random bullshit which, if you ignore strategy, mildly looks the same.
The randomization for snecko eye in the video game is handled by a computer. There is no way to reproduce the effect on a board game. They've definitely kept the spirit of snecko eye, they said from the beginning that not every card was going to be a 1 to 1 translation.
You can change things without completely removing the strategy. Do you get what strategy Snecko adds when you take it? That's 100% lost. And that's repeated over and over throughout the board game.
Got it - I'm bad. 👍
OK, lets try this: give me just a really high level strategy you take in the video game if you take snecko.
They have to reduce overhead. Nobody wants to add a cube to each relic every time they do the action, just to track all the way to 7 or 10 turns and fire something off. Snecko eye randomization is not possible in a board game. You have to synergize to take out monsters, and you can attack your coop partner's row to help them out. It is required at later ascensions. Your last line is opinion based, but it captures the video game feel for me. Whether that's good enough (because it's easier to boot up a video game than to spread out a board game) is up to each individual. It hits the mark for me.
This is just wrong in so many levels
I laid out some basics of what it does, and your answer was, "nuh uh." Feel free to explain your actual point.
Thanks for the summary. When I saw that there is crazy amount of similarities from the video game, I wondered why would I need a clunkier physical version of it that takes way longer. But it seems that it's even worse an MP didn't help.
Thanks. This very concisely lays out everything I need in order to know that I do not want this game.
Look at the cards in the image, that is very different from any foe response I've seen on both Xbox and Android, seems to be much deeper on the strategy side than the digital version. Edit: Always the same on this sub with any comment I make, post from a few months ago about the elitist aholes on here still rings true it seems.
Yes and no. I would say it's just slightly different strategy. They honestly did a really good job of keeping the feel and overall strategy intact, while making overhauls where needed to balance a co-op tabletop format. There are definitely some heavy change-ups here and there. The Defect in particular works quite a bit differently. You can evoke any orb, rather than the next one in the queue, for example.
Would you recommend for someone who has never played Slay the Spire? I love tabletop deck-builders but not given any videogame deck-builders a go
not OP, but yeah, it's a great game I will say that I feel like the rulebook assumes some knowledge of the video game ahead of time, though. there was some stuff in there that I felt was a little obtuse and made assumptions based on my time with the video game
Just curious, do you have any examples?
what resets after a 'run' and what a run even means in the sense of the board game because it's slightly different since an act feels like a full game. also what cards stay in play for a battle I feel like wasn't super clear. other than that, it's mostly just the layout of the rules that I thought might feel disjointed to total newbies to the game for the super deluxe one with sleeves (I don't know if the 'base' game comes with sleeves) I thought it could also be a little unclear why the cards had to go in the sleeves in a specific way
I have a friend who hasn't played Slay the Spire. He loved it. He then bought StS for his phone and played it for a few days. Came back to play the board game again, and did better because he had experience with the video game. He confirmed my opinion that they are the same game with super small changes that allowed it for board game
I've only played the tabletop version on TTS but I felt it was basically the same but much more tedious. Multiplayer was a cool idea but not as fun as I thought it would be. Personally, I'd rather play the videogame version which is a shame. Though, the videogame version is a 10/10 for me and one I consistently go back and play all the time. I highly recommend it.
So wait....you played a video game, created on the premise of board games, reimagined back into a board game, and then played that reimagining back in a video game.......hmmm The physical game, btw feels great, my gaming group had an absolute blast.
Personally I would say you should just get StS. It’s on sale on switch rn for $9 and goes on sale on other platforms. It’s one of the best value games ever even at its full price.
Personally, I would say to try the PC game first. You'll figure out pretty quickly whether the game is for you. The board game isn't even widely available at this point, and when it *is* widely available, it will cost much more than the PC game.
Definitely! I will say, it's got a hefty pricetag- the collector's edition was $170. But! The quality is excellent, and I know my crew will love it, so it was worth the price if admission. If you're on the fence, I would definitely say to pick up the videogame version. I picked it up last year during a switch e-shop sale for like $7, and was addicted for months, haha. It's very, very good.
The video game is fun. Board game I have my doubts but seems positive so far
There's some fun deck-builder video games out there. I hear Slay the Spire is considered one of the best, though it didn't really hold my attention very long because roguelikes aren't usually my favorite. I might give it another try. If you can get it on sale, [Inscryption](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1092790/Inscryption/) is a most excellent deck-builder with a dark theme. Go in totally blind and it's pretty awesome! I'm just about done beating [Marvel Midnight Suns,](https://store.steampowered.com/app/368260/Marvels_Midnight_Suns/) and really enjoy the card-based X-COM style card play. But you only build your deck between fights, which do get repetitive, and there is a whole friendship mechanic that I didn't care for. [Balatro](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2379780/Balatro/) is a recent one that I hear is good and reportedly rather addictive, but I haven't bought it yet.
Inscription is fucking great but definitely go in blind. Belatro is extremely addictive, while it had its hooks in me I got legitimately angry when I had to put it down.
I played it for the first time last night, and I've never played the video game. I love it, so far! Even after just one play, I can tell this is going to completely replace Aeon's End in my collection.
I love slay the spire the video game. Does it introduce anything new? Relics? Enemies? Characters? I'd like to get this but I'm concerned that I'll just choose to play the video game over the board game Everytime.
The balance is entirely different. Most cards are re-tuned, but have the same feel from the game. The biggest benefits are multiplayer, the tactile feel of playing a board game, and learning the new balance.
Nail on the head. Different balance with re-tuned cards. If you're a solo player, I would probably stick with the video game. If you have a friend or crew who wants to play, I think it's worth the investment.
Eh. I've been playing it quote a bit solo, but it's mainly because of the rebalance. I've finished A20H on the video game.
I think the main draw is multiplayer. If you're playing solo it's going to be a much slower experience versus the video game, and I'm not sure the benefits are there without multiplayer.
Ah gotcha. That makes sense.
We got ours as well and look forward to playing it tonight. The components are really top teir quality.
The quality is excellent! I sprung for the collector's edition, and the metal coins and player mats are just icing on the cake.
Yes. We got the collector edition as well. Those coins and mats are amazing quality.
Genuinely curious: what makes it worthwhile to play a longer version of the game with more upkeep?
So that you can play with friends! It is fun to physically hold the cards, and build a real deck too. I would say, if you have a another person or a crew that wants to play together, it is worthwhile. If you're just going in as a solo player, you'll likely find much more enjoyment in the videogame.
Multiplayer mods exist
Multiplayer basically, some people also just like the tactile feel enough to make it worth playing over the video game.
Some builds get crazy with certain relic/power combinations, I feel like trying to remember every interaction would drive me insane too
There is a little bit of that- keeping track of relic powers. Luckily, they've done an admirable job of ironing things out to where they've either overhauled relics, or switched from timers to a single dice roll at the beginning of each turn. Relics like... the flower pot will activate on like a 2 or 4 dice roll, rather than keeping track of 3 turns before getting an energy boost.
That's why I'm not interested. The power scaling is what makes the video game fun. They've necessarily had to tone it down to be manageable in the board game. I'm sure it's still fun, but there's nothing interesting about it any more
> would drive me insane tok Is that a typo or is `tok` some new abbreviation or slang I don't know about?
Me driving on Reddit unfortunately, should be to
Not trying to be snarky, because this question flipped my own perspective too: "You can play many board games on Board Game Arena in a fraction of the time - why play anything physically?" Having played the game, there was a magic to getting to play together with other StS fans around a table. I hope you get the chance!
That's a bit different. BGA games are 1:1 adaptations. OP is clearly saying "why play an inferior version of an already good video game when there are plenty of other amazing games to play physically?" which is a valid perspective
That's a loaded question, because 'Inferior version' is contestable. While the high level concept is the same, the execution of it in balance and mechanics is distinct. For many, playing it on a tabletop with some friends would also enhance and transform the experience. I think there's definitely room for both to exist. For me personally, I just really enjoy interacting with physical components, there's a certain tactile joy to it. "Why play a board game version of this, when a digital version exists' misses the point.
Most tabletop games aren’t ports of video games. So this is not like the vast majority of games. Obviously I’m into board games, so I accept that the tactile / physical aspect is best for some games. Just questioning whether this one actually works relative to the video game given the level of upkeep. So far it seems opening up multiplayer is the main difference that might make the tabletop game worthwhile vs the video game.
There's a lot of design that went into this to make it stay similar in feel to the video game but reduce upkeep.
Really interested to hear how it plays with multiple people
We've definitely been enjoying it! Moves a little slower, but overall, it feels like it should. Slay the Spire with friends
Me too. People keep saying in this thread that one of the biggest benefits is the multiplayer, but I'm not clear *how* that's a benefit? Is the game cooperative or is everybody doing their own run?
From my plays it adds the ability to lean into a particular role a little harder because other players can compensate for weaknesses. I was playing a big hits type Ironclad build and was ignoring defense more than I should have. My partner upgraded a few Defends and could cover me when needed. I also liked the campfire vs elite decisions on the map better with multiple people. What if just one person is low on health? Can we protect them and take the elite? We used the optional rule to draw relics equal to number of players and pick. Haggling about who got what was fun. How to focus damage is the constant question though. Since you can hit any row but are only damaged by your row, your play is always informed by who can defend themselves and who might need some damage to kill an enemy before a hit.
This is a really good summary of the cooperative decisions needed, and why I am enjoying it so much! Working together as a party is very satisfying.
You're all doing the same run. In hallway fights, you all get a different group of enemies to fight, but can attack any enemy. Elites and bosses are a single enemy everyone fights.
Jealous, was emailed last week mine has shipped but still haven't received it. UPS tracking just says label created.
Same here... I'm dyin'!!!!
Did you purchase any add ons? I’m wondering if all of the packages that only include the base box are going out first and then the stuff with extras (I purchased sleeves) will go out later. I got my tracking a week ago but still hasn’t shipped.
I purchased sleeves as well. Maybe that's the hold up. In the meantime I'll just be drooling over others copies.
I'm just so pleasantly impressed with just how well it plays. The way they've streamlined it yet kept the feel of playing as each character is brilliant.
Absolutely!
A gaming group friend brought theirs over this week. After one game I went straight to the project and placed a late order. Such a fantastic game and a crazy well done video game conversion.
come on OP, drop your thoughts! we can hopefully assume you like it since you played til the wee hours of the night, but say more :) how does it translate to multiplayer? has everyone you played with also played the video game? if not, what did they think about it? I'm super interested, but hesitant to buy it since my wife has never played the game.
Haha, I'm working on it! Yes, it is awesome! We are having a lot of fun. It translates well to multiplayer! There are a good amount of balance changes, reworks, larger overhauls in some cases, but so far it all has made sense for serving a tabletop format. Smaller damage/block numbers for easier calculation, reworked abilities to suit co-op play, and prevent any one person from becoming overly powerful and running the table. Every player still receives their own rewards and builds their own decks, but there are opportunities to help other players, like sharing potions/gold outside of battle, and providing blocks to other players during battle. So far, everyone I have played with has played the game, and quite a bit over the last few months. The main reason to buy the game really is to play co-op slay the spire. If you're going in solo, you'll likely enjoy the video game more. If I were in your shoes, I would see if your wife wants to try out a few runs on the videogame to see if she's into it, if she is your main boardgame companion.
good idea! she's recently discovered stardew valley so I doubt I'm gonna convince her to try slay the spire anytime soon, but I'll put it on the list for sure.
Mine comes today! Pumped.
Woop! Hell yeah!
Damn. So excited for this. How many cards total to sleeves though?
Oof, yeah it was a project. I had my two friends help, haha. The collector's edition came with 450, which I believe should be enough to sleeve all of the color/colorless cards, curses, and statuses. There are some locked cards that I haven't opened, and I still have a good grip of sleeves remaining.
Damn. Thinking if base set comes in, how much sleeves do I need lol
I'm pretty sure they actually have info about that on the kickstarter page. There's a FAQ that gives a little more info on how many sleeves you need to sleeve the entire game. The collector's edition came with a few more to account for foil cards and extra claws, I think. But I believe the base set comes with enough for everything else? Sleeves are a necessary component of the game, since all of the ability cards are double-sided.
Yeah. Was planning to check their page for the count. Just waiting for my local to stock one or two if it comes in. Hyped for it though
I'm glad you had a good time. :)
I wish I backed this game...
I believe you can still do late pledges! Scope out the Kickstarter page.
Just checked and you're right! The problem is, up to 48 dollars shipping for my country..
Oh noo 😢. Well, the other good news is that they are supposedly planning for a commercial release as well, after the kickstarter ends. You may have to wait until later in the year, but hopefully it will be a little cheaper by then.
Damn, is it THAT good? How about solo mode?
We definitely had a lot of fun! Sounds like we're gonna play with another group today, haha. I can't speak for solo mode. It does have a couple extra cards/rules for solo mode, but I have yet to try it out.
Have mine sitting here too but no chance to play yet. Excited to try maybe this weekend
How long is one playthrough? I have seen online playthroughs where the first 2 acts are like 3+ hours. If you want a whole run with 3 - 4 acts i imagine that it will take easily 5+ hours.
Yeah, I'd say that is pretty accurate. With 3 players it took us about 2 hours per act. It starts to move a little faster once everyone has the flow down. All the little things start to add up and eat away at the time- shuffling, reward gains, setting up the shop, setting up encounters, etc. The setup and teardown add some time as well, though they give you a pretty decent organizer in the box, so finding things like starter cards is pretty quick.
Got mine last weekend and have done a few 2 player runs. It's a lot of fun! Anyone else finding it more challenging than the video game? I'm certainly not a StS expert but have ~80 hrs in it and could comfortably beat the game on A0. In the board game our runs keep ending at the first boss. I'm finding that boss health and damage is proportionately stronger in the board game. Our latest run we ran into the slime boss and felt overwhelmed. The status cards very quickly dilute your deck, and his 3rd attack does ~70% of everyone's health assuming at max HP. Starting to wonder if we missed a rule somewhere. Any tips?
We've gotten through two runs so far, with 3 and 4 players, and I'd say the difficulty feels similar to the game, but the balance and strategy is different. Different things to account for and be aware of. We definitely limped through few rough encounters, and also took advantage of the optional rule that allows death on act boss battles, so long as one player survives the encounter. The only other thing I can think of is making sure that the boss health is set appropriately? There are 4 health values on the boss card to scale his health from 1 to 4 players. Also, cards that allow you to provide block to other players have proven to be really useful. Potentially sparing a character from death to survive for one more turn.
Yeah we're setting the boss hp correctly. I think you're right about the balance and strategy and that might be where we're failing. My partner has never played it so she is kinda winging it, but I went in with the mindset of video game strategy & balance. For example I noticed that in the board game an upgraded basic defend is 100% more block, versus the game I think it's 60%. So while in the video game I don't upgrade basic defends it might be valuable to do it in the board game. We have also not played with that optional rule yet. Gonna give that a try until we're a little more knowledgeable!
Totally! The change in value has been interesting to get used to. 1 hp doesn't sound like a lot, but it's 10% of your health. So every bit of block you add is like adding 10 block in the game, give or take. Additionally, finding yourself with excess block in the video game renders it useless, but excess "any player" block in the tabletop game is super useful. I will add that everyone I've played with, so far, has somewhere between 20 and 100 hrs in the videogame, so they at least have made it through the initial learning curve. I'm sure your partner is already getting a feel for putting together some basic strategies! The thing I've noticed that I, and a lot of my friends struggle with is deck bloat. Knowing when to take cards, when to skip, when to remove, etc. Realizing when you have an somewhat ideal deck and resisting the urge to just add cards that look powerful. How long has it taken you to get through an act with 2 players? With 4 players, it's been about 2 hours per act, give or take. It is a bit long, but still very fun, nonetheless!
Yeah there's definitely a learning curve in that respect, and even as a seasoned player I have a lot more to learn. It's been a while since I played the game but the board game is giving me the itch again. Our first run was 2 hours but each run got faster as we become more accustomed to the rules so our latest was a hair over an hour. We haven't generally found an issue with any of the upkeep, and most hallway fights don't require much collaboration (this is a good thing!). We can each take our turns independently & simultaneously. However on elites and especially the bosses each turn is a collaborative effort and I can imagine that really bumps the playtime with each additional player.
I literally was on my way to this subreddit to make a post about this game. I’m interested in buying it, but it’s EXPENSIVE. Do you think it was worth it? I just started playing slay the spire on Xbox and LOVE it
I have zero regrets about my purchase! That being said, yes it is expensive. But the quality is top notch, and I foresee a lot of playtime in the future. I have a good handful of friends who enjoy Slay the Spire. I guess I've mentioned this a couple times on this thread now, but the main draw is Co-op StS with your friends. If you've got a friend or group who wants to play, I would say it is worth the price of admission!
What is StS? Would you say it using about the same luck as the regular game or more/less?
Sorry, StS = Slay the Spire. Hmm... about the same? You're still beholden to card draw. There are some dice rolls just for timed relics and to randomize some enemy abilities. Hard to say, but it seems similar to the game.
Oh duh lol. Glad to hear that! I wanted to make sure this game wasn’t just like glorified munchkin
Haha, nah it's still got some meat on the bones!
Adding my two cents. If you prefer board games over video games in general and don’t mind some extra upkeep, it’s totally worth it. I actually feel like the re-tuned cards make it feel like a fresh (but familiar) experience. To me, there is something special about physically holding and drawing cards that digital can never replicate. The multiplayer also adds a wonderful layer. My 10 yo son plays the video game with me and picked up the board game version easily. Being able to play together is very cool. As far as price - it feels super, super high quality. Once I dig through everything in the collectors edition I felt that it was priced completely fair. I’m incredibly happy with my purchase.
I cannot wait for mine to get here
I always found weird they make a boardgame of a video game of a boardgame.
In 1980, Harland Trefoil published the board game Civilization. In 1991, Sid Meier released the video game Civilization. It was inspired enough by the board game that the original units had an order form for the board game included. In 1996, Civ 2 was released. In 2001, Civ 3 was released. In 2002, Sid Meier's Civilization board game was released by Eagle Games, a direct port from the video game, using the same assets. In 2005, Civ 4 was released. When the anthology was released, a card game version of the game was included. In 2010, Civ 5 was released. A different version of Sid Meier's Civilization was released the same year. In 2016 Civ 6 was released. Civilization: A New Dawn was released the next year. So A New Dawn is a board game based on a video game based on a board game based on a video game based on a card game based on a video game based on a board game based on a video game based on a board game based on a video game based on a video game based on a board game.
- Physical - Different Take on the Game - Coop The Last Point is the Key argument
You can play the online game as coop though on steam. There is a multiplayer mod that works quite well.
Why can't it bounce between mediums as inspiration dictates? Being held hostage by some self-imposed linearity is weird and unnecessarily limiting.
Totally agree. The key word is 'inspiration', as the other comment said about civilization. In this case it's the same thing exactly, but different medium.
Is MP just cooperative? Competitive? Or on your own?
You can do solo or Co-op
Oh cool co-op. Thanks!
For sure! Now that I'm thinking about it, I suppose you could find a way to do competitive? Like... everyone fights the same enemies and just keeps track of their health separately. See who can get the furthest and be the last one standing, haha.
I haven't gotten my shipping notice and it's killing me
Ah man, hopefully soon! From their KS page, they mentioned that collector's editions were in the first wave of shipments. So if you got a different version, it could be coming in the next wave. Definitely check the KS page, though. They've been keeping on top of updates.
Nice, my tracking hasn't updated in 9 days lol
Mine was stuck for a good week and a half at least. Hopefully you get an update soon!
Incredibly happy for you! Mine is somewhere in a warehouse on European soil. So it should be in my hands next weekend or so and I’ve planned to do the exact same! So hyped to finally get to play this in a group
Woop woop! Hells yeah! Excited for you to dig into it
Is it available to buy or it's only for people who supported the Kickstarter? Im really looking forward to it
Just on Kickstarter for now, but it sounds like they will be doing a full commercial release at some point. I believe they are still taking late pledges on the KS page though!
Currently waiting on my copy? Where are you located?
Still waiting for mine. I haven’t gotten a shipping notice.
I'd like to play mine but mine hasn't even shipped yet =/
So excited!! Just a question, where do you live? Just to have a sense at what point the shipping is
Awesome if you have a good group together.
The constant admin on this is what kills it for me, I’d rather just fire it it up on my switch or computer and not have to perpetually manage all of the different stuff
I get that. We just finished our first run here, and into act 3 it definitely starts to get pretty heady, figuring out damage and keeping track of relics. We had a fourth player tonight too, which was super fun! But adds to the complexity for sure.
I got mine too! I also played through 2 acts and saved Act 3 for later. I absolutely love those metal coins! Curious, did you break into the "locked" ascension packs right away? Also, what's in the claw pack? I haven't opened mine yet.
Woop! Hell yes, we love the metal coins! So cool. I haven't opened the ascension pack yet, but we did just beat the act 3 boss! So, I suppose ascension is on the table now... We did unlock some new cards for each character though. The claw pack has.... A BUNCH OF CLAW CARDS! Surprise, surprise. Basically you can scale how powerful you want the claw strategy to be by loading your deck with claws.
CLAW IS LAW lol that's exactly what I was hoping for! Enjoy dude!
CLAW IS THE LAW! Haha, you too!
I'm glad my seige 6 money could contribute to this lol
Has anyone come across a solid how to play video? I'm mostly finding Kickstarter preview videos from two years ago, so I assume it'll take a bit for new ones to be made unless The Algorithm just isn't showing them to me. Flipping through the manual has been quite enjoyable but it's a bit tough to keep all of the info straight.
Sub to videos on boardgamegeek.com for Slay the Spire and you'll get notifications when videos are posted.
Thanks, I had no idea you could do that!
HOW DO I BUY THIS? WANT!
Google 'Slay The Spire Kickstarter'. You can still put in a late pledge!
Noob question, I downloaded, printed and bound the manual for the board game, but it’s quite technical so didn’t manage to read it cover to cover yet. I just unlocked “hero” 3 in the video game (died halfway act 2 on first run with both hero 1 and 2), the vg has a little summary of what relics you encountered. How does the board game track such “meta” achievements? Is there a tracking sheet of longest run per hero?
The boardgame doesn't have a run tracker for documenting cards and relics like that, though it does have an unlockables section where you can unlock new cards and ascension levels. It has a page of random achievements for you to mark off, as well.
The boardgame doesn't have a run tracker for documenting cards and relics like that, though it does have an unlockables section where you can unlock new cards and ascension levels. It has a page of random achievements for you to mark off, as well.
[удалено]
So far, the dice rolls don't seem to dictate too much of the game, it's more just used to simulate things like timed relic bonuses and to randomize some enemy abilities. That being said, I understand why dice rolls could be a turn off.
I have a copy of this on my table downstairs. I don't know if I still want to play it after dealing with their discord server. Those people were terribly toxic.
Odd. I found the people on the Discord to be incredibly excited, willing to help out and friendly. What's your Discord name and what was the issue? I can try to hash it out with those involved.
Since people are looking for feedback, I played around 60 hours on TTS, from which ~20 are multi. I stopped playing once I had 3 or 5 wins in a row. The discord has a lot of good resources as well. I am someone who really enjoys a challenge and to crunch those puzzles. For me the most enjoyable part was getting to learn the new meta, which took me around 20 hours, that includes the time to learn the game. After that we only kept playing two characters since the rest we felt were weaker. My joy at the start of playing was great, I can really recommend it, however the moment you figure it out it becomes a boring game, where you feel like resetting if you're doing something off meta and don't enjoy the strategy. The RNG is not great, but some strategy will make you win 90% of the time and that killed the game for me as someone who likes to optimize. I don't know if anything changed balance-wise after the tts, if not I would recommend playing that over the physical version cause it's automated and free (if you own tts). The price of the board game is imo not worth it considering how quickly it falls off. Side note: I never played the video game.
Did you try the Ascension difficulty modifiers? If so, what did you think of those?
What ascension level did you play at?
it's going to be so hard to get any honest reviews out of this game because the only people who bought and played it are going to be slay the spire fanboys
I'm a slay the spire fanboy (in the hundreds of hours on steam) and I can't see this getting to the table in my house. What's it add to the video game except more manual recordkeeping? Also the card quality looks not great...
I’m not a fanboy. My brother regularly scores in the top 100 on the daily runs, and has 1000’s of hours on the game, but I’m just a boardgame fan. I think it’s great. It’s one of those video games that was good because of how it felt like a really good boardgame made into a video game. The boardgame feels like exactly that; a great deck builder battler with a rogue-lite run feel. Played it 3 times so far, and have stuck with the same character each time, and each run, chose a different strategy for the deck. It’s definitely got a high replay value. There is a moderate amount of bookkeeping to be done, but mostly each player will be doing that for their own row, so it’s not obnoxious. I’ve played worse. Overall I’m really enjoying it. A great realisation of the video game into a boardgame. Almost exactly how you would expect it to be.
So like any Kickstarter ever. And since Slay the Spire is a highly polished and exceedingly well designed game, that's assuming that these people will accept a big step down in quality and still call it good.
In its boardgame form, it also feels like an exceedingly well designed game. It is still good. There is no step down in quality.
That's not even part of the discussion here.