Easy recommend but I dunno if I'm in it for the long haul.
I haven't played a ton of deck/card games but I do enjoy a rogue lite/like/etc. Slay the Spire hooked me quick thanks to having elements of the latter. It was a big splash in the pan and I had fun getting used to its math. I tried to develop different strategies and approaches with the slowly opening deck. It was a fun little experience that plays great on the Steam Deck. I could suspend a run after any encounter and pick it back up whenever. Five minutes or ninety minutes, you can play this game in any length of session you so desire thanks to the encounters being so brief. But this quick turnover also hurt it for me.
Perhaps I played it "wrong" by sticking with the first character until I completed all the unlocks it offers? But I was growing a little bored by the end of that first grind. Switching to the second character was another quick splash of excitement but after the initial shine wore off; I started noticing more of what was the same rather than different. Same same same. I felt more and more constrained with how I "should" play. Somewhere in my dozens of gameplay hours I think the Deck itself became more responsible them rather than the enjoyment of the game itself. It went from a fun time sink to a situational/habitual one. And I think I'm moving on (for now?) without even having tried the other two characters.
All the same I had fun. And obviously yes, I did play dozens of hours. That always counts for something. The Overwhelmingly Positive reviews are deserved even if it sputtered out for me. Plus, sometimes I'm more bark than bite. It's not like I uninstalled it yet...
[copied from my Steam review]
I haven't played a ton of deck/card games but I do enjoy a rogue lite/like/etc. Slay the Spire hooked me quick thanks to having elements of the latter. It was a big splash in the pan and I had fun getting used to its math. I tried to develop different strategies and approaches with the slowly opening deck. It was a fun little experience that plays great on the Steam Deck. I could suspend a run after any encounter and pick it back up whenever. Five minutes or ninety minutes, you can play this game in any length of session you so desire thanks to the encounters being so brief. But this quick turnover also hurt it for me.
Perhaps I played it "wrong" by sticking with the first character until I completed all the unlocks it offers? But I was growing a little bored by the end of that first grind. Switching to the second character was another quick splash of excitement but after the initial shine wore off; I started noticing more of what was the same rather than different. Same same same. I felt more and more constrained with how I "should" play. Somewhere in my dozens of gameplay hours I think the Deck itself became more responsible them rather than the enjoyment of the game itself. It went from a fun time sink to a situational/habitual one. And I think I'm moving on (for now?) without even having tried the other two characters.
All the same I had fun. And obviously yes, I did play dozens of hours. That always counts for something. The Overwhelmingly Positive reviews are deserved even if it sputtered out for me. Plus, sometimes I'm more bark than bite. It's not like I uninstalled it yet...
[copied from my Steam review]