Slay the Spire , First Run of The Ironclad - Early Access Watcher -
0Disclosure: This game copy was bought by the reviewer.
A massive spire stands before two heroes with the promise of treasure and relics to lure them in. This go around we see the Ironclad venture into the second zone after defeating the boss in the first area. Each defeated foe adds another useful card to his deck and while treasure chests and merchants sell them too, their biggest benefit is in the form of relics. They provide the needed bonuses and buffs to conquer the ever growing strength of the tower's residents. Death is inevitable (as seen in part two), which means the tower's layout is bound to change with each new run. Random events also have a chance to reward card upgrades, extra life or negatives in the form of curses. Die, fight and die again in order to learn of powerful card combos needed to overcome the evil within and hopefully make it to the top of the spire.
There have been a lot of games incorporating card game mechanics into their systems lately, but this game really surprised me with how well it can be used for combat. You are given 5 cards by default with three mana per turn to either buff, attack or block. Each enemy attack is telegraphed so the strategic component comes with knowing when to block or attack. With the addition of more cards and the ability to remove cards, you make it so you can pull off some great attack chains while maintaining health.
The presentation is top notch too, from the character designs to the attack animations. Combat is also smooth, quick and easy to get use to with little down time. I was surprised by how well the game ran as a whole. No visible frame rate issues, no hitching on attacks and loading is reasonably speedy. I will be posting the second character's run along side this to show how different the decks are.