Slay the Spire is a game that happily mixes the randomized loot-finding and monster-killing action of old-school RPGs, with the slow and strategizing gameplay of collectible card games like Magic: The Gathering or Yu-Gi-Oh. What is Slay the Spire? Slay the Spire has the player engage in combat with enemies as they climb through the levels of the titular Spire. Combat in this game is done with cards; as you successfully defeat monsters and make your way through the Spire, your deck grows more powerful as you upgrade cards and collect more powerful ones. Your cards allow you to attack monsters, block their own attacks against you, or perform spells that can give you buffs (like increasing the amount of damage you can block) or even apply negative effects on your enemies (e.g. make them take poison damage every turn, have them lose hit points whenever you play a card, etcetera). Going Through the Spire Whenever you go start a run (note: a run is an attempt at clearing all three levels of the Spire, each level punctuated with a boss battle at the end), the game gives you a bunch of basic cards to start with. These cards are pretty straightforward enough: they allow you to attack and shield yourself from enemy damage. Over time, you'll be able to strengthen your character through the various cards, single-use potions, and relics (items that provide permanent buffs throughout all of your battles) that you collect along the way. Encounters are randomized per run. You'll be able to pick your route throughout each of the Spire's levels. For example, if you want to risk fighting stronger enemies (called Elites in the game) so that you'll get more relics in return, you can pick a route that will specifically have you facing off these Elites. On the other side of the coin, if you want to avoid the stronger enemies to conserve your hit points, you can pick a safer route that allows you to fight only normal enemies, or a route with multiple rest sites where you can sleep (to recover some of your health) or upgrade your cards. Progressing and Future Runs Whatever choice you make, if your hit points drop to zero, you're dead and the run ends. You can restart and try to climb the Spire from the very first level, but you'll get a whole new randomized map with new monster encounters. The cards that you've collected from your previous run will be gone too. Don't fret, though. All of that progress isn't for nothing. As you climb through the Spire's levels, you'll unlock stronger, more complex cards that you can use in future runs. There's even a random event that allows you to store a card that your future self can use in your next runs. You'll find lots of these weird and unique events scattered throughout the game- some events can give you a chance to acquire a new relic or get one of your cards transformed (i.e. randomly turn into another card). Conclusion Though the game might seem too harsh, all of these randomized elements and the game's slow and steady deck-building gameplay is what endears itself to its players. No playthrough is the same- every run is a new experience, making you think up of exciting new tactics and strategies on the fly.