Slay the Spire: The Board Game Review (2024)

Among the pantheon of indie games, few have reached the levels of success and notoriety as the much beloved Slay the Spire from Mega Crit. After a very successful Kickstarter campaign, bringing in nearly $4 million, Slay the Spire: The Board Game, developed by Contention Games, has reached backers and is poised for its retail release. Board games based on video games are pretty common these days, with the likes of Divinity: Original Sin and Cyberpunk 2077 notably receiving one. Slay the Spire: The Board Game may be the most faithful of these adaptations I have ever played.

What’s in the Box

Slay the Spire puts you in control of one of four distinct characters with the simple goal of building a deck of powerful enough cards to tackle the four increasingly challenging acts, with the end goal being to make it to the Heart of the Spire and, as the title says, slay it. Each character has a unique set of 80+ cards you can unlock and add to your deck to tailor your approach up the spire. These, along with the tons of special artifacts, potion cards, and upgrades you will have at your disposal, let you play your way and try new ideas.

You will progress up the spire, taking paths that will put you face-to-face with various encounters, from clashing with enemies or more robust elites to resting, shopping, and more. Aspects of each act are randomized, with some spots being blank and requiring you to put tokens down that will reveal themselves when you land on them. Encounters, enemies, and even the bosses are all handled by individual decks of cards that you draw from that help make each game session all its own, full of its challenges. If you find things too easy after a few games, you can adjust the difficulty, too.

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Fans of the digital game will be happy to know that the Ascension system also makes its physical debut here in the board game. This system allows experienced players to increase the difficulty of their games by adding additional restrictions, increasing enemy health (there are even extra cards you unlock specifically for these Ascension levels), and more. Considering all the options and avenues for customization provided to you, Slay the Spire TBG offers plenty of replayability for its price tag.

Slay the Spire: The Board Game may be the most faithful video game adaptation I've ever played.

This board game rendition of the indie superstar has seen some tweaks and adjustments to make it more friendly as a game for your tabletop, with most of those changes helping with the mental upkeep the game requires. An example of this can most clearly be seen in the health pools and damage values. In the digital game, these could range from single digits to the hundreds, with various triggers and effects impacting them. These values have been greatly reduced to make them easier to tally mentally on the spot, and they go a long way in making the physical experience enjoyable.

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However, there's still a fair bit of upkeep and maintenance you have to keep track of during your turn – moving cubes, making sure you factored in the vulnerable token on the enemy and what shields they had – you get the idea. It isn’t the heaviest or most intense upkeep in a game I’ve played, but if you are new to board games or keeping track of numbers isn’t quite your thing, it may be a turn-off for you. It certainly gave me a new appreciation for just how much the computer handles in the video game.

Being a deck-building game, Slay the Spire TBG comes with many cards, more than 700 of them, along with all of the other tokens, coins, double-layered boards, and other do-dads that make the game work. These pieces are high quality, with the cards being especially nice, thick, and durable. They feel good to hold and shuffle.

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Each character's skill cards are double-sided, with one side being the base version of the ability and the other its upgraded version. To make these cards work (it wouldn’t be much fun if you knew what cards you were about to draw), the game also comes with enough high-quality sleeves to put these cards in. Between popping out the tokens and sleeving the cards, you won’t be able to jump into a game right away when your copy arrives.

Thankfully, the organizational insert for Slay the Spire is top-notch, with references in the rulebook showing where things go, individual spaces for all of the components, and card dividers that clearly show what cards are where so once all of the prep work is done, getting the game setup and ready to play is pretty painless. The Collectors Edition of Slay the Spire comes with even more, such as neoprene mats for each of the four playable characters, additional boards, and hefty metal coins in a mesh bag, with a larger box to accommodate the added components.

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The biggest draw and most dramatic deviation from the source material is cooperative multiplayer. You and up to three friends can each embody one of the characters and tackle the spire together. Playing as a team feels nearly identical to tackling the game on your own, with each player receiving unique artifacts, potions, and abilities. Each player will contend with their randomly spawned groups of standard enemy mobs (elites and bosses are still on their own), but combat is also where that cooperative aspect kicks in.

The biggest draw and most dramatic deviation from the source material is cooperative multiplayer.

Players can target and attack any enemy, regardless of which row they're in and who they're currently attacking. And with the inclusion of some brand new cards, players can even provide shields and other benefits to each other to help weather particularly nasty turns. Often, my friends and I would act independently and deal with easier enemies alone, but with elites and the act bosses, teamwork and strategy proved crucial because if one of us went down, the game was over. That feeling of pulling the perfect card to save my friend or working together to take out an enemy before it could kill one of us never got old. The multiplayer works so well with Slay the Spire TBG that I’m on my knees, hoping that Mega Crit will adapt this cooperative mode into the upcoming Slay the Spire 2.

There is very little difference between playing through Slay the Spire as a solo board game versus with friends, and it just feels like you are playing a physical representation of the video game. Elite and Boss monsters have their health adjusted depending on the player count, but besides that, there isn’t a real impact on the game. And unless you want to play as multiple characters, you are on your own – there are no AI-controlled partners here.

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I had a blast building out my deck and tackling monsters alone. It was that same rush I get when I'm having a good run in the digital game, but each time, I was left with the same large and obvious question – why don’t I just play the digital version? Even now, I can’t think of a good reason to play the board game solo over just playing the digital game.

I don’t feel right saying it'sa problem that it's too much like the original game. The original game – and this board game – both feel and play fantastic. But it also is one of my biggest takeaways of the product. If you are primarily a solo board game player or expect to play Slay the Spire TBG solo, I don’t think this game will suit you. For nearly five times the cost of the digital game – $24.99 for digital / $115 (base version) or $170 (collectors version) for the board game – all you get is the physicality of the pieces and the ability to start at a later act.

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It’s not that the solo mode isn’t a good time; it’s a great time, but you can get a nearly identical experience for a far lower price that also removes all of the manual upkeep and stat maintenance, and you can play it on your phone (or PC, or tablet, or game console). Without the setup time, space requirement, and faster turnaround time between runs, I would have liked to see something more substantial to make the solo mode feel unique in this adaptation and make it more worthwhile for all your solo players out there.

Where to Buy

Contention Games has taken what made the video game so special and brought it to the tabletop exceptionally well. From its brilliant storage solution and quality components to the implementation of an incredibly fun cooperative experience, Slay the Spire: The Board Game has slayed this reviewer’s heart. While it may not offer much for the solo-exclusive player that the far cheaper digital version doesn't already provide, for the group of friends who love Slay the Spire or are fans of deck builders in general, you can’t do much better than this game.

Slay the Spire: The Board Game Review (2024)

FAQs

How long does the Slay the Spire board game take? ›

Me and 3 Friends just played the Board Game for the first time and needed around 9 hours and we are almost at the Act II Boss!! We are having a Blast and don't rush it at all but I can't imagine beating an Act in 90 minutes as the Box suggests.

How long does it take to 100% Slay the Spire? ›

When focusing on the main objectives, Slay the Spire is about 12 Hours in length. If you're a gamer that strives to see all aspects of the game, you are likely to spend around 192 Hours to obtain 100% completion.

How many people can play Slay the Spire board game? ›

Board game adaptation

A notable difference from the video game is that the game can be played co-operatively with four players. A crowdfunding campaign for the board game was launched on November 2, 2022, and reached its funding goal after just 6 minutes.

Is Slay the Spire board game coop? ›

Slay the Spire: The Board Game is a cooperative deckbuilding adventure. Craft a unique deck, encounter bizarre creatures, discover relics of immense power, and finally become strong enough to Slay the Spire!

What is the best way to play Slay the Spire? ›

To truly "beat" the game, players will need to first get to the heart of the spire with the Ironclad, Silent, and Defect first. Until that happens, players should focus on one character, leveling them up until reaching the heart. Then, after getting to the heart, move on to the next. This only needs to happen one time.

What is the point of Slay the Spire? ›

You pick one of four characters and climb up a several-floor tower, battling monsters and gaining cards to add to your deck. Your goal is to reach the top of the tower and defeat its rotating final boss, a goal as simple to comprehend as it is brutal to execute. I've been with Slay the Spire almost from the beginning.

Is Slay the Spire simple? ›

Slay the Spire is the very definition of a game that's simple to learn and difficult to master. The core mechanics and gameplay are so easy that anyone can pick it up and have a relatively fun time, but learning how to survive takes time and effort.

What games are better than Slay the Spire reddit? ›

Played and liked Roguebook and Monster Train. Trials of Fire is pretty good, but less like StS. For some reason Loop Hero isn't grabbing me but maybe I need to give it more time.

What happens when you win with all 3 characters in Slay the Spire? ›

Once the Act 3 Boss has been defeated with all characters except the Watcher at least once in a normal run, three keys will begin to appear in subsequent normal runs. If all three keys are collected in the run, the run will not end after the Act 3 boss; instead, the player will enter Act 4.

Does Slay the Spire have a story? ›

The story of Slay the Spire is far from its greatest selling point, but a fascinating, mythical lore underwrites the game; the steady realization of the many, many times that you've climbed the tower, the avian and reptilian cults that haunt and hinder you on your way up; the mysterious conflict between the corrupt ...

Can you play a power twice in Slay the Spire? ›

The second play will not cost any Energy, but it will trigger any other consequences of playing the card. For example, an Amplied Biased Cognition will cause you to lose focus twice as fast. The second play of a card that costs X energy will use the same value of X as the first. The second play acts as a separate card.

What is the longest taking board game? ›

The Campaign for North Africa
DesignersRichard Berg
GenresMilitary simulation
Players2–10
Playing timeUp to 1,500 hours
SynonymsCNA
3 more rows

How long does the average board game take? ›

Moving on to more popular board games like “Monopoly,” “Catan,” or “Ticket to Ride,” you can anticipate a playtime ranging from 1 to 2 hours. These games often involve strategic decision-making, negotiation, and resource management, which can extend the length of each turn and overall playtime.

Is there an ending for Slay the Spire? ›

Act 4 or The Ending is the fourth and final act of Slay the Spire.

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