Slay the Spire

title:	Slay the Spire
url:	link
download page:	link
license:	retail
genre:	Role Playing Games
developer:	Mega Crit Games
platform:	Windows (only accessible version), Linux, Mac, iOS, PS4, Xbox, Switch
release:	2019
features:	text, sound, visuals
last edit by:	pitermach

Description

Slay the Spire is a rather unique game combining both the genres of Roguelike and deck builder. You can play the game as 4 different characters,with the first being available right away and the others unlocking as you complete a run. Every character has a unique set of cards and abilities that make all of them different to play from each other requiring different strategies.

After selecting your character, you will be dropped on the first floor of the titular spire with a set of basic attack and defense cards, and you can select from one of the possible paths. You can always take a peak at the map to see the layout of the entire dungeon, something you'll need to do often to plan out your path as you can never take a step back.

If you get into a battle, this is when you get to use your cards. Uniquely for games of this type, you are usually able to see exactly what each enemy you're up against is about to do, whether that's attack and if so for how much, defend, buff himself or give you a status effect (called a power in this game). This allows you to precisely plan your next moves, whether that's putting up defences of your own or deciding what enemy to take out first. Defeated enemies will drop various loot, like gold, potions to new more powerful cards that you can add to your deck. Defeating elite opponents or bosses will drop relics, which are artifacts giving you permanent bonuses. You will also come across shops letting you buy new cards or potions as well as removing a card you no longer want from your deck for a price. Other rooms will contain treasure chests or random events which can give you both positive or negative outcomes

Each dungeon of the game includes 15 floors, with the last always being a boss battle. Defeating that boss will allow you to move onto the next dungeon, with a single run through of the game always consisting of 3 dungeons. Beating an entire run will unlock various things, from additional characters, to harder difficulty settings called assentions, to additional cards and relics which can appear in future runs. Considering that each dungeon and what's contained in it is always randomised, there is plenty of replay value to be had. If this is not enough, you can also partake in daily challenges, which are runs with a specific character and conditions, whether they're positive making your life easier or negative to make these more challenging. Beating enough of these will eventually unlock an even harder, 4th dungeon for you to beat. And if that's not enough, the game has a massive modding community who have created mods adding literally thousands of new cards, relics and enemies once you have exhausted all of the built-in content. All of the above, combined with some excellent fully orchestrated music and plenty of crunchy sound effects as you plow through enemies make Slay the Spire a wonderful experience!

Accessibility setup

The base game will not speak out of the box, and so you will need to install a couple of mods. This is by far easier if you are using the Steam version of the game, as all of these are in the steam workshop meaning that Steam will update them for you automatically. However, there is also a collection of these mods if you have purchased the game somewhere else, which you will find linked in the additional resources below.

There are now 2 mods that provide slay the spire accessibility, whichever one you choose is completely up to you and you as they both have their strengths and weaknesses and take very different approaches. The first mod is called TextTheSpire, and it allows you to control the game like a mud. You select menu options and cards by typing in commands into a text box, and information about what's happening is displayed in a number of windows. In addition to supporting all of the built-in game features, TextTheSpire can also work with a number of the most popular user created mods and has a path finding feature that will help you reach a specific destination.

The other mod, called SayTheSpire works more like a traditional screen reader by announcing what option is selected in the actual game interface, as well as providing a number of commands to get more information about the selected cards, monsters or items, as well as letting you review the map in a more visual manner. This lets you play the game much more like how it's experienced by sighted players. However, while all of the base game is supported by this mod, a few of the extra sections like the leaderboards, as well as user mods, aren't accessible. Further more, SayTheSpire currently only works with the game's GamePad controls, with keyboard support being worked on. That being said, both of these mods are under very active development, so check their pages for the most up-to-date information.

Regardless of which mod you go with, you will also need to download a couple of dependencies:

Communication Mod (for TextTheSpire),
BaseMod, and
ModTheSpire
And lastly Achievement Enabler which will allow you to get game achievements while playing with mods.

You will also need the Java Runtime environment installed. Clicking on the subscribe link on all of these mods should be all you need to do, Steam will download them for you in the background. If you wish to play using TextTheSpire, I recommend using ReadTheSpire which, when started will not only start the game for you but also automatically read all messages produced by the accessibility support and let you review them with hotkeys without having to switch windows.

Additional resources

The first post in this forum thread includes links to all of the mods for the Gog release of the game, plus other helpful information. All of the mods are also open-source and the links to their GitHub repositories are also included if you'd like to help out. It's also the best place to ask any questions you may have on playing the game.
The Slay the Spire Wiki includes a ton of information on all aspects of the game, from all mechanics, descriptions of every card and item, as well as strategies on how to play with every character

https://audiogames.net/page.php?pagefile=disclaimer)

Community

The following users have added this game to their favorites: arceus, jamestoh, grryfindore, darkblade 98, ficho, Dark, Lirin, fa1ckg, keyIsFull, the best in the world, pitermach

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