Should You Buy Slay The Spire: The Board Game?
Shut Up & Sit Down
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Slay the Spire has long been one of Shut Up & Sit Down’s very favourite deckbuilders, so we were immediately intrigued by its new cardboard iteration – Slay The Spire: The Board Game. Will it work? Will it be fun? Will it be as good as the video game?
Tom’s got the answers. Well, he’s got his answers.
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17.05.2024
I regret not backing this because I’ve never heard of the game until I started seeing the campaign for its board game port. I started playing Slay the Spire on my phone out of curiosity and had so much fun. Now seeing all these praise of its board game counterpart just makes me want to own and play it, and share the experience with friends.
Hi there nice review..
IMHO, this boardgame should have been solo only. Playing only one character.
Having the original digital version (which is great), I personally don't feel the need having the boardgames at home (and Especially at that price).
And as far as multi-player Deckbuilding boardgame, Well… There are way better out there, such as Aeon's end and astro knights. Or the amazing spirit island.
Cheers from belgium
I think the price makes sense to me. If you love slay the spire and want a physical memento that is cleverly designed and is a fantastic game in it's own right? This is fantastic, because making a purely digital product means that it doesn't face the same trails as making something in a factory. Even then, it's chosen a minimalist approach. We didn't really need ton's of mini's when cards work just fine, and it's a snug little box that might serve as a gateway drug to cardboard addiction, like the entrance of a collectable card game owning store where all the addicts rip open foil sealed packets for a cardboard fix and a little gamble for the elusive shiny.
I think the added multiplayer is reason enough at the price point given everything you've already mentioned in the review. One of the few things I think is missing in Slay the Spire and I'm desperately hoping the sequel contains is a multiplayer option.
I was considering buying this, guess I won't even try now, I waited too long. It will be sold out for months after this video…
The cards being redesigned for a board game actually sometimes change them quite a lot (even if they have the same art), which then brings new synergies to explore. Haven’t played enough yet but sometimes I even think they balanced the cards better, e.g. Going from a must pick to the more interesting ”sometimes” pick.
Just live SU&SD – equally informative and fun 🎩
I don't understand the Bloodborne hate. It's a very solid design which actually introduces some new ideas into the board game medium for a change. You don't need 20 boxes to enjoy it.
Slay the spire slaps. Personally have no appeal to play a worse, less convenient version.
Though the point about the cards is a good one
The criticism that per-turn kill is incentivized over everything else also relates back to StS's higher Ascension levels, in my opinion.
Words with Friends, the board game
Bloodborne is a good adaptation of a fantastic video game. AND… a superb collector’s edition for people who love the video game. So all those plastic miniatures have value.
And now you owe us a Bloodborne review sir!
I would assume the "breezing thru" encounters issue fixes itself by higher Ascension levels and im a bit disappointed to not hear more on that. Having almost exactly 1k hours and having beaten the game on A20 with all characters myself i find it incredibly boring to play on lower Ascensions. But after 1k hours i still find myself booting the game up!
This is by far the best videogame to boardgame adaption I have ever seen.
I recieved my kickstarter box 1 month ago and played with my friend who hasn't play the videogame but likes deckbuilders.
We had so much fun, that we played for 7 hours straight, all the way through act 1-3.
My friend was holding on to 1 HP at the end of a thrilling bossfight.
The coop aspect is really elevating the gameplay compared to the videogame.
The box also features an exceptional organizational system. Which makes setting and cleaning up easy and enjoyable.
Strong recommendation for anyone who likes deckbuilders, rougelikes and coop-games.
I'm an artist in the games industry, and it bugs me so much how bad all the art is. I know that's a me problem, and it doesn't matter to the game, but come ooooon it's so arse!
"should you buy it" aka good luck buying it. It's already sold out. The late Kickstarter closed two weeks ago.
Excellent review. Just wanted to point out that yet another (maybe somewhat niche reason) to get this is if you have friends who are familiar with Slay the Spire, but have little experience with "large" board games. This is a great way to ease some of the anxieties of feeling like a large board game box is intimidating, obtuse, or heavy.
I've owned this for about a month now. I've played with my main group (4 board game nerds in our 30s/40s) and we love it. We stopped playing Gloomhaven a while ago because the admin was too much and we immediately recognised the same feel here with much lower time overheads. I've played with other friends and their kids – it's really easy to teach and learn. But mostly I've played with my own kids (age 8 and 6) and for this it is wonderful. Like a lot of young kids, my 6-year-old doesn't like to lose, so collaborative games are the best way to get him to the table. They've both learned card game basics through stuff like Pokemon TCG and so this is a breeze for them. They've declared Fridays after school to be 'Slay the Spire campaign time', and they've also started a separate campaign without me (they just did this with no supervision at all). For a nerdy family, this really does fall into perfect sweet spot – they recognise it from their computer games so they're excited, the game play is easy to learn with a nice curve, and all the components are really high quality so they want to play with them. I think part of its success is the high frequency rewards – you don't have to wait very long to get something new (unlike say Gloomhaven where levelling up takes ages). Anything that helps my kids choose to put their screens down is a winner for me.
That same tactile feeling I have with Star Realms… Yes the app is wonderful but it's as wonderful to "feel" the cards in real 😅
One of the best games I've gotten from a kickstarter. Backed it mostly blind because I like the video game but it works suprisingly well, are fun co-op and the production quality is very good. The game could easily have become a fiddly mess as a board game but they managed to make it flow nicely with pretty easy setup and teardown. Recommended.
Sensational video as always! Perfectly stated!!
Slay the spire the videogame can be played coop thanks to a mod. And it has the same parallel play problem.
Couch coop sts sounds like me having an internal crisis while I watch people make bad decisions and try not to say anything too mean to them. 🫥
Hi Tom, Just for the super rare case you have never heard of that game: Please play PEGLIN. You will love it. Its Deckbuilding, kind of. and somewhere in the sphere of slay the spire and balatro 🙂
Board game adaptions of single player computer games… I don't understand.
Especially when they cost much much more than the pc game
I've never understood the appeal of card based video games. Sure, they can do interesting things that a physical card game can't – but we already knew that. Video games as a whole can do so many things a physical card game can't and card based video games leave so much of that on the table to imitate a medium that is, at best, two steps backwards on the gaming evolutionary chart.
Bloodborne (the video game) ❤
This video is the Watcher, it's that good, even OP.
Well, this did get me to want to restart the game on xbox.
As someone who has played both the digital and the analog version I can say that this review absolutely nails it! Nothing to add.
Poking fun at Bloodborne (actually a decent game afaik) when Dark Souls is right there (another truckload of plastic, but executed far worse) comes across as somewhat… under-researched(?) for someone who ought to be an expert on the topic.
Also the statement about videogame adaptations in general is a bit wobbly, there's been quite a few decent ones over the years, and I don't think as a group these games stand out very much from the typical curve of overall board game quality. It's just that the IP brings far more attention to them than you'd give 80% of the games you see debut at Essen SPIEL.
Also, I'm sad that this is another solo review. More chemistry please!
I feel like your "drawbacks" are kinda just silly. Even with the bloodborne game i just think ur mossing the point. Yea, its based off of a videogame, but tht doesnt automatically make it a bad translation just because now u have to shuffle a deck. This just seems silly. The reason you wuld wanna adapt a videogame into a boardgame is to either introduce a brand new player into the world if they arent "gamers", and the fact that you can actually play with other. Its interesting how a board game channel is griping about the automation and not highlighting the fact that u can sit down a play with friends. Good review just thought the "issues" were silly. Especially for a deckbuilding game. They are rhe easiest to translate into the real world.
As someone who has never played the video game and has no interest in playing the video game (I have to eschew them because I get addicted) I wish this review DID take the time to tell me how to play.
i’m definitely not the target audience because I’m a minority, but I am visually impaired in such a way that I can’t really play video games, but board games are accessible to me so my partner was very excited when this board game came out because he’s a huge fan of the video game and wanted to share it with me. This game is amazing and very fun and I’m super glad that it exists.
Bloodborne is a great game. Don’t mix Steamforge Games with CMON. CMON actually tries to make a great game around their minis.
I actually did pause the video to go play the videogame for the first time. It was on xbox gamepass too! The game was great and I ended up not being able to put it down for probably 3 hours. 😅
so weak and vulnerable CANCLE EACH OTHER OUT in this edition!? one of the things i praise slay for is that they stole the RIGHT things from Mtg (synergy, mechanics, powerful cards). magic has a rule that when you put -/- and +/+ tokens on the same card they cancel each other out TO REDUCE BOOKKEEPING. so even if THESE tokens don't do diametrically opposed things, they wanted to REDUCE BOOKKEEPING. So once again they stole the thing that worked XD
I didn't know what I was getting into man! I just wanted to play Bloodborne with friends. Now all my friends are plastic
nice
The mod "spire with friends" is a fantastic way to enjoy StS cooperatively
I was also very skeptical of this game (love the video game!), but glad to hear multiple sources saying it’s good. My husband and I have actually been really enjoying the Divinity Original Sin board game. Tom mentions it requiring a bunch of admin, but I don’t understand that. It’s quite simple, especially for someone who plays a lot of Gloom/Frosthaven. Those games require a TON of admin, to the point where I don’t find them all that enjoyable anymore, but DOS the boardgame is very simple to run. Setup is very quick as well. The deckbuilding takes a while, but that’s part of the fun! Looking through all the possible skills and picking/re-speccing your characters is super fun.
Slay the spire video game promises more than it can deliver…
it does so many things right, but making trashing stupid weak, and mostly non-permanent, means you're just really annoyed with all the trash in your deck almost all the time.
sounds like this board game also over promises.
For some reason I always expect a big "ploink" sound or something, when that pear drops.
What's the sound of a pear? Could we get one in the intro? 😀
This is a lovely game for hosting those who have never played STS and most likely won't. Being able to give simple group prompts and watch the light bulbs turn on as people get the rush of learning the beautiful systems of it is why you buy this. Try it out with some newbs Tom!
I'm intruiged as I dont like a "card game video game".
It always puts me off when in video games they adapt a physical depiction of something (like an attack card) as a digital depiction of that physical depiction of something. 😵💫😵💫
I mean, why don't they just show a menu for the attack? I'm not holding any card in front of my PC like.. in a real card game! Its just the most effective way ton play at a tabletop.
The fact that you can't just lay out your cards and go "someone tell me what to do" is a benefit imo. I can't stand "co-op" games that are really just solo games but we all debate what the optimal path is (*cough* Pandemic *cough*). Playing Slay the Spire on the big screen with multiple people backseat driving sounds like pain.
"Doing maximum murder" is not only a great turn of phrase, but is also some of the best advice in many co-op games, including Gloomhaven. Depending on the situation of course, it seems like a lot of co-op board games that involve fighting monsters end up being mostly about this, with other strategies like "blocking" being a second-best option. This doesn't make me love Gloomhaven any less 🙂 The difference there is maybe that you really have to cooperate to do maximum murder. It sounds like the synergies in the Slay the Spire board game aren't as common for this.
I think that bloodborne is a great game!
Slay the Spire 2 was recently announced as well. 👍
I've played the board game on TTS a bunch when it was on kickstarter. Everything said here is true, the game is fun, and the reason to get it in my opinion is to be able to play Slay the Spire in multiplayer.
The catch is, you can already play Slay the Spire in multiplayer. There's a very good mod on the steam workshop called "Together in Spire" which works almost perfectly. They even have a separate mod that adds cards that let you interact directly with your teammates. The existence of this completely removes any reason I would have to play the board game. In addition, due to their work here I suspect Slay the Spire 2 may have built in multiplayer.
That said, if you are a huge Slay the Spire fan, it's a great collectors item. Also, some people really enjoy the tactility of playing in person.