They crushed this. My son is a huge fan of the video game and rarely ventures into the board game space. We both loved it on our first run.

We were also pleasantly surprised! My husband and I really enjoyed the mobile game and once they announced we were like, well this could be fun on the table but we might not really play it much - I think it'll make it to the table more often than we expected!

Contention games nailed it with this one. I enjoy having Slay the Spire on PC, Android, and as a board game. I soloed acts 1,2, and 3 three times in 1 week, and it felt like rediscovering why I played it in the first place. There are new synergies for some characters because some of the card's texts are altered to be more board game friendly. Just a couple of notes on the video: there is a claw pack with 8 claw cards in it if you want to give yourself the chance to build that kind of deck with the Defect (I guess you could use it in another deck too) There are 2 of every common card, 1 of every uncommon, and 1 of every rare.

I have maybe 1000 hours in the game and was a bit sus on the board game, but played it today for the first time and my wife and I both loved it. Great game.

@dankfarrik8376

2 ай бұрын

How do the relics work? What I like about the computer game is that everything is automated and I don't need to keep track of anything. How does the boardgame do it? Do I need to think about playing 3 attacks in a row to get one extra energy etc etc?

@jhayemdoubleyou

2 ай бұрын

​@@dankfarrik8376Many relics like that aren't in the game or are changed in some way. For example, Pen Nib applies a Vulnerable on a die roll of 5 instead of doubling your 10th attack. From my experience, there's equal or less mental bandwidth required for the board game's relics than the video game's.

@dankfarrik8376

2 ай бұрын

@@jhayemdoubleyou oh that's good news! I might pick it up at some point. Thanks for the quick reply

im very surprised by this. I was also wondering why and who would want to play a more finicky version of the video game especially if they make no new skills / heroes. sounds like they did a good job.

@MrMpa31

2 ай бұрын

Me

@RandomPerson-nd2ey

2 ай бұрын

Huh, interesting perspective. I was quite the opposite. When I tried the video game, I kept thinking "This is a board game... I want to play it as a board game with others instead of a solo video game. Why did they make this as a video game instead? Why would anyone want to play a video game that could and should have been a board game?" That thought kept annoying me and I quickly lost interest. I mean, if I'm going to play a video game then I want it fully embrace being a video game instead of imitating a board game. I don't know, maybe I'm not explaining well. Perhaps that's made even weirder since I do enjoy board game style mini games in video games though I feel that it's still a video game at heart, I guess? It's not "me" playing Poker in a video game. I'm playing the video game and the character I'm playing as is playing Poker.

@jhayemdoubleyou

2 ай бұрын

You're surprised people like board games on a KZread channel about board games?

@umamifriends

2 ай бұрын

my thought exactly! Was curious about how you could improve on the existing formula

@Ghorda9

2 ай бұрын

@@RandomPerson-nd2ey the problem with physical board games is that there's lots of things that just couldn't work or would be annoying without automation

I do not know why but this video was one of the "best" Dice Tower reviews since a while back. I hope the three of you keep doing videos such as this.

The review is spot on. I played this with my game group and it was a big hit. One of my friends even commented that he wasn't as fond of the video game but really enjoyed this board game, in large part because of just how well the whole thing comes together multiplayer. That's not to say the board game doesn't play well solo too, it actually plays just fine with a single character using the small solo card boost that comes in the game. I wouldn't recommend buying this game if you ONLY want to play it solo, you may as well just play the video game at that point, but if you are even remotely interested in playing a multiplayer cooperative deck builder this is a great game, particularly if you did play the video game version and liked that. 🙂

Love the video game, I'm actually playing it while watching this in fact! I skipped on this, but would love to try it co-op if I had the option, and it sounds like they made it work better than I expected.

I got a few dozen hours of the board game and played around 6x the bg (solo and coop) and it still rocks! It's different enough from the digital version to keep it fresh and the co-op aspect of it makes it a 9,5/10 for me. Yesterday we won our first game of the board game and it was really satisfying!

Still waiting on mine to come in through shipping. 😢 No communication except through Kickstarter updates that the distribution will take weeks to sort out.

Not surprised by this review based on the video game. Hell of an expensive deck-builder though. (Atleast for the KS prices. Which is why I didn't back). I've you're interested in this, but daunted by the price. Give Slay the Spire a try on one of your favorite gaming platforms. It's litterally everywhere.

@Ghorda9

2 ай бұрын

if you look at it's contents it's actually reasonable, it beats out CCGs with price

Wow I’m happy to hear that this one is really good! I’ll have to keep an eye out for a retail copy

Only thing that held me back is the price. I totally understand why some will get and enjoy this in the board game medium especially with CO-OP, but the video game can be bought at 10-25% of the price of the board game and plays much faster. But I’m happy it’s well received.

@dragonlord0078

2 ай бұрын

Yeah, I remember when the Kickstarter went live, I thought the price was absurd for 'just a deckbuilder'. The sole reason I skipped.

@Allen-qs2xr

2 ай бұрын

Cardboard is more expensive than software wow What a surprise

@ThiccChoncc

2 ай бұрын

@@Allen-qs2xr Idk about you but price is still absurd to me when it has about the same amount of content as some new Aeon's End expansions and Aeon's End is still way cheaper.

@dragonlord0078

2 ай бұрын

@@Allen-qs2xr well, obviously I was talking about in relation to other board/deckbuilding games, not in relation to the video game. €100 for basically 700 cards (with not that extraordinary and repetitive art) and some sleeves is very steep. Other games at this price point offer more components.

@MrGainify

2 ай бұрын

You seriously think cardboard should be more expensive than Software? Where do you think the art was copied from?

I've been waiting for this review since I got my copy in a few weeks ago. It's so good. It's a perfect implementation of the video game, but now cooperative. Playing it cooperative reminded me of how our Gloomhaven sessions felt like. That's what makes it so special. I played it with three of my friends, two who had previous StS experience (one a lot and one dabbled) and another friend who never played it at all. Everyone was floored with how good it was based on their previous StS experience and comparing it to other deck-building board games. I can't wait to play it a lot more. It definitely rekindled my play of the video game as well.

@Battleguild

2 ай бұрын

Wish I could say the same, I'm still waiting on any sort of confirmation in any form of when my copy is expected to be shipped out. I just get told that it will take weeks and nothing more.

Great review. Thanks! I had similar expectations too.

Due to hand and wrist issues, I can no longer play video games like I used to. Personally, I'm so glad I backed this, even just for solo play. I realize I'm an edge case, but I'm really glad excellent video game adaptions like this exist for edge cases like me.

With multiplayer in the board game, it makes me wonder if they have plans to make a multiplayer mode in Slay the Spire 2 that was just announced...

@thorgeman

2 ай бұрын

Slay the Spire 1 offers multiplayer on Steam. I've played a couple of times with my friend and it worked well.

@BLAPGames

2 ай бұрын

​@@thorgeman unfortunately only available with mods so console or mobile lovers of the game have never had this co op option

@The_Bearded_Dan

2 ай бұрын

They do say there's "new ways to play that aren't announced yet" on the steam page

The biggest question is will this replace Aeons end. It seems to have a very similar vibe

I have only played the Tabletop Simulator demo of the Slay the Spire board game, but I enjoyed it more than the videogame. So contrary to the reviewers here, I would say I DO recommend it for solo play OVER the digital game for this reason: The board game is designed such that the player(s) can keep track of everything. (Otherwise, it wouldn't be functional.) In the videogame, I often have trouble keeping track of everything, but that's "okay" because the computer can handle it. But I prefer to have a better handle on everything that's going on. As a specific example, in the videogame, you can have a dozen or so artifacts toward the end of a run, all having minor statistical modifications on various things. I find that to be extremely tedious and confusing. The tabletop version keeps things much more manageable.

Can't wait for it to arrive.

Would have liked the input of someone who doesn’t know anything about the video game before

Love StS and the fact that this is a faithful recreation that is on par with the original is great - I agree that the multiplayer is the real draw, tho! Now, I'm looking forward to the Monster Train board game. xD

The boardgame is really amazing. I love the coop mode! I just want to point out that there is a mod for the steam version called together we spire. This adds coop mode and I played it for hours with my friends. I can highly recommend that as well. It's also for free whereas the boardgame is quite costly ^^

Agree with almost everything said here. The production quality is absolutely top notch, and it is such a fantastic board game adaptation of one of my favorite video games. One thing I wanted to add as a solo gamer and a huge fan of the video game. Solo two handed is pretty fun. It adds a bit more brain strain as you plan out your turns and the upkeep of two decks adds some downtime. However, getting to come up with good cross charatcer combos is really enjoyable. I am still not sure if it is enough to buy the game if you are going for solo only, but it is something that should be taken into account.

This is hands down the best cooperative deck building game on the market. It is a masterpiece

I love when board and video games cross over. The closer to one to one the better.

I've got hundreds of hours on the video game and have bought it on three different platforms (PC, Nintendo Switch, Mobile) plus played it on a fourth (Xbox Game Pass). Much like Tom and Zee I was hesitant when this was announced. Thinking about how the game works I was concerned that it would either A): Be an ungodly nigh unplayable bookkeeping nightmare or B): Gut so much content from the video game to avoid problem A that they end up with something that doesn't feel like Slay the Spire anymore. So as a result I opted not to back it. I had recently backed something else at the time and it was expensive. However, a friend of mine did back it and got his copy in a couple weeks ago. I have gotten to play it exactly once so far. I was extremely impressed. They managed to find a really good balance that maintains the feel of the video game while keeping all the stuff you have to track easily manageable. It's an absolutely brilliant balance. Very very impressed.

I was skeptical that they could pull this off so I didn't backed it on Kickstarter, but happy to see the high review scores

The Steam version has a mod that allows people to play the board game solo, and does a great job doing so. But playing multiplayer is not available (nor does it seem like a feature for the future), and I feel co-op would be much better with the actual board game anyway.

Glad it's good! I was one of several turned off by the more than $100 price tag for a game of this type, and I'd long since found other video game deckbuilders like Monster Train to be superior offerings. However, if people end up really enjoying this and the price comes down in retail, 'will definitely give it a look.

Played multiple times with my lady and our little kids and we all love it. (It surely helps that kids watch me playing the video game on Switch a lot)

would it be worth to buy the game if you were one person playing multiple character?

I also love the video game, I'm glad to hear that the board game is awesome too. Thanks for the intel fellas, I look forward to playing this multilayer with my family. Can't wait to play as my guy The Defect 🤙

Cracks me up how Tom cannot figure out what a video game is

@thedicetower

2 ай бұрын

I guess? I mean the line is really blurry these days. Is Magic the Gathering online a video game, or a card game? I don't think it's that simple.

@alex8480

2 ай бұрын

@@thedicetower It was more a joke of how you (I'm assuming this is Tom) kept calling it an app and Zee kept correcting you. It wasn't an actual dig - just a funny little thing. Since you bring it up, MtG isn't a good comparison because it started as a card game and has a digital version, so we refer to it as a card game or a digital version of the card game. StS started as a video game and has a board game version, so we refer to the video game and the board game version. Again, this was more about how it kept getting called an app and Zee kept saying "video game". Nothing serious

But will there be a videogame adaptation of this?

I am so happy to hear that others are loving this game. This might well be my favourite deckbuilder, and it's arguably better than the PC game. I really hope they make more content as I'll happily buy more expansions.

Love the computer game, didn't dare to go in on the Kickstarter because I didnt want to get disappointed, also fear I'd miss all the mod-content that now really feel and look like its always been part of the game, guess I'll have to pick it up after all..

I got this game about two weeks ago. I’ve played everyday since.

No frickin way!! They actually did it! Did not think they could make a hit of this. Will definitely be checking this out.

I love Slay the Spire the video game. Seriously, I play it almost everyday. Since I've got the board game I've felt more inclined to play it over the video game. It's smooth, it's fun, it's satisfactory to handle. Overall I feel like the Board Game is an even better experience than the video game. Yes, I would recommend for solo play.

Yeah I'm at a 9 too, this rocks!

For those who played the video game first, if you've 100% the game, all achievements and A20 all characters, would you want this for a new feel or variant? I love the game but super hesitant since it's mostly solo for me and it's kind of pricey.

Legit the best deck builder ever made. The designers put a lot of love and a lot of thought into this game. It paid off wonderfully. This game rules solo. It’s tighter and more challenging. It is a different experience from the video game. Completely worth it for solo.

@L0-R3Z

2 ай бұрын

Thanks, person who designed the game pretending not to be the person who designed the game to avoid a conflict of interest.

@colsanders101

2 ай бұрын

@@L0-R3Zwait really? Thats so embarrassing

@jakemiller663

2 ай бұрын

Can you prove it?

@cactus2304

2 ай бұрын

​@@jakemiller663 nah they're just makin shit up

@jakemiller663

2 ай бұрын

@@cactus2304 k, thanks boss.

This one’s a ten-bagger, baby

Man I love this game

This game initially seemed merely OK until I saw it was a coop game. Now it seems like it could be good. Of course, the size of the box leads me to believe it's expensive.

Never played the video game but unsure on the price point of ~$180 AUD

@xPromekx

2 ай бұрын

There is a lot of content in the box and the quality is very high. If you're on the fence, see if you can try it at a local game store first, I dare you not to fall in love with it after the first play.

@TheManAmongAll

2 ай бұрын

@@xPromekx Thankyou - I’m keeping an eye on it curious as to replay-ability but thus far seems good

played for my first game the game solo with the four characters.

Now if they’d just mass produce Gwent cards…

i'm very glad that jason is back❤

@chucktelschow

2 ай бұрын

Are you Jason’s mom? Lol

This is a 10

I actually think the board game is better balanced than the video game. There are so many cards in the video game that you rarely ever take, and almost all of them have either been removed, buffed, or had their effects completely altered to make them much more pickable.

Glad to see Jason. Hope to see more of him!

WHAAAT?!

It bothers me so much every time they say "app". ITS A GAME!

oh man i really want to play it so badly but the price is defintly too much for what it is ( card only game)

@the_verTigO

2 ай бұрын

It's not cheap, I agree. But there's definitely more than just cards (though there are a lot of those obviously) in there. There's two double-sided act boards, four dual layer character boards, loads of tokens, a die and four miniatures and finally sleeves for all the cards that can go in players' decks. And if you're looking at the collector's edition, that also comes with metal coins and five play mats that actually fit inside the box.

@Bleuchz

2 ай бұрын

Boardgames are more than their components.

@TeodorKarabelov

2 ай бұрын

It's not only cards, even though this is majorly what you will find in the box, but even excluding the boards, maps, characters, tokens and such, the sleeves rise the value quite a lot. Not a lot (if any) board games come with sleeves in the box so it would make sense for the price to be higher then what seems normal for a "card only" game.

@godot1785

2 ай бұрын

@@Bleuchz wtf am i suppose to do with that comment? I can buy board games wich also offers.tons of cards and also 20-30 higly detailed miniatures but lemme guess you invested already more than 1000 bucks into board games and think this is normal right? Sigh

@godot1785

2 ай бұрын

@@the_verTigO ah sorry the game is overpriced because of the tokens or that one board got it!(Instead of blindly defending anything just to defend their addiction cam people simply admit that this game is way overpriced? I can buy board games wich also offer tons of cards PLUS tons of miniatures inside and i am really sure they are more expensive to produce than cards so whats this shitty defemde here?

Never understood the appeal of a digital card game. This looks great!

@nerdyjawsh

2 ай бұрын

There are dozens of reasons why digital card games are loved.

@NathienSK

2 ай бұрын

Options that would never work or would be way too tedious in a physical game. Making cards shiny, permanently altering them (yet never losing the original), combining cards, duplicating cards, fishing specific cards from deck without revealing it. It just allows for plethora of new actions. With the right UI, even digital cards can feel good, drawing, playing, slamming them on the "virtual" table.

@Always.Smarter

2 ай бұрын

there's not much appeal. card games tend to be some of the worst performing video games. Slay the spire is just a good game that happens to use "cards".

Good to see Jason. Hopefully more frequent again.

i appreciate that they tried their best to recreate the video game, but honestly I think this version would have benefited a LOT from streamlining more of the systems. if you don't already know how to play, it's a lot to learn, and the games take a while even if you know what you're doing. it would also help to lower that insane base price.

It’s a lot of fun. But it’s sooooo long.

@appleseiter15

2 ай бұрын

How long does it take typically?

@douglestarge5865

2 ай бұрын

@@appleseiter15 I play it 2 players. We are both experienced at the video game and make quick decisions. It’s about a little over an hour per Act. So to do all 3 Acts it’s around 4 hours, plus another 45 minutes or so to do the final Act on ascension mode. You can break it up into sessions if you like, but that adds multiple set up and take down times.

@appleseiter15

2 ай бұрын

@@douglestarge5865 thanks for the info!

Mechanically sound but artwork is only meh.

@paupertim5819

2 ай бұрын

Artwork is from the video game, low budget indy game studio.

After about 10 games I would be bored . I’m not seeing why you play this over the video game for a fraction of the cost .

@plep1046

2 ай бұрын

Cause you can play this coop with friends, something you can't do on the video game?

@Ant-gu6vz

2 ай бұрын

Cause most of the time board games are memory making experiences with friends and family and when i play sts (video game), its damn fun but im not gonna remember anything outside of some good runs i had

"On line game" "already a board game" - so much red flags.

This does not track with my experience when i played it. Big fan of StS and a board game enjoyer, obviously, but this is the first board game i *ever* quit halfway through because i wasnt having a good time. It *is* Slay the Spire but on cardboard. Its a perfect adaptation. Thats why i dont like it though. All the upkeep is yours to do, and leads to the same outcome and experience as the video game, but slow. Its high priced for a board game and has too many components that its quality of gameplay doesnt justify. I find it is actually full of co-op problems, the biggest one being that the co-op decisions dont require much thought. There is no info restrictions when it comes to hands, so i doesnt matter if you dont know what they have, they can just tell you, and you can "work together" to easily find the most efficient solution every time. Theres very little noise to orevent this. More often what happens is "its ok, ill just kill this guy". Very little puzzle involved. IMO, As a deckbuilder, its just Slow the Spire. As a co-op, its kinda mid...

@heroponriki5921

2 ай бұрын

Strongly disagree. There's a lot of cooperative decision making that goes into this game. There's moment to moment stuff like which enemy is the biggest threat to take out now, which player should have which potion, or whether to fully block vs kill some enemies this round but take damage. But then there's also grand scheme stuff like which boss relic should each character get - everyone wants the energy relic but who really NEEDS it the most. And should we try to fight this elite? The Watcher is only at 3 health so maybe we should play it safe but we really could use those relics... I thought there was plenty of meaningful strategy. I've played twice and we lost the first round because everyone went full offense and we had no block to survive the Bronze Automaton's Hyper Beam. So on the second game I took a bunch of cards to give block to other players and play a support role.

I haven't tried the app yet, but either way I wouldn't want a paper version of it.

@darinherrick9224

2 ай бұрын

It's pretty boring. Very outdated at this point.

@alex8480

2 ай бұрын

Wouldn't want a board game version of a video game you've never played. Thanks for the contribution

As awesome as this looks, there's a game called hellcard. Which feels like co-op slay the spire anyways. Plus I'm sure there are mods for slay the spire to play co-op. So as fun as this looks, honestly don't think it's worth the price for me.

Hand of Fate (though largely out of print) is a much more interesting (and visually better) alternative to this. I really dislike the mediocre art here.

Contention Games rocks. Slay the Spire is garbage. Sad to see Contention waste their talents on such a mediocre IP.

The board looks boring. The board shouldn't have been a board. Should have been colorful cards with pictures that are randomly placed to make the adventuring path.

@cactus2304

2 ай бұрын

the board looks exactly like the video game's map screen

@L0-R3Z

2 ай бұрын

Then that's boring, too. This game could have been 100% card-based, without any bored. . oops, board.

Well the video game is ridiculously overhyped. So I'm wondering if it's the same for the board game? Video game is extremely vanilla deck builder.

@viktorbruce4541

2 ай бұрын

While I completely disagree I can understand how someone can feel the game is over hyped but you are just objectively wrong that the game is "extremely vanilla".

@Exozik

2 ай бұрын

The video game is not a "vanilla" deck builder. Vanilla deck builder is Dominion style games. The game has a lot more to it than it first appear. You would understand this if you played the game at high ascension level.

@nebelung1

2 ай бұрын

I think that is unfair to say, there was nothing quite like it when it first appeared. Now there are probably hundreds of games copying the roguelike deckbuilding style that slay the spire started

@NormalTheBand

2 ай бұрын

That's like saying Die Hard is an incredibly cliche action film. Sure, only because there was nothing like it when it came out, it defined the gold standard for the genre and everything that came after is basically copying that same formula with a twist.

@darinherrick9224

2 ай бұрын

@@Exoziki beat the game. It's the most vanilla boring rogue like deck builder I've ever seen. I've played a ton off them and this was thoroughly mediocre. Props for inventing the deck building rogue-like but that's it.