Co-op makes Slay the Spire: The Board Game an instant classic
Defeat the Spire is such an iconic video game that it practically forged a subgenre: the roguelike deck builder. By combining the classic tabletop experience of building a deck of wildly rule-changing relics with the convenience of a video game that can handle all the complicated math involved, Defeat the Spire has inspired a whole host of imitators. Now, it has come full circle, back to the realm of the physical, with Slay the Spire: The Board Game. We played it in our latest episode of Overboard and thoroughly enjoyed it.
It is fair to ask… Why? When the video game is So perfect, why would you want to make the game more complicated, with real shaking and math to do? The answer is actually quite simple: Slay the Spire: The Board Game lets you experience the spire slaying with your friends.
It’s surprising, but completely logical that Defeat the Spire would work as a board game. But it’s remarkable how elegantly it makes the twist. It shrinks all the numbers you have to deal with, and some of the combat mechanics have been tweaked, but it’s all meant to make it easier to play with your friends. For example, the player turn order is fluid, so you can figure out the best way to distribute your attacks among the monsters on the board. You’re also not limited to attacking the monster in front of you, but any monster on the field. This gives you the chance to defend a fellow player by targeting the monster that wants to attack them, or by making a monster vulnerable, only for another to hit them with their biggest attack.
“I never thought about how cool a co-op version of Defeat the Spire “It might have been until I played this, but the interaction between the different decks feels so cool that I immediately wanted to play this version forever,” said Simone de Rochefort.
Unlike many cooperative board games, Slay the Spire: The Board Game rarely felt like it was suffering under someone taking command. Since each player has a completely different deck that they build throughout the game, everyone feels like they have a role to play.
“I think a lot of people enjoy it Defeat the Spire “We were hoping for a way to play together, and the board game fulfills that wish in a shocking way,” said Patrick Gill.
“It nails the feel of the game without making the ‘dungeon turns’ too cumbersome. I think that’s what turned me off of the game.” Darknesshaven almost immediately, despite loving the concept. It wasn’t fun to walk.”
Crucially, the board game retains as much of what makes the game special. Defeat the Spire a “just one more match” type of game. Finding new relics is always exciting, upgrading cards is a treat (just flip them over in the included card protectors), and there’s a thrill in playing a new card that fits perfectly into the engine you’re building.
“I guess I’m just surprised that they made a board game version of a video game, where you spend most of your time doing the things you love,” Gill said.
The hardest part of recommending Slay the Spire: The Board Game comes with the price. Our playthrough used the $170 collector’s edition with metal coins and extra playmats, but even the regular version retails for around $100. It’s fair to ask if that’s too high for a board game based on a video game that you can pick up for $25 or less. Then again, for a group of avid Defeat the Spire Fans, the answer is probably very simple!
You can see for yourself in our let’s play at the top of this post, where we walk through Act 2 of our campaign. If you enjoy this video, be sure to check out the rest of Overboard about on our Youtube Channel!