u/BiggityBogle

It’s been way too long since I got this game out. It’s an old favorite but it takes a bit to wrap your head around so it’s one of those games that the longer it sits on the shelf, the easier it is to let it sit there.

I had some time this week so I got it back out and was able to leave it set up for a while. It took a couple plays to get back into the swing of it and then another couple before I was able to win the first era.

By the end I was able to play without referencing the player aid a ton which greatly increased the speed of play.

The game has an interesting AI in which you can see what threats you are facing and how likely it may be that each enemy activates. This activation is determined by a die roll though so you can never be 100% sure what is going to happen.

I do find the game to be very thematic and tense at times. It really pays to think through your strategy and be willing to adapt as the situation changes.

After winning the first era (finally) I decided I needed to move on to something else for a bit. I was reminded how great this game is though and hope to get it out again in the next few months before the rules fade from my mind again.

My copy of Underquest just arrived this week! I’ve gotten a few plays in and I definitely like it more than Iron Helm. It still is a lot of dice rolling and luck so if you did not like Iron Helm you may still not like this. Underquest does give you more levers to pull which makes it feel like you have more control to mitigate the bad things that happen though.

One thing that is new is character creation, you choose a race, class and an animal familiar. I really like this addition and there are good number of choices to choose from.

My favorite addition is probably the potion crafting. You can find ingredients to brew potions with and what type of potion you make can allow you to heal, cure poison, gain rations etc…

The quest system is also a welcome addition as it adds a little bit of narrative to the game. As you explore the dungeon you are building a tableau from the dungeon cards that you explored. Lining up symbols on the edges of the cards is what allows you to progress your quest. This adds an another decision as you may choose to explore a location based on what symbols you still need. You can also spend excess quest tokens to gain experience.

In my most recent play I was killed in level 3 of the dungeon by another addition to the game, exhalted enemies! These are extra tough enemies that have added modifiers making them harder. Despite being scarier to face off against the modifiers are kind of fun and they do provide extra benefits if you manage to kill them.

All in all my initial impressions are that this is a great refinement to the Iron Helm system. It also helps that the art is really great! I’m looking forward to exploring this one more and hopefully beating it someday (I was never particularly good at Iron Helm ).

I’m not usually into word games, but roguelike deck builders in the style of slay the spire seem to be few and far between so I decided to give this a shot.

My first couple plays were with the Ex Machina character because his art looked cool .

Despite word games not usually being my jam I’ve had a bunch of fun in my few plays of this and am looking forward to trying new characters. It really does capture that “slay the spire feel.” I do think in general my preference would be to just build a deck of cards you can play without having to also come up with a word. It works for this game though, partly because your hands are usually 4 cards so the word options are limited. (I still keep a scrabble dictionary next to me though)

Outside of the word thing, the rest is just like a standard rogue like deck builder, you gain powers and items and upgrade or add cards to your deck. An added bonus is that the art is pretty great as well!

Ruins: Death Binder is on my list to try and track down but does anyone have any other roguelikes that I’m missing? The trouble when you ask that question people will answer with just about every game out there. I see the argument that games like Mage Knight or Hoplomachus Victorum are roguelikes but those games (while great) don’t have the feel that Slay the Spire or Paperback Adventures have.

I really like this type of game and Slay the Spire has quickly become my favorite game in my collection so I’m wondering if there is anything else out there I’m missing!