Slay the Spire
A roguelike deck-building game that popularized a genre trend.
Slay the Spire is a 2019 roguelike deck-building game from indie studio Mega Crit. Mega Crit handled the initial PC release, while Humble Bundle published it for home consoles and mobile. The game was released in early access for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux in late 2017, with an official release in January 2019. The game is widely credited with sparking a wave of roguelike deck-building titles. In each run, the player picks one of four characters, each with unique starting health, a special relic, gold, and a starter deck. The goal is to climb a procedurally generated spire made of multiple floors. Each floor offers a branching path of encounters: standard monsters, tougher elites with better rewards, campfires for healing or card upgrades, shops to buy or remove cards, chests, and random events. A boss waits at the end of each level. Combat is turn-based. Each turn, the player draws a hand of cards and gets three energy. Cards cost energy to play; unused cards go to a discard pile at turn’s end. Cards fall into attack, skill (buffs, debuffs, or blocking), and power (persistent effects) categories. Enemies telegraph their next move—attack, block, or buff—letting the player plan. Some cards or enemy attacks add unplayable Wounds or Curses to the deck, clogging hands. If the player’s health hits zero, the run ends and they restart. Victory yields gold and a choice of one of three random cards. Other loot includes permanent relics (e.g., extra health, energy, or auto-block) and single-use potions usable anytime for free. Deck-building is dynamic: players must adapt their strategy based on cards and relics found. Too many weak or unplayable cards dilute the deck, so deciding when to skip additions or pay to remove cards is key. Metaprogression unlocks new characters, relics, and cards as runs are completed or failed. Up to 20 Ascension levels add cumulative difficulty after each win. An optional Act IV, accessed by collecting three special keys, leads to the true final boss, the Heart of the Spire. Achievements offer challenges like climbing with only the starting relic or common cards. Daily challenges use a fixed seed and preset conditions for a single attempt. Custom mode lets players tweak modifiers to raise or lower difficulty. Mega Crit, based in Seattle, was founded by Anthony Giovannetti and Casey Yano.
Quick Facts
- Title
- Slay the Spire
- Developer
- Mega Crit
- Publisher
- Mega Crit (PC) / Humble Bundle (other)
- Designer
- Anthony Giovannetti · Casey Yano
- Artist
- Anailis Dorta
- Composer
- Clark Aboud
- Engine
- libGDX
- Platforms
- Windows · macOS · Linux · Nintendo Switch · PlayStation 4 · Xbox One · iOS · Android
- Genre
- Roguelike deck-building
- Modes
- Single-player
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Slay the Spire was developed by Seattle-based studio Mega Crit, with Anthony Giovannetti and Casey Yano as lead developers. Their initial goal was to fuse the concept of a roguelike game with deck-building games like Dominion. The game was also inspired partially by the Netrunner collectible card game, of which Giovannetti was a fan. The game was built on the libGDX framework, chosen for its Java runtime allowing it to run on Windows, macOS, and Linux, though Yano later expressed frustration with it frequently being broken by operating system updates and its lack of console support. To help test and get feedback, Giovannetti turned to expert players in the Netrunner community, which was necessary to determine appropriate balance for the cards. By using a large number of playtesters and gameplay metric reporting from the game client, they were able to determine what cards had positive designs and which to remove. Originally, enemies did not show their next intended action, but playtesters found this confusing. The developers first created a 'Next Turn' system, then transitioned to an 'Intents' system using icons to represent the enemy's next move. The approach for players to progress through the spires with branching pathways and random events was inspired by FTL: Faster Than Light.
Reader's Guide
Slay the Spire is notable for popularizing a trend of roguelike deck-building video games. Its gameplay involves selecting one of four characters, each with unique starting relics and card pools, and ascending a procedurally generated spire through multiple floors. Combat is turn-based, with players using energy to play cards from a hand, while enemies telegraph their next move via an 'Intents' system. The deck-building requires players to develop strategies on the fly based on cards and relics obtained, balancing the addition and removal of cards to avoid diluting the deck. The game features metaprogression: completed or failed runs unlock new characters, relics, and cards, as well as up to 20 Ascension difficulty levels. An optional Act IV can be accessed by collecting three special keys, leading to the true final boss, the Heart of the Spire. Achievements and a daily challenge with a fixed random seed provide additional replayability. The game was released in early access in late 2017, with an official release in January 2019, and later ported to multiple platforms. A sequel, Slay the Spire II, was released in early access in March 2026.
Did You Know?
- Slay the Spire was built on the libGDX framework.
- The game's 'Intents' system evolved from an earlier 'Next Turn' system after playtest feedback.
- The developers had no issue with players discovering powerful card synergies because it was a single-player game.
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