Wonderful roguelike card-battler Slay the Spire remains probably the single best game of its type on PC, thanks to the endlessly intricate interplay of its tools and one of the most perfectly judged difficulty curves you'll ever find. This really is the little game that could: We awarded it a whopping 92% score on release as well as giving it 2019's best design award. The final final boss may be a total jerkbag but, that aside, what a game.
A boardgame version of Slay the Spire was announced almost two years ago, before things went quiet, but now it has launched on Kickstarter, and wow is this thing desirable, with a price to match. The base game will set you back $100 plus shipping, while a collector's edition with a few more bits is $145 plus shipping, and the "Neow's All-In" pledge of $210 gets you an all-singing all-dancing version with trinkets galore.
$100 is not unreasonable for a lavishly produced board game like this, and Slay the Spire inspires considerable devotion from its biggest fans, so you won't be surprised that this has taken off like a rocket. The Kickstarter blew past its initial funding goal of around $50,000, and is now sitting very pretty having raised over $1.4 million.
The game is a co-operative deck builder for up to four players, with neat elements like upgradeable cards and a load of miniatures reflecting various game characters. The below video explains how the boardgame works, and it's clear how much effort has gone into aligning this with its superb digital forebear.
I especially enjoy how this leans into the Claw meme, with every backer receiving a special Claw Pack as part of the game. "Claw is Law, so everyone gets it" reads the Kickstarter FAQ. "The Claw Pack is a pack of at least 8 Claw cards that you can optionally use to augment the Defect's card pool (if you follow the Law)."
You can order a copy of the game here. The Kickstarter runs until November 18.
