Slay the Spire’s very lack of a given reason for you to be ascending the spire only plays into the versatility present in the game – I make my own reasons, and I tell my own stories. Instead my Ironclad is a man who just wanted to create the best armor in the world and that’s why I love creating so much block and being content just defending against attacks. No internal cries of “Oh the Ironclad wouldn’t just remove his strikes” “Oh the Silent wouldn’t just throw blade after blade at an enemy”. I don’t have to think about whether this would be in the characters motivations to act this way. All that matters is the moment, and what I bring to the table. But how does Slay the Spire’s previously mentioned lack of character enable me to enjoy the customizability of runs even more? It’s because I’m no longer constrained by the character’s backstory, or what their future entails. Slay the Spire offers that in buckets and spades, with many cards enabling other cards with synergies, or relics allowing for cards I previously thought useless to shine, or even anti-synergies that I know to watch out for in future runs. When I think of Rogue-likes, while permadeath with nothing carrying over would definitely be high up on their list of characteristics, to me a game of this genre is most defined by how I can customize my run, and how it changes my experience. I mean the game doesn’t even give you a reason why he wants to slay the spire! You’re simply thrust into this world, as this enigmatic character with about as much backstory and personality as a B-list action actor, and the player is left with only one thing, but perhaps the most important thing in video games themselves. There’s nothing about his soul, or even as much as a conclusion to his story. There is no answer as to why this guy is the last of his soldiers, or kind. And that’s pretty much all the lore the game gives you. That gives you a gift and then tells you to go slay the spire. And then you embark on your journey and you are greeted with a scene that would not feel out place in a Terry Pratchett novel: It’s a… talking whale. You feel like a true glorious warrior who is ready to Slay the Spire.
In the case of the Ironclad, we are told that he is the last remaining soldier, and he can harness demonic energies. There are these glorious colors, and you get a little snippet of information about your choice. From the very start of a run, you get to choose your character (like in the image I’ve shown above), and it feels like a truly epic choice. I could wax lyrical about its mechanics, or its delicate sense of balance, but I want to focus on an aspect of the game that it spends the least time on itself – the characters. We’ve come a long way since then, and yet I continue to be drawn to this game like almost no other I’ve played. I’ve been playing Slay the Spire for a long time like back in Early Access, when this game was still using its beta art, and when the Ironclad and the Silent were the only two characters.
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