Should You Buy Slay The Spire: The Board Game? 

The venn-diagram of "people who watch board game reviews" and "people who have played slay the spire" is just a circle.

Now if only they could make a Balatro board game without me needing a graphing calculator

The most decisive statement Tom made about the Slay the Spire board game is that I shouldn't play the Bloodborne board game. 10/10, no notes.

The only thing I'd add that wasn't talked about is the actual box storage and the quality of materials. You can tell they did not skimp out on this and I actually think it adds to the ease of setup, saving, and tear down that makes it so much less of a chore to play than other bigger games. Plus having a high quality storage solution (and card sleeves!) baked into the product is such a welcome change of pace compared to games like gloomhaven which almost require you to drop an extra $50+ on purchasing a third party storage solution.

I loved how when Tom discussed the price, the StS shop theme started playing in the background. Nice little touches.

I think what is easy to miss is people have play groups that have no interest and/or time to play computer games. I have had 2 couples tell me this is the best game I have taught them period over the last 10 years. Yes the computer game is good, but this can live in a space much different than the computer game and introduce people who have never heard of slay the spire to a great game.

I've owned this for about a month now. I've played with my main group (4 board game nerds in our 30s/40s) and we love it. We stopped playing Gloomhaven a while ago because the admin was too much and we immediately recognised the same feel here with much lower time overheads. I've played with other friends and their kids - it's really easy to teach and learn. But mostly I've played with my own kids (age 8 and 6) and for this it is wonderful. Like a lot of young kids, my 6-year-old doesn't like to lose, so collaborative games are the best way to get him to the table. They've both learned card game basics through stuff like Pokemon TCG and so this is a breeze for them. They've declared Fridays after school to be 'Slay the Spire campaign time', and they've also started a separate campaign without me (they just did this with no supervision at all). For a nerdy family, this really does fall into perfect sweet spot - they recognise it from their computer games so they're excited, the game play is easy to learn with a nice curve, and all the components are really high quality so they want to play with them. I think part of its success is the high frequency rewards - you don't have to wait very long to get something new (unlike say Gloomhaven where levelling up takes ages). Anything that helps my kids choose to put their screens down is a winner for me.

Its funny that the target for the "Bloated Kickstarter game thats underbaked" was Bloodborne, one of the better examples of that genre, when Dark Souls is *right there*. More boxes, more cost, more bloat and an abject failure in adapting the games mechanics to the tabletop in almost every regard.

To be fair, maxing damage at the expense of blocking is a major thing in the digital game, too.

This game is great, it went over extremely well with my game group and it even plays well solo. In fact one of my friends said he wasn't all that much into the video game but loved this physical game because of how the multiplayer simultaneous play works. So my TLDR is, if you'd like to play Slay the Spire multiplayer around the table, and are willing to splurge, this is fantastic. If you just play solo boardgames then there's no need for the physical board game, just play the video game solo.

I think this is a typically excellent review from Tom. The only thing I’d contest, is that as the resident boardgame enthusiast among my closest pals, there’s no way I could coax my friends over for a collective game of STS the videogame, but I already have plans to do that with STS The Boardgame. So the coop element of it really is something novel about the physical version for me personally.

It's like holding a prop from a movie in your hands - exactly how I felt unboxing it.

haven't watched the video yet, but as someone who backed it and got my copy a week ago I've been LOVING IT

I agree with pretty much everything, but the price feels reasonable for the quality and quantity of componenets. The insert does wonders to facilitate gameplay and make saving your progress easier. The sleeves feel like they will hold up well to all the required shuffling and flipping. The cutouts in the player board are layered to hold your bits. The shop board doubles as the much needed player aid sheet. Physically randomizing the maps feels so good. I think all that adds up to be worth the price and I don't plan to stop playing the video game either.

I’ve got 400+ hours in the video game and I think I have some insight into this gripe. Very often in the game you get encounters that are basically just insta-win. Then, mere moments later, you have another encounter that destroys you utterly. This incredible swing in difficulty is mainly due to the fact that different encounters challenge your deck in different ways. Some are damage races while others are battles of attrition. Depending on what your deck does well, you might see a wild variance in the difficulty from encounter to encounter. Yes, it does make some encounters less interesting than others but easily won rewards are often a God-send after getting toasted the previous fight. In the Spire, I find it is best to go with the flow and accept both ease and difficulty equally.

i’m definitely not the target audience because I’m a minority, but I am visually impaired in such a way that I can’t really play video games, but board games are accessible to me so my partner was very excited when this board game came out because he’s a huge fan of the video game and wanted to share it with me. This game is amazing and very fun and I’m super glad that it exists.

I've been playing the StS board game solo, and have been loving the flow of the game. It's surprisingly easy to setup and "save"/tear down. While I agree that there are moments of just smooth admin as you don't really fear the current encounter, that is also a physical flow state that I enjoy. I love the og StS game, but I find myself not going to it anymore when Im in the mood to play a videogame. However, having an evening where I get drink tea, listen to barber beats, and shuffle some cards as I play a game I deeply love is a delightful experience. The StS board game is a love letter, in my opinion. It's a game I will always cherish, even when I inevitably stop playing it for a long period of time. Thank you, Megacrit, for creating such a wonderful experience.

I got the chance to interview the lead designer of the board game for my podcast! The way he spoke about it cemented for me my choice to back it, and it made perfect Sense that the game turned out so well. The reverence he and the team have for the original and their dedication to making this more then "sts physically" but also give it a reason to exist set them up for a slam dunk. I'm thrilled that this was not only made, but was so impressively well done

The fact you included the Ludwig, The Holy Blade OST at 7:36 is an instant sub for me. Also love STS and board games, glad to have found your content!

8:22 "You've got a valuable vulnerable that'll double damage but nothing strong to pair with it, but the player sat next to you has a bonkers attack that will now wipe that greasy goblin off the face of the earth". Proceeds to show an attack combo that applies vulnerable anyway.

I love that you covered all the foibles of how Video Game Board Game adaptations (both ways) sort of fall flat, because I've felt that way for a long long time, but you put it in a way I never could seem to. For this reason, I pass on nearly every single board game that was adapted from a video game, because I've yet to find one that really scratches the same itch as the video game.

I have put well over 2000 hours in Slay the Spire, and when I heard that Mega Crit was making this, I didn't even read the game before buying the Neow Tier for the sake of just supporting them, but after getting it, my Friends and I enjoy it more than playing the game on the computer, and I do want to get around to trying a solo run even though I own the game since the small changes are fun to mess around with. It's well worth it for me, but as you said, you have to come to that conclusion on your own

i do have to say, as much as i wish there was more player interaction aside from "i can give you block" and "i can kill that guy for you" given the LENGTH of the sessions, im ok with it. also i want to say. oddly enough, this game works really well for me as an intro game. StS is already insanely well balanced so, i've never had complaints about it from anyone

Talking about playing Slay on a TV together is an underrated pseudo-genre. I've often talked about games like Immortality and Obra Dinn as "multiplayer one-player games" because, as much fun as they are when played alone, they are excellent in a small group with one person handling the controls like the driver on a road trip.

I went all-in on the Kickstarter because I revere the video game as an all time great. Having a physical manifestation of one of the greatest games ever was reason enough for me. But then I played it cooperatively with my friends (half with StS experience) and it was such a delight. I’m looking forward to playing it again and again more as a co-op, as it adds that other dimension the video game just can’t do.

This is a lovely game for hosting those who have never played STS and most likely won't. Being able to give simple group prompts and watch the light bulbs turn on as people get the rush of learning the beautiful systems of it is why you buy this. Try it out with some newbs Tom!

Only issue I have with the idea of spending so much on the board game to get that cooperative feel is the fact that there is a free mod for the computer game called ‘Spire with Friends’ that lets you do cooperative runs and it’s pretty well made. I think this board game looks great for a very small niche, but it is a very small niche who will get their money’s worth out of it

love that you put the marketplace music during the Value conversation.

I agree with basically everything, but speaking as someone who maxed out ascension 20 on all characters on two different platforms (Switch and Android) - I want to emphasize how good of a job they did of not just adapting the game mechanics to work on tabletop, but also using the opportunity to improve how certain cards/mechanics play when they did need to make changes. Take Silent for example: Shivs are now tokens instead of cards. A logical and unobtrusive change in and of itself, which doesn't heavily change how the deck is played. But with this change they saw an opportunity to tweak several of Silent's more boring/underwhelming cards: - Slice: now deals extra damage if you have at least one shiv prepared - Riddle with Holes: Instead of a generic multi-hit attack, it's now a more expensive Blade Dance that gives you more shivs, making it easier to build a shiv deck instead of banking it all on finding the Blade Dances - Storm of Steel: discard ANY number of cards and get a shiv for each one discarded. No longer forces you to awkwardly discard your whole hand, effectively ending your turn in most cases after shivs are played - Unload: Instead of awkwardly making you discard all non-attacks, it now damages and plays all of the shivs you have with extra damage on each Plenty of examples of this tasteful rebalancing on every character, bolstering the new mechanics while keeping the stuff people love mostly untouched. The video game will always have its place; but pound for pound, if they translated this version back into video game format, I'd rather play this version than the OG because they did such a good job with the balance changes.

The 4 player CO-OP is what sold me. Thanks!

Bloodborne the boardgame was mentioned and shrugged off. I love that game and I would love a SUSD review of it. Admittedly, some of the expansion missions are borderline unplayable, but its the best dungeon crawler I've ever played!

Yo Tom! Long time viewer. Love your reviews. Hope you don't mind me leaving a tiny tip for future videos. In particular I found when you were discussing the admin of moving cubes through easy combats, and how thats irritating... I would have loved either B footage of that happening or you doing a rough simulation of one as you spoke. (easier said than done I know). This review was incredible. Just a tiny thing that occurred to me. Hopefully it might be helpful.

I played on TTS (I know, I’m sorry) and I really liked the idea that you are also learning the deck of your friends. You don’t have any control over it, but you start to learn what their cards do. I get excited when my friend says “I got corruption”. It also gives me the feeling of when I was young and we all talked about what trading cards we got in the latest pack our moms bought us.

This game deserves an immediate seal of approval, it is so good! I have had it on my table since I got it for 46h and 34m already and only beaten the heart once and have not done a single level yet of ascension difficulty. Absolutely worth the cost and I am going to play so many more hours of this and with people who went and bought slay the spire immediately after one play! Everyone seems to love this regardless to if they have played the video game or not! Also to add to your list of fail video game adaptations with swimming pools full of plastic, there is Monster Hunter world which is quite sub par :(

Hey Ascension 12 buddies! I definitely want to try this one out some time, but I could see the "co-op couching" digital experience being my jam as well.

Amazing review in so many ways, love the mature and down to earth approach

So here's the thing. There are GOOD adaptations of Digital to physical, if you look hard. Most people these days don't realize that M.U.L.E. started as a digital board game, because there was 32 years between the original game and the Board Game. It also did its best to obfuscate the timer by combining it with the player's food supply which was barely there in digital form. The only downside was the loss of the iconic theme tune.

Excellent review. Just wanted to point out that yet another (maybe somewhat niche reason) to get this is if you have friends who are familiar with Slay the Spire, but have little experience with "large" board games. This is a great way to ease some of the anxieties of feeling like a large board game box is intimidating, obtuse, or heavy.

As a backer, as well as a huge fan of Slay the Spire, I must say the best part is exactly holding the cards in your hand. I'm one of those gamers whose favorite part is setting up the box so that you can play it for the first time, and I loved every moment of it. The interest of learning how different systems work in this iteration as opposed to the video game is also a fair point to make. I just add that if you are going to get this game, splurge for the collector's edition. Those mats for each character just feel really good, and make a great zone of control for what you are doing. The Spire awaits!

I'm in the (probably very limited) demographic of people who have played videogames since the 80s. Sadly, between work and gaming, I have various wrist and hand issues that now make videogaming not worth the pain. However, I got into boardgaming a few years back and, when they're well made, I love to play boardgame conversions of videogames. I recently received my copy of Slay the Spire and it's now set up on my dining table (where it takes up a surprising amount of space). I'm off to start learning how to play it right now. Wish me luck!

As someone who has all but two Bloodborne expansions, I can confirm, it's too much board game It's also a hell of a lot of fun painting all 216 minis

love the silent approval of the mysterious ghostly Hat Person in the reflection of one of the last shots. what do you know, Hat Person? when will you tell us?

I've played over 600 hours on Steam and mobile. I was skeptical and agree with most of what Tom says. The only positive I would add is the thing I never saw coming...it felt like i was rediscovering the game for the first time again. I got that same "oh this card would work really well with X" feeling because of the minor tweaks some of the cards got. It made me start choosing cards i would normally ignore just to see how strong the synergy would go. Also, this game kills any tabletop rpg for me because all I want to do is increase my stats, deck, or abilities. This does it every few minutes. Something like Gloomhaven takes 4 hours just to give you a checkmark (but you still need 1 or 2 more to increase that stat).

For me, I'm the only one in my friend group who has played StS, so getting the board game for me is introducing my friends to the game while also having a fun co-op experience. I love the video game, so this is a way to make my friends try it out in a way that they don't commit anything but time (because for some reason every time I say buy StS, they don't).

Great review! Watching you explain the game, I think I would come to the exact same conclusion. Love the video game, but do I need the board game version…I’ll think about it lol.

We are on our second run. First one was with three players, this run with 4. We love it and think it's well worth the price. As well as love how saving is added into the game between acts. The save feature works so well for our group

I played on TTS and enjoyed the game, but your comments were spot on. Additionally: -Changes from ascension to ascension felt too small for the stripped down mechanics. We jumped 5 ascensions each time. -Feels like the game has a lifespan of about 4-5 runs for me. -Not worth the price for only a few plays to me, but I'd pay anything for the exclusive beta art cards, they are perfection

The editting of this video is excellent. Also the doom shotgun sound making another return.

There is also a co-op mod for STS called spire with friends that I'll admit feel like the cod zombie kinda co-op but is still an option to have everyone climbing the spire while doing their own thing

Playing "Slay the Spire" co op sounds like a blast but I don't think I'm up for the admin of it in board game form.

“English social anxiety vs airhorn” is my new favorite RU-vid genre.

Played a lot of both. Love the board game as well... Currently working my way up the ascension ladder.. And the challenge is real... Runs end half way thru act 1 at times...

Part of the amazing design is how your deck this run can destroy some enemies while barely making it through others.

On the mention of the bloodborne boardgame. I own it and all the expansions, it is a great game and I love how they handled it gameplay wise but I agree with the sea of plastic thing. It's CMoN so a sea of plastic is kind of expected, but the minis could have all been standies (or even counters) and the game would have been just as good.

I was so sceptical of this game. But after having played it almost every evening for three consecutive weeks - I absolutely love it and it's the kind of game I have been waiting for years to be created. It's exactly as Tom stated (imo) - if you think you'd like this game, you'll probably like it (very much)

I think one of the most interesting things will be going forward if they're going to make expansions for the boardgame that play up the specific strengths of the coop experience. New characters and cards that are designed specifically for play with other players could really put the game over the top, for example Ironclad could have cards that combo off of poison damage.

The fear of the self tooted air horn was so real and so relatable.😂

Great video as always!!! I lobe all ur vids :3

I have to disagree with literally every negative point Tom said I never played slay the spire the video game and bought the boardgame solely because people said the game was good Yeah, it's more than the game, but it's the most premium experience I've ever owned And since I bought it, it has literally been the only board game I play now It is the only game in my entire collection of almost 100 boardgames that I would consider a perfect 10/10

Bloodborne is a good adaptation of a fantastic video game. AND… a superb collector’s edition for people who love the video game. So all those plastic miniatures have value. And now you owe us a Bloodborne review sir!

I feel exactly the same way about Through The Ages. Great table hogging game and jolly good time all round, but now that there's the app... I got rid of my copy. Even if four of us were at a board game convention with an empty table of the perfect size for us to all sit around, I'd MUCH rather just pass and play on my phone before setting up that beast. If the app didn't exist, sure, I'll play it again. But it does, so I won't.

The Bloodborne board game is actually really good

Sensational video as always! Perfectly stated!!

I kickstart funded this as soon as i heard of it and, after receiving it recently, have spent three lovely evenings playing it with my friends. For a long time we've talked about playing board games together because we all like the idea of tabletop games, but this is the first one that has captured our collective attention so well. I highly recommend!

I work as a person who need to watch a screen for 8h+. As much as I love StS video game having opportunity to play physical copy after work feels just so much better :D Another thing is that my wife doesn't play video games so she wouldn't otherwise experience such a brilliant deck builder :)

So scared to hit that air horn, I know the feeling, lol.

The video game is the only thing that kept me sane during a 6 month period where I didn’t have an internet connection.

Grest review and I mostly agree, except this will definitely be in my rotation. I love Slay the Spire and the devs did an amazing job with the adaptation. Haven't played on the higher ascensions yet, but I think that would help with the "admin" complaint because it should make breezing through harder. I feel like the designers threaded an impossible needle making an adaptation this good, the only downside for me is the price but you see every bit of it in the box.

Hi Tom, Just for the super rare case you have never heard of that game: Please play PEGLIN. You will love it. Its Deckbuilding, kind of. and somewhere in the sphere of slay the spire and balatro :)

Thank you for the review! Got a friend who loves the video game :)

I donated a pound to the Kickstarter and didn't end up picking up a copy. It was just a bit too expensive for me. I am glad to hear it works well though!

A brilliant video! My partner and I adore the video game. So cool to get such an honest and thorough review. You got a sub from me :3

If you've never tried it before please check out the coop mod for slay the spire, its online not local but adds a really cool way to go through the game with others

very nice honest and informative review

I was also very skeptical of this game (love the video game!), but glad to hear multiple sources saying it’s good. My husband and I have actually been really enjoying the Divinity Original Sin board game. Tom mentions it requiring a bunch of admin, but I don’t understand that. It’s quite simple, especially for someone who plays a lot of Gloom/Frosthaven. Those games require a TON of admin, to the point where I don’t find them all that enjoyable anymore, but DOS the boardgame is very simple to run. Setup is very quick as well. The deckbuilding takes a while, but that’s part of the fun! Looking through all the possible skills and picking/re-speccing your characters is super fun.

I have played this game for a bit and would disagree on the point at 10:41 . The starter defends are changed to block any player for 2 rather than yourself for 1 if you upgrade them. I’ve also had it when I’m the silent and just blocking everyone’s damage as long as they kill my creatures and it has worked very well. It’s impressive how they managed to balance the entire game yet keep some infinite combos.

I don't understand the Bloodborne hate. It's a very solid design which actually introduces some new ideas into the board game medium for a change. You don't need 20 boxes to enjoy it.

You can also just play with your friends on TTS and bring it full circle.

I regret not backing this because I’ve never heard of the game until I started seeing the campaign for its board game port. I started playing Slay the Spire on my phone out of curiosity and had so much fun. Now seeing all these praise of its board game counterpart just makes me want to own and play it, and share the experience with friends.

I would love to play any board game with friends... if I had friends willing to play board games. But I would certainly get this one if that were the case, because I have put in thousands of hours into Slay the Spire since it released. I am not very good at it, but I still love it, and I love watching streamers play it as well.

This video makes me want to play Mage Knight.

Love your work

Great Video. THANKS

I've played the StS board game (but not the video game). The reason being able to block for your teammates isn't immediately available is because it's more satisfying to build your deck with that goal.

Welp, made me want to play slay the spire on comp. Thank you

On the PC you can get a mod called slay the spire together, and it allows you to play the game multiplayer. And it’s well made. There is another one called slay the spire with friends, which is nice, but I think slay the spire together did it better. (Also I may have the mod names a little off, but I’m sure you can find them)

"Doing maximum murder" is not only a great turn of phrase, but is also some of the best advice in many co-op games, including Gloomhaven. Depending on the situation of course, it seems like a lot of co-op board games that involve fighting monsters end up being mostly about this, with other strategies like "blocking" being a second-best option. This doesn't make me love Gloomhaven any less :) The difference there is maybe that you really have to cooperate to do maximum murder. It sounds like the synergies in the Slay the Spire board game aren't as common for this.

Even solo I choose to play StS physically instead of digitally because it is the full StS experience while avoiding staring at a screen.

Now you’ve made me want to go back and play slay the spire on my PC again.

Slay The Spire is literally my fav game ever. I was expecting your review of this! Thank you and I’m happy that it didn’t disappoint

4:03 I love my switch but all my hours are in the android version! You should mention that because the phone version is a fantastic adaptation, it makes 0 sacrifices

Very sharp review, cant wait to play it

I definitely recommend checking out the Bloodborne board game! The video game is one of my favorites, and the board game does a lot of fun stuff to evoke familiar BB game feelings (I also only have the base game at the moment. I can see myself getting whatever is the agreed upon “best” expansion, but I don’t think I’d need/want more than that). Plus, there’s a solid TTS mod if you want to give it a shot without spending $80. Or £80. Love all that y’all do!

A good reason to get it, is for a friend who didn't wanna play the video game (for one reason or another), but who's favorite board game genera us co-op. Yea they loved it so much, they are going to buy a copy for thier collection

The cards being redesigned for a board game actually sometimes change them quite a lot (even if they have the same art), which then brings new synergies to explore. Haven’t played enough yet but sometimes I even think they balanced the cards better, e.g. Going from a must pick to the more interesting ”sometimes” pick.

In time with The Dice Tower upload?? Wow!

I know it’s likely not in your radar at all, but I would love it if you checked out and subsequently shared your thoughts on Northgard and its spin-off board game, Northgard: Uncharted Lands. I’m not sure the game’s necessarily up to the quality of games you normally cover. I think it’s generally quite good, but I haven’t been able to run it through the full paces and worry it might not live up to repeated plays. But I think it does do exactly what I want a board game based on a video game to do. It takes elements from the video game and recreates them in a board game but in a distinctly board game-like fashion. It’s inspired by the video game, sure, but it’s also heavily inspired by games such as Dominion, Carcassone, and tactical war games. And it’s willing to jettison core elements of the video game to do so. It may not be a perfect game, but it’s certainly an interesting one. Unlike games that try to emulate the video game exactly or simply lean on brand recognition, Northgard: Uncharted Lands feels like it has a reason to exist and a design angle that would have been unexplored without it.

The music made me laugh out loud.

To play the video game, just download the Downfall standalone mod. It's so good.

Thanks for the review. I bought the app to try out the game