Back in 2020 I wrote about the roguelike deck building game Slay the Spire. I mentioned the game’s easy to learn, difficult to master gameplay. I brought up how it was like a good version the gameplay in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. I talked about the game’s wonderful replayability, with multiple characters, a huge mix of cards, dozens of relics, and so many ways to play.
After writing that article, I probably played on and off for a few more weeks. I would mix it in with long sessions of Overwatch with friends, and Dragon Quest XI on weekends. Over time the drive to play dwindled, and the game was put back in its case and not touched for quite some time. Aside from a brief stint in 2022 when the game was free on Playstation Network (and I found out since I changed my hard drive my gameplay data was lost on the new downloaded version and I was way too lazy to put forth the effort to fix that), I haven’t really picked it up until very recently.
And then one day I decided to play.
And that day turned into a couple days.
And that turned into a few weeks.
And eventually I was playing almost daily again, with a drive to get to Ascension 20, which I am finding out daily is equally the most stressfully difficult task and the simplest task in all gaming depending on the RNG for that playthrough.
This time around I had two specific goals in mind: completing the game with all four characters, and unlocking all the cards for all the characters. This would put me right where I was with the previously mentioned lazy save state loss from before. Once I had completed this, I realized I still wanted to play more. I looked at the achievement list, and let me just pause for a minute to compliment the developers Mega Crit for making an actual achievement list, and not just some throwaway accomplishments you can get with any random playthrough. I thought about trying to pick off one or two or three of them, before setting my sights on the latest goal.
Achieving Ascension level 20.
To set the stage here even further, shortly after that first write up of Slay the Spire in 2020, a little game called Hades came out and really revolutionized (and reinvigorated my own passion in) the roguelike genre. It, along with a bevy of other well made roguelikes, cemented the genre in the annals of video game history. Hades shares little in common in terms of gameplay with Slay the Spire, but it does have the brutal Heat system, which allows you to set specific difficulty adjustments and changes to make each subsequent playthrough that much more challenging. This feature is called Ascension in Slay the Spire, and I’m taking the challenge head on trying to clear all 20 levels.
We’re starting with the Ironclad as the character of choice for this feat. I feel he has a very basic move set and play style: hit big, block big, and get your enemy weaker in order to hit bigger. My general strategies include getting relevant relics early on, building up powerful upgraded cards early, and preferably combing into something with exhausting cards, debuffing enemies, or keeping curses on myself (whichever relic/cards come up first determines the path). Beating the base game is a cakewalk after legit more than 100 runs at it, but it’s when all the stars align and things just click on one of those difficult Ascension runs that makes the game shine, and the dopamine hit strong.
A quick cipher on Ascension levels: there are 20 total, but you start at Ascension level 1 and must complete all three Acts before Ascension level 2 is unlocked. Then you can beat Ascension level 2 to unlock Ascension 3, so on and so on. Notably, Ascension 2 isn’t just that one challenge: it includes ALL prior Ascension challenges before it, as well as the current levels’! So getting to Ascension 20, and then actually beating Ascension 20 will be, quite frankly, nearly impossible! But there’s hope. There’s a glimmer of hope. The Reddit for Slay the Spire makes it seem very doable with specific starts, and knowing how sometimes you get a great run of luck and turn out an immensely satisfying run means repeated tries are equally rewarding and frustrating.
All this is to say I’ve been playing this electronic card game for a long time. Years since the first time playing, and hundreds of hours overall. Yet I don’t see myself tiring of the game. It’s just so solidly made. Laura recently played through all of Inscryption, which is very likely the reason I got back into this one, and seeing her play that made me want to play this. Both roguelike card games, but very different in execution. Seeing the added difficulty modes in Inscryption and moving on to try the Ascension stages makes the gap between the two games even larger: both games have their challenge, but the more difficult one, the one more on par with what a phenomenal game like Hades has to offer for sure has to be Slay the Spire.
Maybe we’ll check back in on the status of this challenge a few months from now. Maybe I’ll have played and defeated it all, slayed the spire and conquered all those achievements! Or maybe I’ll be right where I am as of this writing (Ascension 5 for those keeping track), frustrated beyond all belief at how damn hard the game is. But you know what? No matter where I end up, I will have assuredly enjoyed my time.
Laters,
Jsick
