About-like Blog Posting
Hello there!
I’m Taylor, a lifelong lover of games who wants to spread some of that positivity and love. I enjoy many genres of games including role-playing games, turned-based tactics games, puzzle games, card games, action-adventure games, games-that-wish-they-were-movies games, games-that-are-basically-books games, and of course Minecraft.
But more than anything, I can’t get enough of these roguelike deck building games.
I assure you this is a normal and good amount of time spent gaming
What are you talking about?
Don't worry, I can explain.
Rogue: Rogue is a game from 1980 that is relevant to all this for being one of the first games to utilize the mechanics of procedural generation and permadeath. Procedural generation is when certain elements of the game (enemies, loot drops, etc) aren’t always in the same place each playthrough or “run”. Permadeath means when you lose, the progress you made during that run is lost. Nothing to do but go again!
Like: Used here to signify that the game uses procedural generation or permadeath or (often) both. There’s typically also an element of meta progression in roguelike games, where by playing through the game you unlock exciting new stuff to play with in future runs.
Deck: “Deck” as in a deck of cards, but not the kind you would use to play poker (one major exception to this rule I’ll post about later). Think more along the lines of Pokemon cards, Yu-Gi-Oh cards, or Magic the Gathering cards. Nerd cards. For gamers.
Builder: Through the course of each run, you’ll be building a deck through card drafts, typically but not always picking from one of three options (the best number of options).
Card draft screen from Slay the Spire
When you put all that nonsense together, you get a game that is highly variable, where each run through the game is unique from all other runs. These games tend to be difficult, and losing is expected. Don’t let that discourage you! I’m very unskilled and even I manage to win sometimes.
Why are you talking about?
I want to spread the love for this relatively niche subgenre of games by sharing my experiences with some of the ones I’ve played. These games are so unique and wonderful (and affordable!), and I would love to encourage you to try one. There’s so much variety in these games, I’m sure at least one will be appealing.
Some of the roguelike deck building games I own
If you do end up trying one, please let me know! I'd love to hear your thoughts. I personally play most of these games on Steam, but some of these games are on consoles and even mobile. Balatro in particular has a great mobile port, and its use of poker as a framework makes it the most approachable for any non-gamers.
How are you talking about?
I haven’t quite figured that out yet, but I've narrowed it down to a couple versions.
Option 1: A broad view look at one game as a whole package, reviewer style. I’d look at individual elements such as game design, balance, music and art, list pros and cons and tell you why you should buy it.
Option 2: A walkthrough of a run of whichever game, narrating my decisions and explaining mechanics and interesting bits as I go. If I have the time to figure it out, I might even record my screen and upload the video to YouTube and link it here.
I would love to hear some opinions in the comments. I’ll be structuring my first post as Option 1 with a look at Slay the Spire, the game I think deserves the credit for starting this whole subgenre. If Option 2 seems popular, I'll give that a go in the future.
I hope you enjoy my ramblings about these games I love so much. Hopefully you'll come to, if not love, at least appreciate them too.
As someone who has put hundreds of hours into Balatro and currently racking up hours in Hades 2, I am looking forward to having someone give me a push into Slay the Spire. I've watched Sarah Z stream it in the past, and it looks like it would be in my wheelhouse.
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, Option 1 sounds like the better one to me, personally. Though perhaps Option 2 could be a repeatable monthly blog feature?
Wishing you a good RNG
You should absolutely give Spire a try. If you game on PC, Steam frequently has sales, and Spire is old enough now I imagine it gets some good discounts. Thanks for the feedback and the RNG blessing!
DeleteHi Taylor, First of all I am excited to start reading your blog. I love playing games, most of the games I play are RPGs. I love the story that comes with playing RPGs, however recently I have been playing Hades. Which I've been playing nonstop, so being able to read your blog has me excited to find games that are like the one I'm currently playing. Having said that after reading this I might have to give Slay the Spire a chance.
ReplyDeleteHades is so good! It is a roguelike, but more actiony than any deck builder I've played. Also, most games in this genre aren't typically strong in the story department (Hades is the exception to this rule), but a lot of them draw inspiration from RPGs!
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