With Downfall, Slay the Spire got a proper expansion that makes the mega hit that much better.
Slay the Spire, along with Hades, is still considered one of the best roguelike titles ever. Not only did the deck builder impress in the GlobalESportNews test and secure a strong rating, Steam players are also completely convinced: 97 percent of over 100,000 reviews are positive. Otherwise, only masterpieces such as Portal 2, Factorio or Rimworld achieve such values.
With Downfall, a real expansion has now appeared that more than triples the scope of the main game. It is therefore all the more surprising that the fan project is in no way inferior to the original.
What is Downfall about?
For over three years, the hobby developers at Table 9 Studios have been working on their mega-expansion, which was finally finished last weekend – even including its own fancy (Steam shop page).
Downfall features two big new additions: On the one hand, you get a fifth hero for the normal game mode, and on the other hand, a whole seven new classes for an alternative campaign.
All hero classes not only have their own card collections from which you build a deck during the course of your adventure, but also their own relics, random events and potions.
These are the new heroes:
- Hermit: The Hermit is the fifth hero class. He is all about a completely new mechanic that gives bonuses to many of his cards when they are in the middle of his hand.
- Slime Boss: The boss enemy known from the main game summons different types of slimes that cause different effects or damage.
- Guardian: A tank that specialises in defence, using countless block and barricade options to slowly but surely destroy enemies.
- Hexaghost: By meeting certain requirements, such as playing two attacks, the Hexaghost’s ghost flames can be ignited. Each flame causes a different effect and once all have been activated, there is an ultimate attack.
- Champion: This knight alternates between an offensive and defensive stance. Many of his cards have different effects depending on which stance he is in at the time.
- Automaton: This robot can encode different cards by playing them in a sequence. Once three cards have been stored here, you get a new card that triggers the effects of all three cards at once.
- Gremlins: There are five Gremlins to play here, and you can switch between them by playing cards – each with their own effects, of course, around which you can build a deck.
- Snecko: The green snake puts everything on chance. For example, some of the cards turn into random other cards, which can also come from other classes. So a successful run requires a whole lot of luck.
But the heart of the mod is the Downfall Mode: Instead of conquering the top of the tower and finishing off its final boss, you defend it from the invading heroes. So you don’t move from the bottom to the top as usual, but descend the familiar levels.
This, however, makes for some peculiarities: For example, you start each run directly with a campfire where you can upgrade cards and restore health points – normally this waits just before the boss fight. In the addon, this option is missing accordingly.
By the way, the boss fights are a real highlight: You can see the relics and the hand of the enemy hero, who falls back on known skills and attacks of his class. This gives you the feeling that you are facing a real player – or even yourself.
The heroes from the base game are the new bosses here.
The encounters with the merchant are also completely different: instead of selling you things, he immediately attacks you and throws coins at you. Quite painful. Once you have chased the merchant away, you can go shopping directly at the heart of the dungeon.
What do we like about Downfall? And for whom is it worthwhile?
With Downfall, Slay the Spire gets a truly insane amount of new content. We find it particularly impressive that the quality of the new characters is in no way inferior to the four original heroes. As an example, we show you a few pictures of the Automaton:
Really every class plays completely unique and the possibilities to specialise in certain mechanics turn out to be quite complex. Plus, all of the maps fit perfectly thematically with their respective characters.
If you are a fan of Slay the Spire, you should definitely not miss Downfall – after all, even in one of the best games ever, you have seen and tried everything at some point. With Downfall, the number of available heroes is now tripled from four to twelve, guaranteeing many hundreds of hours of fresh gameplay.
Editor’s conclusion
According to Steam, I’ve now spent 153 hours with Slay the Spire – not super much, but by my personal standards quite a lot. On the one hand, I prefer multiplayer card games like Hearthstone, Gwent or MTG: Arena, but on the other hand, at some point I got used to the routine.
I’m sure that if Downfall had been released earlier, I would have at least doubled my playing time. Since I installed this great mod a few days ago, Slay the Spire has really hooked me again.
By the way, my favourite class is the Hexaghost, which has an exciting mechanic: In addition to his normal cards, he can collect six different seals. If you play them all in the same game, the Hexaghost finally breaks through its barrier and… what happens then, you have to find out for yourself.
