KPWHYS

I've finished Ascension 20 for all the characters in Slay the Spire.  Between PC, Switch and iPad it took me 900 hours to do this. The durability and value you get here is one of the best qualities of a great roguelike, and I love that. That said, I'm not sure if I want to ever attempt anything like this again even though I did similar on other roguelikes like Dungeon of the Endless and FTL.  I kept playing even after I complained about how it felt like playing against random chance and it is not really about skill when you're playing at the highest levels. So the grim, absurd reality did not end up killing my desire to climb this mountain. Dice mountain. That's the power of a great game (and ego).

As a big fan of the original, I was hyped for this one. I played it for an hour or three every day until completion, and it's a great game for the most part. Some thoughts. 1. It's very fun to play The excellent combat in the 2018 prequel got better. Combat as an abstraction is about problem solving expressed in 3 primary ways: Character kit, Enemy design and Level design. GOWR is better in every respect especially Enemy design which was previously too limited, and more space and verticality is incorporated into fights better it never hits the traversal heights of an Uncharted or Returnal.  Outside of the strong underlying combat interaction design, the actual expression in the visuals, animation, SFX and ambient commentary is top notch. 40 hours into the game in the final level, I'm still thrilled and satisfied at performing an R3 execution.  The world is also larger and filled with content, which makes it a joy to explore. The RPG component worked about as well as it did