Disclaimer: this is a post about a game I'm playing. Apologies in advance if my explanations were overcomplicated or oversimplified. TLDR: I finally achieved 2 huge milestones in the game, after spending a lot of time and hard work at it. I'm celebrating!!
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Since October last year, I've been playing this game called "Slay the Spire". My bf had been playing it for 2+ years at that point, and whenever I was busy with something else, he was playing it. Generally he would spend anywhere between 15min and 1h on the game at a time, which doesn't seem like too much to me so I didn't mind. In the meantime, I could go take a shower, read, watch my shows, take a walk, or do my own things.
I'd always dismissed it as yet another game he plays and didn't pay much attention to it. One day in October (I think it was late Oct, either Oct 22 or Oct 28), he introduced me to the game. He said - why don't you try it?
For the uninitiated, Slay the Spire is a roguelike video game based on cards, and your character has to "climb" and survive 50 floors (split into 3 acts) in order to complete a run. At the end of each act, you have to fight a boss, so it's a total of 3 bosses you're fighting in order to win. On each floor, you use your card deck to fight monsters to get gold, potions and/or new cards, or you may open chests to obtain relics and gold, or get to a shop so you can buy relics, potions or cards. You can also go to campfires to heal or upgrade your cards. You have limited health, the monsters attack you, so you can easily die on any floor. The floors get harder the higher you climb, so it's more likely you die. That means you have to make your card deck stronger floor by floor, in order to match the increasing difficulty level of the monsters and bosses.
As it turns out, there are 20 Ascension Levels (i.e., difficulty levels), which makes it even harder to win the higher your Ascension Level. There's quite a lot of decision making, probability, and strategy you have to think about in terms of choosing the right paths, order, and cards to take, cards to play, etc. That first time I played, my bf taught me how to play and we were playing at Ascension Level 14, which was relatively difficult. I managed to get to Act 2 Boss, which was 2/3 of the way up before I died. My bf was surprised and impressed - he often died in Act 1 and I managed to make it all the way to Act 2 Boss my very first try!
I was instantly attracted to the game. We created another profile for me, so I could start playing from the ground up at Ascension 0. There were 4 characters to choose from, so I would clear each of them at one Ascension Level, before I moved on to the next Ascension Level.
I finished clearing all 20 Ascension Levels on 3/22 - this was 5 months after I started playing the game. For context, only 4% of all players get here. It took me around 300 hours in total at this point across the 4 characters, but it's not just because I was clearing those levels. There is also a hidden Act 4, which is a secret ending that's extra difficult. You have to collect 3 keys along your run (which in itself was at the expense of healing / upgrading / getting relics, etc). Then when you get to Act 4, you had to fight 2 powerful elites, then finally fight a Corrupt Heart, which is extremely dangerous and extra hard to kill.
I cleared this Act 4 and killed the Heart at Ascension 0 for all 4 characters last December, but it took a lot more time than I'd expected. It was definitely not easy even at the easiest level. Now that I finally made it to Ascension 20, I'm tackling the ultimate difficulty level - clearing this secret ending and killing the Heart at Ascension 20.
Very few players manage to do this, so it's almost become an academic exercise. How can I optimize my gameplay, deckbuilding, pathing to win? I'm watching professional gamers and seeing how they play, what they choose, and what advice they give. I'm playing game after game after game, experimenting with my gameplay, seeing if I luck out. I'm trying cards I never pick, strategies I don't usually make, or synergies I've never tried before. It's taking a lot more time and effort than I'd put into anything else in my life right now.
The reason I'm posting today, is because I finally managed to clear Ascension 20 Heart for 2 of the characters (Ironclad + Silent). There's 2 more characters to go, but I'm so grateful that I wanted to take a moment to pause and be appreciative of how lucky I've been, to celebrate my wins. That the stars aligned and finally rewarded my time, effort and hard work. That I managed to achieve something I set out to do, that I really wanted to achieve. Yayy!
P.S. If you're looking for a game recommendation, I highly recommend Slay the Spire! If you do end up playing it, talk to me - I'd be happy to discuss it!
