Rise of the Slime

I was pleasantly surprised by this game. This is NOT just another carbon-copy deck builder. Rise of the Slime feels a bit more casual than similar titles. I died less often, and combat encounters felt less swingy in general. You can expect to get much further in your runs, and to have more control over the cards in your deck. The adorable graphics and setting are a huge bonus. Most deck builders take place in a highly gritty fantasy setting, and the adorable art style is a nice change of pace. It is also nice to walk through the world rather than click on rooms in a menu. There are even a few secrets with the interactable terrain. Rise of the Slime introduces a movement system which is central to game-play. By stepping forward and backwards, you change the enemies that you are able to attack, and that can attack you. (This costs mana, so choose carefully when to reposition.) This mechanic fits well with the overworld movement style. I will warn you: Rise of the Slime starts out slo...

The gameplay is as bad as the art is good. A serious shortage of abilities between yourself and enemies makes fights feel repetitive. The fact that you are automatically given cards to cure debuffs as soon as you get them removes the point of elemental enemies. Most enemies simply have way too much health, and can only play two or three cards. This combined with the fact that you can see 80% of the game's cards in your first run makes fights long and boring. Most importantly, progression through the game is completely linear. The only choicees you are given is whether to gain a passive ability or go into a shop, but you have no control over when these rooms appear. The linear map is visible from the first room, and you will see the exact same series of levels over and over again. Branching paths are a core requirement of the rougelike genre, and the decision to do away with them is the final nail in this game's coffin. I wanted to like this very well drawn and atmospheric game so much ...

GREATEST DISAPPOINTMENT: the game does NOT have an ending, nor news unlocks of card or whatever after unlocking the other 3 starter decks (which you unlock all by completing 20 rooms in game, easy task). there is nothing after facing the last Boss, which are just two enemies with a lot of HP + a minion. Sounds like unfinished game which they finished the card system and forgot about the narrative from the beginning. There's not even an Image of an ending, just a black screen asking if you want to loop the run with higher difficult or erase everything. the card and move system is interesting for anyone who likes a deckbuilder roguelike. Mutations are interesting although even the ones that should be beneficial to you actually aren't. 5/10 not the worst card game I ever played but a big let down

You know, this game had some potential, but the devs abandoned it so don't waste your money.

Game doesn't have a whole lot to upgrade between runs and I beat the game on the first run. Sad to see development is ending.

Pretty slow-paced, card upgrades aren't exciting or impactful, and basically the only viable archetype which is reliable is to stack DEF-UP and keep blocking until all the enemies die. It seems like all the creativity went into making the negative mutations, and far less into the positive ones. I would have refunded if I hadn't left my game on when I went out. There are 4 types of card: basic, fire, acid, and corrupted (curses). The gameplay is pretty much as shallow as you might expect around these. Basic = hit and block; acid = damage over time at the start of their turn; fire = damage over time at the end of their turn.

Not nearly enough content to be worth $15. The only form of progression is having leftover money when you die which you can spend on a very limited number of upgrades before setting out again on a new run. The amount of randomness is too high and too unforgiving. Most runs aren't viable because you simply won't get cards and mutations that work together. This game ends up not being relaxing or strategic at all. It is frustrating and random. If it was $5 I wouldn't be leaving a negative review but $15 is way too much for what this is.

TLDR: Imbalanced cards, obnoxious mechanics, and for some reason gold carries over between runs. Easy access to weak but persistent healing cards encourages excessive stalling of fights to heal to full. Using campsites feels really bad because you don't know if there's free healing next room. Healing at stores is unlimited and relatively affordable. Because HP management is not compelling, there is little pressure to make sensible decisions in fights that are not existential threats. This makes many fights boring. Acid damage. AFAIK there's no defending against it without carrying over armor from the previous turn, which requires incredibly weak cards. If I'm putting a weak card in my deck, upgrading it, and spending 3 energy plus a pet slot to carry over armor just to defend against acid, I'd like it to at least not fail randomly 25% of the time. Maybe it would be better if it always worked but lost 5 armor per turn? I dunno. This is more of a nitty gritty point, but there's not mu...

Neat ideas, but poorly executed. Upgrades are fixed, and in many cases not worth the cost. Forced selection of mutations isn’t fun. Movement cards cost too much, limiting the impact of one of the most unique tools the game offers. Love the visual style, but there are much better games.

An unfortunately vapid game that wastes its few good ideas. On paper it sounds good. In execution you quickly realize that the game is extremely shallow; that could be forgiven if the game was positioning itself as an approachable take on the rogue-like deckbuilder genre, but it's not. The content isn't there, the balance isn't there, the progression isn't there. If you're in search of a new rogue-like deckbuilder, pass on this and keep looking. If you're in search of an easy-to-get-into rogue-like deckbuilder, also pass on this and keep looking.