I guess it's time to just give up on this game. I normally only keep the games I'm currently working on installed, but I've had this game installed on both my PC and my PS4 more or less ever since it came out, and I've completed hard mode with more than half the characters on PS4 and would like to take it to the finish line by completing everything (partially since it otherwise feels like all the time I've spent so far was wasted if I don't complete), but now it's time to just give up and say goodbye so that it doesn't feel like it's hanging over me in the eternal backlog.
Of all the games inspired by Dream Quest, this one's my favorite. It's a roguelite deckbuilder where you obtain and delete cards as you go, as in any deckbuilder, but it's got a more chilled out challenge level compared to the much more famous Slay The Spire, and the most important two differences between it and this game is that this game allows you to retain armor between hands and it also lets you pick your path at all times and isn't linear. Any armor gained stays until the enemy knocks it off, which just feels so much better than Spire's temporary armor to me, since temporary armor just means that you end up playing dead turns where RNG decided that you could do nothing because the AI is passive this turn, but you drew nothing but armor. At least, in Monster Slayers, you keep that armor for a future hand. The pathing is also enjoyable to me since the game generates these mostly square-shaped levels where you always have several paths and can hop back and forth and take on enemies when you feel ready for them, which just feels like it adds more depth and strategy to the game even though you quickly learn which enemies and decks you can defeat and there isn't much strategy left, it still feels like you're strategizing when you're making obvious choices.
Slay The Spire is probably, or definitely, the more polished experience (yes, despite that art since Monster Slayers isn't much of a looker either), but I just have more fun with Monster Slayers. What's making me give up before I finish it is the fact that sessions in it are quite long, something like 2-3 hours, and I often find myself losing myself in the game and three hours just disappearing from my life, and there's an issue with how the game has permanent equipment that you can find in a run and then keep forever. Except both beating AND losing hard more means that you lose that equipment, which means that you have to make these pointless runs while using the merchant character just do grind out more equipment in order to make a new attempt at hard more. That's just an unfortunate waste of my real-life time and I've decided not to spend that time anymore.
In short, though, this is a very enjoyable game that anyone who likes deckbuilders should absolutely check out, and I'm a little disappointed that we never really got a sequel. I will be setting this weekend as my finishing date, even though I didn't even touch the game this week, and uninstall it with a little bit of regret as I move on with my life.
Of all the games inspired by Dream Quest, this one's my favorite. It's a roguelite deckbuilder where you obtain and delete cards as you go, as in any deckbuilder, but it's got a more chilled out challenge level compared to the much more famous Slay The Spire, and the most important two differences between it and this game is that this game allows you to retain armor between hands and it also lets you pick your path at all times and isn't linear. Any armor gained stays until the enemy knocks it off, which just feels so much better than Spire's temporary armor to me, since temporary armor just means that you end up playing dead turns where RNG decided that you could do nothing because the AI is passive this turn, but you drew nothing but armor. At least, in Monster Slayers, you keep that armor for a future hand. The pathing is also enjoyable to me since the game generates these mostly square-shaped levels where you always have several paths and can hop back and forth and take on enemies when you feel ready for them, which just feels like it adds more depth and strategy to the game even though you quickly learn which enemies and decks you can defeat and there isn't much strategy left, it still feels like you're strategizing when you're making obvious choices.
Slay The Spire is probably, or definitely, the more polished experience (yes, despite that art since Monster Slayers isn't much of a looker either), but I just have more fun with Monster Slayers. What's making me give up before I finish it is the fact that sessions in it are quite long, something like 2-3 hours, and I often find myself losing myself in the game and three hours just disappearing from my life, and there's an issue with how the game has permanent equipment that you can find in a run and then keep forever. Except both beating AND losing hard more means that you lose that equipment, which means that you have to make these pointless runs while using the merchant character just do grind out more equipment in order to make a new attempt at hard more. That's just an unfortunate waste of my real-life time and I've decided not to spend that time anymore.
In short, though, this is a very enjoyable game that anyone who likes deckbuilders should absolutely check out, and I'm a little disappointed that we never really got a sequel. I will be setting this weekend as my finishing date, even though I didn't even touch the game this week, and uninstall it with a little bit of regret as I move on with my life.