Cobalt Core is primarily similar to slay the spire, while mixing in some elements from FTL. You may choose 3 pilots which all have different card sets, and choose ships which all have different gimmicks.

The game doesn't have as many artifacts as slay the spire, and the builds are a lot less interesting. But the game does add complexity with its ship combat. You must maneuver your ship out of harm's way, or have drones block the damage, or stun the part of the ship that's attacking you.

This one is for slay the spire fans who liked ftl, not the other way around. good game, but i wish it retained some of the flexibility of slay the spire's gameplay

This review contains spoilers

The Messenger is a game with fantastic music, a great gameplay loop, and interesting characters.

The second half of the game slows down heavily. The metroidvania is not very interesting, because most of the movement upgrades have been acquired during the first half of the game.

The game needed more lategame movement options and less backtracking at the end. But it's still a great game with a lot of love put into it.