The card building roguelike Slay the Spire this week has gained a pretty hefty 2.0 update. The new content not only takes the form of new relics, potions, and a bunch of bug fixes but also adds a new character, the Watcher.
The Watcher is the fourth addition to Slay the Spire’s roster and brings with her a new dynamic stance gimmick. Essentially, the character can be in four different states; neutral, calm, wraith, and divinity. Calm – this is the neutral stance. Calm – This initially offers eight-block, and when you exit calm, you gain two extra energy temporarily. Wraith – This is the most interesting, and most dangerous of the stances; you deal double damage but also receive double damage. Finally, you have Divinity – This takes a fair bit of work to get in to; you have to build ten stacks of a buff before it activates, but you gain three energy and deal triple damage for a single turn.
If that seems like a lot take on at once, it’s because it is. Initially, it appears that the character doesn’t do much damage, but once you get the hang of setting up different stance changes and pre-empting your periods of being in Wraith for maximum burst damage. The key, at least for me, is balancing being in calm and wraith. You don’t want to be caught short in wraith stance, as even the weakest of enemies can do some major damage.
The additional relics and potions are a nice touch, giving you even more options to prepare for the upcoming boss. A lot of the new potions I’ve picked up are geared towards delving back in your exhaust pile to bring cards back from the dead.
The full list of changes can be found here, and the game is also half price on steam, an excellent price for something that was considered in many people’s game of the year lists for 2019.
