non-euclidianavalanche - Tumblr blog

non-euclidianavalanche · 7 months ago

Text

One of my favorite things in video games is unclear lore, or just a lack thereof. In a world of Game Theory and hundreds of thousands of lore-centric games throughout history, having one that's just...

Oh! Hey look, it's them again!

Who is this? Neow of course! What do we know about them? absolutely nothing!

Okay, that's not entirely true. But it's so sparse it may as well be nothing. Described as a large whale-like creature with 6 eyes, Neow is some sort of cosmic entity from beyond this plane. She seems to have some sort of vendetta against the spire (You are Slaying the Spire after all...) And resurrects your character's dead body to do it all over again. Roguelikes my beloved, they couldn't make me hate you. There are four characters you can play as:

Ironclad: Look, he's your first d&d character. Human(?) fighter who made demonic pacts after his village was destroyed by a raging fire. (Which I'm pretty sure was also caused by demons but whatever, you do you king) From a martial arts standpoint, it's all forms of fighting. Obviously a sword fighter, but the card art shows all different types of weapons and ways they fight. They're skilled, and are now acting as a reincarnated warrior to forever fight the spire. (While reading through the Wiki I learned they are predominantly featured on a colorless card [can be in any deck] instead of a rare red card, which is pretty neat)

Silent: (my girl frfr) Your second d&d character, a poisoner rogue reminiscent of when you played Skyrim for the 8th time this year. A rogue, her description being "A deadly huntress from the Foglands. Eradicates her foes with daggers and poisons" She has similar head garb to a few enemies, and thematically fits super well. She seems less pushed out of the Foglands as they call it, and more like she was led here. As though her mind was fully clouded and she arrived. She seems to be a sort of bounty hunter, assassin typed beat. But just like... Why? Answers naught to be found.

Defect: Beep Boop, Robot that has fucking magic(?) "A combat automoton which became self aware. Ancient technology allows the manipulation of orbs."

Sorry not sorry but that's magic. (Dope magic too) It is considered self-aware, and based on some events dialogue you find it has one directive. Balance. Now, why in the hell did a robot seeking balance end up in a giant spire? No idea, not a damn thing is said about it. They're just there and awesome. (Defect is my favorite though, gameplay wise. I'm sorry, shocking you with 40+ damage by literally just pressing End Turn in a card game is so funny.)

Watcher: (my favorite by design and it's not even close.) Look at her, she's so pretty and pretentious and holier than thou. (One of the events details her walking into a room where a bloody fight is happening, waiting patiently until it's over, then just going up to the next room. She gives zero shits.) "A blind ascetic who has come to 'Evaluate' the spire. Master of the Divine Stances." She's a monk, and a cool one at that. Her play style is all about switching stances, and really brings out the longer turns and heavier impacts if you know what you're doing. So, you'd think with them releasing desperately from the other characters in the series they'd come with some lore, right?

Right?

A little bit. But not enough to give us anything we didn't already know.

So sure, yadda yadda, all these characters but what is the spire? The titled spire of which we are to slay?

A big fuck off tower in the middle of nowhere, that leads forever into the sky. And here's the best part, you never even fight the spire itself. Sure, you fight growths and things made by and from the tower. But the final boss isn't the building.

If, throughout your trials of the three floors and multiple bosses needed to get through. You sacrifice a relic from a chest, choosing to meditate instead of rest, and defeat a burning elite. You get three keys, which let you into the final level.

Chapter 4: The Ending

Instead of a large scroll map through the individual nodes, you get a map with one singular path.

A campfire to rest, a merchant to buy any last minute potions or cards, and then an elite fight before the final boss. Remember how I said earlier that you don't fight the spire? You don't, but you do fight growths and eventually its heart.

Fight the tentacle and shield combo that are in the elite fight, (who are both little bitches btw) and you'll come face to face with the Corrupted Heart

This is the final boss. You can only do a certain amount of damage to it per turn, and every card you play deals you 1 damage to you! (2 later in the fight) Fucking rude.

But let's say you do it. Let's say the blade strikes through, or the electricity ceases the heart. You win! Congrats, you get to see a little animatic. (Side note, love the art style of this game) Of the character leaving the spire... And just kinda looking around. Then you get one of my favorite end screens of any game.

So just like... Yeah, you did it! 🎉🎉🎉 Rogue like gameplay says you did all of the things, and you got to the end. But something about not knowing all of it gnaws at you when you look from the surface. This whole post is made with bare bones research (300 hours and a few fandom searches, which is where all of the images are from) and I still feel like I know less than when I started. Sequel coming out early next year, and I'm very excited! That's all.

Oh, totally unrelated! Play Monster Train. It's not this game, but it's very similar. Card games, train going down through hell to reignite it. Very fun time.

#slay the spire #video games #card games #neowisbestwhalething #pleaseplaythisgameimfartooobsessed

13 notes · View notes