Slay the Spire is a combination of roguelike-inspired progression and the gameplay of a deck-building card game. At the start of a playthrough the player selects one of four predetermined characters, which sets a starting amount of health, gold, a starting relic that provides a unique ability for that character, and an initial deck of cards with basic attack and defense cards as well what potential color-coded cards tailored to that character they will see through the run. The goal is to work through several levels of a spire, each level having a number of potential encounters distributed in a branching structure with a boss character at the end of the level. Encounters include monsters which vary in strength; elite enemies which offer enhanced rewards; campfires to heal or upgrade cards to more powerful versions; shopkeepers to buy cards, relics and potions from, as well as to remove cards from the deck; chests with random loot; and random choice-based encounters.
