Slay The Spire has remained an incredibly popular deckbuilding roguelike, so it naturally invited a healthy modding community that added fun stuff to the game – goofy googley eyes included. One of Slay The Spire’s most popular mods was called Downfall, a huge fan-made expansion that added tons of playable characters, a new mode, and more. Those developers – Table 9 Studio – are now back with their own not-modded game: an auto-battling, fantasy Chess roguelike called Tales & Tactics.
Tales & Tactics revolves around The Grand Tournament, a competition that puts up-and-coming tabletoppers against each other in a bid to win fame and fortune. The Steam page says that each enemy will have their own unique abilities and personalities, but what I found most interesting is the Tournament Champions who apparently remember and react to you in a Shadow Of Mordor-esque twist. These are “celebrity commanders” who are occasionally invited back to the competition, and I’m excited to see how good their memories are.
You’ll be gaining more than a few long-lasting rivalries, though – this is a roguelike after all. Throughout the competition, you’ll collect units that have their different strategies, abilities, and archetypes. Before a battle, you need to compose your party with pieces that gel well together, and then unleash them in auto-battling goodness. You can also combine three pieces for a buffed-up unit and equip each unit with stat-boosting equipment – which includes adorable hats.
The trailer hints that you can manipulate the grid-based board, too, hindering and/or helping your team of miniature orcs, squeaking dragons, and treefolk. Lots of strategic planning to look forward to, but I’m just as excited to interact with a cast of fantasy frenemies. Tales & Tactics has a nebulous “coming soon” release window, but for now, you can wishlist the indie on Steam.
In the meantime, you can check out our list of the very best character mods for Slay The Spire. Or, if you’d like a taste of what Table 9 can do, their Slay The Spire Downfall mod is available for free on Steam.
