Slay The Spire Downfall mod developers are making their own tabletop fantasy roguelike

rockpapershotgun.com:

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