Deckbuilder Games Like Slay the Spire: 14 Picks on Steam

If you’re looking for games like Slay the Spire, you probably love the same few things as everyone else who has finished a climb: picking one card out of three after a fight, finding a relic that turns an ordinary deck into a machine, and reading an enemy’s telegraphed attack so you block exactly enough. Every run is a new puzzle, and even a loss teaches you something. Each pick below keeps that loop and changes one big thing, so you can choose the twist that suits you.

What kind of game is Slay the Spire?

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Slay the Spire is a roguelike deckbuilder. “Roguelike” means each attempt, called a run, starts from scratch on a randomized map, and dying sends you back to the bottom. “Deckbuilder” means you start with a small, weak deck and grow it during the run, so the deck itself is what you’re really building. Mega Crit released it on January 23, 2019, and on Steam it holds an Overwhelmingly Positive rating from 219,583 reviews.

The store page lists four characters, each with its own card set, more than 350 cards, 200+ items, 50+ combat encounters and 50+ events. Before every act you choose a path: a risky route full of tough elite fights, or a safer one with rests and shops. In each fight you spend a few points of energy on attacks, blocks and powers. Enemies show what they plan to do next, which makes every turn a small, readable puzzle. Relics are permanent bonuses for the rest of the run, and they’re what make two runs with the same character feel completely different.

It’s single-player only, with full controller support, Steam Workshop mods, and versions for Windows, macOS and Linux. Waiting on the sequel? Our Slay the Spire 2 release date article covers where it stands on Steam.

So the best games like Slay the Spire need three things: card drafting between fights, a run with real routing choices, and combat that rewards planning more than luck. Every pick below has at least two of the three.

Closest games like Slay the Spire: same climb, new combat

These four keep the overall shape you know, with a branching map, a growing deck, upgrades and a boss at the end. Each one changes what happens inside a fight.

Monster Train

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If your favorite moment in the Spire is when a combo finally clicks, Monster Train is the first game to try. You defend a burning pyre on a train heading into a frozen hell, and the fights take place across three vertical floors at once. Enemies climb up through them, so you’re placing units and casting spells on several floors in the same turn.

Between fights you pick a route through locations that upgrade your champion, recruit units, improve cards or even copy a card you love. Each run you pair a main clan with a support clan out of five and get both clans’ card pools, which leads to a huge range of builds. It suits players who enjoy planning a whole engine. Steam lists Single-player plus Online PvP, it runs on Windows only, and its reviews are Overwhelmingly Positive.

Monster Train 2

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The sequel keeps the three-floor defense and changes nearly everything else: five new clans, new enemy factions, and a story about angels and demons teaming up against Titans who have taken over Heaven. The new Room cards give your train lasting boosts, and Equipment cards attach to your units, so you have more to plan around than in the original.

There’s also a hub, the Covenant Outpost, that you return to after every run. Start here instead of the first game if you’d rather have modern extras and macOS support (Steam lists Windows and macOS). It’s Single-player with full controller support, and its reviews are Overwhelmingly Positive.

Roguebook

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Roguebook was made with Richard Garfield, the creator of Magic: The Gathering, and it’s probably the most familiar-feeling game on this list. You still draft cards, collect relics and plan around enemy attacks. The difference is that you take two heroes. The one in front protects the one behind, and switching their positions in the middle of a fight is a core tactic.

Each hero brings more than 50 cards, a personal relic and a skill tree, and the store page promises over 200 cards in total. Pick this one if what you love most is the card-by-card tactics of the Spire’s fights. It’s single-player with controller support on Windows, macOS and Linux, and it’s rated Very Positive.

Cobalt Core

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Cobalt Core puts you in a sci-fi ship battle along a single line. On top of attacking and shielding, your cards move your ship left and right to dodge incoming missiles or line your cannons up with an enemy’s weak point. If you liked reading enemy intent in the Spire, this adds a whole new layer to it.

You bring along three crew members and combine their decks, which gives you many different starting combinations, and there’s a time-loop story with a cheerful, chatty cast. It’s single-player with full controller support on Windows and macOS, and its reviews are Overwhelmingly Positive.

Story-driven deckbuilders with a twist

The Spire tells its story in small hints. These two put the story front and center and fold the deckbuilding into it.

Griftlands

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Klei’s Griftlands gives you two decks: one for fighting and one for negotiating. Plenty of problems can be solved by talking your way through them, bribing someone or calling in a favor, and the people you anger or befriend come back later. It’s a deck-building roguelike with real role-playing choices on top.

You can play as Sal, Rook or Smith, and each has their own campaign, map and decks. Companions are part of the plan too: you can hire mercenaries, find pets or lean on friends. Choose it if you wished the Spire’s events had more room to grow. It’s single-player with Steam Workshop support on Windows, macOS and Linux, and it’s rated Very Positive.

Inscryption

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Inscryption starts as a card roguelike played at a table in a dark cabin, against a mysterious opponent named Leshy. You build a deck of woodland creature cards through drafting and stranger methods. Between hands you can get up and solve escape-room-style puzzles, and the store page promises it doesn’t stay the game it first seems to be.

Go in knowing as little as you can. This suits players who liked the Spire’s mechanics and also want a mystery and real tension. Fans of our best horror games on Steam list should take note. It’s single-player on Windows, macOS and Linux, and its reviews are Overwhelmingly Positive.

Lighter picks for when you have less time

A common complaint about the Spire is that a full climb is a real commitment. These games keep runs light. They have fewer rules to hold in your head and quick turns, and each has one strong hook.

Balatro

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Balatro takes poker hands and turns them into a roguelike. You play hands to score enough chips to beat each “blind,” and you collect Jokers that change how scoring works. The aim is to stack synergies (cards and effects that boost each other) until the numbers explode.

If your favorite runs in the Spire were the ones where three relics combined into something absurd, this is that feeling with almost nothing else in the way. There are eight difficulty levels plus challenge and seeded runs for later. It’s single-player with full controller support on Windows and macOS, and it has an Overwhelmingly Positive rating from more than 200,000 reviews.

Peglin

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Its store page openly describes Peglin as a mix of Peggle and Slay the Spire. Instead of playing cards, you fire orbs into a board of pegs, and every peg you hit adds damage. You still follow a new map each run, collect relics that change both the enemies and the physics, and save potions and bombs for the right moment.

It’s the most relaxed game in this group to pick up, but losing still ends the run. It’s single-player with controller support on Windows and macOS, and it’s rated Very Positive.

Dicey Dungeons

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In Terry Cavanagh’s Dicey Dungeons you play as a walking die. Your equipment cards are slots that take dice rolls, so each turn you’re deciding which number goes where. The randomness is right there in the open, and the fun comes from bending it to your plan.

All six characters play very differently. The Thief steals enemy equipment, and the Robot builds its dice with a push-your-luck blackjack game. The free Reunion DLC adds six more episodes. It’s single-player with controller support on Windows, macOS and Linux, and it’s rated Very Positive.

Dream Quest

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Dream Quest came out in 2016, before the Spire, and it’s a direct ancestor of the genre. You explore randomly generated dungeon floors as one of 13 classes, combat is a card game, and choosing which cards to add is the main decision. The store page says runs are short, around 30 minutes per session.

The art is very basic, so this suits players who care about systems more than looks, or anyone curious about where the genre came from. Achievements make later runs a little easier or more varied. It’s single-player on Windows and macOS, and it’s rated Very Positive.

Party, co-op and RPG-heavy deckbuilders

The Spire is one hero against the climb. These games add a party, a longer campaign or real-time action, and one of them adds friends.

Across the Obelisk

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Across the Obelisk is the answer for anyone looking for co-op games like Slay the Spire. You lead a party of four heroes. Solo, you control all of them. In online co-op (Steam lists it, and the store page says 2 to 4 players), each friend takes part of the party, and you plan combos together over voice chat.

You can choose from 16 heroes across four classes, 500+ cards and 300+ items, with three game modes and events whose outcomes shape the story. Pick it if you want to share the deckbuilding with friends. It runs on Windows, macOS and Linux and is rated Very Positive. For more games to play with friends, see our co-op picks like It Takes Two.

Gordian Quest

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Gordian Quest is a deckbuilding RPG inspired by old-school classics like Ultima and D&D. You manage a party of heroes, build their skills and the bonds between them, and fight turn-based battles across a cursed land. Campaign Mode covers four acts. Realm Mode is the faster roguelite option, with threats and rewards that change each time.

It suits players who want a deckbuilder with a long-term party to care about. Steam lists Single-player plus Online PvP and full controller support on Windows. Its reviews are Very Positive.

NEOVERSE

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NEOVERSE combines roguelite deckbuilding with a flashier, action-styled presentation. You choose one of three heroes, each with their own abilities, and build from about 300 cards and over 100 skills against more than 70 types of monsters. The choices you make on the way decide where you go next.

Try it if you like the Spire’s structure but want more visual energy in each fight. It’s single-player with controller support on Windows and macOS, and it’s rated Very Positive.

Hand of Fate 2

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Hand of Fate 2 is the loosest fit and the most unusual. You build a deck of encounters, a mysterious Dealer lays them out like a board game, and when a fight comes up you play it out in real-time, third-person action combat. Twenty-two challenges and companions who can bend the board game’s rules give it plenty of variety.

Pick it if you enjoy deckbuilding but sometimes wish you could swing the sword yourself. It’s single-player with controller support and Steam Workshop on Windows, macOS and Linux, and it’s rated Very Positive.

How to choose your next card roguelike (and mistakes to avoid)

All 14 of these games share the Spire’s core loop, so the real question is which twist you want. Here’s a quick way to match them up:

A worked example

Say you’ve won with all four Spire characters, you love planning around what enemies will do next, and you only get about half an hour on weeknights and a longer stretch on Saturdays. You could play Balatro or Dream Quest on weeknights, since you can wrap up a session of either before bed. Save Monster Train 2 for the weekend, because a big three-floor engine is more fun when you can see it through. If the Saturday crew wants in, switch to Across the Obelisk.

Mistakes people make

• Taking every card. Deck bloat hurts in most of these games just like it does in the Spire. A lean deck draws its best cards more often, so skipping a reward is often the right move.
• Judging a game by its first run. Many of these games add cards, clans or characters over time, so the first run is a poor sample.
• Assuming multiplayer means co-op. Monster Train and Gordian Quest list online PvP. Only Across the Obelisk lists co-op.
• Not checking platforms. Monster Train and Gordian Quest list Windows only on Steam.
• Expecting precise tactics from luck-heavy games. Dicey Dungeons and Peglin are about making the most of randomness. You can’t plan them like a fight in the Spire.

More to play after the Spire

If these games like Slay the Spire have you hungry for more roguelikes beyond card games, our best roguelike games on Steam list covers action, shooter and strategy runs. For deep party builds without the reset button, try our best RPG games on Steam. You can browse every list like this one under games like the ones you love, and see what’s coming next on our upcoming games page.

Questions and answers

What kind of game is Slay the Spire?

Slay the Spire is a single-player roguelike deckbuilder from Mega Crit. You climb a spire with a randomized layout, fight turn-based card battles and add new cards to a starter deck after fights. Along the way you collect relics with lasting effects. When you die, the run ends and you start again from the bottom. It has four characters, each with its own card set, and more than 350 cards in total.

Is Slay the Spire always winnable?

Not every run is guaranteed. The card offers, relics, events and enemies are random, so some climbs go wrong no matter how well you play. Skill still counts for a lot, though. Good card choices, smart map paths and careful blocking against the attacks enemies telegraph will raise your win rate a great deal. Experienced players win often, but even they lose runs to bad luck.

Are there games like Slay the Spire with shorter runs?

Yes. On Steam, Dream Quest is built around short sessions of about 30 minutes, according to its store page. Balatro, Peglin and Dicey Dungeons are lighter picks too. Each one has simple rules, fast turns and a single clear twist (poker hands, pachinko shots or dice), which makes it easier to play a run on a weeknight than to sit down for a full climb of the Spire.

Are there co-op games like Slay the Spire?

Across the Obelisk is the clear pick. Steam lists online co-op, and its store page describes 2 to 4 player online co-op, where each friend controls heroes in a party of four. You can also play it solo and control the whole party yourself. Monster Train and Gordian Quest list online PvP rather than co-op, so play them with a friend only if you want to compete.

Which games like Slay the Spire run on Mac and Linux?

On Steam, Griftlands, Inscryption, Roguebook, Across the Obelisk, Hand of Fate 2 and Dicey Dungeons list Windows, macOS and Linux, just like Slay the Spire. Monster Train 2, Balatro, Cobalt Core, Peglin, NEOVERSE and Dream Quest list Windows and macOS. The original Monster Train and Gordian Quest list Windows only, so check the store page before you buy on another system.