As We Descend hands-on preview: A strategy game fan’s Slay the Spire

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Originally published on October 8, 2024.

As a fan, I’m always thrilled to dive into solitary adventures in roguelike deckbuilders, like Slay the Spire has me do. Games such as Monster Train have cleverly tweaked the formula, turning the deckbuilding element into something closer to a tower defense game. In the same vein, Box Dragon is sticking close to tradition with As We Descend, offering a more strategic twist on the familiar gameplay style.

At Gamescom 2024, I had the opportunity to interact with Kevin Chang, the game director for As We Descend. This encounter allowed me a brief playtime with the game and a discussion about Box Dragon’s strategies in a fiercely competitive genre. If you find his name ringing a bell, it’s no coincidence: earlier this year, he was one of the developers we interviewed on how Early Access and demos are reshaping the indie market.

When starting a battle in As We Descend, one immediately appreciates the unique layout of the map – it’s not the standard setup where your character is on one side and enemies on the other, with your cards at the bottom. The game’s perspective sets it apart from the get-go, immersing you into a bird’s eye view that’s characteristic of strategy games, offering a fresh gaming experience.

In the game As We Descend, the map is strategically designed with distinct zones encircling your central stronghold as a protective shell. These areas serve as your deployment grounds for your diverse troop squad. You command a compact army and each unit you possess adds cards to your deck. The placement of your troops plays a significant role: Melee units should be positioned closest to the enemy for optimal effectiveness, whereas ranged units are best kept away from the frontlines, though there may be instances where you’d want them close enough for a powerful point-blank shot that inflicts extra damage.

In games such as Darkest Dungeon, adversaries employ their unique skills to strike various areas with attacks. Therefore, it’s essential to keep your units agile and move them in and out of harm’s way to stay safe. The creators of Box Dragon aspire for As We Descend to offer a more tactical gaming experience compared to something like Slay the Spire.

Rest assured, if you’re concerned that this might resemble the intense, minute control required in real-time strategy games, there’s no need for worry: After All, We Descend remains a turn-based game. The enemy’s intentions will be disclosed, granting you ample time to strategize and execute your plans at your own pace.

In the game, battles are designed to be engaging and interactive, allowing the player to significantly impact enemy actions. For instance, if enough damage is inflicted, enemies can be staggered. Some enemies respond uniquely to this, but standard foes will either be stunned for a round following a stagger or take a critical hit if you choose to press on – this decision matters. As Chang explains, we wanted an aggressive, proactive combat style so that the game evolves with each turn, ensuring you never reach a standstill, and the gameplay leans more towards offense.

Leaders might choose to strike back, so understanding your opposition and tailoring your strategy accordingly is crucial, as the game designer underscores.

In “As We Descend,” players can effectively spend their energy each turn in a beneficial manner. Unlike games such as Slay the Spire, barriers persist partially after being deployed here. This means that even when you’re dealt a hand of defensive cards and the opponent isn’t intending to attack on a given turn, it doesn’t feel like resources are being wasted. Instead, using those cards still provides a return on your investment.

In keeping with our customs, victory in battle will provide you with useful items to aid you on your journey. As its name implies, the game “As We Descend” focuses on exploring ancient ruins and collecting various artifacts such as treasures, relics, and so on. What’s more, instead of forcing a choice, you get to keep all the loot that you risked your life for when you return home. This becomes clearer when you understand that the battle I referred to was an optional expedition rather than a compulsory fight.

During your journey, you’ll find that the rewards from your exploration become available only after you return to your base, often referred to as the city. This modest settlement is built on what was once a grand metropolis, but we’ll save that story for another time. Upon arrival, you’ll meet various Non-Player Characters (NPCs). These characters can utilize the resources you collect to offer you numerous advantages – and it’s here where the game presents you with critical decisions to make.

In ‘As We Descend’, the director emphasizes that it’s not solely about picking cards; rather, it involves selecting units as well,” he explains. “The strategy offers a variety of intricate decisions to make within the game.

In this central hub, you manage your team, modify their deck of cards for unique abilities, acquire enhancements, face special events, and more. You also have the option to revive fallen soldiers back in town, but keep in mind it requires resources or may lead to permanent injuries that gradually affect their effectiveness. The city is not only a sanctuary but also your provider of Favor, an auxiliary resource you can expend during combat. It grants you the power to discard one card and draw another whenever needed.

Chang explains that our game features numerous card varieties. To make randomness a bit more predictable and give the game more complexity, we’re making some adjustments,”

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“Chang clarifies that our game boasts many different types of cards. We’re tweaking things slightly to balance out the luck factor and enhance the overall depth of the game.

After completing your preparations, you’ll trigger the transition to the subsequent underground biome in the city. However, before that, you’ll need to fend off any attacking forces.

At the moment, As We Descend features approximately 13 distinct troop types. However, Chang predicts that number will likely increase to between 18 and 20 at launch. For him, this diversity is one of the benefits of choosing a Real-Time Strategy (RTS) approach over the more conventional Role-Playing Game (RPG) path, which is constrained by character archetypes. In his words, “We decided, ‘You don’t just select one character and their deck, you choose seven different characters, each with their own mini-decks,’ essentially.” Many other roguelike deckbuilder developers have found it challenging to incorporate another class into their game.

Similar to Age of Empires or Civilization, As We Descend will feature distinct factions that share common units and gameplay elements, but each will also have exclusive troop types and unique city layouts. At this stage, three factions are being designed, ensuring a rich variety of play options for the game.

Initially, As We Descend was heavily influenced by real-time strategy (RTS) games due to Chang’s passion for the genre. However, it was always intended to be a strategic game. Intriguingly, he admits that in its early stages, it was designed as a 4X roguelike deckbuilder! As it stands on Steam, there are quite a few similar games, and Chang is pleased that the game will follow an RTS direction. Interestingly, the game was initially meant to be non-violent, but as they experimented with it, they found that players didn’t understand the struggle or tension without combat. This lack of conflict seemed confusing to many players.

The principal artist from Box Dragon, who previously worked at Riot Games, played a crucial role in persuading the team to fully embrace the Real-Time Strategy (RTS) genre by offering a powerful artistic style that brought this vision to reality. According to Chang, without such an influential factor, we might not have leaned as heavily into the strategic direction that we did.

He explains that current roguelike deckbuilders often resemble traditional RPGs with a very close view or strategy games like Civilization with a broad perspective. What’s unique about As We Descend is its focus on filling the mid-range, offering an engaging viewpoint between these two extremes.

Chang explains that while games such as Slay the Spire and Monster Train are essentially strategy games, he feels not everyone approaches these games from a strategic perspective.

The visual effect I spoke about earlier is crucial because it effectively conveys what the game is about and sets appropriate expectations. As Chang explains, if a game looks like a strategy game, people will understand its nature more easily.

As a strategy game fan, this is the roguelike deckbuilder to keep your eye on right now on PC.

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2025-04-15 12:47