The creators of the fan-made (and very popular) Downfall expansion for Slay The Spire, which flips the script so you’re defending the spire from those pesky heroes, are making a full-fledged game. Table 9 Studio has announced Tales & Tactics, a blend of “the roguelike strategy genre with the squad-based autobattler genre” that’s due out later this year, and it looks like the devs are putting the lessons they learned from Downfall to good use.

Taking place on a hex-based board, Tales & Tactics sees you build up a roster of characters (who take the form of cards, naturally) who each have “a unique combination of traits and archetypes”. You’ll want to build a deck of characters whose skills work well together to overcome your enemies or, if you’re anything like me, just throw everything with a big damage number on the board and hope for the best.

Table 9 seems to be going for the same kind of mechanical depth and complexity that it achieved in Downfall, but it sounds like you’ll be able to ease into it at a speed that suits you. “The mechanics will only get more complex if you want them to,” reads the game’s description, boasting about the game’s “‘complexity at your own pace’ unlock system”.

Those layers of complexity seem to be what the game’s truly about. “Unlike many roguelikes, new features unlocked in Tales & Tactics rarely ever directly increase power,” says Table 9, “but rather add new opportunities, mechanics, and options—increasing the run’s complexity,” but not necessarily your strength. By way of example, the studio explains that “Rather than an unlock granting ‘your units gain more damage’, you might unlock ‘a Devil’s Deal may be offered'”. 

The description rather stubbornly refuses to tell us what a Devils’ Deal actually is, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say, judging by the name, it’s something that offers a bonus to one thing to the detriment of another, or something similar.

Table 9’s Downfall mod for Slay The Spire was much-beloved, and currently holds an “Overwhelmingly Positive” review score on Steam. Naturally, players have reacted positively to news of a proper game from the studio. “This will be an instant buy for me because Downfall is so impressive,” said a Reddit user named callender55, while a user named Interlinked said “As soon as I saw this on steam I knew I’d be buying it. Downfall is amazing, even if it made me rage quit more than Elden Ring”. Table 9 set a great standard for itself with its mod, so expectations for its first full game are high.