It might be premature to write this review: I'm sure I'll play this game for another ten hours over the next month, and maybe by then (as is often the case with ascension-based roguelites) my understanding of the core game and mechanics will transform, and all of my forthcoming thoughts will be revealed as the meanderings of a novice.

This is a thing that I worry about more with negative reviews than positive ones, though: and I really liked Luck Be a Landlord, even if I found — find! — it a tiny bit wanting. It is in many ways a deckbuilder stripped down to the essence — build a deck, draw 25 cards in order — and your sole act of agency is to choose (or not choose) what cards/items to add to your deck.

Please do not mistake my elision here for disparagement: LbaL crushes this core gameplay loop. The combination of dopamine and analysis is second to none; it absolutely devoured me, even through the runs where I felt like I didn't lose so much as I didn't get great options in the first six hands. ^[1]

Where I find it lacking is depth once you understand the mechanics and synergies at play: the ascensions (at least the first ten, which took me around twenty runs to climb) are less about transforming the gameplay and more just increasing the incline; the universe of cards is pretty sharply divided into realms of Obviously Good and Obviously Bad, and the anti-capitalist intrigue is fun but doesn't actually contribute much to the gestalt of the game.

Seriously, though: if you like Slay the Spire, download and play this immediately. It won't be your favorite game, but you will have a great time with it, and there are many games that fail to hit that mark.

★★★★