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Build the Perfect Deck in Slay the Spire Plus on Apple Arcade

You can play this game and many others on Apple Arcade.

Zachary McAuliffe Staff writer
Zach began writing for CNET in November, 2021 after writing for a broadcast news station in his hometown, Cincinnati, for five years. You can usually find him reading and drinking coffee or watching a TV series with his wife and their dog.
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Zachary McAuliffe
2 min read
Slay the Spire Plus title card showing a person in the foreground and a tower surrounded by a storm in the background
Apple

Slay the Spire, the acclaimed deck-building roguelike game, arrived on Apple Arcade Friday, and it's ready to take up hours of your life. If you subscribe to Apple Arcade ($5, £5 or AU$8 a month), you can play this game at no additional charge, and without ads or in-app purchases (hence this version being called "Slay the Spire Plus" on the App Store).

See at Apple Arcade

The game was developed by Meta Crit Games, and was nominated for a number of awards, including for outstanding achievement in game design and strategy/simulation game of the year at the 2020 D.I.C.E. Awards.

In Slay the Spire, you choose from four different characters and start at the bottom of a map, then work your way through different locations until you reach the big boss at the top. The map changes each time you start a new game, too, so each game is different.

As you make your way to the top you build your deck -- each character has a different set of cards with their own unique mechanics -- and fight monsters in turn-based combat, all while avoiding booby-trapped treasure along the way. Or you can try to deal with the consequences of the trap: I swiped some treasure and ran away from a boulder, like Indiana Jones, but ended up getting crushed and lost a lot of health. I would not recommend this.

Each new game takes about an hour to complete, but the changing nature of the map gives the game a lot of replayability. There's also a daily challenge and a custom game mode if you want something more difficult.

You can access this game, and many others, in Apple Arcade for $5 a month, or $60 annually. You can also try Apple Arcade for free for one month with your first sign-up, or you can get a three-month free trial when you buy a new Apple device. To access Apple Arcade, open the App Store on your iOS device and tap the joystick in the menu bar.

Watch this: What You'll Find on Apple Arcade