My Extended Review

[Aegis_Myles]

This is my favorite Slay the Spire-like game. After 200 hours in Slay the Spire, I was looking for a game that was similar yet had new ideas. This game did just that, and provided much more interesting concepts than I would have expected it to. If you've played Slay the Spire and are looking for more similar games, I think this is a perfect next stop to play at. I do think this could be more difficult to get into in comparison for a brand new player, but I think it will still work fine and be a very fun experience.

There are 4 characters each with many unique cards. Each character starts with 2 colors of energy, and 2 choices of starting exhibits which can shape the run. Because of this, there is a lot of variability on the surface even that can allow for many unique runs.

For the rest of this review I'm going to look at more specific parts of the game in comparison to Slay the Spire. The further sections will be unhelpful to those who have not played Slay the Spire or this game before. If you are one of the people who have not played either, I would greatly recommend this game. For those this does apply for, I hope to highlight some of the big differences between this game and Slay the Spire, and add critiques that might be beneficial feedback for the developers.

I also think it is important to state my experience, as of writing this I have done perfect completions of the game with all 4 available characters on the Lunatic difficulty.

There will be spoilers.



Energy System

I think this game is much more interesting yet complex with its energy system than Slay the Spire ever was. I think it is most appropriate to start by covering the value of a single energy. Where Slay the Spire starts you with 3 energy, and every single boss gives you the opportunity to get an "energy relic" that provides one more, Lost Branch of Legend starts you with 5 energy, and every boss provides an energy relic as well. Many of the build defining cards are also worth 5 energy, where as a high cost card in Slay the Spire would be worth 3.

Overall, this makes a single energy within Lost Branch of Legend worth considerably less, and there is much less consistent energy growth in this game compared to Slay the Spire. Where is is normally standard there to get an extra energy at the end of each act, being a very considerable boost, Lost Branch of Legend expects you to scale energy with standard exhibits found along the way as well, or find cards to give temporary energy. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, however it isn't uncommon to be near the end of a run and feel as though your energy has hardly increased.

I couldn't talk about energy without mentioning the colors as well. I will go more in depth about the colors in the card system section, however as far as just energy goes I think the colors work well. Within every turn you don't just have to make sure you have enough energy to play everything, but that you have the right colors to play everything you want as well. If you only pick cards that play out of one color type, then in the middle of a turn you might have to pick which card gets your blue color for example. I should also note many cards have grey costs, which can be filled in by every single color. This helps to allow you to pick cards that can use the stray colors you might be left with.



Card System

Slay the Spire consists of a card system that is mostly unique cards for each character, then a few neutral cards that every character has access to. However, Lost Branch of Legend has a good selection of unique cards for each character, and then even more neutral cards that every character has access to. At a glance, this might sound as if it would make every run feel similar as everyone would be accessing mostly the same cards every run. However this is where the color system really makes this game feel vast.

Every neutral card has a color. They can be mono colored or multi colored. Most importantly, a card of its own color will only show up if you have the energy that can afford it. So if you start with 3 yellow and 2 red energy, you will only be able to find neutral cards that can be afforded by said energy.

Alongside this, while every character has a good pool of cards dedicated to their starting energy color, each character also has a small pool of cards that only can show up if you obtain an energy that is not of your characters starting color.

This is, what I believe, to be the best addition to the game by far. When you complete an act and can obtain a boss exhibit, it is easy to initially fall into the trap that you should always just get a color you started with as you need that in your deck more than the random colors. However, choosing another color opens up new character unique cards and many neutral cards. Where Slay the Spire makes boss relics a consistent scaling method, Lost Branch of Legend turns it into a course determining choice. It can entirely change how the run is played from that point on.



Status Effects

I think this is where I will start with my first major critique. Many of the status effects under each character or enemy become much too cluttered much too quickly, and their symbols are frequently not visually descriptive enough. When I played Slay the Spire, most every symbol was self explanatory, and frequently occurring. There were minimal uncommon effects and when there was one it was easy to to check it once and understand it. However, upon my first time playing this game as Reimu, it was far too much all at once. When the status effects under me were temporary firepower and spirit, normal firepower and spirit, many debuffs, every ability I used that combat, it quickly became too cluttered to read properly.

I think the game could greatly benefit from more "readable" status effect images. Slay the Spire has a red sword for strength, a green shield for dex. Lost Branch of Legend has a ball of fire and a blue circle. Once you get used to them they make sense, however I feel as if these are not nearly as obvious.

Frail and lock on are some of the best designed status effect images in my opinion, and the rest of them should strive to be more similar.

Of course, I can't move on without discussing the most uniquely important status effect this game has added, being graze. I think graze is another great addition to the game. Slay the Spire had issues with the power of intangibility, and how immortal a player became upon getting mass amounts of it. I see making Lost Branch of Legends real intangibility (flawless) much more difficult to obtain, and then providing a much more fleeting source of intangibility (graze) to be this games solution.

Graze is a very powerful resource that allows you to take 0 damage from an attack, and for every attack you graze you lose 1 stack of graze. A stack of graze will also be lost as the start of your turn. The player is greatly benefited for putting a form of graze within their deck, however very well punished for relying on graze as their only method of blocking. As opponents in the game will later have very power "accurate" moves (cannot be grazed), if you try to rely on graze you will get smoked later on, but if you have none of it blocking may be considerably more difficult. An interesting take on fixing intangibility that I am here for.



Spell Cards

I find this to be most comparable to the potions of Slay the Spire, yet also nothing alike. The potions within Slay the Spire and the spell cards within Lost Branch of Legend both are resources that can carry between fights, and can be used to give an edge against your opponent.

Overall I have minimal issues with the spell card system. It can serve as a strong tool to survive difficult encounters, yet I do not feel much reliance on the spell cards to get through a run either. The only problem I have with them is that they feel like they are one of the most boring parts of a run. Being one of the most invariable parts of an entire run, they can just begin to feel bland to use very quickly.



Characters

There are currently four characters within the game and a fifth one coming soon. I am going to go character by character, and compare them to their closest Slay the Spire counterpart. However, I think it is incredibly important to preface that I really do think that every character in this game is mechanically unique enough to only be loosely related to the Slay the Spire counterparts I will mention.

I will also mostly only cover the builds similar to Slay the Spire, and how Lost Branch of Legend either does or does not innovate on the similar mechanics. As for the entirely unique builds, I think it is unfair to speak about how they would be compared to a build in a game with no real comparison.


Reimu and Ironclad

I find these two to be somewhat lumped together as they have a few similar archetypes and a similar starting exhibition/relic. They both have a somewhat immediate focus on obtaining strength and having sustainability through healing. However, Reimu is unique in that she heals and gains strength upon each kill, making her initially scale in a fight the more enemies there are, and the more enemies that get summoned. Reimu can also ditch this first exhibition, and instead put a greater focus on barrier, which is effectively a separate type of block that acts like barricade.

Reimu and Ironclad both have similar defense builds as well, where there can be focuses on doing damage each time you obtain defense (Dichromatic Lotus Butterfly/Juggernaut), preserving all block (The Great Hakurei Barrier/Barricade), and attacking for as much block as you have (Barrier Slam/Body Slam). However, Reimu also has many unique subcategories within her unique cards alone, having builds that focus on temporary buffs disappearing and reapplying, and uniquely scaling "yin yang" attacks. There is more she has, however I have yet to play every uniquely colored build with her.


Sakuya and Silent

Sakuya and the Silent go together somewhat due to their Throwing Knife/Shiv builds, and their discard builds. Sakuya can also start with a card that increases how much she draws per turn in the early turns. I would say this is about where the similarities start to end however. While these two primary builds start off sounding similar, they both have unique ways of functioning.

For the Throwing Knife/Shiv builds, a few niche differences makes this play very differently. To start, every throwing knife costs energy to play, yet is freely played and auto targeted to the lowest hp enemy for less damage if it is not played that turn. Where the Silent can shiv whoever she wants, Sakuya more frequently has to roll with who the knives wish to target. Alongside this, every knife has "replenish" added onto it, so if it is drawn, it will not be counted as a drawn card this turn. This allows more cards to shove knives into the discard or deck, and get actual use out of them. Knives gain further individuality as different color energy is added.

While the discard builds are mostly similar, I do think Sakuya has at least two other primary unique mechanics that she can lean into. These would be time pulse and time stop. Time pulse is a unique status that damages every enemy for whatever stack it is at, then decreases by however many enemies it damaged. Time stop is a mechanic that Sakuya has that allows her to take an entirely free turn, similar to "Vault" in Slay the Spire.

Cirno and Defect

I find the teammates mechanic to mostly resemble the orbs Defect has. Do note every character has at least 1 character unique teammate, however Cirno is the only character to have a focus on having many.

Every teammate card can be spawned and have passive effects similar to orbs at the end of every turn. Unlike orbs, every teammate has a passive action, standard action, and ultimate action. Passive actions are done automatically at the end of a turn, and for the most part will raise unity every time it is done. This "unity" can then be spent on their standard action, which will immediately have them act and then get sent to the discard pile. It can also be spent on their ultimate action, which would then immediately act and then exile them.

This unity and extra actions put a large spin on the loop that orbs gave. Also, where orb slots limited the amount of orbs you could have at once in Slay the Spire, teammates just stay within your hand in Lost Branch of Legend, therefore making the limit your hand space.

Every unique color of energy gives Cirno access to new teammates that can allow you to consistently play in an entirely different way.

Cirno also has a freezing build, however given that this is entirely unique to Slay the Spire, so I will not speak about it as much. I do find it interesting though, so I do give props to having an entirely unique fun build.


Marisa and Watcher

The only comparison these two really have is burst and divinity, where they both store up charge until they do much more damage and gain energy upon activation.

Past that, I would say Marisa is entirely unique with some really interesting builds. The fact she is nearly entirely unique to Slay the Spire, and (in my opinion) one of the more fun characters in the game says a lot about the competence of the devs in making their own interesting characters. Great job with this one.

Koishi and Watcher

I think Koishi is currently set up to be most akin to the watcher, yet she is not out at all so that is the most I will say.

[Aegis_Myles]

Elites

The most notable part about elites is their difficulty difference in comparison to Slay the Spire. Act 1 elites in Lost Branch of Legend are incredibly brutal in comparison to Slay the Spire, and can be very difficult to manage right away if you do not choose cards with immediate purpose to counter them. I find this to be more fun, as in Slay the Spire even when I always attacked as many elites as possible in Act 1, I found it could be too frequently solved with just the starting deck. The act 2 and 3 elites are still somewhat difficult, but not nearly so compared to act 1.

To compare a few similar ones.


Three Fairies of Light and Sentries

I think the Three Fairies of Light are considerable more interesting than sentries in Slay the Spire. Sentries would always alternate 2 attack, 1 puts 2 dazed into your deck, then vice versa. However, Lost Branch of Legend has 2 attack (one of which does 2 attacks for the same unaffected damage), 1 puts a unique status into your hand, then vice versa. Each fairy has their own status card, being 1 Refracted Sunlight (Burn), 1 Quiet Moonlight (Void), and 2 Glamorous Starlight (Dazed). The fairies also start with one of them (two in Lunatic mode) which each set the pace of the fight. I find this to be a very good way to make the sentries fight much more interesting, and I did not even realize they were so similar to sentries until many runs in.


Doremy Sweet and Lagavulin

What a good way to make Slay the Spire players realize they can't assume they know everything about this game. When I initially fought this boss for the first time, I used the sleeping turns to get a better hand and set up abilities, as I always did with Lagavulin in Slay the Spire. However, it wasn't until after she woke up that I realized she was getting much much stronger with every turn I let her sleep. In normal mode on my first run I hardly beat her with a barrier build on Reimu. However, in later difficulties I find even letting her sleep a turn to be detrimental to a run. This was one of my favorite wake up calls in the game.


As for dislikes about the elite enemies, I find in act 1 it is a little boring that two of the elite fights get solved with aoe moves (Three Fairies of Light and Rin), and the other one (Aya) gets solved by either an accurate move or shoving a lot of attacks into your deck. Aya in particular is painful because accurate moves are rare early on, and having too many bad cards in your deck just for one elite is hardly worth it.

Also, elites in act 2 and 3 might be a little too easy.



Tools

I wanted to note this, however I will not be mentioning tools as I have very little experience with them. In general I do not feel like I want them in my deck, so I never add them.



Unfinished Cards

For this final section, I want to go over the unfinished cards I have used and have opinions on, and give my feedback of what they are like.


Short Break

Perhaps too much energy is supplied off of this. I think needing to dedicate energy to this card to be the last one played is a good downside, not allowing you to play the high cost card in your hand, but set up for another hand. However upon upgrading this card turns 1 yellow into 2 rainbow immediately. If you have high cost cards this can be immediately worth the draw it takes up.

I think the card could be arguable too good in high cost decks, then too useless in low cost decks.


Ice Lance

This is most definitely way too powerful. When running a Cirno cold build, this almost always instantly becomes my damage output right as it comes up. Being incredibly cheap, accurate, and high damaging is just clearly too powerful. Also, by multiplying the original damage if an enemy is frozen, this means every firepower causes this attack to do 3 or 4 more accurate damage to a frozen enemy for 1 energy.

I think making this card cost either 1 more blue or grey energy would weaken it considerably.


Autumnal Harvest

I think this is a better, much more balanced Short Break. This one is doing very good, and I think it hardly needs to be changed.


Orrery's Sun

More often than not, for a build that started with the Mini Hakero, I think this is a good thing to have. However I don't think that makes the card bad. It is mostly always good, yet the 2 cost and mostly long term benefits really makes it becomes a bad draw in short fights.

I'd say this card is doing very well.


Maid's Trick

I find this to be a more than fine card. It is obviously good, but only great if the rest of the deck is built around discarding.


Kasumi Mansion Maid

I think this is one of the strongest teammates to focus around, yet it is very hard to consistently get several copies of her. Call on Friends can make her incredibly powerful, yet that is still luck based fight by fight.

Unless there is a more consistent way of getting several copies of her, I think that this card is fine as is.


Frozen Specimen

I think this is good, as I find it hard to get rid of the basic cards, so this can be a good way to get rid of them.

However, as it immediately exiles itself you cant cull them entirely each fight. Overall I think this card is in a good place.


Fairy on Ice

I think this card is not great until you get a cheap method of freezing several enemies at once. Unless upgraded, in which this card is great yet not too notably strong. I think this card is in a good place.


Star, Showering Night

I have tried several times to get several of this teammate as it sounds very strong to have several of at once. However, as getting black energy exhibits is inconsistent as is, and then she still needs to be found within the card rewards, I think she is fine.


Dubious Tea Party

I think if you manage to get sources of poison, this can be too powerful, and 12 poison to every enemy is not anything to laugh at. I think applying 3 to yourself is an interesting downside however.

However, as the card is a 2 specific energy cost, and poison is not as easy to stack up in this game as Slay the Spire, I find this to be mostly fine.


Spell Card Duel

I like this card a lot, it allows you to spend all your energy on blocking while feeling just in that you'll do some damage back.

A tad expensive but I don't think overly so. I think this is mostly fine.


Lily White, Herald of Spring

Even though her passive only provides one energy per turn, I think this energy at all is still an incredibly valuable resource, and therefore she deserves the high cost she has. I think this card is in a good place.


Fairy Assembly

I've never gotten this card in a run yet, however I wanted to note I find it very interesting and hope I can use it efficiently in the future.


Wingbeats Flight

I think this can be considered on the stronger end if you have any consistent source of having Larva in the hand. I'd say this pairs with Social Butterfly too well. That card gives her frequently, so everytime Wingbeats Flight shows up you can get all the block you need for a turn, deal damage to every enemy for several turns, need less block to be ok, and make them all take more damage from the rest of your teammates. I think this card is mostly fine, but likely on the strong end.



This is all I have for the review, I hope this could help someone looking at the game, or the developers in getting feedback.

I would recommend this game to anyone who is a fan of the genre as I find it touches a lot of interesting concepts (especially the energy color system).

Thank you all for reading.

[mldb88]

Honestly only just started playing this last night and yea, I totally agree this is probably one of my favorites in the genre (StS’s simplicity and the fact I just know that game like the back of my hand for now just slightly puts it above Lost Branch but damn they’re close).

The game borrows a lot from some of
the best card games around, mana system from MtG, structure of StS, and adds a ton of its own unique elements. Granted the fact it’s Touhou is an immediate draw though (I have a bit of a problem… lol), and some of the parallels to Slay are kind of hilarious like Remilia and Vampires Event from slay practically being almost identical.

700 hours in slay though definitely helps mitigate the learning curve a lot. Stumbled into and beat The brutal bonus boss (so glad to see her getting some love rather than it being one of the usual suspects when random ♥♥♥♥ goes down in side games like Yukari or Mima) on my second run lol.

Now I’m just waiting to stumble into Yuuka if she’s in the game… god I bet Sleeping Terror or Faint Dream Inanimate Dream would sound amazing in this games sound font

[Light]

I've read the entire thread out of curiosity to know the differences. Interesting to know.

I would recommend looking at tool cards a bit more thoroughly, as they have replenish to keep the deck cycling without issue. They're only an issue if you're retaining too many cards.

[Zeks]

Now I’m just waiting to stumble into Yuuka if she’s in the game…

she's an offcolor red green combo for everyone

[mldb88]

Originally posted by Zeks:

Now I’m just waiting to stumble into Yuuka if she’s in the game…

she's an offcolor red green combo for everyone

Damn, was hoping for an event or something more substantial but I’ll take what I can get haha.

[Aegis_Myles]

Originally posted by Light:

I've read the entire thread out of curiosity to know the differences. Interesting to know.

I would recommend looking at tool cards a bit more thoroughly, as they have replenish to keep the deck cycling without issue. They're only an issue if you're retaining too many cards.

I came in with a Slay the Spire brain where card draw is incredible, so I feel like having tools always clogs my hand because of the card draw I always try to get. I'll definitely try to test tools out more in the future though, I just struggle to find appropriate times