An Indie Backlog curated overview. We round up the best indie games on Nintendo Switch and how professional critics and players received each one — the scores below are theirs, linked to the source.
The deckbuilding roguelike that spawned an entire genre — climb the spire, build a deck on the fly, die, and immediately need to play again.
At a Glance
| Developer | Mega Crit |
| Release year | 2019 |
| Platforms | PC, Switch, PlayStation, Xbox, Mobile |
| Subgenre | Roguelike deckbuilder |
| Length | ~25 hours (main story) |
| Metacritic | 89 / 100 |
| Steam rating | Overwhelmingly Positive (~98%, 210,000+ reviews) |
| Steam Deck | Verified |
| Languages | 17 |
About the Game
Slay the Spire, from indie studio Mega Crit, fused two genres into something new: the deckbuilder and the roguelike. You pick a character, climb a multi-floor spire, and build a deck of attack, skill, and power cards as you go — drafting from random offerings after each battle and shaping a strategy from whatever the run hands you.
Every choice compounds. A card that seems weak early can anchor a devastating combo by the top floor; a relic picked up in an early elite fight can redefine your whole run. Death sends you back to the bottom, but you unlock new cards and characters, and the itch to try one more build is relentless.
It launched the “roguelike deckbuilder” genre that now includes dozens of imitators and successors — and most fans still consider the original the best. Its clarity and balance make it endlessly replayable, and on Switch it’s the ideal “a few floors before bed” game.
Screenshots
Screenshots: official Steam media for Slay the Spire.
Why It Made the List
Slay the Spire makes the list as a genuine genre-founder. It’s perfectly balanced, infinitely replayable, and so clean in its design that it remains the benchmark years later. On Switch’s pick-up-and-play form, it’s dangerously addictive.
What the Critics Say
Slay the Spire holds a Metacritic score of 89. Critics praised its addictive loop, balance, and depth; criticism is minimal beyond the inherent repetition of the genre it created.
What Players Say
On Steam it’s rated Overwhelmingly Positive across more than 210,000 reviews — about 98% positive, among the very highest on this list. Players routinely log hundreds of hours.
Praise & Criticism
Praise
- Founded an entire genre
- Perfectly balanced and endlessly replayable
- Easy to learn, deep to master
- Ideal in short handheld sessions
Criticism
- Inherently repetitive
- Randomness can sink a run
- Minimal narrative
Games Like This
- Into the Breach — another flawless, replayable strategy game
- Hades — run-based mastery with a story
- Dead Cells — addictive roguelike progression
Where to Buy
Plain store links for now — swap in your affiliate-tagged URLs once you’ve joined Amazon Associates and the eBay Partner Network. (Steam and the eShop have no consumer affiliate program; those links are for convenience.)
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