Rogue Mage tries to be Slay the Spire, but completely missed what makes that game so replayable. The fundamental problem comes down to AWFUL pacing. You start with 1 of 3.5 premade decks (with no ability to edit them) and runs are so short level wise that you'll only remove and add a few cards before you're at the final boss. This means that no matter what theorycrafting you might have in mind, you will never be able to change your deck up enough for it to have any more than minor changes from the starting deck. This results in player agency being almost completely removed. There is no real strategizing and thinking on your feet, you're simply playing the same deck over and over and over again until the RNG blesses you enough to let the AI lose. As implied, this drastically affects the difficulty level too. Losses are random and unavoidable based on what super power the AI happens to pull out of nowhere (or just directly counters you) and no wins feel satisfying. It never feels like your strategies are winning so much as the AI didn't get its super draw. There's also a weird and obnoxiously heavy emphasis on using magic. ALL of my successful runs were based around having the energy to spam enough spells to win. It ends up mattering way more than what cards you're using. It's a deckbuilder where the decks don't matter. It took me 16 hours apparently to reach level 45 and unlock the 4th and final deck. I was horrendously bored with the other 3 by then and hoping the last one would change things up enough to keep me playing. Nope, it's just a lazy "lol all cards are random" deck. Once again, all RNG, no agency. It's a fun distraction that seems like it has potential at first, but ultimately after just a few hours you've seen and played everything the game has to offer.
