Porn, TikTok, cheese… these are all great examples of where developers should focus their attention when creating an addictive rogue-like. For Friedemann (SUMMERHOUSE) and Future Friend Games, they’ve chosen something that trumps all three of these in one: slot machines. Slots & Daggers is a rogue-like that features a deck-building model, only using slot machines. There are no dungeons to crawl, no weapon drops, or repeated deaths until you make the most subtle bits of progress to the next stage after hours and hours of play. Some of the statements aren’t true.
Theoretically, Slots & Daggers is a dungeon crawler, as a world map details on screen a series of landmarks one has to progress through to save the day. Unlike many from the genre pool, pending you’ve completed an area and defeated the boss, you can start your run at the beginning of any area, though it’s not recommended. Why? Because the more battles you embrace, the better your deck, and the more likely whiff in the air of success. We’re getting ahead of ourselves as usual, though there isn’t much in the way of exposition.
At the beginning of your adventure, you can choose three cards, icons, or slots. A delightful Tamagotchi-like LCD screen will depict your first enemy, and you simply have to press ‘Go’ to start the machine. Whether you buy into the timing element or that you have Lady Luck whispering sweet nothings into your ear is irrelevant, as you’ll be playing a game of probability. The more options available, the better the selection for damage, defence, and earning money; however, limiting your options also means there’s a higher chance you can match three in a row, a.k.a. perform a critical hit.
Slots & Daggers is a turn-based game. You stop the wheels from spinning to get your hand, then it’s your opponent’s turn. As can be expected, enemies hit harder than you, so the choices are to play offensively and stack up your deck with plenty of attack-based slots or play the long game by equipping shields and applying buffs. The bottom line is you will die quite a lot, forcing a new run almost from scratch. Emphasis on almost. After each win (let’s be optimistic), you will accumulate coins that can be spent at the merchant after every round. Here you can upgrade existing slots with better damage, buffs, or debuffs, as well as pay for power-ups.
Some of the power-ups are passive, such as life steal or increasing your base health. Alas, all these things disappear upon death. Fortunately, that’s where you count your chips and head down that awesome path of marginal gains. Chips are awarded after each round, and starting from the beginning each time is recommended – not just for stacking up the perks, but also to get more chips. These can then invest in permanent stats such as increased resistance to physical and magic attacks, a higher chance of a critical, or literal life-saving boosts, such as coming back from the brink of death. Better still, you can experiment with these and refund your chips and respec without penalty.
Slots & Daggers is still a game of chance, and while you can better the odds with power-ups or symbols that unleash a physical attack, then respin for numerous hits, it’s a very addictive game for the right reasons. Comparing the graphics to a Tamagotchi doesn’t imply the presentation isn’t any good. On the contrary, it feels like you are playing a physical machine, only without the tactile buttons, glaring lights, and intrusive sounds. On that particular note, the music is addictive as the gameplay and has a ton of catchy tunes that will entertain your earworms for the duration, and even the zaps and clunks of the physical and magical attacks are massively satisfying.
Slots & Daggers is an excellent rogue-like that is well worth gambling on.
