I just want to say that I love the whole puzzle feel of it. It seems a bit constrained by how much the mechanics can stack, so I'm not sure it would be as popular as Slay the Spire, but I do genuinely enjoy it.
Thanks so much for playing all the way through, and for the detailed write-up (and the screenshots!). Hearing that the puzzle feel lands is exactly what I was hoping for.
A few things you mentioned that I'm taking on:
- Enemy intent and seeing your own board while picking tiles: agreed, both need to be clearer. That's high on my list.
- Thornplate not counting as touching Strike: thanks for the screenshot, that's really useful. I'm going to check whether that's a bug or an unclear rule. Either way it shouldn't look like that.
- Balance: the "one strong tile decides the early game" and "once the build clicks the rest is easy" points are spot on. Smoothing the early game and giving later floors more answers to strong builds is something I want to work on.
- Empty tile cost and more mechanic-based tiles: noted, both.
Really appreciate the 5/5 and you coming back to leave the second comment. It means a lot this early on.