Lost Branch of Legend is a quite well done Slay the Spire influenced title, set in the Touhou universe. While still open access, it's got quite a bit of content and options available, as of the Summer 2024 sale: 4 characters each with two starter decks/relics and a full set of 3 acts+true boss.

Like Slay the Spire, you have a tree of choices, with events, combat encounters, shops, rest/upgrade stops, and elites, all culminating in a boss at the end of an act. If you played StS or any other game influenced by StS, you'll be able to pick up the unique mechanics of this title pretty easily.

The game does also take considerable influence from Magic: the Gathering as well. There are 5 "mana" types, along with colorless and prismatic (any color) that are used to pay for your cards. Each character is two colors, and their initial starter artifact gives them one more of one of the colors (and a deck+spellcard to match) that helps gear the character toward a particular role. Reimu is red/white, with the red starter geared more toward building up firepower and the white starter geared more towards a defensive setup. Cirno is blue/green, with the blue option geared around her unique Chill debuff and the green one geared more toward her ally/companion mechanic (which would be familiar to any more modern Magic player, inspired by Plansewalkers). While the spellcard, starter deck, and mana option will help one build option more than another, all cards are available and you can go a different way if that's how the RNG plays out.

Game settings are mostly there, it's pretty solid for early access. Sound is good, sound effects fit, and music is all fan remixes of Touhou songs that would be familiar to any players of the original shmups. They're pretty solid remixes, and the true final boss's theme goes pretty hard (which matches with the styling of the game she came from Touhou 14 - Double Dealing Character). Character artwork is pretty good, I especially like the use of post-Hidden Star in Four Seasons Cirno's look. Card artwork is less consistent. Some artwork is really solid, but others look out of place or incomplete, and constrast with the high polish in other areas.

Deck building and gameplay is very familiar to anyone who's played Slay the Spire, Ascension, Dominion, or any other physical or electronic deck builder game. Compared to Slay the Spire, this title is a lot more combo oriented. Straightforward power stacking or turtling is less effective, your combos will drive things far more. Elites can be very deadly, and even some of the normal encounters in act 3 can be vicious (eg moon rabbits, double mimics). If you're good at finding synergies between cards and setting up and executing combos, you'll do well. If you want a more straightforward deckbuilder, you may wish to look elsewhere.

I do have a few criticisms, it's a really solid title, and feels like a near full game even in this stage of early access, but there are a few things that might turn someone off.

Lost Branch of Legend does fall into the trap that a lot of other Slay the Spire-likes fall into, and make the runs considerably longer. While a good run of Slay the Spire can be completed in around half an hour, a good run of Lost Branch of Legend takes around an hour.

Controller support is completely non-existent. I prefer playing these types of games on the SteamDeck, but this is not possible as the text is too small and there is zero controller support. Trying to do a keyboard→controller mapping just wasn't working, and since I have an early model Deck, it has a really poor touchscreen when using a stylus (multiple types/models) making that not a viable option (OLED models have better touchscreens and stylus controls).

Card art is still inconsistent. Some good, some not so good.

Since it's early access, cards will change, re-balances will be done (though even released games aren't immune to that, Slay the Spire and Banners of Ruin both have very large post-launch revamps). One, possibly two, characters are not available. The story mode dialogue is not complete.

Overall, really solid title and well worth it for those who like the StS gameplay loop but want a bit more complexity and variety. Doubly worth it if you like the Touhou setting/universe.

Lost Branch of Legend is a quite well done Slay the Spire influenced title, set in the Touhou universe. While still open access, it's got quite a bit of content and options available, as of the Summer 2024 sale: 4 characters each with two starter decks/relics and a full set of 3 acts+true boss. Like Slay the Spire, you have a tree of choices, with events, combat encounters, shops, rest/upgrade stops, and elites, all culminating in a boss at the end of an act. If you played StS or any other game influenced by StS, you'll be able to pick up the unique mechanics of this title pretty easily. The game does also take considerable influence from Magic: the Gathering as well. There are 5 "mana" types, along with colorless and prismatic (any color) that are used to pay for your cards. Each character is two colors, and their initial starter artifact gives them one more of one of the colors (and a deck+spellcard to match) that helps gear the character toward a particular role. Reimu is red/white, with the red starter geared more toward building up firepower and the white starter geared more towards a defensive setup. Cirno is blue/green, with the blue option geared around her unique Chill debuff and the green one geared more toward her ally/companion mechanic (which would be familiar to any more modern Magic player, inspired by Plansewalkers). While the spellcard, starter deck, and mana option will help one build option more than another, all cards are available and you can go a different way if that's how the RNG plays out. Game settings are mostly there, it's pretty solid for early access. Sound is good, sound effects fit, and music is all fan remixes of Touhou songs that would be familiar to any players of the original shmups. They're pretty solid remixes, and the true final boss's theme goes pretty hard (which matches with the styling of the game she came from [spoiler]Touhou 14 - Double Dealing Character[/spoiler]). Character artwork is pretty good, I especially like the use of post-Hidden Star in Four Seasons Cirno's look. Card artwork is less consistent. Some artwork is really solid, but others look out of place or incomplete, and constrast with the high polish in other areas. Deck building and gameplay is very familiar to anyone who's played Slay the Spire, Ascension, Dominion, or any other physical or electronic deck builder game. Compared to Slay the Spire, this title is a lot more combo oriented. Straightforward power stacking or turtling is less effective, your combos will drive things far more. Elites can be very deadly, and even some of the normal encounters in act 3 can be vicious (eg moon rabbits, double mimics). If you're good at finding synergies between cards and setting up and executing combos, you'll do well. If you want a more straightforward deckbuilder, you may wish to look elsewhere. I do have a few criticisms, it's a really solid title, and feels like a near full game even in this stage of early access, but there are a few things that might turn someone off. Lost Branch of Legend does fall into the trap that a lot of other Slay the Spire-likes fall into, and make the runs considerably longer. While a good run of Slay the Spire can be completed in around half an hour, a good run of Lost Branch of Legend takes around an hour. Controller support is completely non-existent. I prefer playing these types of games on the SteamDeck, but this is not possible as the text is too small and there is zero controller support. Trying to do a keyboard→controller mapping just wasn't working, and since I have an early model Deck, it has a really poor touchscreen when using a stylus (multiple types/models) making that not a viable option (OLED models have better touchscreens and stylus controls). Card art is still inconsistent. Some good, some not so good. Since it's early access, cards will change, re-balances will be done (though even released games aren't immune to that, Slay the Spire and Banners of Ruin both have very large post-launch revamps). One, possibly two, characters are not available. The story mode dialogue is not complete. Overall, really solid title and well worth it for those who like the StS gameplay loop but want a bit more complexity and variety. Doubly worth it if you like the Touhou setting/universe.