I’m been bouncing around on these games on my iPhone and I’ve come to the conclusion that some sort of progression system really adds to the longevity of the games in this genre. Perhaps this just makes me a shallow person, always chasing after a reward instead of a mere victory; I don’t care.
For example, I recently played some games of Dark Mist and then some games of Dicey Dungeons. Both games are fine and have some great elements that I’m happy to pick up and play. Yet both games have no progression - you unlock some character classes as you play but that’s about it.
Compare that to games like Slay the Spire, Monster Train, Dawncasters, etc. where each run I feel as if I have improved a bit and have new builds and options available to me; there is more enjoyment for me in this latter, and there is always something to chase other than a high score.
This can, of course, be taken a little too far like in games like Pirates Outlaws which make the grind for progression so slow that the “pay to unlock” options sometimes look tempting. I despise that model.