'Slay the Spire 2'(Image: Mega Crit)
Slay the Spire 2 sold three million units in its first week of launch, with over 25 million runs attempted. The long-awaited sequel from Mega Crit launched on March 5, five years after development began.
For gamers unfamiliar with Slay the Spire, it’s a roguelike deckbuilder where players craft a deck of cards and battle their way through a dangerous, ever-changing tower. The sequel is set 1,000 years after the original and features new enemies, characters and environments. A player doesn’t have to have any experience with the prequel to play Slay the Spire 2.
The sequel introduces several major changes from the original. Slay the Spire 2 has five playable characters when you start out — three from the previous versions and two completely new ones — along with alternate acts that change environment layouts and enemy groups for each run through. New is the co-op mode, which supports up to four players at once and includes cards designed for multiplayer and group synergy. Also, the switch from Unity to Godot was made, along with many new features added to its mod support, due to Unity’s fees being raised in 2023.
The game was originally scheduled to drop in 2025, but Mega Crit decided it needed further touch-ups and additional content. Personal life circumstances also played a role in the delay with Mega Crit saying, “There’s no single dramatic reason. Some personal life stuff hit the team (everyone’s okay!), we kept saying “wouldn’t it be cool if…” one too many times, and honestly, the game just needs more polish to meet our standards,” in their own newsletter.
Slay the Spire 2 will cost players $24.99 during early access and will be available on PC, macOS, and Linux via Steam. Console users who use PlayStation 5, Xbox and Nintendo Switch 2 will, unfortunately, have to wait until the full 1.0 release, currently scheduled for 2027.
Slay the Spire 2 has a bright future, with more cards, events, enemies, and environments expected to be added throughout the early access period, which is expected to last one to two years. A Kickstarter for the Slay the Spire board game Downfall expansion also launches March 24, and a vinyl release of the original game’s soundtrack is now available.
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