Slay the Spire 2 launched into early access on March 5, 2026. The sequel to the roguelike deckbuilder is available on PC, with console release expected between 2027 and 2028. Over the launch weekend, the game hit several milestones that have got the developers talking.
Slay the Spire 2 attracted over half a million concurrent players on Steam. At the time of writing, the game had a peak concurrent player count of 574,638 and sits in the fourth spot of games with the most concurrent players, with 269,406 active players, according to SteamDB.
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The numbers mean that it is now the most-played roguelike to ever launch on Steam. Some analysts have linked the success of the game to its friendly price of $25. For comparison, the first game in the franchise settled at 57,025 peak concurrent players when it launched in 2019.
Besides the player numbers, Slay the Spire 2 has received 20,298 reviews on Steam, and 97% of those reviews are “Overwhelmingly Positive”. The success of the roguelike deckbuilder brings back nostalgic memories from the 16-bit era.
Mega Crit comment on Slay the Spire 2 early access
The developer and publisher of Slay the Spire 2, Mega Crit, have been amazed by the success of the sequel, saying they were taken aback. Motivated by the success, they are now aiming to catch up with Hollow Knight: Silksong’s success.
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“Our team is TOTALLY blown away by the amount of people who have been playing & sharing their love for the game we’ve been working on for the past half-decade,” the studio’s team tweeted.
“We’re excited to continue to make StS2 the best that it can be!! 💪 Also obligatory joke: we’ll getcha one day, Silksong”.
Mega Crit is not a fan of microtransactions
Co-founder of Mega Crit, Casey Yano, recently said in an interview with Destructoid that the studio is not a fan of microtransactions. Studios often resort to microtransactions to increase the revenue they make from their games.
“We really want players to experience all of the same content as discussion of game content and balance is sort of our lifeblood,” Yano said.
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Notwithstanding their stance on microtransactions, the studio supports the modding community. In the interview, Yano said that both titles in the franchise are easy to mod. However, since the game is still in early access, a lot can change before it launches into 1.0.
“A lot of our focus this time around is reducing friction, so players have more resources and easier entry points to work with mods,” Yano said. “At the moment, I’m not entirely sure what we’ll update often throughout early access. Hopefully pure content. The good stuff.”
If you have played Slay the Spire 2, tell us what you love or hate about the sequel in the comment box below.
