Goodbye, free time: Slay the Spire 2 releases in 2025
Slay the Spire, the brilliant roguelike deckbuilder that first released in early access in 2017, is getting a sequel next year.
Slay the Spire 2 was announced with a teaser video, embedded above, at the Triple-I Initiative showcase today. It's quite a glow up: A brief but slick animated reintroduction to the Spire.
Near the end of the teaser, we see what I assume will be Slay the Spire 2's three launch characters: sweet Saturday Morning Cartoon renditions of The Ironclad and The Silent, and a new skeleton character. A screenshot provided before the announcement reveals the skeleton to be The Necrobinder, “a wandering lich who seeks to bind the forgotten corpse.”
I'm a little sad not to see my boy The Defect, the first character I beat the original Slay the Spire with, but we don't know for sure what the roster will be. And The Necrobinder sounds cool—I'm wondering if they can somehow raise dead enemies as their own minions? Purely speculating that that's what “bind the forgotten corpse” means.
In general, I'm very curious to know how developer Mega Crit has expanded on the design of its landmark hit, which was such a refined game of math and chance to begin with. I'd probably be happy if Slay the Spire 2 were just more of the same, with new artifacts, cards, events, and enemies, but it being a full sequel—stylized with a Roman numeral and everything—gets me wondering if they've altered or evolved something about the core design.
(Image credit: Mega Crit)
(Image credit: Mega Crit)
(Image credit: Mega Crit)
(Image credit: Mega Crit)
(Image credit: Mega Crit)
(Image credit: Mega Crit)
Based on the screenshots released so far, it's clear that the original's distinctive art style has been retained, though I wonder if the animated teaser, which clearly had some budget behind it, suggests we'll see more motion. The original did use screen shake to communicate quite a lot of its action. Then again, those simple, shorthand animations—like the way characters attack by gliding in the direction of their enemies—were part of what made Slay the Spire so charismatic.
Like the first game, Slay the Spire 2 will release first in early access. It's set to come out some time next year.
