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Following on from one of the most acclaimed roguelikes of all time, naturally, Slay the Spire 2 is as hotly anticipated as indie games go, but developer Mega Crit is using the opportunity to shout out fellow games in the genre, from sales behemoths to overlooked gems that deserve more love.
During a new Reddit AMA with developers from Mega Crit, one fan mentioned that the original Slay the Spire is often cited as the best in its genre and asked if the team was inspired by any other roguelikes. Studio co-founder Casey Yano says it's "kind of unfortunate that as the designers we aren't able to experience Slay the Spire the same way but we're flattered that people think it's great."
"I play a lot of modern roguelikes," he adds. "Some inspired Slay the Spire, some inspired Slay the Spire 2. Some are just fun to play! I think it's a great genre for taking a close examination at game mechanics." Y
ano then shouts out a bunch of notable roguelikes he's personally into, including Ball X Pit, Blue Prince, Dead Cells, Elden Ring Nightreign, FTL (Faster Than Light), Hades, Inscryption, Luck be a Landlord, Noita, Nova Drift, Rogue Legacy, Spelunky, and The Binding of Isaac.
Whether you're new to the genre or a veteran in need of some underground picks (Noita very much needs more attention), you can't go wrong with following Yano's list, which isn't so drastically different from our best roguelikes list. Great minds and all that.
Of course, Slay the Spire is loved just as much for its card-based battles and incremental deckbuilding as it is for its moreish roguelike structure, so lead programmer Jake Card took the time to talk about Magic: The Gathering's impact on the game.
"Magic: the Gathering is maybe my favorite game of all time," he writes. "From an engineering perspective, having deterministic injection points for different combat events to trigger is absolutely critical in this type of game (both on paper and digitally). Growing up playing so much Magic really set me up for success when designing the [Slay the Spire 2] back-end."
