Slay the Spire 2 flies past 165,000 concurrent Steam players, instantly nearly tripling the all-time peak for the original roguelike icon and dethroning Marathon as Steam's top-selling game

Even those ardently apathetic to roguelike deckbuilders (hi, that's me) can't help but admire Slay the Spire (hello, also me). Hardcore genre fans have been waiting over half a decade for the sequel, but Slay the Spire 2 is finally here – and already outperforming both its predecessor and every other big new release on Steam.

Slay the Spire 2 hit Steam Early Access today and, as SteamDB shows, quickly reached a peak of 165,423 concurrent players – a number that's continuing to rise. For comparison, the original Slay the Spire built its stature at a much slower pace. Its concurrent player peak is 57,025, and that number was set just a few months ago, when the game dropped to a lowest-ever price of $2.49 as part of the last Steam sale.

The brand-new sequel, meanwhile, is burning up the Steam charts at a launch price of $24.99. By concurrent player count, it's the sixth-biggest game on Steam, right behind entrenched favorites like Arc Raiders and Rust.

Slay the Spire 2 also instantly became the top-selling game on Steam. That honor was previously held by Marathon, which in turn dethroned Resident Evil Requiem, but Bungie's new FPS had one key advantage early on – it was available for pre-order, which contributed to its position at the top of the charts. You could only purchase Slay the Spire 2 once it had already launched.

Steam's top sellers chart is a bit of a mysterious thing, measuring top games by the total amount of revenue generated in a nebulously defined timeframe of "now." One thing's for sure, though – Slay the Spire 2 is off to a heck of a start.

There's a reason Slay the Spire ranks so highly in our list of the best roguelikes.