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Slay the Spire 2 is full of funky critters and threatening beasts, but some of the roguelike game's most memorable bosses take inspiration from places you'd least expect - Valve's Deadlock and Studio Ghibli's Princess Mononoke, to name a few.
In a recent newsletter mostly addressing changes made in Slay the Spire 2's last major update, Mega Crit co-founder and developer Casey Yano took the opportunity to also answer a few of the community's burning questions, like, how do you pronounce Nonupeipe? (No nu pay peh). And is the Doormaker referencing the Worm web series? (No no).
The Doormaker boss was so hated in Slay the Spire 2, the developers outright threw it in the bin and replaced it with the Aeonglass boss instead, but the origin of its name is pretty interesting no matter how reviled it was over on the game's Steam reviews.
"Doormaker isn't a Worm reference, I was playing too much Deadlock," Yano writes. Spending time in Valve's still-in-testing hero shooter Deadlock - probably with the portal-ing hero, The Doorman - likely led to the roguelike's Doormaker or, at least, its name.
When also asked if the Ceremonial Beast was a reference to survival game Valheim, Yano reveals the "original was based on the Forest Spirit from Princess Mononoke." Big, magical, horned deer thing? Checks out. "The initial concept drawing was a bit solemn and grotesque. Marlowe updated the creature to be more regal and spirity! But I can see a resemblance, I'm a big fan of Valheim actually! I believe it was the first boss design for Slay the Spire 2 (designed in 2021)."
Elsewhere in this month's newsletter, Mega Crit delved into the game's new Steam Workshop compatibility. While Slay the Spire 2's had mod support from its early access launch date, the dev "purposefully haven't been advertising mod support" because it knew the feature "still needed some work." Steam Workshop has now been enabled because the team have "deemed mod support mature enough" as of the game's last patch.
