Slay the Spire 2 Steam early access release date set for March 5 as the king of roguelike deckbuilders returns to its throne

Following a delay, Slay the Spire 2 will now launch in Steam early access on Thursday, March 5.

Developer Mega Crit games announced the exact release date, long penciled in for March 2026, in a new trailer released today. The lovely animated short shows off the new creatures, cards, classes, combos, co-op, and various other c-words coming in the long-awaited sequel, with a special animated shoutout to a returning class, the orb-loving Defect (and my beloved son).

New stuff also including relics, potions, and events is all well and good, but the biggest line in the trailer's feature sizzle reel is probably this: "All New Alternate Acts." Between the co-op class combos shown in the trailer and the implied variance of these acts, Slay the Spire 2 is looking mighty hefty even as an early access launch build.

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Slay the Spire 2 will launch with five characters, with more of basically everything to come in the future. "More content – including cards, events, environments, enemies, and more – will be added and balanced throughout Early Access," says Mega Crit.

"Why release in Early Access, you ask?" the devs ask. "Slay the Spire's success comes from our community! It sounds corny, but the extra mile many of you went to report issues, translate content/announcements, create long video essays, make excellent (lol) tier lists, and draw goofy or gorgeous fan art is the reason we're doing it all again."

The blurb on Slay the Spire 2's Steam page says the game is expected to be in early access for "the same 1 - 2 year range" as the first game.

To this day, the original Slay the Spire is widely regarded as the best roguelike deckbuilder ever made, and credited for codifying many of the genre's modern conventions. It's finally back after eight years, and millions of fans – over 12,000 concurrent Steam users at the time of writing, for starters – have kept its throne dust-free and comfortably warm in anticipation.

Slay the Spire 2 pulls a Silksong, scares indie devs into releasing roguelike ahead of schedule in fear of losing players to "an absolute juggernaut in our own genre."