Slay the Spire 2 early access review: "Instantly familiar, but already bursting with new ideas"

After being widely considered to have established an entire genre, Slay the Spire 2's devs were never likely to attempt to recreate the wheel with this sequel. Slay the Spire wasn't the first roguelike deckbuilder, but the modern ubiquity of the format owes much to the slow-burn popularity of MegaCrit's debut, so much so that a follow-up could have played things very safe. Instead, Slay the Spire 2 is as successful a sequel as its early access release could have allowed for: instantly familiar, but already bursting with new ideas.

Each attempt at Slay the Spire 2 places you back at the ground floor of the titular tower, resurrected by the cetacean spirit Neow with a basic array of moves with which to kickstart your next ascent. A randomly-generated map offers different paths up the Spire, with each chosen encounter offering ways to hone your approach, optimizing your deck of cards to ensure that your desired win-condition is as easy as possible to execute. Defeating simple mobs offers new cards and a small amount of gold, which can be spent in the shop for even more cards or powerful relics that can change the direction of an entire run. Random events and Elite battles throw in even more variables, turbo-charging an ascent with the right reward or stopping it in its tracks if you're not prepared for the inevitable skill-check.

In 2026, these ideas are so common that outlining them feels almost unnecessary. But it's easy to forget that they're only as widespread as they are because Slay the Spire utilized them so successfully. That trail was blazed so brightly that Slay the Spire 2 could easily have felt tired, dated by the very ideas that its creators made popular. Instead, it's a notable step forward, a more confident game by a studio pushing way beyond the boundaries set by its debut.

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Many of those improvements are subtle. Slay the Spire 2 doesn't look all that different to its predecessor, but its art is more detailed, little details weaving this world's narrative into the game a little tighter than before. Random encounters will still ask you to pick between a rock and a hard place, but they make you think a little harder about how your run will be shaped by your decision. Minor mobs are often twists on ideas established by different enemies from the first game, but their combat identities are a little more tightly defined, the ways to use them against themselves a little more clear than before.

Those changes are minor, but their cumulative effect would be powerful even if Slay the Spire 2 didn't make bigger changes. The most apparent of those are the new characters; in addition to the Silent, Ironclad, and Defect, all returning from the first game, the Regent and the Necrobinder round out the new roster. Both are more complex than the returning cast, reliant on setup and resource management in a manner reminiscent of the Watcher, the one character from the original game not returning in the sequel. My initial response to these fresh faces has been wary, especially given the more proven success found with the Silent and Defect, but with the help of the personality imbued by the new art, the new pair has slotted comfortably into the Slay the Spire ecosystem.

Elsewhere, official multiplayer support changes the way you approach each encounter in a well-streamlined if time-consuming alternative to a game mode previously only available through modding. Progression is also significantly improved, with achievement-driven Epochs replacing the simple XP system that quickly ran its course in the original game, and rewards that massively enhance specific builds if you're lucky enough to encounter them. Random events feel different, with more personality thanks to some beautiful artwork, but also a finer line trodden between the positive and negative outcomes you have to weigh up. That philosophy combines with end-stage rewards into what might be Slay the Spire 2's most effective change.

In Slay the Spire, you received Boss Relics after completing the climactic act of each fight. Alongside a big influx of cash and rare card rewards, those relics were part of a significant boost designed to smooth out the difficulty curve as you advanced into the more difficult encounters awaiting in the next section of the tower. Some were hyper-specific, augmenting certain build paths or offering high-risk, high-reward playstyles, but many others offered extra energy, at a cost such as being unable to acquire potions or see what an enemy would do on its next turn.

Those penalties were the kind of thing a veteran player could easily work around, and the payoff was huge. More energy means you can play more cards, or more powerful cards, or often both. The associated relics were so strong, and so easy to find, that they'd be an important part of most successful runs. But in Slay the Spire 2, they're not there. Instead, at the start of the next stage, a new set of encounters randomizes the pool of rewards you might receive, and makes you think far more clearly about how they affect your deck, rather than your playstyle. Instead of deciding once to limit a feature of the game, you're asked to decide over and over again about whether you want to bear a specific cost.

The immediate result is that Slay the Spire 2 feels harder than Slay the Spire did. But the reality is that you're just having to work a little harder to find the win conditions. Slay the Spire 2 can play itself if you can carefully craft the kind of recurring death machine that this genre is built around, but it doesn't want you to be able to hit autopilot quite as easily as before. Boss Relics are the most obvious change, but new keywords and augments that can be applied to specific cards push that philosophy further on. The Regent and Necrobinder, whose optimal builds require close attention to ensure you unleash their full potential without sacrificing too much HP, are another part of that approach.

When all of these new design ideals align with all of Slay the Spire 2's other fresh features, it's clear that even in its early access state, this is a sequel that's even more confident in its already-excellent design philosophy than its predecessor was. Not content with establishing a genre, MegaCrit has returned years later with a follow-up that somehow feels just as fresh as the original, even when the ideas that set its debut apart have been adopted time and time again by dozens of would-be competitors. If the only way from this early access launch is up, then I can't wait to see what we'll find at the top of the Spire this time.