News & Updates

The December 2025 Neowsletter hinted that fans should 'keep a particularly close eye out for something happening in February, closer to the launch.' This suggests a major gameplay reveal, possibly a final trailer or demo, before the March Early Access release. The community is speculating this could be: - Final character reveal - Extended gameplay demo - Exact release date announcement - Beta/preview access for content creators

January 23, 2026 marks the 7th anniversary of Slay the Spire's 1.0 launch. This means approximately 8.5 years will have passed between the early access launches of STS1 and STS2. The original game has become one of the most influential roguelikes ever made, spawning countless deck-builders and inspiring an entire subgenre of games.

The January 2026 Neowsletter introduced a new mystery creature silhouette for the community to guess. It's described as 'mostly rectangular in shape, but with some sort of sphere suspended in the middle.' The Two-Tailed Rat was also revealed from the December mystery, showing a bipedal rat with flickering tails and a chattering mouth. Mega Crit noted this may be the final creature mystery before more Spire secrets become visible - possibly hinting at upcoming demo or beta access.

The development team has released a significant balance update in the January Neowsletter: **Gold Axe (Buff)** - Cost reduced - Exhaust mechanic removed **Rolling Boulder (Nerf)** - Base damage cut in half - Scaling also reduced by 50% **Unleash (Redesign)** - Necrobinder's starter card completely redesigned - Previously called 'Bodyguard' - Now has new functionality related to Osty

After a delay from the originally planned late 2025 release, Mega Crit has confirmed that Slay The Spire 2 will enter Early Access in March 2026. The developers cited several reasons for the delay: - Personal issues affecting team members - Scope creep ('we kept saying wouldn't it be cool if one too many times') - Desire to meet quality standards Early Access will include: - More bosses than the first game - More enemies than the first game - More events than the first game - Only Act 1 alternate acts at launch (Acts 2 & 3 versions coming later) The final game is expected to 'almost double the size' of the original Slay the Spire.

Mega Crit has revealed the fourth playable character: The Regent, subtitled 'The Heir to the Throne of Stars'. The Regent is an arrogant alien being who uses: - **Stars**: A resource that persists between turns with no maximum cap - **Forge**: Transform and upgrade cards during combat - **Minions**: Summon allies to fight alongside you - **Sovereign Blade**: A signature retainable weapon that can be Forged The Regent has strong synergy with colorless cards and can create new colorless cards mid-run.

The December Neowsletter shared progress on localizing Slay the Spire 2 into 8 languages: - French - German - Japanese - Korean - Polish - Russian - Simplified Chinese - Thai The team is also recruiting translators for additional languages via an application process. The event character 'Repy' received placeholder art replacement with finished art and updated text.

In a PC Gaming Show interview, Anthony Giovannetti revealed that Mega Crit flipped a coin to decide their next project. Heads was a mystery action game, tails was Slay the Spire 2. The coin flip happened during COVID lockdowns via Discord - Giovannetti admits 'I don't think I actually saw the coin.' Co-founder Casey 'would've massively preferred the coin went the other way' as he's an action game person while Anthony is the card game enthusiast. The developers confirmed they genuinely would have made a different game had the coin landed differently.

The 'Spire Spotting' community event continues, where fans guess at silhouettes of mysterious creatures. Recent reveals include: - **The Obscura**: A mysterious pearl-covered creature - New December mystery creature silhouette for community speculation The game engages the community in discovering STS2's new enemies and characters before launch.

Slay the Spire 2 ranked #1 on the PC Gaming Show's Most Wanted list, demonstrating the incredible anticipation for the sequel. The impact is so significant that one indie roguelike developer moved their 1.0 release to February specifically to avoid being 'crushed' by STS2's March launch.

Mega Crit migrated STS2 to the open-source Godot engine after 2+ years in Unity development. The switch happened after Unity's controversial fee announcement (though Unity backtracked). The team stated Godot enables 'modern features, all-new visuals, and expanding moddability.' The open-source nature should make modding more accessible long-term, though the existing BaseMod/ModTheSpire ecosystem will need rebuilding. Mega Crit has become a Gold Sponsor of Godot, supporting open-source game development.

In a surprising move, Mega Crit has confirmed that Slay the Spire 2 is being built on the Godot engine - an open-source game engine. The team initially worked in Unity and a custom engine for 2+ years before making the switch. Casey Yano cited several reasons: - Support for open-source development - Response to Unity's controversial per-install fee policy - Godot's capabilities meeting their needs The migration has enabled 'modern features, all-new visuals, and expanding moddability'.

Slay the Spire 2 was officially announced with the reveal of the Necrobinder - the first new character. Key details: - **Health**: Only 35 HP (compared to Silent's 70) - **Osty**: A giant reanimated left hand companion - **Doom**: A debuff mechanic for delayed kills - **Souls**: A resource for card-draw abilities The Necrobinder is described as a 'sassy lich' with dark humor despite dealing in death.

Afflictions are a new combat mechanic where enemies 'Afflict' your cards with negative effects. Examples include: - **Energy Drain**: Lose 1 energy when playing afflicted card - **Health Cost**: Lose HP in addition to card's normal effect - **Cruelty**: Specific debuff (details teased but withheld) Interestingly, observant players who examined STS1's source code found an unused Afflictions system - the developers brought this abandoned mechanic to life for the sequel.

The STS2 gameplay trailer revealed at The Game Awards contains a mysterious shot: what appears to be the Defect, but corrupted - face embedded in vines, corroded with decay, and swarmed by tiny flies. With STS2 set 1,000 years after the original, this visual suggests the Defect may have been consumed or corrupted by the Spire's evolution. Neither the Defect nor the Watcher are in the confirmed playable roster. Community speculation suggests the original four heroes may have been trapped or transformed during the millennium gap.