Slay the Spire 2 Early Access Review – Back To The Top

It’s here. A sequel to one of my all-time favorites. Weirdly, it happened quite a few times recently. Not just direct sequels, but also spiritual successors and games that closed chapters in my pursuit of understanding the medium. This past year has been undoubtedly a defining, pivotal time in my life, with often shocking results. Very busy, most of all. Yet, even in those times, I found a few moments where I could slip back into some comfort. Grab some tea, some food, put on a video, and launch Slay the Spire.

I knew the second one was coming sometime soon, but I never had the chance to really process what it is that I’d want out of it. To me, the first Slay the Spire is already perfect. It’s polished to a gloss that blinds the eye. Normally not my type of game at all—there is actually little friction past the face value of the designs and first reactions to the humorous events. It’s standard fare with big damage numbers, +2 poison, and nigh-infinite combos. Yet, it got its hooks in, calling back to my roguelike fiend days. Now, for the second time.

It’s prettier, it’s bigger, it has more unlocks and more characters. Already, in terms of the scope at least, Slay the Spire 2 dwarfs its predecessor, with a promise of even more on the way. Its importance is already palpable, not only due to the massive audience it gathered or by being the first game made with the Godot engine to do so, but primarily due to the co-op mode, which was ready on release. Not flawless, though. I’ve seen runs crash or even irreversibly corrupt. The wonders of Early Access.

Not that this should stop you. If you do encounter a bug, you can submit a report via a box with adorable, unmistakably hand-drawn rough drawings in the style that, at the time of writing, appears plenty all over the Timeline—a screen serving as the main source of story, unlocked via simple actions like accumulating score, beating bosses, or clearing a difficulty level.

Some parts are yet unfinished, very visibly so, though largely contained in this one screen, filled with placeholder squiggly art and direct notices of what’s to come. Placeholders feel like a bit of a dying art nowadays, what with even last year’s GOTY Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 using AI for at least some. The first Slay the Spire already had the option to view beta art, so it feels weirdly familiar. I’ve already turned this silly thing into some grand statement, but my point is that it was endearing to see a developer confident enough to reveal these parts. To peel back that friction behind what will no doubt end up as another flawless game.

In due time, of course. There is still some fine-tuning needed; it is currently not quite as naturally challenging as the first one, and how the game responds to your build feels inadequate. The third act ends up being sort of a pushover, and the final bosses lack the HP to survive more than two turns on many a run. Act 2 is where I usually end up falling. Take all this with a grain of salt, of course, I’m far from reaching the end. Others have long passed me, already reaching the highest Ascension difficulty levels. My thirty hours can’t stack up.

I’ll instead return to my ways of relaxing and tea-drinking. Hopefully, with friends! Many factors contributed to the success of Slay the Spire 2’s launch, but I don’t doubt the four-player co-op played a huge role. It is expansive too, with cards unique to multiplayer runs adding to the menacing prospect of maintaining a satisfying balance. Currently, it’s hard for me to imagine this ever being a proper challenge unless you were to apply modifiers via the custom run feature. Cards that allow other players to deal double or even triple damage seem just out of control.

Yet, if anyone was to do it, it would be Mega Crit. It was a genuine joy to watch the first Slay the Spire go through the tiniest of iterations. Now, it should be an even smoother process, with the game becoming more communal and with a clearer story and sense of direction. Though I’m still finding my footing, some parts have already crystallized enough that I can strategize on how to build towards specific, possible upcoming encounters.

So, for a few rapid-fire things that I love. One, several hard-countered strats now have more leeway. The lack of hard counters on Act 3 is both a curse and a blessing like that. Two, Act 1 is tougher, but also more varied. I’m out here buying potions in shops, which would be embarrassing in the first game. Three, colorless cards play a bigger role, and I’m all for it. It gives a new, unique throughline to runs and makes shops much more interesting.

Finally, my favorite part about Slay the Spire 2 is that it absolutely does not render the first game obsolete. This isn’t a Binding of Isaac situation, where I could never make myself go back to the original after playing Rebirth. This is wonderfully different, and I hope the focus remains on keeping it that way. Getting rid of some old habits is a welcome form of friction, perhaps one I needed to feel.

Despite that, Slay the Spire 2 remains a comfort game in all the ways that matter: player-controlled pace and player-controlled challenge. It draws in both the competitive crowd and the hyper-casual. To be honest, so many years in, I’m still figuring out where I fit in all that, now a changed person with changed tastes. Perhaps I approached it from different angles at different times. A steady, reliable rock. I’m unbelievably excited to know Slay the Spire 2 will be one I can rely on as well.

Mateusz reviewed Slay the Spire 2 in Early Access on PC with his own bought copy. This review is based on the version of the game available at the time of writing and will not be changed.