More than five years after Slay the Spire helped usher in a wave of roguelike deck-builders, Mega Crit has announced that a sequel is in development and is slated to hit Steam Early Access in 2025. In the vividly animated trailer that delivered the news, we see a pair who look similar to two playable characters from the last game, the Ironclad and the Silent. However, we also see an entirely new face, a grim reaper-esque figure who wields a scythe.
Thankfully, the game’s Steam store page is already up and gives us more concrete details: they are the Necrobinder, a “wandering lich” who “calls upon her trusty left hand, Osty, in combat.” The store also has a few photos of the Ironclad using both pre-existing and new cards, implying the returning cast will be revamped. Much of the rest of what’s shown here looks quite familiar as well, and there are battles, relics, shops, events where you make choices, and the massive otherworldly whale monster, Neow.
In the Steam store description, there are promises for lots of additional cards, mechanics, enemies, and treasures. The studio also wrote that it’s all been built with a new engine (aka, not in Unity) that will provide “all-new visuals” and improved compatibility with mods. They explained that the decision to launch in Steam Early Access, like with the first game, was made to take advantage of community feedback for balancing and more.
While Slay the Spire wasn’t the first videogame to combine the classic deck-building of card games like Dominion or Magic: The Gathering with a run-based structure, its explosive popularity helped popularize this style, resulting in a wave of excellent spins on this material like Monster Train, Balatro, and many more. Deckbuilding went from something usually practiced in local card shops and enthusiast circles into a videogame craze that’s gotten a lot more people thinking about the best way to stack the deck in their favor. And despite the many similar projects that followed in Slay the Spire’s wake, it still has a healthy player count on Steam and remains one of the most common entry points to space. Let’s hope that Mega Crit’s sequel can scratch a similar itch.
You can watch the trailer below: