Do you recall the warm thrill you felt once you truly grasped Slay the Spire?
This isn’t entirely a rhetorical question. If you’re reading this piece about Slay the Spire 2—published roughly a week into what looks set to be a lengthy Early Access period—I have to assume you’ve logged dozens, if not hundreds (or thousands?) of hours with the original Slay the Spire. By now the game probably feels less like a novelty and more like a well-worn pair of sneakers. You likely have a favorite character, a go-to bundle of card synergies you aim to assemble for them, and a slate of fallback plans for when chance makes your preferred route untenable. The game’s heavy randomization keeps runs varied, but the overall shapes of those runs become familiar to anyone who’s tinkered with it for years.
Try to remember when Slay the Spire was an exciting, unfamiliar challenge. Think back to those early runs, when you were still deep in the trial-and-error phase of your journey. Every new card required careful reading as it showed up, you sketched strategies on the fly, and you spent long stretches weighing deckbuilding and power selections to maximize survival. Sure, you failed a lot. But each attempt left you a touch more confident, a bit farther along, and steadily more informed about and absorbed in the game’s intricate, well-balanced systems.
After years of waiting, I hoped Slay the Spire 2 could recapture some of that discovery, letting me view a thoroughly saturated game genre from a fresh angle. After a week of poking at the Early Access build, though, it’s tough to shake the impression that, despite numerous changes and additions, Slay the Spire 2 is still a bit too similar to the well-worn original. If the first Slay the Spire is a comfortable old shoe, Slay the Spire 2 is a brand-new pair that’s, oddly, almost too easy to break in.
