Slay the Spire 2 is the #1 seller on Steam today, above Marathon and Resident Evil Requiem

You never know what’s going to happen with sequels to influential indie sensations like Slay the Spire, which inspired a torrent of other roguelike deckbuilders after it released in early access in 2017. Sometimes, the follow-up gets lost in the sea of its own imitators, and doesn’t blow up like the first one.

Not this time. Slay the Spire 2 released in early access today, and immediately shot to the top of Steam’s top sellers list: It’s #1 globally, above Marathon. In the early evening here in North America, it’s also fourth right now for concurrent players, with a first-day peak of 177,362.

I put about an hour into it earlier today, and yeah, it immediately got its hooks in me. From what I’ve seen so far, it is a classic ‘more of what you already liked’ kind of sequel: Same format, same basic design, but new enemies, new cards and effects, new artifacts, and so on.

One cool new thing I encountered on my first run—which I’ve paused to write this, I just cleared the second boss—was an egg which I had to hold onto until I got to a campsite, where I could hatch it. My reward was a special card, but even better than that, a cool bird dude who hangs out next to me during battles. I love that dude. I’ll die for that dude.

Check out my bird dude. He Swoops. (Image credit: Mega Crit)

The one really big new feature in Slay the Spire 2 is four-player co-op, and I’ve been too invested in my current run to investigate it, but I’ll figure out how it works shortly and share that in another post.

You never know what’s going to be a hit these days, but clearly I was wrong to wonder whether Slay the Spire’s original audience had moved on. The world wants to slay that spire again. According to Newzoo data, the original Slay the Spire reached a five-year high for monthly active users on Steam in January at 658,000 (in 37 markets), suggesting that loads of players were revisiting the original in anticipation of the sequel.

If you didn’t play the original, I think this is a case where you’re totally fine to jump into the sequel, and if you fall in love with it, consider playing the first game as well. Slay the Spire 2 is expected to remain in early access for one to two years, but developer Mega Crit says it “already has more content” than the original.

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