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Slay the Spire 2

Slay the Spire 2 Game Cover
96%Game Brain Score
gameplay, graphics
stability, grinding
96% User Score Based on 39,503 reviews

Platforms

LinuxPCMac OSSteam DeckWindows
Buy Nowfrom €22.99
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Slay the Spire 2 Game Cover

About

Slay the Spire 2 is a single player and multiplayer tactical strategy game with a fantasy theme. It was developed by Mega Crit and was released on March 5, 2026. It received overwhelmingly positive reviews from players.

THE SPIRE AWAKENSThe ultimate roguelike deckbuilder returns! For 1,000 years, the Spire lay dormant, its secrets buried and its horrors forgotten. Now, it has reopened, hungrier and more dangerous than ever, devouring all who dare to ascend. New perils demand sharper strategies, relentless cunning, and unwavering resolve. Outwit the Spire’s brutal trials and uncover the truths hidden at its peak…

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Slay the Spire 2 screenshot
Slay the Spire 2 screenshot
Slay the Spire 2 screenshot
Slay the Spire 2 screenshot
Slay the Spire 2 screenshot
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96%
Audience ScoreBased on 39,503 reviews
gameplay947 positive mentions
stability64 negative mentions
  • The game offers exceptional replayability with a variety of viable strategies, characters, and build paths that keep each run fresh and engaging.
  • Significant enhancements in graphics, animations, sound design, and character development create a polished, vibrant, and immersive experience.
  • The addition of multiplayer/co-op modes and an expanded story with lore unlocks adds new layers of depth and social fun.
  • Some players find the gameplay balance frustrating due to punishing enemy mechanics, RNG reliance, and grinding that can feel tedious and repetitive.
  • The early access status results in placeholder art, bugs, crashes, and optimization issues on certain platforms, detracting from overall polish.
  • Criticism exists about the sequel feeling like a minimal upgrade or cash grab with not enough meaningful new content compared to the original.
  • gameplay
    2,623 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Slay the Spire 2 retains the core addictive gameplay loop of its predecessor, featuring familiar deck-building mechanics with significant expansions including new characters, cards, relics, and enemy mechanics that add depth and variety. The sequel introduces fresh strategic layers such as enchanting cards, ancients replacing boss relics, and cooperative multiplayer, enhancing replayability without compromising the original's essence. While some balancing issues and punishing enemy mechanics can occasionally frustrate players, the refined animations, polished visuals, and thoughtful new mechanics collectively offer a satisfying and engaging evolution of the classic roguelike deckbuilder experience.

    • “The core gameplay loop is still incredibly addictive — building a broken deck and watching everything click never gets old.”
    • “Slay the Spire 2 builds on everything that made the original great, with fun gameplay, cards, and distinct characters.”
    • “The new characters have interesting gimmicks and mechanics that are fun to experiment with, adding fresh strategic layers without overcomplicating the formula.”
    • “There are too many mechanics that punish you for playing the game such as tender or elites that add unplayable cards to your deck whenever you attack them.”
    • “Too many BS mechanics, you spend all your time building a type of deck only to get a final boss that is immune to everything you built, limits the number of cards you can play, and reducing the abilities of the cards you can play.”
    • “The balancing needs work and I hate that almost every enemy has a ramp-up mechanic now (they mostly get strength every few turns), which kills a few playstyles.”
  • graphics
    1,034 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics in Slay the Spire 2 are widely praised as a significant upgrade from the original, featuring a refined, polished art style with smoother animations, more detailed visuals, and vibrant designs that retain the charm of the first game. While some placeholder artwork and minor glitches remain due to early access status, the overall aesthetic and visual enhancements greatly enhance immersion and gameplay enjoyment. A few players note that the art style shift may take time to grow on them, but consensus holds that the visuals elevate the experience without detracting from the core mechanics.

    • “The updated graphics are *chef's kiss* and everything feels more fluid.”
    • “Gorgeous art style and animation, impeccable sound design, and layers of complexity that can lead to some crazy synergies, Slay the Spire II feels like the new gold standard for roguelikes.”
    • “With "just" this early access build, Mega Crit have shattered my expectations and delivered something far beyond what I ever could have hoped, with significantly upgraded visuals, including unique attack animations and more lively set design plus a bounty of incredibly fun to look at monsters and characters that I can see myself appreciating for years on end.”
    • “The art style is a downgrade from the previous game; text is harder to read, especially on the Steam Deck, and the font choice is poor.”
    • “Visuals were minimalist genius in the first game but feel cheap and unfinished in this early access sequel; the game comes off as an early access scam.”
    • “The graphics are a joke in 2026; they look abysmally prehistoric and are basically the same art as in the first game with minimal animation improvements.”
  • story
    435 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game significantly expands on the story compared to its predecessor, introducing a more coherent and engaging narrative through the "epochs" system that unlocks lore, character backstories, and world-building as players progress. While the story is still somewhat vague and incomplete due to early access status, players appreciate the integration of storytelling with gameplay, finding the narrative elements rewarding and motivating, especially with the addition of new characters and quests. However, some find story pacing and placeholder art detract slightly, and those focused solely on gameplay may find the narrative optional.

    • “The new timeline and epoch system for unlocks is awesome and attaches progress you make as a player to giving more story and development to the world.”
    • “The way you unlock story in bits and pieces as you go makes you excited every time you finish a run, and itching to start another one.”
    • “The addition of new characters as well as the timeline creates the ability to get deeper into an actual storyline to go along with the game.”
    • “It's one thing to force players to look at very slow unlock animation for new story beats they could just read later instead of letting them quit.”
    • “The story aspect being ramped up from sts 1 is beautiful. - there are some quest (~a redeemable curse that you keep until you get a boon) but have to take a step back and plot out a different strategy when your previous one fails. Constantly feeling extremely weak right from the start and no matter how much stronger I get I'm still getting slammed is not a good feeling, I'm also not a fan of the lore unlocks it doesn't have any rhythm to it, so the story/lore unlock just seems very disjointed and doesn't really make any sense.”
    • “Also, whereas the first game's story was something hinted at in whispers, slay the spire 2 has a literal timeline that promises loads of story elements referring to and clarifying mysteries in its predecessor; no doubt plenty of new stuff, too. However, the first event of the new act is giving you a strong reward—sometimes it can be a relic, sometimes it can be a strong card, or even a stupidly strong buff like 'receive 999 gold' (true story!). And that's on top of a base game that is already a very sleek improvement on the concepts of the original, giving backstory to everything that has happened and adding fun new characters, well-thought-out mechanics, sound design, and smooth, charming animations.”
  • replayability
    400 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game offers exceptional, nearly limitless replayability, praised for its variety of viable strategies, characters, and build paths that keep each run fresh and engaging. The addition of multiplayer and co-op modes significantly enhances replay value, providing new dynamics and social fun. Even in early access, the depth, challenge, and continuous unlocks promise hundreds to thousands of hours of rewarding gameplay.

    • “It is one of the kings of roguelikes because it feels like there are so many viable choices and paths; so much replayability.”
    • “The core roguelike deck-building formula remains intact—tight, strategic, endlessly replayable—but everything around it feels sharper, smoother, and more satisfying.”
    • “The game has nearly limitless replayability and rewards experience.”
    • “Lackluster replay value: the gameplay feels stale after a couple of plays, and the lack of ability to customize the gameplay is overly frustrating, mostly due to the nonsensical AI/random generator rules that dictate how the game plays out.”
    • “And not only that, but I don't believe anything in Slay the Spire 2 makes it enjoyable again, because the two new heroes, compared to the amount of mods that kept the original's replayability, are not interesting enough to be worth replaying this.”
    • “Not sure about the replayability yet.”
  • music
    300 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in the game is generally praised for being fantastic, dynamic, and well-integrated with gameplay, especially during fights, contributing greatly to the atmosphere and immersion. However, some players find it less memorable or impactful compared to the first game’s iconic soundtrack, describing it as more subtle, generic, or repetitive. Overall, while the soundtrack is a strong point appreciated by many, a portion of fans hope for a more distinctive or expanded musical experience in future updates.

    • “The art and animations look incredible, the music sets the mood perfectly, and the enemies and bosses are creative enough that you’re constantly adapting your strategy.”
    • “The gameplay, music, animations, cards designs, relics, deck building and balance are all top notch!”
    • “I love the attention to detail in this game; everything from the music (and how it crescendos at certain points during fights), to the intricate artistic details all seem like so much thought were put into them.”
    • “The only downgrade is the music which was way more memorable in the first one; this one feels somewhat generic.”
    • “Seriously, the music is like generic fantasy elevator music; it's atrocious.”
    • “The tunes are generic and same-y, even during boss fights - whereas the first game's soundtrack made the direness of these encounters readily clear.”
  • humor
    198 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's humor is widely appreciated for its quirky, irreverent style, highlighted by funny placeholder art, amusing character interactions, and hilarious moments in multiplayer co-op. Players enjoy the charm and wit in cards, relics, lore, and emergent gameplay scenarios, making for many laugh-out-loud experiences. While some humor stems from early access quirks like MS Paint-style placeholders, the overall comedic tone adds to the game's replayability and social fun.

    • “The placeholder art is so funny and I'm happy the old cards got a visual update too.”
    • “The lore is expanding, and also doesn't take itself too seriously in its own a very unique brand of humor.”
    • “Co-op is hilarious and very well implemented.”
  • optimization
    95 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Slay the Spire 2 demonstrates strong optimization overall, running smoothly across a wide range of devices from high-end PCs to low-spec laptops and handheld consoles like the Steam Deck. Despite being in early access with occasional minor bugs and some graphical glitches, the performance is generally stable, maintaining good frame rates and low resource usage, even during multiplayer sessions. Some users note the need for further fine-tuning, particularly for Steam Deck optimization and certain gameplay balancing issues, but the game is highly playable and polished compared to its predecessor.

    • “The game runs smoothly on new gen specs and manages to keep incredible replayability after dozens of runs.”
    • “Performance and stability wise the game has been rock solid.”
    • “Performance on Steam Deck is excellent.”
    • “The game is grossly poorly optimized.”
    • “Maxes out laptop integrated graphics and there's stuttering.”
    • “It's not optimized for Microsoft Surface Pro 13 inch.”
  • stability
    93 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game runs smoothly on a variety of platforms including Linux, macOS, and Steam Deck, with generally stable performance even on lower-end hardware. While it is still in early access and has some bugs, minor glitches, and occasional crashes—especially in multiplayer and certain features—these issues are considered typical for its development stage and are actively being patched. Overall, players find the stability satisfactory and expect further improvements with the full release.

    • “Early access doesn’t hurt it at all—it runs great, I’ve seen almost no bugs, and it’s just really fun to play.”
    • “Runs great on the Steam Deck, controls are pretty intuitive there and playing online is super stable.”
    • “The game runs pretty well on both PC and Steam Deck at the moment, and my playthroughs have been generally bug free.”
    • “Game freezes then crashes constantly when trying to play; as of now, I've refunded it.”
    • “Too many bugs and glitches; got the black screen of death about 4 times.”
    • “I have been trying to play this game all day and it's just constant crashes and freezes.”
  • grinding
    62 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Grinding in the game is frequently described as tedious and repetitive, with progression often requiring hours of redoing similar challenges, particularly in ascensions. While some players appreciate the extended engagement grinding offers, others find the reliance on RNG and slow pacing, especially in multiplayer and boss fights, dampens the overall excitement. Despite these criticisms, dedicated players acknowledge the deep, long-term satisfaction grinding provides, though it may feel more demanding than in the original.

    • “Perfect level of challenging, satisfying, and not tedious.”
    • “These challenges aren't tedious, either - you are likely to complete them simply by playing each character and trying out their different available builds.”
    • “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
    • “Because so many cards and relics are unlocked progressively, this essentially means re-earning them by grinding.”
    • “The core charm of a roguelike lies in the player’s ability to master mechanics and build a deck that transcends basic rules—the thrill of "breaking the game." By grinding down every sharp edge of synergy and gutting energy generation and card draw, you've turned "deck-building" into a tedious "math problem." Forcing players into a stifling environment of 3 energy, draw 5, and play 5 is not balance; it is a stagnant cage.”
    • “Instead of evolving strategies, gameplay shifts toward repetitive grinding and relying heavily on RNG to get a workable run.”
  • emotional
    38 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Players describe the game as deeply emotional, evoking feelings ranging from heartbreak and frustration to joy and nostalgia. Many express strong attachments to their decks and characters, experiencing both emotional highs and lows throughout gameplay. The game's raw, unfiltered emotional impact is praised for being authentic, wholesome, and uniquely powerful.

    • “It's just not designed with newer or more casual players in mind at all right now, and that's pretty heartbreaking.”
    • “So their value isn't just pure stats anymore—they serve an important emotional function: they soften the blow of frustration.”
    • “Suddenly it’s 3:47 am, you’re negotiating with a talking mushroom about relics, and you’re emotionally attached to a deck built entirely around hitting enemies with increasingly stupid combinations of cards.”
  • monetization
    38 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game is widely praised for its clean monetization approach, featuring no microtransactions, ads, battle passes, or paid DLC, which many see as a refreshing break from modern cash grab trends. However, some users criticize the sequel as a cash grab or minimal upgrade over the original, lacking meaningful new content and feeling more like a repackaged version than a true sequel. Overall, while the monetization model is respected, opinions diverge on whether the game justifies its cost without additional features.

    • “A modern game with no extra purchases, no ads, just the game and nothing else.”
    • “No microtransactions, no pay-to-win, pure gameplay.”
    • “✅ No microtransactions, loot boxes, DLC, or parts of the game removed to be sold later.”
    • “However it feels more like a cash grab than an actual second game.”
    • “This current early access build is utterly awful; once you get over the better graphics, they have done barely anything to the game. This could have been an update to the original game and does not warrant a sequel cash grab at all, same as Overwatch 2 that has now gone back to the Overwatch name.”
    • “Overall feels like a downgrade and a complete cash grab and a massive disappointment from an avid Slay the Spire enjoyer.”
  • character development
    35 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Reviews consistently praise the game’s character development, highlighting its unique, detailed, and innovative character designs that enhance both visual appeal and gameplay variety. The art direction, animations, and thoughtful design contribute to a fresh yet familiar experience, elevating player engagement and replayability. Some critiques mention issues with balance and certain character abilities, but overall, the character development is regarded as a standout strength.

    • “Everything from the character design to the overall combat is fun and exciting, especially when exploring each character's potential builds.”
    • “The art is improved, the diversity of builds is improved, the new character designs are on point, and the multiplayer is just a wonderful addition.”
    • “It's gorgeous, the animations are crisp, the new character designs and play styles are unique and fun, and there's so much more to discover!”
    • “The rewards are unrewarding, many combats feel like a rug pull for building decks as intended based on card and character design.”
    • “Just looking at some low to mid character designs standing there drawing cards and doing nothing else.”
    • “Please revert defect to a more similar character design to first; at least a tapered thigh and slimmer design.”
  • atmosphere
    24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game significantly enhances the original’s atmosphere with polished, vibrant art, engaging animations, and a distinctive tone that perfectly fits the series. Its immersive environments, combined with clever worldbuilding, varied enemies, and atmospheric audio, create a captivating sense of journey that appeals to both new and returning players. While some note minor imperfections, the overall atmosphere is celebrated for being rich, quirky, and deeply engaging.

    • “The world has more atmosphere without losing the quirky charm of the first game; the game is so polished with quality animations and amazing art. The returning classes feel even more fun, and the new classes are so interesting and different.”
    • “From the amazingly vibrant ancients to the breathtaking atmospheric animated backgrounds, Mega Crit has brought the world and art style of Slay the Spire to the forefront of the imagination of longtime and new players alike.”
    • “The audio design also contributes to the atmosphere, with a soundtrack that blends tension and mystery to match the feeling of ascending through an unpredictable and dangerous tower.”
    • “People must be rewarded at least mentally when they help others if the dev team wants a friendly atmosphere between players.”
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32h Median play time
176h Average play time
10-127h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 179 analyzed playthroughs
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Frequently Asked Questions

Slay the Spire 2 is a tactical strategy game with fantasy theme.

Slay the Spire 2 is available on PC, Mac OS, Steam Deck, Windows and others.

On average players spend around 176 hours playing Slay the Spire 2.

Slay the Spire 2 was released on March 5, 2026.

Slay the Spire 2 was developed by Mega Crit.

Slay the Spire 2 has received overwhelmingly positive reviews from players. Most players liked this game for its gameplay but disliked it for its stability.

Slay the Spire 2 is a single player game with multiplayer and local co-op support.

Similar games include Monster Train 2, SpellRogue, Hades II, HELLCARD, Slay The Spire and others.