Slay the Spire news & patch notes

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/33b05eac9b2b2985b719bdb9313c9748636a22e5.png Hey Slayers, it's time for the June Neowsletter! In this issue we're covering a couple of big roadmap items we've checked off our list as of yesterday's main branch patch and answering some of your recent questions. Let's dive in...

Dev Update

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/4512122e65f560656785dc6ffd2d42754c580e7c.gif The first feature we want to highlight is the Bestiary. The Bestiary is a new section that organizes info related to enemies you've encountered throughout your journeys in the Spire. For faithful readers of the Neowsletter pre-launch, you could even see it as an evolution of our Spire Spotting segment (though these discoveries are achieved through regular gameplay rather than your artistic hypotheses, of course.) {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/1d1bb2a98c178e06bb8e09643d33e685f3c7fc8b.jpg You can find the Bestiary right here in the Compendium, featuring enemies' moves and animations, for now. Other things like stats, flavor text, and various QOL changes will be added in the future. Those of you who have been playing on the beta branch have already seen the Bestiary, but this next change is new for all players... {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/41af9b81e0817b2a4bf6dbfc529690f24f993c0a.png Ed here, one of the engineers at Mega Crit, here to talk a bit about StS2's Steam Workshop support. As we mentioned in the most recent patch notes, we built STS2 with modding in mind, and the game has had an integrated mod loader from day 1. However, Steam Workshop support--which makes it much easier to share, discover, and download mods--has been sitting in our roadmap for a few months now. We know you've been waiting a while for it, but it's been awesome seeing the outpouring of creativity from the community in the meantime all the same! We purposefully haven't been advertising mod support, as we knew it still needed some work. The only way to install mods up until now was to download them from somewhere and place them in your mods directory. However, as of the last patch, we've deemed mod support mature enough to enable the Workshop! This is now the official way to browse and install mods, right in the Steam client. We can't wait to see what else you all create going forward! If you're already a modder, upload your mods using the tool here. If you're interested in getting started with modding, see the community documentation. And if you're interested in playing some mods, check out the Steam Workshop! If you have feedback on the modding framework, post in the #sts2-modding channel in the Discord, or submit it via F2/the settings in-game.

Q&A with C&A

Coop asks: Hello! I know Casey and/or Anthony are fans of the Worm web serial, and have several references to it across both games (love Doormaker as a reference) and I was thinking about how I'm surprised that there are no references in the bug-themed area (act 2 Hive), then realized that there is one boss Kaiser Crab. Is this an intentional reference or just a coincidence? Casey: Doormaker isn't a Worm reference, I was playing too much Deadlock. Kaiser Crab is named this way because I'm tired of things being emperor X and king Y. We have all these wacky words for kings, sultans, etc and it's always the bland western one. The world feels small when we use the most accessible titles. Jar of Gibbons asks: Heyo, so I think the Ancients are a fantastic addition and tons of fun. Shout-out to community manager Demi Montes who nobody has realized is credited as the one who voices one of my favorite Ancients aesthetically and mechanically, Nonupeipe! Main question: How do you guys pronounce it? And if you each have your own opinions, how does Demi? I say "no-nu-PEY-uh-pee" /noʊ.nuˈpɛɪ.ə.pi/, like Calliope from Greek mythology, because she emanates divine splendor and mythology… but what about you guys? Casey: I tend to say it as four syllables: no nu pay peh or sometimes in the original: no no peh peh. As her name is an easter egg reference to the NOPE placeholder icon we use for content. When two of these icons line up next to each other (for instance, the relics in the top bar), it reads NONOPEPE. Demi: *Nonupeipe noises* {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/aad793a20993f342f56a498ce9cbaa3d9958d0b5.png Combak asks: In multiplayer lobbies with the same character, it can be a bit difficult to remember who drew what, so will there ever be an option for players to choose their own colors for map drawing, regardless of character, or have copies of the same character use darker/lighter shades from each other? Casey: Not sure for drawing, but we are messing with a bit of color change stuff for multiplayer. Josie Jams asks: Is the ceremonial beast a valheim reference? Casey: Nope, the original was based on the Forest Spirit from Princess Mononoke. The initial concept drawing was a bit solemn and grotesque. Marlowe updated the creature to be more regal and spirity! But I can see a resemblance, I'm a big fan of Valheim actually! I believe it was the first boss design for Slay the Spire 2 (designed in 2021).

Merch Madness

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/faeacf6f0f77194087594dbd779e8f2590107a61.png The first Slay the Spire 2 drop from Artovision is here! Showcase your love for StS2 right on your wall with this gorgeous shadowbox of the game's key art (which lends itself really well to the 3D effect!) Order yours now here!

Map Masterpieces

And now it's time to check out what new creations players have been making while waiting for their teammates to hurry up and pick a route already... {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/93c111a6b01031d3a1faac33ba7bd1fcad6919ee.png This illustration of the Regent and the Merchant by ちゃと! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/ddce01009ebf8c3a6b11e52cbe1801a55dbbf4ce.png This illustration of the Defect by Zaply! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/22120a292bd398ea50cdde53e7598d64ed316482.png And another drawing of the Defect with a slightly different vibe by Shmangos!

Connections Section

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/274039efebeb7a8e9308fe17246a5b139f83b06c.png If the heat out there is getting to you, cool off with some good old fashioned Slay the Spire 2 Connections!

Community Corner

Thank you to moon raccoon for this month's lovely cover art! Next month's theme is: Slay the Summer 2! Whether it's Neow enjoying a day at the beach (unlike most whales), the Spire's climbers taking a dip, or whatever beach episode activities you can think of, we'd love to see your submissions! If you'd like to submit your art for consideration, reminder that it must be submitted to us via [email protected] or in our Discord's fanart channel, have dimensions of 800x450px, feature no text, and leave room for a title! Please make your submission by Friday, July 10th! Now for some monthly highlights: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/a7bc8b34252c1ce5100a8edb64c3d44fd50d942b.jpg This very cool art of the Test Subject from an 11 y/o fan, Elias! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/abeff83b65c5b2b4f47a1e7b65a7344dfea29431.png This incredibly accurate Regent cosplay by Radio! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/dd6fc38f03dcc01401960f30564667356a7a3f32.jpg This lovely art of all of the Spire's (current) climbers by Timo! Thus concludes the June Neowsletter; see you all again next month!

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/48f9ccd5b45cab13b6717c2522787349d39941fa.png Hey, Slayers! Demi the CM here with this month's Neowsletter!

Dev Update

We wanted to start off with an update from last month's roadmap, especially for those who only play StS2's main branch. The first big update is that we have moved from a weekly to a bi-weekly cadence for the beta patches. Though we stuck with the weekly cadence during StS1's Early Access period, it was a hard pace to keep up and--this time around--hasn't been giving enough time as we'd like for our now much bigger base of beta branch testers to absorb the changes. This also means that main branch updates will be a bit more infrequent by extension, but hopefully this gives players on both branches more time to provide feedback on the updates. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/4512122e65f560656785dc6ffd2d42754c580e7c.gif In terms of our progress on the list of promised features, we've now added the Bestiary to the Compendium on the beta branch! It currently acts as a full list of enemies in the game along with their move animations, though it will eventually include more detailed information about them as well. Otherwise our recent beta patches have mostly been focused on stability and performance along with some balance changes, the most notable of which was the removal of The Doormaker. The long and short of the reasoning behind this is that, while this boss provided some interesting micro-decision-making situations in his fight, he was a bit more complex than what we want. He's now been replaced on the beta branch with a new boss, Aeonglass, so if you're a Doormaker lover: appreciate him on the main branch while you still can! In honor of his legacy, we wanted to share a little peek at what his earliest iteration looked like... {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/00845f511b67d51435b1525c4b73863bc0905356.png Lovely early dev art courtesy of one of our programmers, Jose. For those still waiting for Steam Workshop support and Twitch integrations, rest assured that they are still coming in the near future--apologies that they've taken a bit longer to implement than we initially estimated! The multi-fronted mission to make StS2 as good as it can be continues.

Spire Stats

And now it's time for a look behind the curtain at some Slay the Spire 2 metrics! At the time of writing this, the community has reached a whopping 240,000,000 runs, 60.5 million of which have been wins vs 179.5 million losses. That's a win-rate of 25% overall, which is much better than it sounds. Broken down by Ascension, the average win-rate on A0 is 16%, compared to 9% in StS1. At the highest, A10, the win-rate is about 17%, compared to a very small 3% at A20 in StS1. In the last issue we broke down the different choices players made in a few select events. This time we wanted to quickly show off the popularity of each character, i.e. what percentage of the total runs each character accounts for... {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/d249ea2e8ede63ba6ca91e1d1ee357c0b48f4db3.png As you can see right away, the community has been playing the characters almost the same amount, with the stats leaning just a bit in favor of the first couple of characters that are available to players: Ironclad and Silent. We're glad to see all our children getting roughly equal amounts of love! On the topic of stats... {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/acd34b385270327a0de6293fd224a4568a80d351.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/98d4114654c5c8ba42767d67497e5463e55347e1.png We also wanted to take the opportunity to highlight a couple of community projects that collect their own stats and provide data, tools, guides, etc. for players: Spiracle and Spire Codex. Be sure to check them out!!

Devour the Tower

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/f2c2bfdcb4e14ece9228359ed8c0ebd43642bb27.png The first big community-led StS2 tournament, Devour the Tower, is coming in just a few days on May 25! Featuring 34 streamers, this 4-player co-op competition will be co-casted by FrostPrime and Otzdarva so it's sure to be a good time. The winners of the tournament may even get a special gift, courtesy of Mega Crit. ;) Check out FrostPrime's Twitch for more details!

Merch Madness

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/5fc0e6adc6dc1d180f9b776cf3886668dc50d1bf.png Make a Dramatic Entrance with our first ever piece of Makeship x Slay the Spire apparel! Now you too can don the iconic garb of The Silent--in hoodie form! Available to pre-order until May 29 at 5AM PST, so Pounce on this opportunity soon!

Connections Section

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/2e462fa0f73503c25110aab11559d82d7f68ecaf.png Another Neowsletter, another Slay the Spire Connections Puzzle!

Map Masterpieces

As usual, let's check out some of the incredible in-game map creations from our community! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/aea2aaadb721ca94044db74ac72659b0badc6e2e.jpg This incredibly adorable drawing of the Regent by AplphaE! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/54cf4ea6e8fb14874d15eebfc15e8b8ccf006299.png This stunningly detailed illustration of the Necrobinder and Osty by 白板红中碰發财! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/5c04d9a1a914dcee4606936e1b77501f67527aff.png These adorably pathetic doodles from salty final boss! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/c16fde53968d6b61644e996adff73463fa9bfd05.png Lastly, this funny drawing involving the Doormaker (RIP) by SnakeFangz!

Community Corner

Thank you to doshiBAP for this month’s gorgeous cover image featuring everyone's favorite Mother of Resurrection! (It was actually a late submission from April but we thought it fit this month's theme too!) Next month's theme is: Slay the Summer! If you'd like to submit your art for consideration, reminder that it must be submitted to us via [email protected] or in our Discord's fanart channel, have dimensions of 800x450px, feature no text, and leave room for a title! Now on with some more community highlights: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/7714a23536c0d2ec1c6c4fd906eb98f0e4d4066e.png This series of beautiful illustrations by dk000484! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/ac713c660cce806690cffc4720321f6151bf92cf.jpg This super clever graduation cap from lizard--congradulations!! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/ea5f586744b520e290f5a809d73324fd73a606cd.png Last but not least, if you are craving more ways to test your StS2 knowledge than just our monthly Connections puzzle, check out Spiredle! That's it for this month's issue of the Neowsletter, see you again in June!

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/91349290638a7f1fcde09f1a04fe70beb8f74cd3.png Hi everyone! Casey here. Slay the Spire 2 has been out for about a month and the majority of our work has been fixing up major issues, improving our feedback systems, polishing up visuals, and reworking/balancing content so that all of the cards and items feel interesting and viable! To those who reported feedback, thank you! Do note that the in-game feedback tool gives us more data than emails and meme posts (as funny as the latter may be). The road to version 1.0 is long but we're hoping to get back on track to some bigger chunks of content as we enter the warmer months. Our Early Access disclaimer is rather vague, so I felt that something a bit more official and recent would be nice to read.

Roadmap

Features and Systems: - Steam Workshop support - Support for more languages - The Bestiary, a way to view and learn about the enemies in the game - Experimental game modes Ongoing Tasks: - Fixings bugs - Compatibility and performance improvements - Game balance and tweaks - Quality of life features - Audio polish (more silly voices) - Visual polish (less silly placeholder art) Content (No spoilers, it's for your own good!) - Alternate Act 2 - New Character - Alternate Act 3 - More cards, events, relics, and potions Further off in the Future - Ports to other consoles/platforms/mobile/etc - Steam Achievements & Tradings Cards - "True Victory" + Everything that comes with it You might see this and think, but where are the dates! Why can't you promise dates?? My response is: It's not what works for us. Mega Crit is a small team where each member understands their responsibilities, knows everyone else, and I try my best to ensure that we work at a healthy pace. We evaluate our tasks each week and work on what feels most impactful. It’s not the most organized method, but this allows spontaneous experimentation like the dialogues you have with the Ancients or the existence of a Room Full of Cheese. We won’t massively expand the size of the studio to finish the game faster. Exacting deadlines produce sloppy uninspired work and I don't want Sloppy Spire 2, I want Slay the Spire 2. While we don't have firm timelines, beta patches release at a much more frequent cadence than main branch patches. If you haven't heard, the beta branch is an optional version of the game intended for testing experimental changes that are tweaked until we feel they are stable enough for the main branch. If you're eager to try out and provide feedback on content before it's officially live, check out the instructions for switching branches outlined here.

Spire Stats

Demi popping in with a little insight into some Slay the Spire 2 statistics! We’re a little over a month post-launch and you’ve all already embarked on about 145 million runs!! This time we’re gonna take a slightly deeper look into those numbers–specifically the most common decisions Slayers make when presented with a few interesting event dilemmas! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/76aa29a01df93d0526d5bf3f7622f56084d015fe.png When finding the Lantern Key in the Hive, 56% of players return it to its apparently rightful owner, a Mysterious Knight, and are rewarded for their magnanimity (or cowardice) with gold. 44%, however, fight the stranger to keep it for themselves. Of those who emerged victorious with the Lantern Key and made it to Glory, upon encountering War Historian, Repy, 88% choose to free him from his cage in exchange for a valuable tome. Just 12% choose to abandon Repy in favor of the chest full of random relics and potions. Cold-blooded… In the Room Full of Cheese, 63% of players immediately gorge themselves on the cheese surrounding them, learning some new moves in the process. 37% are too overwhelmed by the sheer amount of cheese to partake, but are mysteriously rewarded for their pickiness with The Chosen Cheese. It’s fairly hard to resist the cheesy temptations, it seems. And lastly, when stumbling upon the Byrdonis Nest in Overgrowth, 51% of players choose to take the egg in order to hatch it into their own loyal little Byrdpip… and 49% feel too hungry, apparently, and eat the egg for some extra max HP. That’s almost an exact 50/50 split! Though we can’t imagine Byrdonis is too happy about either option. That’s all for now, but next time we’ll take a peek behind the curtain at some different kinds of metrics!

Q&A with C&A

KevsterZ asks: I notice that all basically of the Neowsletters and STS2 come out on Thursdays. Does this day have a special meaning to you guys and the team? Casey: If we push newsletters or builds earlier during the week, we'd be gauging the reaction of players throughout the week; this isn't productive for us. If there are problems, typos, etc we can fix them on Friday. Bryggel asks: Is it possible to have matchmaking or ingame chat for multiplayer? Casey: Matchmaking is a bit up in the air at this time. I think any video game where you can be paired up with strangers brings a whole host of headaches that a smaller team wouldn't want to deal with... but maybe we're being too stringent. Perhaps something to evaluate later. We could probably bring in some kind of in-game chat. I don't think we'll do voice. Unless something horrible happens to Discord. Booyah asks: Will there be a endless mode added? Casey: Probably not, the deckbuilding gets less exciting the longer a run goes on... I think games like Balatro do a better job due to infinite strategies being possible less often. The scaling of their game's mechanics feels more natural- whereas it's not really the case for us. Still, you never know how inspiration strikes. Maybe a modder will think of a way to make it work! D asks: will you also make official tabletop simulator expansion so that those that don't have friends IRL could play the board game online with others? Demi: Firstly, Contention Games is the one who handles most things related to the board game, as they develop, produce, and distribute it! Secondly, the public playtesting of the board game’s Downfall expansion has just recently begun, actually, and you can find it on Tabletop Simulator here! For those who don’t already know, the base board game can be found on Tabletop Simulator here. If you’d like to provide feedback on the Downfall expansion and find teammates, check out the Contention Games Discord server! Origo asks: Will this (beta patch) make it to the normal branch soon or not ? Casey: Probably when we feel that the first set of balance patches feel stable in the beta branch. We were discussing pulling in a handful of fixes into main branch before then. So that might happen soon, maybe before this Neowsletter is even published! And lastly we have some questions from Yumin, a member of a game dev club in South Korea called LEVEL 0 which is organizing a game jam right now. Yumin asks: On Non-negotiables: While developing Slay the Spire, what was the one thing you were never willing to compromise on to ensure the "fun" of the game? Casey: There must be whimsy. Yumin asks: On Persistence: As students, we often find our willpower weakening when development stretches on for a long time. How did you maintain the team’s morale and spirit throughout the long development and Early Access period? Casey: It's really important to get a feel of the general spirit of the team. If it feels like people are only talking about tasks instead of the work or project as a whole, then maybe consider a break! This kind of mentality isn't exactly for a gamejam. It's easier to stay motivated in person. Although our team is mostly remote (only 3 of us utilize the office), we meet up a few times each year. For a game jam, maybe it'll be fun to take a slightly longer lunch for some fried chicken or something. I love fried chicken. Also, I'm taking a short trip to Berlin in May. Don't tell anyone. Yumin asks: A Word for Us: Could you please share a short message of encouragement for the students preparing for 'Daegyeong Jam'? Casey: Remember to have fun! Don't just eat protein bars and instant ramen!

Merch Madness

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/72ec199d8839107063cc8e202169c681b5eaee2e.png Looking to complete (or start!) your Slay the Spire figure collection? You can help bring these YouTooz Necrobinder and Regent figure concepts to life! Anyone who pledges their support for each concept will get a slight discount on the products once they launch, so if you want little versions of everyone's favorite lich and alien watching over your future runs then don't delay!

Connections Section

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/aa30e6d4d848b58823863c9366964b8de55560b3.png Another round of Slay the Spire 2 Connections is here! For those who are new to Connections puzzles, the objective is to make 4 groups of 4 things that have something in common. It could be a similarity in name, function, aesthetic, or even something more abstract. If there are 3 things or 5 things that have something in common, you may be picking up the wrong scent. The difficulty of the categories is roughly organized by color: yellow is meant to be easiest, then green, then blue, then purple–though difficulty is subjective!

Map Masterpieces

Last month we asked for submissions of any in-game map drawings you make, and we’ve received way more than we could ever include in a Neowsletter! Here are just a handful of highlights; if you’d like to be featured next month then post it in our Discord or email [email protected]! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/7a6500a061168367db6d18029ca9629d2b8fed90.png This drawing of The Silent’s classic key art by Petěrko! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/344c1ae4984789880dc520d6312d5a9ebeb53cc2.jpg This cool drawing of The Necrobinder and Osty by ねこま! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/79d6a9c82eaeb1865e35aab9f2da52962a76e03e.png A very detailed illustration of various Slay the Spire characters by Dusk’s Knife! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/71fede508b630fcb6bcc16e8d430a7611a224c6c.png An adorable drawing of The Defect and Flaw by Axye! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/d593b9a13ba0bc80d55a4c23bd30f43a9e5eb77a.png This funny little Regent doodle (feat. a sus cameo) by Bukie! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqQW4UYb6FA And last but not least, a full map-drawn animation of Bad Apple by Terminaidan!

Community Corner

Thank you to DotNetIzzy for this month’s lovely sakura-themed cover image! Shoutout to the other awesome submissions from 디제이구름, Muki, and Ren (who used traditional watercolor and ink!) {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/d42173e5315ddbc297e759e16ddb3dd7362e59be.jpg {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/f504a9dffb5d2ca954f28f5bee2ad52205df90d2.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/695aca591f43bef128cc1d1d467619eec437184e.jpg Next month's theme is: Mother (of Resurrection)’s Day! If you'd like to submit your art for consideration, reminder that it must be submitted to us via [email protected] or in our Discord's fanart channel, have dimensions of 800x450px, feature no text, and leave room for a title! Now it’s time for the rest of our usual community highlights, which are only the tip of the iceberg of the HUGE amount of incredible fanworks we’ve been seeing. Every illustration, video, meme, cosplay, etc that we come across makes our day–so thank you! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/816db4042ed8d4eb0479f0cc3c3ffa8aabf55bde.jpg This art of The Necrobinder sporting a different, super-cute style by Radio! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/df94f71739bbe959a58b6d3ca8b23d9485040fe2.jpg This very cool art of a Silent x Ceremonial Beast fusion by Potari! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/82ea0775c7e905e66c2fae49fdec4cc85a488213.jpg This incredible, colorful portrait of The Regent by Jan! That’s all for the April 2026 issue of the Neowsletter, see you again next month with more updates and highlights!

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/65d256f9e6cab592c85d6922c661c803eae0f8fd.png It's finally here!! The Kickstarter campaign for the Slay the Spire board game Downfall expansion is LIVE NOW! The fan-favorite community mod for Slay the Spire 1 is getting its own OFFICIAL expansion to Slay the Spire: The Board Game, allowing you and your friends to play as some of the Spire’s infamous bosses. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/9ed7872ef6f6fd17520b16e7d6e73456ad8211bd.jpg Don't have your own copy of the base board game yet? You can add it to your pledge (or grab it on its own) during this campaign, too! You can even get a carrying case (aka the Bag of Preparation) that fits both the original game and the expansion inside it!! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/9f6b6a0cfacc6fcdbd1e1f56d53d6c724be59232.png Back the campaign and get some exclusive Collector's Edition goodies from now until April 9th at 12PM PDT!

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/3bdb3ecc502b6033ecad44935dd768093dca7118.png Hi everyone, Casey here! Our excellent community manager, Demi, has been in charge of the majority of Neowsletter writings for a while now but I wanted to stop by to say a few words: 🐟HOLY MACKEREL🐟! But in all seriousness, the response to Early Access has been incredible. Even though I threw out my back from overworking, I'm feeling high in spirits. Thank you to the team for dealing with my constant shenanigans and working extra during this busy rush! We'll be revealing exciting things soon, but for now, please enjoy all the work we put into this initial release.

Launch and Beyond

Ok, it’s Demi time again. Slay the Spire 2 has been out for merely a week and we have already hit 3,000,000 units sold with more than 25,000,000 runs attempted!! (At least a few million are missing from that last datapoint as we started collecting these metrics a bit after launch. So… wow.) Our team has been extremely excited to see so many people’s enthusiasm for what we’ve been working on for the past 5 years–but our journey is just beginning! While we know people are curious about what major content updates are coming down the pike, right now we won’t be giving a specific timeline or roadmap for high-level content aside from what we’ve already confirmed (alternate acts for acts 2 & 3, more cards, events, and other content, etc). All of your feedback has been greatly appreciated and has helped us fix some softlocks and other issues already. Balancing the game will be a constant journey, so we appreciate your patience as we analyze all of the data as well as everyone’s feedback. Here’s what we currently plan on adding next: - A revamp of the badge/scoring system and a friends-only leaderboard filter - Phobia accessibility mode - More art and VFX - Ongoing balance patches - Steam Workshop support - Multiplayer QOL features - Official Twitch plugin integration {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/7f9dcc64f631fb4047a1e86d34082c1d81131830.jpg Also, we’ve just introduced a beta branch for players who want to help test out potential changes and features before they get released to the main branch of the game! You can access it by right-clicking on StS2 in your Steam Library, then clicking Properties > Game Versions & Betas > public-beta. In terms of a release cadence, we don’t want to commit to a strict schedule. New content and balance changes will come to the main branch whenever we feel they’re ready. The beta branch will have more frequent updates in the meantime!

Merch Madness

In honor of StS2’s launch, we have a lot of merch drop announcements, so buckle in! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/5b234d47e9c72cce7d21007190f911218fc1b640.png Many of you have been asking about it, and we now have an official date to share: the Kickstarter campaign for the Slay the Spire board game Downfall expansion launches March 24! That’s right–in case you haven’t heard, the iconic community mod for Slay the Spire 1 is getting its own OFFICIAL expansion to Slay the Spire: The Board Game, allowing you and your friends to play as some of the Spire’s infamous bosses. It sounds too good to be true, we know. If you haven’t yet grabbed your own copy of the base board game, this campaign will be a great time to do that, as well! Get notified when the campaign launches here! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/79e514cf0a102062b6877f9bb8e03cc4ac3f5770.png Do you hear something…? It’s the classic sounds of the Spire, back once more!! Mana Wave has just released a 2xLP vinyl of our composer Clark Aboud's iconic Slay the Spire OST, including 4 psych rock versions of classic tracks and stunning new artwork from Nimit Malavia. The records come in either retail black or Mana Wave exclusive colors that are reminiscent of The Defect’s orbs. Grab yours here so you can sway while you Slay! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/09ea8253e8e4112b40f93472c950a963206619d6.png Some of the Spire’s sharpest Slayers just got a whole lot cuddlier. Makeship just launched these limited edition plushies of Slay the Spire’s original 3 characters, The Silent, The Ironclad, and The Defect–all of whom are sporting their new StS2 designs! Yep, that means BEEFECT IS REAL (and squishable.) The pre-order campaign will last just a few weeks and then they’ll be gone for good, so grab yours now! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/377ec93386595d123a567f4a9de2b5d5cdbd21d0.png It’s almost time to Slay in style. Fangamer will be launching a brand new collection of Slay the Spire 2 merch, including a t-shirt featuring the full StS2 roster, pins of The Regent, The Necrobinder, and Osty, and an adorable sticker set! (The latter was designed by Justin Yu, who you may recognize from some of his StS fanart!) The launch drops on March 17 at 10AM PDT! Sign up to get notified when the drop goes live here.

Connections Section

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/444b63176eca189caf8d618a8ac714c6737fbc41.png It's the first ever Slay the Spire 2-themed Connections puzzle!! Though it might be a bit easier for those who are familiar with StS1...

Community Corner

Thank you to Soobsidian for this month’s celebratory cover image! And shoutout to our two other runner ups, Alcalmy and Maple! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/f0b737fe9f90bde43003149011a072331c79e6c5.jpg {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/b5d0e900edc55ee13e2d12724085abf48ca1365b.jpg Next month's theme is: sakura Neow! If you'd like to submit your art for consideration, reminder that it must be submitted to us via [email protected] or in our Discord's fanart channel, have dimensions of 800x450px, feature no text, and leave room for a title! Before we move on to the rest of the community highlights, let us first say that we have been in awe of all of the incredible art, memes, and other creative projects that Slay the Spire 2 has already inspired. While it’s impossible to include even 1% of the awesome things that the community has created that we’ve been enjoying, here is a small roundup of highlights! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/9d6a442d14c6c96c5c29542fe9e64e5914cb976c.jpg This gorgeous, funny, and regal art of The Regent by @Thornclaw! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/a3e329821db0800e210d83f99b27e7b2471741e9.png These adorable and hilarious “doodles” of various StS2 characters by @sharkeesart! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/d3a9ea6ead2dc4bf3c936090f64e6cd09aef4170.png And last but not least, some impressive map sketches by u/Flying_Line! In fact, there were tons of other creative map drawings we saw out there, so many that we’d like to feature more! Maybe as a regular segment in the Neowsletter? If you’d like your own map masterpieces featured, the best way to make sure we get our eyes on it is to email them to us at [email protected] or posting them in the fanart channel of our Discord! Alright, that’s all for this issue of the Neowsletter! We’ll see you again next month, as always!

The Spire has finally reawakened. Slay the Spire 2, the long awaited sequel to the original genre-defining roguelike deckbuilder, is available now on Steam Early Access! https://store.steampowered.com/app/2868840/Slay_the_Spire_2/ We're so excited for you all to see for yourselves what we've been working on for the past 5 years. If you've been keeping up with our monthly Neowsletters, you already know that this reawakened Spire has a LOT of new features and content compared to the one you may already know, but there's plenty more to discover and much more on the way. For more info, you can check out our FAQ. For those who have never ventured into the Spire before, you don't need any prior experience with Slay the Spire 1 to enjoy what Slay the Spire 2 has to offer. Now is a great time to dive right in and ascend the Spire, either on your own or—this time around—with your friends!

About Slay the Spire 2

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/310c731af8708aec9a7adf5a7d2e2e5961b6adee.png 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. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/8fa66832ff793af6a347b63972bd00196d324f34.png Climb the Spire with a new and returning cast of characters, each with their own cards, motives, and secrets. Make allies of the most ancient of the Spire’s residents, encounter all-new environments, defeat formidable foes, and uncover fragments of the Spire’s past as you ascend it again and again. Also, while you can always choose to brave the ascent on your own, up to 4 players can now team up to face the Spire’s challenges together in an all-new co-op mode. Discover multiplayer-specific cards, powerful team synergies, and carry your friends (or get carried) to victory!

About Early Access

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/41f231b07c56c1dbdda7828b532b542bd40c886e.png The Spire truly is ever-changing… in more ways than one. While Slay the Spire 2 already has more content than Slay the Spire 1, even more content—including cards, events, environments, enemies, and more—will be added and balanced throughout Early Access. We don't have a specific timeline to share with you all, but we'll be sure to keep you regularly updated and give you peeks behind the development curtain. Your feedback (as well as your fanart and memes) will be invaluable throughout this process, just as it was with the first game. This time, you'll be able to submit your feedback and bug reports in-game! Join the journey now to be a part of the Spire’s next evolution.

Your wait is nearly over. The Spire awakens once more on March 5, 2026. Learn more about what Slay the Spire 2 has in store in our official Early Access trailer: https://youtu.be/PW22jwFNxU8 And if you haven’t yet, you can wishlist it here to keep it on your radar: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2868840/Slay_the_Spire_2/

About Slay the Spire 2

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/0f185873db094954202cd58424619a1d5c9fc753.gif Ascend the Spire once more in Slay the Spire 2 the long-awaited sequel to the original genre-defining roguelike deckbuilder. 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. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44971832/bf48d6dcd43697a8767993808016c48f2572a5dd.png Climb the Spire with a new and returning cast of characters, each with their own cards, motives, and secrets. Make allies of the most ancient of the Spire’s residents, encounter all-new environments, defeat formidable foes, and uncover fragments of the Spire’s past as you ascend it again and again. Also, while you can always choose to brave the ascent on your own, up to 4 players can now team up to face the Spire’s challenges together in an all-new co-op mode. Discover multiplayer-specific cards, powerful team synergies, and carry your friends (or get carried) to victory! The Spire truly is ever-changing… in more ways than one. More content—including cards, events, environments, enemies, and more—will be added and balanced throughout Early Access. Join the journey early to be a part of the Spire’s next evolution.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/9b1d9b197610aaf6acb5eecd397de5ee878d2437.png It's February, everyone. You know what that means... SLAY THE SPIRE 2 IS OUT NEXT MONTH!! That also means if your goal was to hit A20 on all characters before StS2's release, you're running out of time. That also also means that this Neowsletter is a little lighter again. So no major content teases right now, but perhaps something else is just around the corner that will make up for it. In the meantime, we heard you missed the Q&A section last time around, so we've brought it back!

Q&A with C&A

The Singaporean Smoke Machine asks: Will the default hand size limit still be 10? Will there be any way to increase the hand size limit? Casey: The default is still 10. There's no way to increase it at this time. A few different people have asked: Will StS2 be available on MacOS on launch? Casey: Yes KevsterZ asks: Will there be an unlock all button for when you buy the game on other platforms in STS2? Casey: No. But we're aiming to have some form of cross-platform saving. The Fox asks: Is the bread a relic because it has been teleported? Casey: Bread has always been a relic Thomas asks: Will Neow still work on the same mechanic that if you die before reaching the first boss you won't get as good choices? Anthony: no

Localization Update

Thank you to everyone who has applied so far to join our localization team! We now have translators onboarded for the following languages: - Chinese (Simplified) - French - German - Italian - Japanese - Korean - Polish - Portuguese Brazilian - Russian - Spanish (Castilian) - Spanish (Latin America) - Thai - Turkish If you applied for any language not listed above, then stay tuned for updates as we plan to onboard more languages at a later date.

Spire Spotting

And now, at long last, it's time to take one more look at our final mystery monster silhouette. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/2ef59f2982cfb5619ad75b5e6c47ba78a12970be.gif So which hypotheses came the closest to discovering the truth? Or at least made us laugh? {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/306c36975cf2da3502692c4ed56062eabf3f2a71.png The award for most ??? guess goes to leda789, for this Snecko Eye playing a game of *squints eyes* ...Jongo! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/6b3aacba574f2d32bffde6d8754cdd8db07d57dc.png The award for most *insert Metal Gear Solid alert sound* guess goes to Delphine! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/6a537004b77479ab38c3eed92e77de911b468e50.gif The award for most orb-y guess goes to myles--you really ~channeled~ a certain automaton with this one! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/391fe0f598f6409e58adf57117595fef13288588.png The award for most accurate guess goes to snumodder! Many came close, but you were the first to point out that this creature was already teased in the Ironclad's new Anger card art! Shoutout to the many other submissions we received this time around! Though we couldn't include them all, here's a selection of them: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/8d4b2fce26ecf4eccffba8298985404be259e834.png Credit from left to right: 唠个beaker, 李华不吃牛肉, 水角神, Tattered Feather, Dpart, Arika, icetea, stickfight2, Merghio, Grief Hammer, PAseer, Phill, Dan K, pedroff_1, Максим, Soren Now, finally, it is time for the unveiling. Thank you to everyone who has contributed their creative creature hypotheses over the past year--we've gathered more than enough intel by now! It's been a long journey, but your roles as Explorers will soon be upgraded once more to Slayers. So without further ado... {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/0adcf22cc93add8cb54c7b5e2ae5a73e293b0050.gif Aha! It seems to be some sort of construct similar to the Spire's old Sentries! Though geometrically they differ quite a bit--let's call it a Cubex Construct! Hmm. Generally I'd advise you to hide at this point... but this one in particular seems to be for more than just physical security of the Spire. Looks like there's something displayed on its interface... PR3C1L6 RR8C4L12 RR9C3L1 BR10C4L2 GR14C5L1 PR9C3L5 BR14C5L7 BR3C4L1 RR14C5L1 GR12C1L9 BR13C2L5 GR13C3L15 PR6C5L4 RR15C1L1 RR9C5L6 GR7C1L6 How odd... well, never mind that, I'm sure it's nothing! On with the rest of the Neowsletter!

Connections Section

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/b0fc22933eadb64e56d7a9e38adb22c87701034e.png Our Valentine's present to you: a new Slay the Spire Connections!

Community Corner

Thank you to Mars for this month's lovely cover image, and shout out to Sorisaurus for their runner up submission: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/8b190443f56c916f9f176e5abb89b8a5ec1c7e60.jpg Next month's theme is: Slay the Spire 2 Neow! If you'd like to submit your art for consideration, reminder that it must be submitted to us via [email protected] or in our Discord's fanart channel, have dimensions of 800x450px, feature no text, and leave room for a title! Now let's check out some community highlights! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/ce6229a909e80accc88d2cacb4c91cdf798b41a2.jpg The 8th (and likely last!) StS1 Mod the Spire Anniversary mod, Spire Quests, created by our wonderful modding community! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/3b72e538c1b14ec6070472f7b6eaee6445d812e1.png Incredible cosplays of The Ironclad and The Silent by ZHENG/SNAKE! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/fd464082123e3cca196d5e81ecab76d245ffa959.png Some classic "Ooh Donut!" achievement fanart by momiage! And that's it for this month's Neowsletter. By the time the next issue lands in your mailbox... Slay the Spire 2 will be out already!!

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/3462f0c6cabdf5c94ebb9a5c21b19056368c8b8d.png Happy Slay the Spire 2 year, everyone! Tomorrow, January 23rd, 2026, is the 7th anniversary of Slay the Spire's 1.0 launch! Also, in just a couple of months, it will have been 8.5~ years between the early access launches of Slay the Spire 1 and Slay the Spire 2. If you've been with us since the very beginning of this journey then that means you're at least 9 years old, probably. Maybe even 10. Thank you to all of the Slayers who have stuck with us for all of these years and to those who are just now tuning in. The next phase of Spire slaying is just around the corner! In the meantime, let's take a look at...

The Evolution of Slay the Spire 2's Content

Since it's been over a year since we started teasing StS2 content, we figured now is a good time to check back in on what some of it looks like now. We did warn you it was all subject to change! Things will evolve even further with all of your feedback throughout early access, of course, but we figured we'd let you get some last minute speculation in. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/8078675321ce235edbf6b4e87ad31d7a6552b2d5.png One of the very first new cards we teased back in November of 2024 was "Gold Axe." While it excited people even in its initial state, it's since seen a buff with the removal of its Exhaust keyword and a reduction in its Energy cost. Not pictured: we still have shiny VFX based on the rarity of card rewards, though it has been toned down from what you see on the left. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/16b1f1c768444b4308961b32ac2113b62363e586.png On the other hand, "Rolling Boulder," a card we teased this past July was indeed seeming a bit too OP. Its base damage and scaling damage have now both been slashed in half. We'll see what you all think of it soon enough--that is if it doesn't get changed again in the meantime. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/6db2362bf5fac1c25a9483a41f8601a2635cda01.png This "Bodyguard" card that we showed off this past October was actually The Necrobinder's unique starter card, but it has since been totally reworked. While it has the same art, it now goes by a new name, "Unleash," and has a completely different mechanic. Perhaps we'll see the old card again in some form or another... and perhaps the new card will undergo its own evolution someday. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/935da23475c153404d5c136c660d128baeb5dbfb.png On a slightly different note, the placeholder event art that we teased for our war historian friend Repy has been updated (as well as the event text and options)! The original art certainly had its own charm, though. RIP beta Repy, gone but not forgotten. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/69375dd0415129999aad3f9e36bc18b634860113.png And last but (maybe) not least, let's take a look behind the curtain at some out of context alpha patch notes, since you soon will in fact have the context for them.

Localization Applications

We have begun to localize Slay the Spire 2 into several different languages already (French, German, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Russian, Simplified Chinese, and Thai), but we are now looking to onboard some translators for other languages. If you are interested in helping to localize Slay the Spire 2 as well as our Neowsletters and potentially other important announcements, please apply here!

Spire Spotting

Now it's time to take a trip to the Spire to revisit last month's mystery monster! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/bf1f8eaed0f78fa1e583077d5a3b5f37d0fd3edb.gif Let's see what hypotheses you all submitted this time around... {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/6f890b5b264704d8c12036ca006e37cab247932b.png The award for most out-of-the-box guess goes to eneija for this... aardvark-like creature! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/5984d5d152a4e1a7a20c5fbaec9ad3c657f27a23.png The award for most accurate guess goes to Joanna, though the real beast this time has no fungi, as you'll see. Shoutout to all of these other weird and wonderful submissions! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/8c4b45c5f82ea56412f639883208f84c9f6da052.png Credit from left to right: 晓星, Kamrat, Leo, Turtledunkz, bomo73, Dpart, Snowbyte, Mitlon, leda789, Mailboy002, Brave, koiking213, TheSos, Dolly, skryzhal, PhantomExitus Now for the grand reveal... {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/f8a34b87a8c473dc1c4ea621d44cfcaa0424d09f.gif EEK--it's a rat! With two tails! In other words, a two-tailed rat. Despite the silhouette not leaving much to the imagination, you all still managed to be very imaginative! And now, my dear intrepid explorers, this month's issue marks a very special moment. Our research indicates that the secretive veil that has obscured so many of the Spire's creatures is soon to lift, so this may well be the last creature we need to uncover via these methods. With that said, let's take a look together... {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/2ef59f2982cfb5619ad75b5e6c47ba78a12970be.gif Aha! It appears to be mostly rectangular in shape, but there's some sort of sphere suspended in the middle... Our detection equipment seems to experiencing some sort of interference, so in the meantime we'd greatly appreciate your help in deciphering this strange being! Be sure to submit your guesses via [email protected] or in our Discord's fanart channel!

Collab Land

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/9f9decff321709b43f5d4f824cb2b9fd7bfa3383.jpg Looks like Snecko Eye has snuck its way into another game?? The team behind Turnbound, a brand new inventory management PvP autobattler, has included a Slay the Spire-themed item and free, early-access-exclusive cosmetic in their game! To celebrate this collab, Turnbound and Slay the Spire will bundled together for a 10% discount starting on their early access launch day... which just so happens to be today!

Connections Section

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/98e62cd4436d962495dac236c07ee6bbd4451dbf.png New year, new Neowsletter, new Slay the Spire Connections!

Mega Crit-mas Recap

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/38b1e1f46e15723871d42531f5eb69537cb6a428.png Now that the holiday season is over, let's take a look at some of your Mega Crit-mas creations! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/51a1a915556701f2a27ce359730b432dfdf9adf7.jpg An adorable drawing of iconic StS character gathered around a tree by Soobsidian! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/b014cb657b3a0080c247d615befba9d32eaa0b25.jpg A painterly illustration of some wintery gremlins by taydungeon (timelapse on TikTok)! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/a137d435a0518e7e11311db15c4901aa88bc998e.jpg A festive Snecko Eye cookie baked by Steeve_rules!

Community Corner

Thank you to Okasana for this month's beautiful, sparkly cover image, and shoutout to Boltman and Alcalmy for their awesome submissions, too! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/fb9564f0eba7fd7ace15f1415753cf7d7eabfe82.jpg {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/e068ee0f36c3089f2fcb307f046ebf3a3d1d21cd.jpg Next month's theme is: Valentine's Day Neow! If you'd like to submit your art for consideration, reminder that it must be submitted to us via [email protected] or in our Discord's fanart channel, have dimensions of 800x450px, feature no text, and leave room for a title! Now for our usual community highlights! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/9bb3d918c01f676fe184118904f4542dcf19c006.jpg A gorgeous illustration of The Watcher underneath some wisteria by 鸡翅好吃喵! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/dbe3fb57b48e50fd2f57d646449a97bd2a043ac3.png An illustrated exploration of what the other StS1 slayer's Orbs might look like by Maria/electrohoneys! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/69c3da66b3fae534f2a3c3b1cfe15942bd05b488.png Stunning 3D art of The Ironclad facing off against some giant Sentries by babymango! And that's all for the first Neowsletter of 2026! See you all next month!

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/29ec4e55afd71556b057550d667b67606cba5e9f.png The last Neowsletter of 2025 is here! For those who didn't hear, Slay the Spire 2 was recently ranked the number one game on the PC Gaming Show's Most Wanted list! We want to thank the voting council as well as all of you steadfast Slayers out there! As a treat, you can find quite a few tidbits of new StS2 info in the interview we did with PC Gamer in honor of our number one spot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NgLqPWqDss Now, let's cap this year off with a preview of a most mysterious character...

The Regent

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/4014f6de41ca3777436378ed4be4c05299e0feca.gif Hailing from a distant planet, The Regent has traveled long and far on his quest for excitement that his homeworld cannot offer. His journey has of course taken him to the Spire, full of strange, formidable creatures to conquer and innumerable treasure to plunder. Heir to the Throne of Stars, he is a domineering and arrogant being who draws on the power of the cosmos and his long-suffering minions to do his bidding. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/4fd0abe2044b565dac6690f7e6cf53e679e7a2e4.png The most fundamental aspect of The Regent's kit is that he has another resource that some of his cards rely on besides energy: Stars. After generating Stars, they can then be spent on certain cards that require them to deal damage, block, and empower himself with. Some cards even scale with the Stars you have stored up. Stars do not deplete at the end of your turn and there is no cap on how many you can have at once, so the sky is the limit. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/f14f5f2ed511b16fb35bd9500da50a97e65b33a7.png The Regent is also capable of transforming other cards into unceasingly loyal Minions to attack and defend for him. Formed of celestial material, you will also find these disposable but adorable Minions painstakingly lugging The Regent around on his giant throne. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/6a0d5442606119603e342e76950d666d2a9487ea.png As the heir to his family’s empire, The Regent has the ability to Forge his own signature weapon, the Sovereign Blade, a large, gleaming sword that orbits around him. The first time you play a card with the "Forge" keyword each combat, the Sovereign Blade's corresponding card will be created. Every time you Forge after that, the amount of Forge increases the amount of damage Sovereign Blade will deal. It has Retain by default, so you can continue to build up your Blade to be as lethal as possible until the exact right moment. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/e5abb43239de6f6d323cfa05cadc451ba41a5222.png Something else that is unique to this character is his synergy with colorless cards, which he can both create and interact with in interesting ways. You may have noticed that Sovereign Blade is a colorless card, so this opens up a whole new avenue of Forge-based builds to explore, as well. Overall, The Regent is a character that revolves around your ability to manage his resources and scale up his power. What exactly his backstory is and what his future entails will be unveiled in due time...

Q&A with C&A

The Singaporean Smoked Machine asks: Are there any ideas that you have decided to completely scrap in STS2 that you could tell us? Casey: There was a brief exploration of 3D but it was scrapped because the value add wasn't high and Anthony and I are more into games with a lot of content rather than flashy stuff. Sorry flashy lovers, it's just a lot easier to create and iterate content if they're 2D assets. BaySharp asks: Since STS2 got delayed for a fair amount of time, will we get any new gameplay trailer to compensate for it? Or perhaps, new gameplay footage? Or a demo even? Or just pretty much anything that will bring more hype to the game before the release? Casey: Yes, we publish a monthly newsletter (The Neowsletter) with sneak peeks and stuff. We even answer questions on there! Also, you may want to keep a particularly close eye out for something happening in February, closer to the launch...

Spire Spotting

Don't think that the harsh winter weather will keep us from exploring the Spire! Let's take a look at last month's mystery monster... {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/d65b8a6898f991ecb7dfb6eca2b3f74cd66211b2.gif And now this month's artistic hypotheses... {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/f82aa5c104f460f8a481cc54f9c741c148f071f5.png The award for funniest guess goes to Lyvern, for this statuesque creature reminiscent of the Giant Head. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/2244ba804ccd46b29c5fd416f26146b172d12c13.jpg The award for most logical guess goes to Comfy Chair, for this antenna-headed, snail-like creature. There's a lot of Slay the Spire stylistic DNA in this one! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/b789630254feecba4e4805aba1b857291d334bb4.jpg The award for most accurate guess goes to Shor--you definitely captured the gooeyness and the color scheme! And here are just some of the many other submissions we received over the past month: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/9bb30c6688ad831749fba49ccef93132ed5b0c7e.png Credit from left to right: Vexnator, Kmanscan, Breyson Cherryson, Niké Air, Maria, monmon, placeholder.exe, Dester, RinNekoChan, 9ryu108, Dracia, キョッキョのかば焼き, Star, John, 벌개미's daughter (8 years old!), Moggoose Now it's time to unveil this strange creature... {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/a2e4544fdf0eebbc9aa8de35bb89edbac320c355.gif Aha, got it! Whatever this creature is, and whatever ability it's using, it appears it was interfering with our photo-capturing equipment... and perhaps the very fabric of reality itself. Let us call it The Obscura. On the bright side, this next silhouette may be a little easier to parse: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/bf1f8eaed0f78fa1e583077d5a3b5f37d0fd3edb.gif Though this may seem like it has a simple solution, we're sure you'll come up with very creative theories all the same. If you'd like to further our investigative endeavors, be sure to submit your guesses via [email protected] or in our Discord's fanart channel!

Merch Madness

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/0f0b82ca8be56c08b47f5d6df502e9f234af1840.png Makeship is back at it again with more Slay the Spire drops! You can now add The Collector to YOUR collection as well as some shiny new enamel pins of the first three Slayers' iconic designs! Also, in classic Neow fashion, she's giving you another chance to grab her plush if you missed it the first time around (from all the way back in 2023)! The pre-order campaign will only last until Tuesday, December 23, so grab them while you can! Neow may not always be able to resurrect these limited-edition goodies... {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/0a5858a444283c0324cadecac688916a3eac7d8b.png Also, we've channeled some more pieces for the Slay the Spire x Artovision collection! Now you can have 3D art of the Defect right there on your desk for every run OR a shadowbox of the Silent facing the Shiv deck's worst enemy, the Time Eater.

Mega Crit-mas!

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/b255f207d97cabb3b7f954bd0aa6d23fe3525ee1.png It's that time of year again... the time to make the Yuletide SLAY! Tag us on Twitter or Bluesky with any original festive fan creation, be it art, writing, mods, a video, some Spire-y holiday decorations, etc, and we just might spread the cheer, too! AND if you share your work in the event's channel on our Discord, you’ll get an exclusive role to wear with honor throughout the season! And, as always, no holiday ambience is complete without the official Slay the Spire Yule Log, featuring some cheerful renditions of classic StS boss themes to accompany the crackling rest site flames!

Connections Section

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/02ef36241ab647144cb4eb3ec43625c1af8d81d9.png Here's a Slay the Spire Connections puzzle befitting a king. Or a Regent.

Community Corner

Thank you to Alcalmy for this month's cover image (and the rainy cover image from last month's honorable mentions that we couldn't include in time!) Speaking of honorable mentions, thank you to jamqwert and Shor for your lovely, wintery submissions! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/6a9a5c2c3599daff9eaabd066d6ecac9f125c07c.jpg {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/ab30b216744f22f874f7e415536a39a9dfe1f032.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/6db747074d787bb1c2359f3addc9374559328ddb.png Next month's theme is: New Year, new Neow! If you'd like to submit your art for consideration, reminder that it must be submitted to us via [email protected] or in our Discord's fanart channel, have dimensions of 800x450px, feature no text, and leave room for a title! Now let's take a look at some more creations from the people that make up our wonderful community! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/b876c2d88e3939c3cc6a4afcd5a4ae08127f0f79.jpg These very adorable crocheted keychains of Donu, Deca, and Snecko Eyes by 萝卜头子! (You can find a whole bunch of their crocheted relics in our Discord's fanart channel!) {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/270a833973c21e56ef34bf55f783640c67fc95b9.jpg This lethally beautiful illustration of The Silent by @JasperConcepts! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/d137c835e6212c58ae43d4ffd2f72adde5bd915e.jpg This stunning atmospheric of The Silent facing off against Giant Head by @taydungeon! (Timelapse in link) And that's all for this month's Neowsletter, we hope it put you in the Crit-mas spirit! See you all in 2026 ;)

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/ce3dbe614462ea0224685e1253575c18c17cfc7e.png Greetings, Slayers! It's November. Just a few more months until the sequel is available in Early Access. To get hyped, we've got another big content sneak peek. Last month, we properly introduced you to one of Slay the Spire 2's new playable characters, The Necrobinder. This month, we're introducing you to some new non-playable characters...

Ancients

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/6f0d7d47c9951180c913da52d09eb748cab46926.gif The Spire is brimming with species of all shapes and sizes which have evolved alongside their environments over the ages. However, there are some beings that have persisted since the Spire's inception, accumulating wisdom and power as they witness the death and birth of countless generations. You may already be familiar with one such being: Neow, Mother of Resurrection. At long last, Neow's fellow Ancients have emerged to bless you with doses of their power each time you enter an Act. These blessings take the form of exclusive, powerful relics, replacing the boss relics you may be familiar with from the Spire's previous incarnation. The Ancient pictured above is Tezcatara, or "It Which Feeds The Fire." A warm, shining light in the darkness of the Spire, this Ancient's blessings are generally known for burning bright but extinguishing quickly. A selection of its possible blessings includes a transformation of the current Act's map into a single special path, a bounty of temporary relics, and a way to reduce the cost of Strikes but also make them impossible to remove from your deck. These oldest of the Spire's beings all have their own specialties, therefore their offerings will differ greatly from one another. As Neow's special power is that of resurrection, she will be there to greet you at the beginning of a run like always. However, Acts 2 and 3 will have their own separate pools of random Ancients for you to encounter, such as Tezcatara. Specific Ancients will be denoted by a node on the map similar to the ones that signify specific bosses, as you can see below. This new system adds even more variance to each run, making them feel that much more unique. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/27370911d68e1d1c1a78c21f8a75b1002fb5129a.png Though the individual reasons behind the Ancients' involvement may be unclear--and though some of their blessings may come with significant tradeoffs--anyone would be lucky to count such powerful beings as their allies. Perhaps you will be able to learn more about their mysterious motivations as time goes on...

Q&A with C&A

Anonymous asks: Can we get more of the pear? I really like pears, maybe it could be as an enemy that spits pear juice or a card that includes a pear. Casey: If you like pears, why would you want an enemy that spits pear juice? That seems disrespectful Justin Quirk asks: How in the world does the Ironclad keep his mask on? Clearly it doesn't wrap all the way around his head, and he is a very active fighter. Does it fall off sometimes in the middle of a fight, or does he have a strap or something? Was this part of his demonic pact? What terrifying power allows him to always stay protected and fashionable? Casey: The ironclads keep their masks on by biting. I will not elaborate. Ballsyjones asks: has everything about Slay the Spire 1 been discovered by players!? Casey: Since the game code can be decompiled, I don't think there are too many undiscovered game logic secrets. StS1 was also translated by the community, so patches and translations always came with notes and a reference cheat sheet so the translators understood the reasoning for odd naming or choice of relic objects. Anonymous asks: Are you guys planning on also making Slay the Spire 2 a low spec friendly game or will it be more demanding than the first one? Casey: Yep, we're quite strict on performance! We try to accumulate a wide range of cheap and terrible computers to test the game on :). A big STS fan asks: Does jaw worm still exist floors 1-3 in sts 2? Anthony: No

Spire Spotting

As we continue our investigations into the Spire's many new species, it's time to first take a look at last month's mystery silhouette: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/54c62c0b5682c2c5f63a41d4b5316d667d86ae74.gif And now for your hypotheses... {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/cae180b5d982aa6e922085463bb69d3b97032091.png The award for most... award-like goes to Snowbyte! It kind of looks like a solid gold, automaton-shaped trophy. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/2c66e18123a512055fc9aea13210131cb7e5ad39.jpg The award for most accurate goes to bojhyg! The mask in particular came the closest to the real deal. And here are the rest of the guesses from our community of Spire explorers: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/3c46473df41170b286ff09ceb196584a956cd5c2.png Credit from left to right: 빙길, Tinamyte, 水角神, PorpleKnight, Sebastian, ssorgatem, LoneDonut, Dracia, Lyvern, hazudee, SamuraiBaker, mainasuarufa, Dolly, koiking213, Simon, mitlon. And now for the unveiling... {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/37b5a47dcce88e932332e5811b20d316a701144c.gif Ooh--it seems that the pattern of Defect-ive hypotheses wasn't totally far off. It's definitely some sort of automaton construct, seemingly designed for punching. A Punch Construct? Now, what's next on our roster of shadowy species... {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/d65b8a6898f991ecb7dfb6eca2b3f74cd66211b2.gif Our work is never done! If you have any clues as to what this creature could be, be sure to submit them via [email protected] or in our Discord's fanart channel!

Connections Section

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/09868a82efdef4714172e9efaf98ff5270dece58.png Time to dive right into this month's Slay the Spire Connections puzzle like a fresh pile of autumn leaves!

Community Corner

Thank you to Snubobo for this month's corNeowcopia-themed cover image! Next month's theme is: Wintery Neow! If you'd like to submit your art for consideration, reminder that it must be submitted to us via [email protected] or in our Discord's fanart channel, have dimensions of 800x450px, feature no text, and leave room for a title! Thank you to everyone who submitted their spooky Spire content for Mega Crit-or-Treat last month! Here are just some of the highlights: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/4be25216575790040276360f8efd4b2ad8e44d99.jpg A creepily cute illustration of the 4 Slay the Spire characters by spacelarktemple! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/447ab0c308e4b943146776be6c683eeb0e4129a4.jpg This super accurate Reptomancer cosplay by commentbagel! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/e2ff180a19876ebff731bb6cf9eb13e37439eabb.png Some Spire-y jack-o-lanterns by LegendofLonk, JoeGo, Zoie, Falspar, and Pug! Alright, hopefully this month's Neowsletter was a nice sneak peek into what we're cooking up for Slay the Spire 2! We'll be back next month with even more good tidings.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/0a87bf01f541da9805216a7f4592dce9ece984c7.png It's October, the month of tricks, treats, and... spooooky things~🦇💀 For those who missed it, we announced a delay last month. Slay the Spire 2 is coming to Early Access in March 2026. I know, I know, it's hard to wait. But speaking of spooky things, let us properly introduce you to...

The Necrobinder

At long last, the time has come to dive deeper into the first new character we announced for Slay the Spire 2: The Necrobinder, a sassy lich who relies upon a giant, reanimated hand called Osty in battle. (It's a funny name but not technically a pun, so should be safe.) {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/4de2af2b54610ee37bd513b1ec7578363684204e.gif {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/24f2fa49cb30654969079a8ba573b33289787d0e.png Her kit is themed around necromancy, fittingly enough, and plays with the balance of life and death. Osty can attack enemies independently of the Necrobinder and is unaffected by debuffs afflicting her. Faithful companion that he is, Osty also takes attack damage that would normally affect the Necrobinder... as long as he has HP to give, that is. To increase Osty's HP or revive him from the dead once more, the Necrobinder can Summon him. Your strategy may see you building up a high HP Osty for a constant source of protection or sacrificing him only to bring him back from the dead over and over again. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/049c17875c4b633af2a0bb0c51fe45f073fdf3c1.png Another key component of the Necrobinder's kit is Doom, which we have teased in previous Neowsletters. When a creature's Doom meets or exceeds its current HP, it will die. It's a debuff that's applied similarly to Poison, but it does not deal damage over time or tick down, and it only affects creatures at the end of their turn, as opposed to the start. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/8462c269e9256048bce45e76ecd4349c2172dde8.gif {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/fad1765b53f2efc9b529bf8c063710e867ae4cf1.png She can also use her necromantic magic to draw (ha) on the power of Souls, giving her a source of card draw. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/31960e7cd1a188c48f6b4b607353c8d4d022b055.png Transformation is a major part of necromancy, of course, so the Necrobinder also has many cards that allow her to alter other cards, applying different keywords to them and changing how they play. That's all the information on our little lich that we have for you today, but there will be plenty more to uncover still.

Q&A with C&A:

We didn't answer any questions last month because there was a Q&A section for the delay announcement. Fear not, we're back to answering your exciting questions. As always, send your questions to [email protected] and we'll respond within 90 business days. Yes, it's slow. At least we're honest about it. posmen asks: The community has dubbed quitting and reloading from the start of a floor as savescumming. It seems to be a pretty divisive topic but being that Slay the Spire is a single player game there's no real impact aside from being used as a progression loophole. Is this still going to be a "feature" of StS2? Casey: Yeah you can still save scum. Play how you want Brandon asks: Do the characters have canon names? Like, sure, they're the Ironclad, but is his real name Steve? What about watcher? Is her name Jasmine? Cause that's a pretty name Casey: Well, it's not Steve OdditY asks: Are you guys thinking of adding more to the game after it fully releases? Maybe additional characters, new events, more enemies, maybe even collab content (especially since you guys have always given in collabs and haven't taken)? Casey: If people like the game we'll add more stuff. I don't know about collabs, I feel like it dilutes the identity of games? Then again, it depends on the genre. Matt asks: Is Poison back for The Silent in STS2, or does she now have to rely on a new kit to make her way through The Spire? Casey: we like poison The Singaporean Smoke Machine asks: Will there be a feature for shiv cards where there will be a "throwing" card animation? Like when you play a shiv, the card itself flies striaght into an enemy before spinning and falling off-screen? I think it would be really cool! Anthony: No

Spire Spotting

And now it's time for some spoooooky research into one of the Spire's many new denizens!! Although it's no more spooky than it usually is, I suppose. As always, let's take a look at last month's mystery monster silhouette: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/e2be1ba3f40589304648da97d728ba00a4cb559d.gif Now let's see what guesses you all had this time around... {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/7246b6dd7d9d606d23e05993023e3c8db5aaab55.png The award for cutest guess goes to rinny.Ly._.nn, which might have been the toughest category this time around! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/d991d58bf59f20c6d53284a156baf717d5d62038.png The "Hit the Slay button" award goes to gold! No need to sashay away. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/db620cdc6d4c931b3f2aa1393c1f442ddb637639.png The award for most accurate goes to Lemonpie--super close! Here are some other incredible hypotheses that we've received from our community of Spire explorers: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/022cbd6dc8193971d13d75c7f341cd385ba49f11.png Credit from left to right: koiking, bomo73, Gabe, Peter, EcksDee, Oliver, Eqyizo, Super malfunctioning robot, ramy, tree bucket, Metonka, Brave I think we finally have enough information to dispel the veil of shadow... {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/fdb799f449b3e9f19f9fe29af6f5cee374cc01be.gif AAAAAH... aww? It's just a little guy, surely he's harmless! Either he's a sentient stack of hay or that's just a very convincing costume. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/54c62c0b5682c2c5f63a41d4b5316d667d86ae74.gif JUMPSCARE! I'm sure you weren't expecting that--another shadowy creature is in need of unveiling. If you have any clues as to what this creature could be, be sure to submit them via [email protected] or in our Discord's fanart channel!

Merch Madness

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/930547744d00deef50adeacd4470b39b9cf67b0d.png SLIME... plush?? For a limited time ONLY, you can grab this Makeship Slime Boss doughboi (meaning it's BIG and squishy just like the real, in-game deal) as well as a couple of cute, fuzzy Louse plushies for you to Curl Up with <3 Get into the spooky, slimy spirit and pre-order yours right here before the campaign ends forever!

Connections Section

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/2b671fca33d4c9d85b53f67df70c587311744093.png BOO! This month's terrifying Slay the Spire Connections puzzle is here!

Mega Crit-or-Treat Returns!

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/5b43a65458d3356cd24107cc92e9cc9f6cf5c30d.png What's this? Could this be the work of the Necrobinder? Everyone's favorite spooky, seasonal Slay the Spire event has been revived once more! Here are the details for those out of the loop: Mega Crit-or-Treat is your chance to share any Halloween-themed Slay the Spire content, be it drawn, written, modded, cosplayed, cooked, carved, crocheted, interpretively danced, whatever! Until Sunday, November 2, post your beautiful and/or terrifying creations in our Discord server and you will be granted this year's limited time "Ghostly Gremlin" role! If you want to participate in the time-honored tradition of pumpkin carving but can't think of a design, you can always use these StS stencils made by our art director, Marlowe! Also, if you post any spooky Spire content on Twitter or Bluesky, be sure to spread the eerie cheer by tagging us @MegaCrit!

Community Corner

Thank you to Jolfe for this month's hauntingly beautiful cover image, and shout out to these other great submissions from 문서영 and Alcalmy--they're so good it's scary!! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/9ef8420cac66712103eb445e94542ee60353c690.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/019a61ce7abd302acfda95c52dfeced1c9ae4a95.jpg Next month's theme is: Neowvember! This one can be a free space, so you can draw anything as long as it's Neow-related. If you'd like to submit your art for consideration, reminder that it must be submitted to us via [email protected] or in our Discord's fanart channel, have dimensions of 800x450px, feature no text, and leave room for a title! Without further ado, let's look at this month's community highlights! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/d2940480578928047a51d87f3f34e2cd909a8bdf.jpg An incredible illustration of the Ironclad facing off against the Awakened One and its Cultists by taydungeon (timelapse on TikTok again!) {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/eb81a312fefe36d015782b5340ac054904cdf5dc.jpg {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/6d100e6c11efe35379bdcd79eeb8c0df4316f13c.jpg These amazing Ironclad and Watcher cosplays by Rocklin and Smartz! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/03e4d62261a927a6fda99255dbaf580f0eafcbbc.png A beautiful illustration of the Silent by triggeredtale! That's all the spooky news we have for you this month, but be sure to tune in next month for less spine-chilling but just as thrilling Slay the Spire 2 info!

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/22e1e920bf0a915f2733b1765a02b704823277dc.png Hi everyone, it's time for the September Neowsletter. This one comes with a pretty big update right off the top, so let's dive right into it.

Early Access Timeline Update

After a lot of internal discussion, we've made the call to move Slay the Spire 2's Early Access launch to a secret Thursday in March 2026. We know this isn't the news anyone wanted to hear (ourselves included, we're dying to get this into your hands!) Originally, we were shooting for late 2025, but turns out we were wrong. We need some more time. There's no single dramatic reason. Some personal life stuff hit the team (everyone's okay!), we kept saying "wouldn't it be cool if..." one too many times, and honestly, the game just needs more polish to meet our standards. All that said, we know you still have questions, so Demi, our community manager, has put together a pre-emptive FAQ to help answer some of them.

Will-Probably-Be-Asked Questions:

Is the real reason for the delay the timing of the Silksong release? We got together as a team to determine our new release window before Silksong’s date was announced. The timing just worked out like that, but on the bright side, everyone can keep busy playing Silksong during the wait! Is the real reason for the delay that you’ve been spending your time on making merch/community events/etc? Our merch is made by 3rd party partners and our community manager is the primary liaison on our team for collabs like that. No game development was harmed in the making of those plushies! Likewise, anything community-focused that we create, participate in, or promote is generally handled by the CM and doesn’t cut into any game development time. So is it because you’re adding in a bunch of new features and content? Yes, in part. Because you know what does cut into game development time? Game development! Compared to Slay the Spire 1's early access launch (and for that matter it's final 2.0 form) this new sequel has a lot more content that we can't wait to share with you. In addition, we want to make sure we're upholding the quality bar that both we and the gaming community have come to expect for Early Access titles. So what’s so different from StS1? In case you haven’t been keeping up with our trailers and Neowsletters–quite a lot. There are new characters, more cards/potions/relics/events/etc, more visual polish, more animation and VFX, quality of life changes, entirely new mechanics, and still a whole lot more we can’t tell you about just yet. Although, if you read on to the next section you'll learn about a pretty big one... When was the game originally planned to launch? 2025! Ok, but in all seriousness, we were initially aiming for a Fall 2025 release window. For now, we’ll just have to savor these moments of anticipation a little longer. Will this be anything like other games that get repeatedly delayed with no explanation? No, for one thing, you should never expect radio silence from us. That’s why we’re here talking to you now. And, as opposed to a general release year, we have an actual specific date that we’re aiming for internally and are confident we can hit this time. As you've already heard, it’s releasing on a Thursday, but the exact date will be revealed closer to launch. So, do you regret the “Still coming in 2025” gag at the end of the TGA trailer? Demi, the CM, who is writing this, pushed for that one so she can take the fall for it. In her defense, it was pretty funny at the time.

Alternate Acts

As a treat, this month's content teaser is a pretty big one: alternate acts. Once unlocked, upon entering a new act in Slay the Spire 2, you will be randomly greeted with one of two possible acts. These acts differ radically in their environments, enemies, events, and bosses, all of which greatly increase the variety of gameplay between runs. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/40fda2f60b72355d8e302c40fb110262d0572624.gif For instance, Act 1a is Overgrowth, a lush, tangled ruin with much of its fauna resembling mystical woodland creatures and sentient flora that might just eat you alive. This is the act you've primarily been seeing in our teasers and trailers, though there's still plenty left to uncover here. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/abf60816f100dab7f8931121b93c1c60db76952e.gif Act 1b is known as the Underdocks, a miry waterway connected to the Spire's sewer system, from which all manner of mutant sea creatures and vagrants might emerge. We've only just begun to tease the trove of content that lurks within these murky depths. As the mathematically-inclined among you have probably realized, that means there will be double the amount of content in this new act structure. We won't be launching with all of the alternate acts right away, but Acts 2b and 3b will come later down the road in Early Access updates. The capabilities of these different enemies, the opportunities these events offer, and how they all might impact your strategy as you ascend the Spire will be seen in time.

A Whole New Wiki

For those who haven't heard: the new community-run Slay the Spire wiki is now live on wiki.gg!! It's still a work in progress, so if you'd like to contribute and help make it a fully comprehensive one-stop-shop for Slay the Spire info, visit this page to learn how. Also, the ⁠wiki channel on our Discord is always there for wiki-related discussions/questions! The old wiki hosted on Fandom is still live, especially during this transitional phase, but the wiki.gg one exists as an alternative for those who were looking for one and is the one that will be maintained going forward. Thank you to the organizers and thank you in advance to all of those who contribute!

Spire Spotting

Though the Spire is still being prepared for your arrival, there are always some more Spire species to spot in the meantime! First let's take a look at last month's mystery monster silhouette: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/67bce454cb70a68de983b76b9bd10b57458bf286.gif Now let's examine our community's hypothetical renderings of said monster... {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/ee30b8d6d451c26e6717e283c7a8b7b11a1f4e21.jpg The award for grossest guess goes to Snubobo, which might be the hardest award to achieve honestly! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/60274a0241faac908d3c2defe33e91bf6fae6186.png The award for most abstract goes to Vanessa and (9 year old!) Lucas, who physically illustrated their guesses instead of digitally! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/85983dc431f763d92219a45eeee934147e75abfc.gif And the award for most accurate goes to NewGuyJack–it’s even animated and everything?! As always, we got many Spire Spotting submissions, so here are some other great guesses we got! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/cef96e7b93ee91a2b1a578e401c4ebb250c1fe82.png Credit from left to right: Brave, tenacious_unicorn_94746, Cyb3rm00k, Emma, ssorgatem, karmamitch, pasq, Panez, Alcapwne101, koiking213, BlakeDrake, Nevve1776, Purcy, bomo73, duckgoquack So what does this creature really look like? {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/3e2bf1950a4e9e3b74300a3fa5c05cc87710a4a2.gif It's a terrifying eel-like creature covered in wiggly little eyeballs… wait, it’s that inhabitant of the recently revealed Underdocks! We'll call it the Terror Eel for now. But I have a strange feeling that our work has just begun... {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/e2be1ba3f40589304648da97d728ba00a4cb559d.gif Just as I thought, another shadowy monster has emerged! If you have any clues as to what this creature could be, be sure to submit them via [email protected] or in our Discord's fanart channel!

Connections Section

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/22d5fa6c812819c5ee42cee70dd6b06e74c8f704.png And for you Slay the Spire Connections lovers out there, don’t think we forgot about you!

Community Corner

Thank you to Qmint for this month's gorgeous cover image, and thank you, as always, to all of the other incredible submissions as well! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/3581092b33897ef37f5492e0c61651d4560c2299.png Credit from left to right: Alcalmy, clover, Cyb3rm00k, Suspa Next month's theme is: Neow-loween! (That's Neow, but Halloween.) If you'd like to submit your art for consideration, reminder that it must be submitted to us via [email protected] or in our Discord's fanart channel, have dimensions of 800x450px, feature no text, and leave room for a title! Now to highlight some work from our wonderful, steadfast community... {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/56835021cacf006dec21067bea134bb4f55507ba.png This stunning pixel Ironclad art by D.M.! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/816d4bcd4633da8ba731a4b213979d83814c1b87.png Inscryption-style cards of StS1’s heroes by JustOzzy! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/7cf9d82188ffdf1816423f9740e4097428e8bb68.jpg A beautiful illustration of Ironclad by Linke! Thanks so much for tuning into this month's Neowsletter! We'll have lots of dev updates and content teases in the coming issues as we get closer to Slay the Spire 2's launch. See you next month!

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/830f34cc2c6bef7d0a9b3b978a2261b17a9e64ad.png Greetings! This month's issue marks the 1-year anniversary of The Neowsletter!! Thank you to everyone who has been reading along since the beginning. The Mega Crit team is still hard at work on the sequel. We're on that grindset >:( But also striking a good work/life balance >:) The main focus lately has been content. It has to be fresh, challenging, and complex while also making sure that the game is accessible to new players and retains that Slay the Spire feel and magic. That was a bit too vague to be interesting news... let's take a sneak peek at some relics and potions instead!

Relics & Potions

Here's an assortment of relics (top row) and potions (bottom row) coming in the sequel! Relics retain their classic look but you may have noticed that potions got a little makeover; they each have their own distinct sprites. Very rare potions can look quite exotic too. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/3aa045c2c614ea212861c75c3ce82df131368975.gif

Wongo's Bargain Ticket: Here we see a standard bargain ticket from a Wongo's. Only patrons of Wongo's can find out what this means.

Stone Humidifier: This handy little device ensures that you gain a great night's sleep.

Joss Paper: Mysterious sheets of incense paper... what could it be for?

Heart of Iron: This is also in the first game but I wanted to show off how a classic potion got an art do-over :).

Ship in a Bottle: We're not quite sure if you're drinking this one, but there's a feeling that it can get you to safety.

Foul Potion: We're not sure who or what is making a potion called Foul Potion. What is it for? How foul is it!? Okay, we hope you enjoyed this sneak peek.

Q&A with Casey & Anthony

Alex asks: What is your favourite beta art from Slay the Spire 1? Casey: Certainly TURBO Demi: Popping in to say Tantrum was the first one to come to mind. It's cute :) Akroo asks: I'd like to know if you are planning on improving even further the modding possibilities of STS2 ? Casey: We're creating more entry points in the game but I don't know about improving modding possibilities... in STS1 you can rewrite any part of the game already. You could put a game in the game or order a pizza already. Oscar asks: Will some cards have pun-based art? Casey: Preferably not. If STS2 has puns, I've failed. Brandon asks: Do the characters have canon names? Like, sure, they're the Ironclad, but is his real name Steve? What about watcher? Is her name Jasmine? Cause that's a pretty name Anthony: no Delta asks: If all the artifacts are made of bronze… does using Feed to kill Donu turn the Ironclad into Bronzeclad? Anthony: no Thaan asks: What can we expect from general UI Improvements? My wish list includes a turn counter display that doesn’t disappear after two seconds and a way to know how much you have spent on card removal so you can budget your next one. Casey: Yes {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/f7d5d9170a8ac148f36c71fadc04f42e0035d644.png

Spire Spotting

Demi here! That means it's time to continue our journey through the much-evolved Spire. Let's take a look at last month's mysterious silhouette: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/1d87d2622e65c2c3d67ba42abbfe0fefefb4ef30.gif And now, let's check out our researchers' hypotheses: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/0d9b1a7d765234e3620f7ce20f756caf294cf34e.png The award for saddest theory goes to alex1729, who drew Neow trapped in vines at the bottom of the ocean... poor Neow :( {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/f4df43b22ff7fb030f87625bd4999369c661108e.png The award for most accurate theory goes to PrincexKoi, who drew an organic-looking, viny, quadrupedal monster! Shout out to all of the other submissions (many of which seemed to center around Neow or another character becoming trapped/corrupted actually...) {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/7d9b8fa18b57c0affb3b6649e4cc67a5c33172cc.png Credit from left to right: ssorgatem, gummyfungi, Marmoth, popnfresh24, GooseEle, Multi-Man, Ada, Mound Sand, Podunk22, Nevve1776, mainasuarafa, ironstove, B.D., PorpleKnight, 2kiye, Trevor. Without further ado, let's have a drum roll for the unveiling... {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/ce11b80886dd2d595d9f130a18ea2c39e34dd2fd.gif Agh! It's an enormous, shambling monster seemingly made of vines?? This publication is currently referring to this creature as a Vine Shambler, which we thought was apt. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/67bce454cb70a68de983b76b9bd10b57458bf286.gif Of course, there are always further discoveries to be made--yet another shadowy creature has emerged! If you have any guesses as to what this creature could be, be sure to submit them via [email protected] or in our Discord's fanart channel!

Connections Section

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/cdb88f943edb37cb2ac123f952990c6b4095ee18.png Cant seem to beat the heat? Have a Slay the Spire Connections puzzle as a treat!

Community Corner

Thank you to Osakana for our incredibly beautiful cover image this month! And a very special shoutout to all of the other artists who ALSO submitted incredibly beautiful potential cover images... it was so hard to choose, as always! Neow in an autumnal forest! If you'd like to submit your art for consideration, reminder that it must be submitted to us via [email protected] or in our Discord's fanart channel, have dimensions of 800x450px, feature no text, and leave room for a title! Ok, let's take a look at some of this month's top community highlights! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVE4SlP02d8 An amazing Slay the Spire parody song/animation by PixelPenguin (released in honor of the 1-year anniversary of their "Drawing badly until StS2 comes out" project!) {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/00013bc9abaa8586f5cde5052e750f693afb309d.png A pixel Ironclad as well as a mini pixel Ironclad by Lamily! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/da8c1ef1536494f50e66de04f6938569d5cc93c9.jpg A Binding of Isaac x Slay the Spire crossover mousepad made by GM_Whitose! Alright, that's it for this issue. Cheers to one whole year of Neowsletters! Be sure to tune in, as always, next month!

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/97daa4b4abd1fae91d51f96f02306df5823cbcff.png Hi again everyone, it's time for a July update! I don't have any clever things to say in this intro, let's just get into it. This month we'll take a sneak peek at Colorless Cards!

The Cards Without Color

Hey everyone, Anthony again with some more card previews. This time, we are showing some Colorless cards that any character can make use of. We are making a bunch of new Colorless cards, tweaking some old ones, and even changing some old cards to now be Colorless. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/bad5cdb3245903c706d486c074cece0cc55dad30.png Thrumming Hatchet might look innocuous, but the consistency it provides is surprisingly strong. You may have noticed an older version of this card on our store page, but we are constantly iterating in development and will be refining balance up until release! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/30b6a9a99144370fae3f19ec701055983de40861.png Rolling Boulder is an inevitable powerhouse and one of my favorite new cards to build around. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/9c3c2566d645e44b184c611299f4f43a5de35033.png Scrawl sure looks familiar.... what is that doing here? 👀 {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/a5e60ade7879f7ca18d0a90ae011c7b266baad2a.png ⚙️⚙️⚙️

Q&A with Casey & Anthony

Most of the questions seem to revolve around fishing for spoilers so it's been difficult to get content in here this month. I'm an extreme spoiler hater so do keep that in mind when you submit stuff to [email protected]! TabbyCat asks: Will there be more "written" lore for STS2 (like a bestiary with descriptions of the enemies you fight)? The Aloner asks: Hello! I recently started playing Slay the Spire, and was wondering if StS2 will have more lore/worldbuilding regarding the characters. I really liked the events in the first game. Casey: Ya Kodiak Crew asks: Can you please show us a new card for the Necrobinder? Pleaseeeee. Anthony: No Casey: Sure ok. But only this much. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/e77afcb2447d16f6f2631d9da20f310d0a383180.png The Twig asks: Pretty much every humanoid character either has an obscured face or lacks one altogether. I interpret this as a stylistic choice, but is there an in-universe reason for this? Casey: There's not an in-universe reason for it, it's a stylistic choice since I feel that players feel more like the character they play when a face is obscured/masked/covered makeshiftotaster asks: Why is the client icon for Slay the Spire 2 currently the card art for Burst? Is this just placeholder, or will this be the client icon for the early access release? If the latter, is this subtle confirmation that Burst (and Double Tap/Amplify) will be back? Casey: I want the icon to be green

Spire Spotting

Demi here! Time to resume our research into the Spire's mysterious flora, fauna, and fiends! As a refresher, this was last month's silhouette: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/2a530a09991c204a1ca52be965c5786e460b5392.gif Now let's see whose hypotheses we chose to highlight... {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/d076ca8fa6ce7eb904ae9aed5c107d55c18cb0e4.png The award for best (and seemingly only) Spire Spotting comic goes to PixelPenguin! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/1dec67beb0a12e7f3fda5306e77ad523e581eb42.png The secret bonus award for referencing Demi's current favorite game goes to Alina, who used this as an opportunity to guess the Roaring Knight's true identity. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/c36ff87e89ecc6349c82745cb257355aee45201d.png The award for most inaccurate yet strangely accurate at the same time goes to Zwebbo! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/d5a6e969b3a57d1404a894ee15df6fbf608760e2.png And the award for most accurate overall goes to Mästerbläster! Here is a selection of other great submissions we received! You'll notice people saw spherical objects and instantly thought of orbs for Some Reason. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/9f8f4f3fdd450d977e4eb72c04924b5d164bd003.png Credit from left to right: Anybodyyoudontknow, whoness, Tank, kgrmeagc, 唠个beaker, Wolfluoride, yaza33, 名陈弦上, KSA, WildSamich, Ada, Neossir, z4nzimoon, GreatGopher, INactiveRadio, vexnator And now all that's left is to unveil the monster in question: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/34e7409cbd1218e5d139285d9c6d4f6c9e17ec6e.gif It's a knight with flails!! A Flail Knight, even. I wonder what happens to you when you're inflicted with its flailing... only time will tell. That's all we've got to cover today, so-- {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/1d87d2622e65c2c3d67ba42abbfe0fefefb4ef30.gif ...Or not! It appears something just emerged from the overgrowth, but we can't quite make it out just yet. If you have any clues as to what this creature could be, be sure to submit them via [email protected] or in our Discord's fanart channel!

Connections Section

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/ae679115a80db56e86cc170430e378b288983e7b.png Grab your popcorn folks, it's time for another Slay the Spire Connections puzzle!

Community Corner

Thank you to rat mama for our very detailed, beachy cover image this month! Next month's theme is: Neow underwater! If you'd like to submit your art for consideration, reminder that it must be submitted to us via [email protected] or in our Discord's fanart channel, have dimensions of 800x450px, feature no text, and leave room for a title! Now for our usual community highlights... {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/f2709b3c2aa3a7e3797a0c89dec74d3ae0fdbab0.jpg This incredibly dynamic illustration of the Defect defeating Gremlin Nob by @taydungeon (timelapse on TikTok!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCVRfwIoLCY A very funny animation of The Ironclad vs Gremlins by Flurry of Bricks! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XkC6XPiq1c One of the latest instalments in Asukii's series of Slay the Spire song parodies! Wow, we're already at the end of this month's Neowsletter, that was a slightly shorter one! See you all next month :D

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/3d978d42e2c779c8e72336d5ab7905514046b006.png Summer's here and so is a new Neowsletter! We're out enjoying the sun during the day, and killing the night... during the uhh.. night (that was a Nightreign reference). Anyways, it's true- we were not part of Summer Games Fest :( But that's okay. As a small team, it's quite a bit of work to put together a trailer, do press stuff, and coordinate with event organizer folks, so we try to keep that stuff to a minimum. However, these announcements are quite exciting. Mina the Hollower getting a release date is cool. Okay, let's talk about a known but returning mechanic, Events in Slay the Spire!

Event Rooms

Sometimes when you enter those question mark looking rooms on the map you'll find yourself in an event! We've made them more dramatic by having the event image take up the whole screen, and some of the events will have cute animations, particles, and glowing effects too. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/3c90482226b92cab32f5f2a564449e40d63bae7b.gif This time around, we're trying to avoid having any options where you simply do nothing and pass through. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/8ba7697a3fdc5df67b8e3c9683a68bbe5dac83ff.gif But not all of these events are beneficial. The types of events vary between Acts, what state you're in, and they don't all have positive choices for the player! Don't just seek the unknown. Sometimes it's better to take down enemies in order to strengthen your deck. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/4d313f84c4fd6ef4cc924a2dfc2f145ace3e9dae.jpg There are 50+ events in Slay the Spire 2 so far and they're balanced to provide difficult decisions each time you enter them just like before. We're always experimenting with what may or may not be interesting so sometimes the artwork or writing is in a rough form for a good while. We hope to share this experimental process with you all once we hit Early Access. Repy needs you.

Q&A with C&A

Faely asks: do you plan to collab with Vampire Survivors? I'd love to hunt vampires with the Ironclad! Casey: I haven't played Vampire Survivors in a while, but this question reminds me- are there actually any vampires in the game?? Uitle233 and a bunch of other people ask: Are there plans to launch the sequel on the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 platform? Casey: If the console's popular and there's demand we'll port! I want the game to be playable on a lot of different platforms. This is not a true confirmation, just my general philosophy. sol asks: if there are gonna be multiple options for starting decks for classes or is it just gonna be strike and defences again Casey: There are no different starting decks as players would just choose the best one and they could lean too hard towards specific archetypes. Instead we're messing about with more choices at the start of the run (i.e. with Neow) Jacob Delaney asks: Will Grand Finale return for The Silent? It was my favorite card in Slay the Spire :) Casey: We'll bring it back for you, Jacob. Ratman asks: Will we see more stuff about/involving Mazaleth? He's by far the most interesting character in the lore to me. Casey: yes Zachray2K asks: Slay the Spire features some monsters inspired by real-world animals, like Jaw Worm and Louses. Personally, I don’t find them very cute—so I wonder if Slay the Spire 2 might introduce some cuter animal-based enemies. Casey: First of all, I think the louse is cute so you're hurting its fuzzy feelings. Either way, our art director Marlowe is VERY adept at drawing cute things; it's actually a minor problem. If you don't find enough cute things in Slay the Spire 2 I would be shocked. SHOCKED I tell you.

Q&A... with Anailis and Bruce!

Demi the CM here! If you're interested in hearing more about how the art of Slay the Spire came to be, check out More Games Please's interview with StS1's dedicated artists Bruce Brenneise and Anailis Dorta (the latter of whom is also working on StS2, as seen in the event art above)!!

Spire Spotting

It's time to spot some Spire-dwellers!! First, a recap of last month's shadow monster: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/92194ed1eba73f7586a6655bd2cd07fe4c1b9d35.gif Our research has concluded, and we can now share the results of your hypotheses... {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/616130f98dd869f3f3692ccb06827f940e1bd5bc.jpg The award for most Defect-ive goes to 唠个beaker! This seems to be a recurring theme amongst some of the guesses each month... {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/674b16eee072f338c21ee799f63969d497036c14.jpg The award for least correct has to go to Funguy, who definitely lives up to their name at least :) {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/7d5641decfb2ae98623df0b2fe206996dca2e8e1.png While many different researchers captured different elements of the creature, Szybarek seems to have come the closest overall--congrats! Thank you to the other fine artist-scientists who contributed this month: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/4dd0ad24cff4de26071d4cba249e9cf12646ea96.png Credit from left to right: WildSamich, Coquillette, Teh Quiper, Cannoliy, Syrupybug, Colin, jangjorim, someitoj, JellyfishLightning. So what does this mysterious being look like anyways? {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/9ecaeb7076ec3594f0522601d69697e929add56b.gif KELP!! ...I mean HELP!! This seaweedy ball of spite is currently being referred to as a "seapunk" internally--but our taxonomists are prone to changing their minds, after all. Now, with that out of the way... {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/2a530a09991c204a1ca52be965c5786e460b5392.gif Another shadowy menace has appeared before our very eyes! If you have any ideas as to what it could be, be sure to submit them via [email protected] or in our Discord's fanart channel!

Pride with Friends!

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/610df4898a6bc3916b23ea58d419dc85de02350a.png The third annual Pride with Friends charity streaming event is happening on June 27-29, hosted by Panacea on Twitch! There will be competitive seeded runs, speedrunning, and casual Spire with Friends co-op runs, all of which YOU can sign up to participate in now! There will also be trivia and guest appearances from the dev team (including me, Demi, hi!) All proceeds from donations will go towards the Trevor Project, so be sure to tune in and support a great cause! Check out more info, including the schedule and sign up form, here! Credit for the cute event art goes to @okureito <3

Merch Madness

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/d5c80b9fa4ec939eda228980857d21f3a24fb452.png SsssSssSs... Something sneaky this way comes! Since there's no such thing as too much Snecko during Year of the Snecko, we're dropping ANOTHER Snecko plushie, this time with Makeship! And this one's CHONKY :) Don't let this opportunity to nab your own little cute, confusing friend slither out of your grasp; this pre-order campaign will only be live for a few more weeks before it's gone for good!!

Connections Section

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/ff5c5eddafab50f952522d37c32093e365e804d8.png Another Slay the Spire Connections puzzle is here! And I must say I'm quite ~proud~ of this one :)

Community Corner

First off, thank you to bibimboy for our rainbowy cover image this month! Shoutout to these other incredible submissions from (in order from left to right) Connor, rat mama, Alcalmy, as well as Rowan, who is a 10-year old fan of Slay the Spire!! :') Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful art with us! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/4dae9f50d4b45a141125fec187eb182664a0f159.png Next month's theme is: Neow at the beach! If you'd like to submit your art for consideration, reminder that it must be submitted to us via [email protected] or in our Discord's fanart channel, have dimensions of 800x450px, feature no text, and leave room for a title! Ok, now for some community highlights! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/cfc970e429a8a9619efcdc8488c30cba5fac8bc1.png This intricate illustration by Sean inspired by the Defect's initial promo image! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/19551ee6abe75c1013f52eaa985ea4771b579201.jpg This awe-inspiring full-sleeve StS tattoo from jamalbernhard--we appreciate the dedication!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M_KLShhDwg This super well-produced series of Slay the Spire challenge videos from a new StS content creator, MultiBradx! Phew, that's all for this month, but July's Neowsletter is just around the corner!

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/1ab0b46146a5bf8df6fe07bea53ebee78c6d163c.png Good day! It's the fifth month of the year and Slay the Spire 2 isn't out yet. We're quite picky about the game's quality, despite it coming to Early Access. I want other game developers to fear releasing low quality games into Early Access after we do. That's how good I want it! Is that a toxic attitude? Well, too bad. Speaking of low quality games... Blue Prince is NOT one of them! While I do wish for a few quality of life features, there's many mysteries to solve, room drafting to be done, and a heartfelt history to uncover. It has been a great time as I've been digging (with my shovel) into the game's depths the last few weeks. No, I was not paid by Raw Fury.

Working working...

So April has been a WORK MONTH. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/731156643ef644ca315c849b4d68e8886ed67c54.gif Lots of effort was put into making screens not look like placeholders (like this Treasure Room above), ensuring our systems are flexible and easy to debug, optimizing performance, and incorporating content and balance changes. A lot of work's getting done! Speaking of patching, I thought it would be funny to keep all the playtest patch notes. Once the game is finally out there, it'll provide some insight into the development process, how we prioritize our work, what kind of issues were notoriously difficult to solve, and more learnings that even we aren't aware of. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/f90df92fb790c75ebcc8817b728875ced20f0284.png

Character Evolutions

Hey folks, Anthony here. Time to spill some secrets about StS2! For returning characters, we aren't just bringing them back as they were in StS1--we're giving them proper makeovers for their return to the Spire. Our approach: remove a bunch of old cards, add even more new ones, and look for clever tweaks and changes to a few classics. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/0389af8ec160dc34e5bc5d64cec7ed5aa2ac47a6.png One line of text makes a world of difference on a card like Blade Dance! The Silent gets to play with a shiny new mechanic in StS2: Sly. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/1cab47858bb65072fb4cf468f5594b50c4dd3d56.png Sly cards are automatically played for free when they are discarded, opening up whole new ways to take advantage of discard shenanigans. The Silent has access to a bunch of new Sly cards in StS2, but if that isn't enough Slyness for you, you can always take matters into your own hands... {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/d7d72c0d9751c044e83a876aac21041b5501c04d.png Looking forward to seeing all the ways you manage to break this card. Or die trying. >:)

Spire Spotting

And now it's your local Spirelife guide, Demi, here to update you on our latest findings about last month's mysterious creature: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/0f50128fcc4f8be2ba3636cabb10bf5fcb3fa027.gif But before that, let's test out some of your brilliant hypotheses... {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/550038dea00bb1250337b230bc271b47a27e7e00.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/ee42ae340c7ad8c7e79221624560509cdde67b88.png The award for most inventive guess goes to Kangaroodoo, who imagined the creature's jittery movements as an engine! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/564fe28e46713da6c8c4f0613c53a1d4abffe37e.png While it was hard to pick a most accurate submission this time around, we think moffster eked out the competition! Take a look at a small selection of the other many submissions we got this time around: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/91eeaa45e45445396adad77cdc4a5de735348328.png Credit in order from left to right: balls, Jokester, Wild_Samich, ssorgatem, AxolotlBoop, chairmanbuu, AuxilRB, Hubert, mothtransman, Діана, JellyfishLightning, Alialun And now for the unveiling... {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/e9fb95be01c1d4152b3f3e7b57092cf532f747b3.gif Ta-da!! As many of you eagle-eyed Slayers noticed, this creature has already been spotted elsewhere in the past. Still, it was fun seeing different artists' renditions of the same subject as well as people getting extra creative with it! As recompense, here's a little extra info: we're currently referring to this enemy as Chomper, as his moveset relies on, well, chomping! What could the effect of such chomps be, I wonder? Also, many of you have noticed that it looks similar to another beloved character in the Spire universe, and the reason for that is *LOUD ERROR NOISE*. Hope that clears things up! Wait, does anyone else hear that...? {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/92194ed1eba73f7586a6655bd2cd07fe4c1b9d35.gif It's yet another shadowy (and wiggly) creature!! Remember, submit your guesses as to what this monster could be via [email protected] or in our Discord's fanart channel!

Q&A with C&A

It's time again to answer questions. No time for unnecessary words. Onwards! TabbyCat asks: How long is a turn in slay the spire for the characters? Is it consistent with the amount of cards played, or is it uniform at ~5 seconds. If I play 50 shivs in a turn as the Silent, are her hands moving at the speed of sound? Casey: The Silent's kind of like a seven in terms of speed. The Ironclad maybe a four. But the Champ is like a two and the Time Eater is using that stupid clock. It's all too complicated to explain really. Kwayan asks: Hello MegaCrit Games! I hope your are doing well, and I have a question. I'd like to know if you're going to add multiple death animation to the game, because in StS1, theres only one. So for exemple: if you die because of Snecko, you die with a paralized animation. Thx! Oh and btw, use Kwayan as my name in the question thing. (If i'm chosen) Casey: Hello Kwayan! That's a cool idea but we currently don't have multiple death animations. Maybe if we reach a point where the core content and animations are done we can work on some fun extras. There ARE extras planned and they are so very extra. Maro from Korea asks: Q1. Are there beta arts for StS2 cards? Q2. Do you any thoughts on making StS's art book in the future? Q3. Are Neow, The Maw and Jaw Worm related? Q.?? Will it be early-accessed in December..? Casey: Yes. Yes. No. No. For those thinking of asking a question to hone in on the release month, I see you. Anyways, December kinda sucks for releasing games, there's holidays and all that- everyone gets too busy. Indikativ asks: I was wondering if there will be any further lore in Slay the Spire 2. Casey: Yes Pixelz asks: Do you plan on adding content from/inspired by some of the popular mods? I've been in love with some of them, especially Downfall's Hermit character and a good few of the reliquary's relics. Casey: Making content is one of the parts of making video games. I'm not sure why we would ever add content from a mod. It also seems disingenuous creatively? Maybe I'm misunderstanding something here. Adam from France asks: Are you going to launch a collector's edition for Slay the Spire 2 ? Maybe with some figurine or chibi, I will buy it for sure if you do. Casey: Maybe for the full release, definitely not for Early Access. Tim asks: Hello! What is the Merchant saying? My partner is convinced they sometimes say "f*** off" and now I cannot unhear it. Casey:Mlyahh... the denizens of the Spire don't speak English so they aren't telling you to f*** off. The dialog and story beats and such are translated to various languages so YOU, the player, can understand this foreign tongue. The merchant has 12 voice lines in the game and include a greeting, jovial laughter, a thank you in advance for buying wares, and of course the secret mercantile frequency technique version 4. Nguyen from Vietnam asks: Can Infinite deck in the sequel be easy to make? Anthony: No

Merch Madness

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/1cbe35ca415acf7d390a9fb11afc17a4337acdb2.png It's Demi again, with a reminder that you can now get the full collection of every main Slay the Spire character in figure form AND grab a Silent and Snecko plush while you're at it! Shop everything YouTooz x Slay the Spire here!

Connections Section

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/caf71501d03c478d418625c92bf68caa08901928.png And without any flowery further ado, the monthly Slay the Spire Connections is here!

Community Roundup

First of all, thank you to Maple for our gorgeous cover image this month, and shoutout to the very close runner-up featured below, 九十九一三! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/9ebbdb1837b5dea3d9746bb7ad61b9f3c9a6a408.png If your submission wasn't featured, reminder that cover image submissions must be submitted to us via [email protected] or in our Discord's fanart channel, have dimensions of 800x450px, feature no text, and leave room for a title! Next month's theme: Neow and a dreamy, rainbow sky! Now for our regularly scheduled community highlights... {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/771894a06b6defdd49ec69258bc52dbdb803fb33.gif This extremely cool, low-poly, animated Defect by PsiSlinger! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3lFhs-U7IM A fanmade Slay the Spire trailer reimagined in Limbus Company's style by Rusli! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/b7af288b3acfa8fc2e1e17a281dcdbf6fdf39148.jpg This helpful Spire Field Guide series by pianoblook! (We made a note to highlight this one a while back but only recently remembered, oops. It now appears to be on hiatus but we think it's a great idea ^-^) And that's a wrap on the May Neowsletter, see you soon in June!

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/d422a094fec7bf554fc1a544648e50816ef56129.png Oh hey, it's the April Meowsletter... I mean Neowsletter! (This is as close to an April Fool's joke as you're gonna get from us this year.) Thank you again for all the fantastic cover art submissions, this one is brought to you by Caleb! May's prompt is: Neow and Mother's Day flowers! It's what she deserves, being the Mother of Resurrection and all. Send them to us either in the fanart channel of our Discord or via [email protected], and reminder that the dimensions should be 800x450px and leave room for the title text, which we'll add! There's still a lot of work ahead of us, but maybe because we know that things may get hectic when Early Access starts, the whole Mega Crit team (and some friends) took a trip to Japan! We've been working on Slay the Spire 2 for more than 3 years but as a hybrid-remote studio, many of our employees have never met in-person. That's now changed! We met up in Japan to see the sights, enjoy the almost-ready cherry blossoms, take part in various traditions, karaoke, and really just hang out in a non-work environment. So much grass and moss was touched. The Ghibli Museum is quite something! With the power of okonomiyaki, Tower of the Sun, and my terrible singing, Mega Crit is considerably more powerful than before. (Demi's note: Neow joined us on our journey, too! You can check out her little TikTok diary here.) Alright, enough of this human experience nonsense. Here's a sneak peak at a new way for monsters to ruin your day. Afflictions!

Afflictions

Those who were savvy enough to look under the hood at Slay the Spire's game code probably noticed a similar system that wasn't used... However, here they are in Slay the Spire 2! It's quite simple. A creature that wants you dead will "Afflict" some of your cards in all sorts of mean ways. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/9745300ab78c651d4bc4290f0e2a0fd763748891.gif I wish I had made a cool VFX for this move... Once your cards are promptly afflicted, you end up with something like this. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/2b3af54cbefb9eab19858f89fe41c03c21d7b144.jpg Hmm, how would you work around this conundrum?

Spire Spotting

This is Demi now, here to say hello to all our intrepid Spireologists! Thank you for all of your hypotheses of what this mystery creature could be: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/1cfcad71f19e5320daad2c5863b50bdd292c7d31.gif So let's see which ones came the closest (or made us laugh the most)! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/71a7f30abbec7a8f807c9fa2a5ee37d99ab75cf6.png The award for memey-ist submission goes to GM_Whitose for this Ironclad creature! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/00138f9c6ec35c8b43af4686606f6bea80067f84.png The award for most accurate goes to WildSamich, who was actually our first submission I believe, but got the toad-like essence of the creature right away! Though we've been receiving so many submissions that it's impossible to include them all, here are some more runner ups! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/ae76e99d802b2c54212cc8782df7382d64c9e4a0.png Credit in order from left to right: Niek_Alexander, grunk, syrupybug, Shep, moo_cactus, roygbic, bbron, ssorgatem, niko, Boltman, kwayan42, and U_1065. So then, let's take a look at this creature, now that it's been unveiled... {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/47a0a980d5151dc80ee86436e9d9d7479dbe9e38.gif Voila! It is a spiny toad monster of some sort! Which means hopefully the person who goes by "Frog Nuggets" who emailed us specifically to ask if there were going to be any frogs in StS2 is satisfied. And--you guessed it--another shadowy enemy just appeared! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/0f50128fcc4f8be2ba3636cabb10bf5fcb3fa027.gif What could it be? What could it do?? Submit your guesses in our Discord, on socials, or via [email protected], as usual!

Q&A with C&A

It's Questions & Answers with Casey & Anthony! Do you have questions? We have answers! Though sometimes we withhold them because you've asked for too much. If you'd like to see your questions answered, submit them to [email protected] and title it like "I have a Question!" or something and be sure to provide a pen name/alias if you want to retain some anonymity. Okay, on with it! King?? asks: Not quite related to STS 2, but I really liked the desk mats you guys released and was wondering where we can expect more STS merch in the future. Casey: The deskmat is sold independently by our background and key art illustrator for Slay the Spire, Bruce Brenneise. In general, we're doing considerably more merch as we have a larger team but it'll likely ramp up after Early Access begins. Braiam asks: I hope the dev cycle is going well. I have a question about game balancing and design philosophy in Slay the Spire. In the patch notes, you say that random temporary card generation (like dead branch and distraction) cannot generate healing cards. How does alchemize fit into this? Casey: Alchemize, a card which generates potions, can be duplicated with Nightmare (which can be duplicate itself with Nightmares if you have two) and players can farm for infinite Fruit Juices if a combat could be stalled. While we encourage abusing mechanics to eke out every advantage, we try to disincentivize those which require repetitive card play. Airank asks: Why is Deca called Deca if it is clearly an octahedron, not a decahedron? Casey: I like being wrong on purpose sometimes. When people correct us it's a learning moment for everyone. We've done this a few times. But for this specific case it's because Octa sounds like an octopus as well. It doesn't roll off the tongue. I'd rather things be memorable than right! Bobberation asks: If Slime Boss is green and splits into a green slime and a grey slime... where does the grey slime come from? Casey: Well, our organs are red so maybe the Slime Boss's organs are grey. I don't know I just transcribe what the Spire asks me to. NikkoJ asks: I was wondering if the Face Trader will be in Slay The Spire 2? If so, will there be interesting new faces to acquire? And will trading faces change the appearance of your character this time (a feature I felt should have been present in the original...) I also found the Face Trader's appearance to be terrifying, yet strangely alluring... I think I need help! Casey: You don't need help! I think masks are quite an engrossing concept. In fact, I've been drawing masked figures since I can remember. A long time ago, I was fascinated by an artist named R.S. Connett. He had a lot of psychedelic, disturbing, and beautiful paintings accompanied by stories of house fires, drugs, and trauma. I forget which painting now, but one had a deep fascination with masks and I, too, drew many masked figures since! Here's a 20+ year old drawing titled maskman5.jpg. This character feels kinda familiar. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/72556366cd31f3f6a7e326bcf232e4bfbc72d640.jpg As for interesting faces to acquire, not sure yet! We're still making more and more events and new mysteries every day. baibai from China asks: Will the ascension mode be the same as that in Slay the Spire, or will it still be 20 levels of ascension, or perhaps more? Are the effects of each level of ascension the same as before? Casey: First of all, it's always exciting to receive fanmail from outside the US! I'm happy to see global participation in our C&A. Thank you! Ascensions will be available from Early Access and it'll be seeing some changes! It's important to ease players into the difficult world of Slay the Spire. However, whether or not we'll make tweaks or add more levels during Early Access remains to be seen. The Bartening asks: can we see a new relic but you dont explain anything about it? Casey: Yeah sure why not {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/15cb47d815945969dc9e1025b59d28db75fb0f07.png The Dylster asks: Does the Transient like to play chess Anthony: No targetson. asks: Does Silent have a better starter deck? Anthony: No

Merch Madness

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/ce37c942b61135f9ea7f5351ea4b17dd26d8040e.png You can now live your dream of snuggling up with The Silent OR celebrate the Year of the Snecko with these brand new limited edition plushies from YouTooz! Look at them, just a couple of green, sneaky friends :'D Pre-order them today here! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/55a302617f13744a3f0555553b1a112cfdd7df02.png And back by popular demand, Fangamer is re-launching their Slay the Spire collection, including two very cool tees AND a cute Cultist pin which ACTUALLY MOVES ITS ARMS!! Your power is sure to be unmatched with this lil guy upon your plumage.

Triple-i Returns

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnNhA7vLgZ0 Did you know the Triple-i Initiative just held another showcase? While we're not participating this year, they did a fantastic job at showcasing a consortium of exciting indie game reveals, updates, and other stuff! Give your local indie devs a look and--WAIT IS THAT A KATANA ZERO DLC??? Anyways, go check it out!!

Connections Section

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/97b44c0447d9c95eadab5b288cdc9ccd16cfec4e.png Another Slay the Spire Connections puzzle is here (hopefully it's not as tricky as the last one but not too easy either... hopefully it's purr-fect!)

Community Corner

First of all, we'd like to highlight some of the runner ups for this month's cover image! Again, we received a LOT (thank you!!) so we're featuring as many as we reasonably can: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/d26d8c78b4e4b2666997a39b2f4276db5b89ebcb.png Credit in order from left to right: The LiliPad, nekotrapik, ICantEatThis, Amy, Alcalmy, grunk, Kirby, Arthur, Maeva, PseudoJames, pearblo, and ssorgatem. Now for the rest of the community highlights! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/8f90b4677b3551e35195406c2b612b1ca6f66187.jpg The final installment (for now) in the Choose Your Own Ascension series by Alex Zapata aka boosta11b! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ml5sc8wv2jk Another hilarious Slay the Spire song and animation by Atillion! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTOvTg2crOE Slay the Spire 2 reimagined in Unreal by 星门望天! And that's all for this month! See you again next time, come what May!

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/9c37e7934c1237e4f2c1ed17046a4273cc5253ec.png Happy March everybody, It's time for another Neowsletter! Wow, thank you for the March Neowsletter banner image, melohdy. It's so nice, beautiful, and featured! You too can get your art up here if you submit something through our Discord or email us your 800x450px artwork to [email protected] (and make sure there's no text but has room for us to add text.) It's true, only one submission can be the header... but we'll feature the rest in the Community Roundup section! Next month's theme is: Neow donning cat ears or otherwise looking catlike :3 (we have a reason okay, trust us). This is a wild month because a lot of us are playing Monster Hunter: Wilds, but outside of this bad joke, development progresses at a good pace. Okay, let's show off a new thing. Behold...

Quests!

Slay the Spire 2 is... an RPG? No! However, we're adding a new type of card called Quests. Obtain these rare cards and fulfill their requirements and you will be greatly rewarded. Each quest is quite different from one another but we hope you get to encounter every one of them :). {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/5933f0edb1fb5f93d97ffcd098c6ca1aba8e0bb6.png Quest cards look quite different from regular cards; when do they show up? {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/c210cc39ec782f87f78ebd3509d98e0991304d5a.gif New friend acquired! Okay, that was quite exhilarating.

TikTok & YouTube Shorts

We started a TikTok page?? Channel? There will be more videos and insights into various Slay the Spire and Mega Crit things there! These "Shorts" will also be brought over to the Mega Crit YouTube channel. If a variety of vertical videos about little details, previews, or meme things appeal to you- then good news for you, go to these links to subscribe, get notified, follow, like, thumbs up, etc etc. I should have had Demi (our Community Manager) summarize this portion. Too late now. (Demi's note: That about sums it up lol, thank you Casey! By the way, here's a sneak peek of our sneak peeks, featuring our art director Marlowe posing as her own reference for Ironclad!) {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/eb687c1f4b2dd5d1924894f1f70a664161a43c75.gif

ThatGuyGlen Made a Documentary About Us!

It's always fun to look at how games are made and it was fun AND nostalgic to see a documentary for Slay the Spire 1's production. I helped gather bits of art, video, and info for this documentary and if you wanted to dive a bit more into the making of the game, then it's a great video to look through with some exclusive archival footage 👀!

Spire Spotting

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/78d31dc91e050604c3426c9c3076536ee20abe57.gif Demi here! We tasked you, our Spireologists, with determining last month's mystery creature and WOW did a lot of you come through this time! While it was hard to choose which ones to shout out, we did manage to curate them a bit... {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/f5fcab9b75a2a81cea991fb14837b2ba9c1b8937.png The award for most funny/absurd guess goes to annyamako for this unholy amalgam of StS1 elites! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/e26ec05562f44445e013d053785720e8d27aa4c9.jpg The award for most accurate guess goes to ssorgatem... again?? The color scheme even matches and everything... it's ok if you've hacked us you can tell us <3 {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/2c36a95bc85a354306e7736a5f33a22452279b60.gif The bonus cool factor award goes to torgomind, who animated their (creepily cool) guess! And here's a collage of our runner ups! Everyone's so creative <3 {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/16ad22003bf33b710a6799e8b833f59f4062966f.png Credit in order from left to right: Copper, Trutru1002, FireworkPolymer, ExampleNote, indecks, CeciliaCrow, Seilgrank, Fire Tonyno, Niek_Alexander, LordOverflow, Badine, alexrinehart So let's see what this little guy really looks like... {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/dbe7e3f24a55f6299c2e8f52e55872295d1fbf94.gif Phew, now that's settled! I'm sure there are no more shadowy monsters lurking nearby wAIT A MINUTE--what's this?? {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/1cfcad71f19e5320daad2c5863b50bdd292c7d31.gif Looks like we need your hypotheses yet again! You can submit them via the fanart channel in our Discord, [email protected], or tag us on social media!

Q&A with C&A

It's time for us to answer more questions from you, yes... YOU! As a reminder, you can submit your questions to us via Discord during a short window near the end of each month or via [email protected] at any time (just be sure to specify an alias if you choose to send us an email or we'll list you as anonymous.) Tekamania asks: Will there be any interesting start of run features? Casey: Yes, many features at the start of the run :). While there are a few changes to the start of the run we can't talk about, Neow will be returning to help our heroes make it to the top with new and old blessings. foxpile asks: What's your favorite sound in the game? (anything from the first or anything new from the second!) Casey: Probably the death stinger. It's quite poetic for me. Kirbstar asks: Are there any QOL changes of note? Casey: Yes, you can view the turn number, current floor info, access to card/relic/etc information mid-run, things you can't do tend to wiggle and turn red more often, and so forth! bobtheblob02 asks: How much larger will the game be compared to the original? Casey: Like 300mb or so. For a more serious answer, we're launching Slay the Spire 2 with more "countable" content than the first game but we're also launching with new ✨Features✨. forq asks: how many calories are in the ice cream relic Casey: You can't actually eat the ice cream. Having it in your possession gives you its powers... The anticipation of eating the ice cream is the source of its power. But in terms of calories, a lot of course. It's full fat ice cream, not froyo. Chief Bart asks: Are there going to be more food related enemies/events like Donu Casey: Donu is not a food-related enemy... Donu is a Toric Construct named after a beloved fried pastry. Related, that one guy asks: What flavored donut is Donu? The answer is bronze. All of the constructs are bronze. Donu and Deca are painted as they're decorated Grand Constructs. linh asks: will the game get released on nintendo switch too ? Casey: I hope so! We'll definitely be optimizing the game enough to run on the Nintendo Switch. Porting work is happening during Early Access so nothing is set in stone yet. SRabbelier asks: Have the slayers been resurrected much in the past 1000 years since STS 1, or are they coming back after a break? Casey: I see you fishin' for spoilers Gosha Plusha asks: Will there be a STS 2 card or board game released? Casey: If there's enough interest! I'd like to focus more of our time on it so we likely won't be shooting for a simul release or anything for this. Verdego asks: If you had to describe a yet-to-be-revealed feature in one word, what word would that be? Casey: Stars Guest Of Unhonour asks: Could we learn one guarenteed, for sure returning event npc? Casey: The Merchant is back. The Merchant is eternal. LizzardWizzard asks: Will the baby companion snecko item/event return (he's my favorite)? Casey: What gooseph asks: Probably a completely irrelevant question, BUT -- compatibility between workshop mods for STS1 with STS2? Or, will it be easy for that to 'work?' Casey: Compatibility is impossible between sts1 and sts2 as it's a separate game engine. Sorry! untitled_goose asks: Will a modded launcher be a part of the base game or will it be something made by the community like it is now? Casey: We do want there to be in-game integration but haven't done it yet soooo- tbd. Boraborawayhay(4xA20H) asks: Which card name, from either game, is your favourite? Casey: Ascender's Bane. Its name makes a lot of sense; what a good name it is. imgamg asks: A couple years ago, Casey posted this picture clarifying what Deca looks like from behind, but unfortunately it still remains somewhat ambiguous. Are Deca’s cheeks square pyramidal (making Deca a hexadecahedron) or are they more triangular (making Deca a tetradecahedron)? Hopefully this can be resolved before STS2 releases. Casey: I... uh.. Drake Waffle asks: Can StS 2 come to the Wii U? Anthony: No BatZach asks: can i use feed on defect in sts2? Anthony: No

Merch Madness

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/183eae7ec3c04396877383116d9cc9dd8932499b.png Demi here again! ICYMI: the Artovision x Slay the Spire collection dropped last month, so if you want some beautiful, three-dimensional Spire swag for your desk or your wall go check it out!! Yes the collection is currently missing the Defect, but rumor has it the demand for him may be filled! In terms of desktop art, of course. Sorry to the people who are ctrl-F searching for other Defect news. And in other exciting, feathery news... {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/db5532b19dad694e29d9d7a3df6df868101fec07.png CAW-CAAW!! Your power will be unmatched with your very own Cultist plushie from Makeship by your side!! Perfect for cozying up with or for performing sacred rites in worship of the crow god Mazaleth with, no nest is complete without a Cultist plush in your flock! Ritual Dagger not included. Make sure to join the flock soon though, as this limited edition campaign is only live for less than 3 more weeks!!

Collab Corner

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/ba07895fe575d9f330bb01e15552de5741fab7ce.jpg If you are a fan of roguelike deckbuilders (which I hope you are, if you're reading this) and are looking to try another icon of the genre, now is the perfect time! For a limited time only, Slay the Spire and Monster Train are bundled together--so if you already own Slay the Spire you get 10% off of Monster Train! Also be sure to check out the Monster Train 2 demo!!

Connections Section

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/1087aa6601ce6f410dea884bc1eed5d2eb2824b9.png We hope this month's Slay the Spire Connections puts a little extra Spring in your step ^-^

Community Roundup

First up, we want to shout out the other lovely submissions for March's Neowsletter cover! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/1bd4c3c4493c9f09419e8475a1bd4fabd574330f.png by grunk {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/cc73b39b9140071a67bfe42452e8b342d580b559.jpg by Ansi {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/e9106fa7d0cdbc5505d8684b99b32aeaa6819453.png by Georgia And last but not least, here are some other incredible fanworks from the past month! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/a9773474e12772d5b40be003450660e8fff692d5.png A series of beautiful character redesigns by JustOzzy {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/a7c77ec2dad46348578bd7bf4ca170e6b7eac56f.gif An incredible pixel animation of Necrobinder and Osty by var1egated {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/7917db23d05fa89ffce6f9534aaf3691e7751a9b.jpg Part of a series of really cute, sticker-worthy StS illustrations by haiqiebulasjie That's all for this month's Neowsletter; see you again when we March onward into April!

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/815a3b3cc972c4d77b3df95180b8e3435536c51b.png Winter has arrived in Seattle❄️... in February! While it's intermittently snowing, it is not sticking. Pft, typical Seattle weather (please don't actually snow too much, I don't have time to shovel the driveway). Did you hear the news that a Nintendo Switch 2 is coming?? Expect an email from us, Nintendo :)

Back to Work

We're back on the work wagon after our nice restful break. We're spending the early part of this year ensuring that a handful of major experimental features are good for Early Access. They won't be featured in this month's Neowsletter but let's take a look at another feature some of you may have already noticed.

Enchantments

In Slay the Spire 2, you may run into a new modifier to your cards called Enchantments. As probably surmised from the name, enchantments are modifiers to cards in your deck which are applied for the duration of that run! While the majority of common Enchantments will give you a slight edge here and there, the more meaningful and potentially run-defining Enchantments can be discovered in rare Events and things like REDACTEDs throughout the game. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/40d7b945bd8e58f4754fcd1ed74ada343809a9b0.gif Enchanted cards have a little icon and additional effects are added to the card in purple.

Merch Madness

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/8900c0a3bbbc0919604471e7f3f45bb31a86af76.png You may have heard by now... but THE DEFECT AND THE WATCHER ARE BACK!! In figure form :) Last week the second part of the YouTooz x Slay the Spire collection dropped, meaning you can now complete your own collection with figures of all 4 heroes!! We don't recommend putting them in your mouth as some fans have expressed the desire to do, but hey, we don't judge. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/061f09f37a659d7d02e415134ae25d77208d08da.jpg In some newer news, you will soon be able to ascend to the status of True Gamer with some peripherals that Slay! Namely, these keyboards, keycaps, and deskmats by MKRO & Infinikey, each themed around a different hero of the Spire so you can rep your main AND have some StS swag right at the tip of your fingers. The collection launches this Friday, February 14th, so remember to check it out and grab the ultimate Valentine for yourself or that special Slayer in your life ❤️

Spire Spotting

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/771e9a14f26493a093f44db0bcbb132736650876.gif Last month we tasked you, dear readers, with illustrating your hypotheses as to what this ~shadowy~ creature could be. So, Spireologists, let's see what you've come up with... {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/86e83aeae4d6023ea2b1c56b42f4749bba86fc95.png The award for funniest guess goes to Kodiak_Krew, who created a particularly defective-looking abomination charming creature :) We appreciate the wishful thinking!! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/5cd9d79a8464d6a34e58ffd1ee6200eb91c06d4a.png And the award for most accurate guess goes to ssorgatem, who imagined our mystery monster as a Jaw Worm-like creature! And it's... kind of scary how accurate it is actually. Either you are living in our walls or you're just particularly talented at clocking our tea. Though we couldn't feature them all here, thank you for all of your (often cursed) contributions!! It seems we are finally able to lift the veil and see what our friend actually looks like: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/f6979a5f09593e45b08174bec527a4c7ee1b2e40.gif Ah yes, why it's a Nibbit! A feisty little monster you'll see often in the Spire. But what's this? Another wild shadow has appeared! What could it be?? Just like last time, post your artistic theories on Discord, Reddit, Twitter, Bluesky, etc, and we'll feature the most accurate--and most amusing--submissions in next month's Neowsletter! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/78d31dc91e050604c3426c9c3076536ee20abe57.gif

Q&A with C&A

Hello everyone, yet another new section to the Neowsletter has been added (do we need to cut some sections?). This is 🥁... Questions & Answers with Casey & Anthony! Myself (Casey) and Anthony (other co-founder/designer) will be picking and answering a handful of your burning questions to answer each month, as well as the occasional guest. Let's get right into it. Harribo asks: What did you learn from making Dancing Duelists and how did those lessons manifest in StS 2? Casey: Excellent question! For those not in the know, we released Dancing Duelists, a deckbuilding autobattler game jam game in October 2023. Slay the Spire 2 wasn't yet announced, and we were considering an engine switch for a host of reasons. Made in 3 weeks in the Godot Engine, which none of us have developed in before, it was a technical exploration to assess the viability of switching from the Unity Engine to Godot. I guess we learned that Godot seems like a viable game engine! But for more details around the situation and learnings from that project I published a blog post on the topic around the time Dancing Duelists was completed. oblivionsweet asks: Will Clash return in sts 2? Anthony: No Keystone asks: What does Enchant mean? Casey: Oh right, we haven't explained this yet. Well now it's been answered above! Will asks: Will there be a 'sell' feature at the Merchant in StS2? Anthony: No Cosmosis asks: Can we know more about the pumpkin looking guy? He sparks my branium Casey: No, but soon Mage Ferago asks: How is music design involved with the development of the game? For example, is a boss's design created first, and the music track made based on its vibe? Is it any different for making music for rooms/acts? Additionally, why does the Merchant's theme in the full OST have a huge portion that isn't used in game? Clark, our composer: In my book, music is support and serves the gameplay, so I’m absolutely looking for ways to write the soundtrack based on the vibe of the boss, environment, etc… A good example of this’d be the Corrupt Heart boss fight from Slay the Spire, where the music had pulsating heart-beat motifs to echo the boss’s design. In Slay the Spire 2, I’m aiming to take that a step further with dynamic music to have the music adapt as the gameplay and situations you find yourself in change. In the differences between the Acts music and Boss fight music, at its most broad, it’s a feeling of intensity and scale. I’ve definitely died enough to enemies while moving up the map, so the threat level needs to feel present as you’re climbing, but when you reach the Boss, that threat level needs feel amped up. That amping up can be found in the orchestration, harmonies, tempo, and restating motifs found in the main Act music in new ways. As you'll have seen in the gameplay trailer, the Merchant is back with some lovely new digs, so you can expect new arrangements of that extended version on all your shopping sprees this time around. --- That's all for this month! We used to have this section in our Discord server but felt that choosing the top questions we receive and answering them here would be better. If you wish to submit questions for next month's Neowsletter, post it in the #ask-the-devs channel in our Discord or shoot us an email at [email protected] with the Subject: Question for Casey and Anthony or something similar. Be sure to include an alias!

Connections Section

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/fa557260e74cabcb72af469fb53e5612c9dad5a5.png And now, it's time for us to show our ~love~ for you all with this month's Slay the Spire Connections puzzle! ❤️

Community Roundup

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/e9079da79ec17ec7cd152efccdf98b9ec071ca2b.jpg A lovely illustration of the Slay the Spire 2 gang by MagusOfArc / @inanitasDei4 {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/bf2cdc5386e93b27a9dee6c2b15e4d876a75fb52.jpg Some beautiful Year of the Snecko envelopes made by GM_Whitose {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/595556ab65bacdeb4f12c3c870e5c26faa0dbdf1.jpg The latest (and coziest) ModTheSpire anniversary project by our incredible modding community, Spire Cafe Needless to say we have a LOT of talented artists in our community--and we've got another way to showcase that! If you would like your own art featured as the Neowsletter's cover image next month, submit it to us either via our Discord or [email protected] by Friday, March 7. The image must contain no text (since we localize the covers) but should have room for the title & issue text to be added, and the dimensions must be 800x450px. We can only choose one submission of course, but if people like the idea we'll continue it for future issues going forward! The March Neowsletter cover image prompt is: "Neow admiring the cherry blossoms."

Localization Info

I've added a little section here to say that we're still slowly onboarding translators for the Neowsletter and eventually the game! The following languages currently have translators: French, German, Korean, Russian, and Simplified Chinese. While positions for these languages have been filled, we might require more work or have other opportunities in the future. If that happens, we encourage you to apply again at that time. For the languages that do not yet have translators, thank you for your patience- I'm very slow here and will hopefully be able to get more translators 🐌. But wanted to make sure that the filled positions are known publicly. Again, thank you for all who have applied and I hope you enjoy Slay the Spire 2 when it's out! Phew, that was our longest Neowsletter yet, hope it makes up for the last couple of shorter issues! See you in the next one!

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/9d3c214e156189d69cbeb2368ed72dc00c50bb31.png Happy New Year everyone 🎉 Some of you keen-eyed players are aware that we're launching Slay the Spire 2 into Early Access this year! The rumors are true, we're still on track to release. But what day? What month?? Well, we can't say for sure yet. More news will follow sometime this year. If you want to stay up-to-date you can get the Neowsletter straight to your inbox by signing up on our website. But you can also get notified on Steam, Twitter/X, and Bluesky! For those who missed the gameplay trailer, you can view it right here by clicking that play button. We have the technology 🤖. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttVtllHkb4E I know we brought it up already but we worked hard on it, okay?

A Holiday Break

We took a nice break during the second half of December so there isn't too much news to share, but if you have any burning questions that aren't covered in our FAQ, then you can visit the Slay the Spire Official Discord and ask away in our #ask-the-devs channel where I'll personally refuse to answer your spoiler-related questions :)

No News, Have an Image

We were on break for some of December so I didn't prepare anything new to highlight. We worked on a trailer the last few months anyways. Here, have this nice screengrab of the main menu background. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/572e07c422466e87bdc3c1a6751a3a077e88a3c4.jpg

Spire Spotting

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/771e9a14f26493a093f44db0bcbb132736650876.gif This is the part where our Spireologists would normally tease a new enemy, but it seems that a strange pall has fallen over the Spire and the monsters are now ~shadows~ of their former selves! Our research indicates that this enemy in particular will become unobscured by next month, but in the meantime we would appreciate any predictive depictions and/or descriptions for our records. Post your artistic theories (regardless of skill level!) on Discord, Reddit, Twitter, Bluesky, etc, and we'll feature the most accurate--and most amusing--submissions in next month's Neowsletter! Something tells us that another mysterious creature will be in need of unveiling by then…

StS Connections

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/518b168ea8abcc8b719336d7a133c61a7d7120d2.png And now the moment you’ve all REALLY been waiting for… this month’s Slay the Spire Connections puzzle! You’re welcome!

Community Roundup

Thank you to everyone who showed your Critmas spirit last month with art, crafts, decorations, custom cards, and even cooking! Here are a few of our favorite festive fan submissions… {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/35a95a3f080928d6226d573c718e2b56f413d5e4.png An adorable, pixel-y illustration of Osty lending The Necrobinder a helping hand with decorating their tree by @boysensyrup {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/10ec31f5f96698f7ca566d84c4f8ae6a13c4794a.png Another adorable illustration of a different, mysterious new character enjoying the holiday season by @chizifsd {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/1254ed3c8b3015a350d4b5b333a3aa97d0329273.jpg Delicious-looking holiday cookie art of some Slay the Spire icons by Pebble on Discord That’s all for this month’s Neowsletter, but we’ll be back soon for February’s edition!

You didn’t think yesterday’s Neowsletter was *all* we had for you, did you? ;) It’s been 1000 years since the Spire last opened its doors… and since we first announced that Slay the Spire 2 was in development! At long last, the gameplay reveal for the sequel to the original, iconic roguelike deckbuilder is here, as revealed earlier today at The Game Awards. Step into the newly evolved Spire, a twisted labyrinth teeming with strange and deadly foes. With a new and returning cast of characters, adapt to an arsenal of brand new cards, relics, and potions, each offering game-changing possibilities—or dangerous consequences. What new strategies and challenges await…? Looking for even more ways to get Slay the Spire 2 updates? Join the flock:

• Twitter
• Bluesky
• Discord

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/3370fdc27fa5d2f1dee7e06ff7d2c2781a6bc79c.png Let us all welcome winter in this month's Neowsletter! *applause* An end-of-year wrap-up seems appropriate so let's keep it simple and focus on that. Still, looking back at all the work which was accomplished by the team is a good reminder that yes, things are happening. Progress is being made. I have confidence that a beautiful video game will be spawned into the universe soon. ✨

Mega Crit 2024: A Retrospective

• Announced Slay the Spire 2 to the world via an animated trailer during the Triple-i Initiative. Many thanks to Evil Empire for the opportunity.
• Many copies of Slay the Spire: The Board Game were shipped out :). Great job, Contention Games!
• Started The Neowsletter, what you're reading right now! A lot of extras like the fan art and upcoming merch are handled by our community manager Demi, thank you!
• Worked with other game devs to set up bundles and great discounts, thank you to the IndieBI team.
• Lots of new merch this year with a lot of collaboration with Makeship and The Yetee.
• Hired one more person, hooray team growth!
• Fully migrated engine for Slay the Spire 2 and made significant progress. Great work, Mega Crit dev team.

That was a lot of thanking! I guess this is actually the Thanksgiving Neowsletter. 🦃 Because so much of our work isn't yet publicly available, we can't give a deeper recap until next year. Something to look forward to in next year's December Neowsletter!

A Million Thank Yous

We recently topped 1 million wishlists on Steam and it's maddening to see so much faith in the sequel and us as a company. The only way for us to thank you is to do our best every day and make a good video game so that's what we'll keep doing next year. It's truly a privilege for us to be independent game developers and I'd like to keep saying, "I make video games for a living." As a thank you, I drew a celebratory Cultist. Please enjoy. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/15502efa7e8c54ef878d7408d394ed4656ca6b68.jpg

Enemy Preview... WAIT, BEES?!

When working on sequels we ask ourselves how we can introduce new and creative ways for you to die horrifically and we whispered, "...what about bees?" {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/e5b157f0e8a48ca1e3dd85b3d9a219fbb79936c5.gif

Mega Crit-mas!

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/48ed7a749e62169ead08d5c9e9e3101d7ac0a202.png Demi here, bringing good tidings: Mega Crit-mas is back!! For those of you who weren’t around last year, this is your opportunity to spread some holiday-themed Slay the Spire cheer. Tag us on Twitter or Bluesky with any original festive fan creation, be it art, writing, mods, a video, some Spire-y holiday decorations, etc, and we just might spread the cheer, too! AND if you share your work in the event channel on our Discord, you’ll get an exclusive role to wear with honor throughout the season! And no holiday ambience is complete without the official Slay the Spire Yule Log, featuring some cheerful renditions of classic StS boss themes to accompany the crackling rest site flames! And one last plug: if you’re looking for some last-minute gift ideas, you can always check our site’s merch page!

StS Connections

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/96ea6f6ab28d46f1a78bf9ab7d7e69403bc78138.png *Merchant voice* Ho ho ho! This month brings a more festive (though hopefully still somewhat fiendish) Slay the Spire Connections puzzle!

Community Roundup

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/c8e9c20faff5c4b151a93a6f37b304af86819a87.png Gorgeous pixel art of The Defect channeling his own inner artist by @boysensyrup {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/a20ba67cda5e95b6db6aa9a1ff984fa7c0e30e6d.jpg An amazing illustration of The Defect in a Hades-inspired style by @coryharris.jpg {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/f529ab3bb635620dceb503ad7743ac6d6a7e3fb8.png Another incredible pixel version of Slay the Spire that we wish we could play, this time by @aspabot Happy holidays from everyone at Mega Crit to you! Be sure to tune in next year for the next Neowsletter :)

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/bea86c6dce693c0e2631878ea1455b0988919c91.png It's the November Neowsletter! Unsurprisingly, work continues on Slay the Spire 2. Though we're not quite ready to reveal gameplay footage yet, let's have a sneak peek at some quality of life and UI changes that come with StS2. Do keep in mind that the Early Access release is still a bit off (it's not going to be released January 1, 2025). Any screenshots and the contents within are a work in progress.

Shinier Shinies

Okay, so it sounds obvious, but rare things should be shiny! Working in a fancier game engine allows us to make effects easier so that's been fun. VFX work is behind as it's lower priority and rarely introduces bugs (we tend to work on scarier/buggier things first) but I felt inspired ✨. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/1bb675f29a16b2357465d46c4d8ee6631de06e0a.gif I warned you about work in progress; these two new cards have already been reworked...

Map Changes

One day, I tried playing Slay the Spire on my phone and it was hard to click on the little icons on the map. Differentiating some of the room types was also quite hard on these tiny screens. As I don't play video games on the phone, I wasn't aware of this... until now (or about 4 years ago, to be exact). So we slapped some color on there and bumped up the size of the icons. There's a Colored Map mod for Slay the Spire 1. Somebody showed me that you can also draw on maps and I said, “That's a fun idea. Let's steal it.” That's right modders, that's what you get for not filing Game Mechanic Patents (that is a joke, don't actually do that). {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/626f7a4b8a62bd721b1b67da861ab0eb21a0ba1f.jpg

Top Bar Changes

Sure, this is in the screenshots of the game but there are some small changes here. The height of the bar has gone from 64px -> 80px. That's a 25% increase in hitbox size for things in the top bar, making it easier to select potions, open the map, etc. We also made it less wordy. Goodbye names, people were censoring their names in screenshots anyways. We like privacy too! There will be more things in this top area but for now, keeping it nice and roomy feels good. Oh oops, let's censor these relics for now… {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/f64659057481ec143821677630897786ec4a6b9e.jpg The icon next to the stair icon indicates what type of room you're in

Run Info Panel

A nice little pop-up to let you know what run you'll be continuing! Neato. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/214e1599f41e8b36118acc5d896afbe6c365d2d2.jpg

Enemy Preview Time

This month we show off a cute little gummy bear looking creature. How adorable :). We hope everyone will love this cutie. Definitely not an enemy that will upset you in the future. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/2024fc4e3347b37976c8b364bc9b7d4373460afd.gif

Translators Update

We're starting to onboard some translators but it's been a bit slow as it's the season of sickness. Apologies for the lack of response to many of you. The amount of responses to the localization sign up form has been quite a lot more than expected. This has been great, but a lot of work. I'm trying my best! As some non-English speakers will notice–this Neowsletter is translated on Steam! Wahoo!! How do you translate "Wahoo"? Also, we're also getting some translations of our previous Neowsletter up as well :). If that's been helpful do let us know, even if we can't read your comments (lol).

So Much Merch

Ok, now Demi’s section begins! First things first, we’ve got some big merch drops to tell you all about! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/89596e35b0944e85bc002ba1151dcf2d628cbe0f.png This plushie of The Champ may be tiny, but he is also MIGHTY!! He’s also VERY limited edition; there’s less than a week left on the campaign, so be sure to grab your own from Makeship here before November 12! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/c03dbcf27a09ca016b006033c0555c00271075cc.jpg Also, The Yetee recently released a bunch of stickers, including sticker sheets of EVERY relic in the game and some very boss-looking boss stickers! And (as their namesake would imply) the drop also includes a t-shirt, featuring Neow and the Corrupt Heart in a metal concert tee style! Get your hands on these and lots of other items from our Yetee collection here.

StS Connections

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/1a431c9bc53fe9196458c7b8a97ad4773e570dd8.png Another Neowletter, another Slay the Spire Connections puzzle! Last month’s was on the easier side, so let’s see if we can up the difficulty rating a little with this one…

Community Roundup

If you tuned in last month, you’d know that we just held our annual Mega Crit-or-Treat event! We got LOTS of spooky submissions via Discord and Twitter, and while we couldn’t possibly show them all, here are just some of the highlights of what our community created last month! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/fc958afda57f7732f810cd787d3c31403b3c0f75.jpg Another resplendent rendition of The Ironclad in his fiery, spooky Demon Form by @JoQuerol {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/08123be1bf461f6c1ac9144e39276938963cfe2a.jpg A very cute illustration of a Halloween costume party at the Spire by @chizifsd {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/5eaa52d6fa0874854bba064900a664b0dcbafb55.jpg A super detailed Ironclad cosplay, featuring a belt of homebrewed potions and glowing eyes by TheGuyFromThatThing That’s it for this Neowsletter, tune in next month for more details on this year’s Mega Critmas event and, as always, more behind-the-scenes looks at Slay the Spire 2’s development!

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/ec86147b356ba0c49f24fa9c832c9cfc8e6620be.png Happy spooky month everybody :) As fall descends upon us and I'm eating strange mushrooms found in the forest, we're still hard at work on Slay the Spire 2. This month, let's touch on the art direction and how we're planning on changing things up when working on our sequel. But first, a brief progress update.

Slay the Spire 2 Dev Update

September was a festive month as some of us got together to meet in Seattle, WA during PAX West. However, this meant that everyone got COVID so I'm not sure if that was worth it. Three of us work out of an office and we're moving offices. Only a mile away, but a move is a move. Besides those drawbacks, we're still focused on getting core content into the game. Content like REDACTED and also REDACTED. There have also been significant changes to REDACTED. Interestingly enough, we implemented in-game patch notes so you'll be able to visit the archive of changes one day! All of our secrets and development pacing will be revealed. Now that a lot of the tools for our trailer editor is complete, there's clean up happening for our core VFX.

On Aesthetics Driving Game Design

Last month we discussed why we're working on a sequel instead of adding on to Slay the Spire 1 and this week we're diving into the visual changes we're bringing in! While we hinted at this topic briefly in the past Neowsletter, let's look into what the problems were with the visual style. The first and most important one was that I'm (Casey) bad at art. Now, being bad at art doesn't necessarily mean bad at drawing or having poor taste. It's that I haven't spent enough time in my life to cleanly translate what I'm imagining onto paper. It's a frustrating experience trying to capture a “damned knight powered by demonic energy” as a sprite in a video game. In the end, I gave up on the Ironclad. That's correct–the Ironclad you see today in Slay the Spire 1 is a character I gave up working on. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/5c68af6fd6721c94c84acee2bbd42c8df15a9214.jpg Various ideas, poses, concepts, etc. Plus a bonus resting Ironclad shot! After 3 - 4 weeks total of on and off ideating, drawing, redrawing, sketching, etc. I drew a character in a pose that I liked thinking it would give me better ideas. Those with a keen eye probably realized that the Ironclad has the same pose as Hakumen from the BlazBlue series. I found this character with a long thin blade with weighty attacks so cool (he's my main)! On top of this, the faceless nature of the character and this posture was really menacing. I sketched out a character that felt like it would fit in the world of Slay the Spire in this same pose. It was supposed to be a “This is the feeling I want! Hopefully an artist redraws this later.” but ended up being the final sprite so it felt a little unoriginal due to the pose :(. Still, I'm happy with the outfit and color scheme. After I had a character with the right feel, now I had to animate it as well? This was daunting, as there was a lot of other work to do (like programming). Already frustrated with how much time was spent on the Ironclad, I decided he can just elbow strike the enemy. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/0cfc4854c5e594ccfb6e279ab888445daa2aefeb.jpg In the end I didn't use this sprite. The irony... The Silent's concept came to me much quicker. But it still took a long time to draw the sprites that exist for her and animating what I drew was also out of the question for my technical ability. A scary skeleton donning assassin. If you can see anything but her cape, it's probably because you've been assassinated. Very cool concept. Great job, Casey. Now give her a wobbly knife because wobbly knives are scary (Kris Dagger). {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/4185d116866c81f70757b8c69f99d06d5fc4e0b1.jpg The little purple knife was a placeholder. Also, the pose makes no sense. A lot of the art for the Ironclad, Silent, and other humanoid enemies didn't read well to a lot of people due to the size of the sprites on screen and my lack of experience here. There were misunderstandings on what a character was doing. How they were standing. How they are holding something. Whether they were supposed to look happy or angry even. After all of this, I ended up drawing considerably less humanoid characters into the game. This in turn made me incorporate less narrative mechanics. A lot of intrigue and power struggles tend to occur between humanoid races for a reason; we're able to relate more to things that are human than the foreign or abstract. You can see remnants of this from the existence of other humanoid adventurers, slavers, thieves, and so forth! As the game's fun was found in the deckbuilding and core game loop, this felt like an opportunity to reduce the game's scope and rescind a lot of the narrative and story elements which were loosely planned. Today, I ask myself, “But what if those limitations were gone? Hmm...”

Marlowe Dobbe x Mega Crit

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/07e6c13f154d23173fb642134d8aac96613c300b.png A visual representation of Mega Crit and Marlowe Dobbe coming together, featuring The Silent from Slay the Spire and The Thief from Dicey Dungeons, which Marlowe was the artist for. While a lot of my time post-release and during the pandemic was spent on improving my artistic abilities, learning bass guitar, and making various game prototypes in Unity, I also knew there would be too much work for me to be the primary on all things visual if we were to do a sequel. I wanted an “Art Person” who could draw small things that were clear and concise while also inviting playfulness, creativity, and expressiveness. I emailed a bunch of industry friends to see if they knew anybody interested in such a job and we talked a great deal (is this an interview?) and brought her onboard as Art Director. Welcome, Marlowe (3 years ago that is)! We've been working together for the majority of the project and we continue to hone the visual identity of Slay the Spire 2 based on what I think, what Marlowe thinks, what the rest of our team thinks, and what our internal playtesters think. There's a lot of thinking overall. Our style and philosophy is merging together and I'm always pushing for UX snappiness and speed while ensuring that the game's vibes don't stray from the original. On top of this, we've also hired a full-time animator, Chris Gortz, and Slay the Spire 1's card and event illustrator, Anailis Dorta (see our full team here: https://megacrit.com/about/). Working together for a long time allows us to mind meld and I think the harmony you'll see in the game is a sight to behold! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/5524a08919c47fb96af79017465b05794419621d.gif

Changes

If I were forced to make a bulleted list of high level changes, it would look something like this:

• Playful:While we still retain some dark themes, the tone is more playful through its visual language and world.
• Crisp:Creatures, items, cards, backgrounds are all a bit more crisp, as the style is less painterly.
• Liveliness:Considerably more animations and transitions make the game feel livelier.
• Cinematic:More whole-screen art stuff. Compared to before, this makes the game feel more epic rather than intimate.
• Colorfuler:Everything is more colorful! This improves the legibility of various screens as well.

Some words from our Art Director

Working on developing the visual style for Slay the Spire 2 has been a really interesting and unique challenge that I’m unsure I’ll ever get to experience again as a game developer. Coming into work on a sequel of a very beloved game has a whole new set of rules from working on a new concept or property. While we want to update the visuals and make it feel new and fresh, we also want to ride that line of it being recognizable as the Slay the Spire world. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/0d5b8c7068133e5547dff8264b7e546c22694a4f.png Some early explorations for The Silent for StS2. Perhaps there is a universe in which we ended up going in this more cartoony direction. Myself and the art team have done what I can only describe as visually dissecting what parts made up the vibe of Slay the Spire 1. What motifs, repeating visuals, creatures, races, architecture, etc. all add up to the unique, kind-of-creepy-but-kind-of-fun energy of the first game. We’re all big fans of the first installment and I at least have spent an embarrassing amount of my time playing it. When I’m approaching it as a fan and also someone in charge of steering the visuals of the sequel, you start to pick up on things like “yeah there’s not a lot of uncovered faces in Slay the Spire 1, this character we’re working on wouldn’t fit cause you see too much of their face.” or “This is a cool monster, but is it WEIRD enough?” (I have spent a lot of time iterating on enemy designs to make them weirder.) In the end, our goal is to make it feel bigger than the first game with new sets, new characters and enemies, more full-screen-art, way more animation, and a LOT of VFX (insert sparkles and fire and sparks here.) Of course it’ll look different and new, but I think it’s going to be a place that old and new StS players will feel comfortable and familiar in! And in the ~spirit~ of the season, here’s a spooky StS2 sneak peek… {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/939f8e093bb8b7aee3c655dcbf580b25a2fd9711.gif oooOooOoo it’s a new, ghostly, knight-looking enemy…

Translating the Neowsletter

As we've started posting the Neowsletter on Steam, our viewership has increased significantly. It may be time to start translating these announcements... If you have worked on Slay the Spire translations in the past and/or interested in translating announcements, please contact [email protected] or DM me on Discord @caseyyano. As an FYI: We're not yet starting on STS2 translations.

Mega Crit-or-Treat Returns!

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/e27d7449bcb37e2629c176eada98488af6005a32.jpg Our art director Marlowe’s own beautiful Cultist-themed pumpkin carving from last Halloween. ........BOO!!! Hey, it’s Demi the Community Manager now–did I scare ya?! In any case, it's spooky season again, and you (might) know what that means: Mega Crit-or-Treat is back from the dead! For those who don't know, last year we held the first annual Mega Crit-or-Treat event, where the community was encouraged to share any Halloween-themed Slay the Spire content, be it drawn, written, modded, cosplayed, cooked, carved, crocheted, interpretively danced, whatever! And this year we're doing it all again, this time with a new prize for participants! From now until Sunday, November 3, post your beautiful and/or terrifying creations in our Discord server and we will bestow upon you a treat: the limited time Creepy Cultist role! If you want to join in on the frightening festivities but don't know where to begin, check out these official StS pumpkin carving stencils made by our art director (and honorary Mayor of Halloween) Marlowe! Also, if you post any spooky Spire content on Twitter or Bluesky, be sure to spread the eerie cheer by tagging us @MegaCrit!

Slay the Spire Connections

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/43d29481c66f0f40a82b722bbdbdc497967be207.png Since so many of you enjoyed the last one, we’ve got another official unofficial Slay the Spire Connections puzzle this month! Having a regular puzzle section almost makes this feel like a real publication, huh? This one may be slightly easier but, hey, it’s also slightly spookier too so it balances out maybe.

Community Roundup

And, as always, let’s close this out with some of our community’s wonderful creations from the past month: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/2b52b37d6fbe723d04bd5daef9f1b25a4833e9c0.jpg A beautifully composed poster of the Spire’s many inhabitants by @h0lysarthole {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/8d04ffc510f8152a317fa35d99bdc65dd896ad4f.jpg A big, beautiful, beefy Demon Form Ironclad by @ultimatept0812 A hilariously animated and insanely catchy song by Finger Pickin Good Wow, you made it to the end of this month’s Neowsletter! See you in the next issue, Slayers!

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/4ce0c5a2764cf12bf4a1e4bcb9df522061863c2f.jpg New month, new Neowsletter :) As all of us at Mega Crit are hard at work on Slay the Spire 2, we figured we’d start shifting these posts towards news about the game. Starting this issue, we're also posting on Steam! If you're reading this on Steam, know that on our new and updated website you can sign up to receive these monthly Neowsletters straight into your email inbox (if that's your preference). Okay, on with it!

Slay the Spire 2 Dev Update

Most of the team is hard at work making the game better while I slack off and write this announcement. Speaking of announcements, we're working on something called a "Gameplay Trailer". Hopefully, we'll be able to show it off this year, but if not— I apologize! Trailer-making is not really our forte but we've enlisted some help to make sure that everyone gets to see a lot of exciting gameplay soon enough. In the development department, we've been running private playtests for about 4 months now and the game has been ported to Godot and stabilized. Currently, our core focus is on adding more content so the game is packed full of interesting enemies, choices, and the silliest of situations. In parallel, we've been improving performance and increasing compatibility on a wide range of devices (at least for our desktop release). We have high confidence that we'll be entering Early Access with a PC, MacOS, and Steam Deck(tm) compatible build. Yes, Linux is also likely. We see you! There are currently no plans for Slay the Spire 2 to run on VR/XR/AR or any other R-ending piece of hardware on Early Access launch. I'm sure nobody is surprised by this news but that's okay.

Why a Sequel?

This is a question we get often and I'm happy to answer! Why are you working on a sequel? Why not expand Slay the Spire instead? Let's get into it! For those not in the know, the first Slay the Spire was developed over 2.5 years before we hit Early Access. Myself (Casey Yano) and Anthony were programming, designing, and arting (this is the official term for making art in video games). We enlisted the help from a handful of contractors to polish up the rough edges and hide some of our shortcomings. This was done by various illustrators, animators, trailer editors, and of course our composer, Clark Aboud who's been with us the whole way and now Slay the Spire 2! It's difficult to fully explain how quickly and chaotically we scrapped together Slay the Spire. There's no guarantee that any indie game with no reputation will sell more than 10,000 copies. Spending time writing clean, editable, and maintainable code for such a project seemed foolish. Commented code was sparse, issues were hastily patched, systems were cut or completely redone often. This happens in games with exploratory game mechanics. Big shocker! On top of this, only about half of my time was spent programming the game, with the rest spent in technical art, QA (my former job!), UX design, and writing things like this. Strangely, writing blogs comes the most naturally to me. It's not beautiful prose but I enjoy the process. With this in mind, I'll fire off some quick bullet points to the "Why a Sequel?" question:

• Undoing many of my sins in the codebase
• Cleaner and more expandable architecture
• Improving the game's performance so we can add more stuff
• Migrated to a higher compatibility game engine
• Forming and growing a team to avoid working 60+ hours for 5 years straight
• Giving the game a visual refresh (Art and UI)
• Experimenting with various mechanics we always wanted to
• New Stuff

This last point, New Stuff is really important. Games aren't a list of game mechanics and features. The design of content, pacing, balance, story beats, unique characters, and various things come together to make a one of a kind experience! Otherwise, there would be no reason to play any sequel ever. I think we all know this intrinsically, yet a lot of players can't seem to accept this. I think skepticism is healthy, but I abhor the cynicism. It's too much. Get a hold of yourselves, cynics. The visual refresh is also really important! We're still filling out the backgrounds and haven't incorporated ambient effects but... I would feel remiss not including something... {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/d4cf2e819c4c9045653a34ae8821990d27759cea.gif (Teaser of a silly fellow with an orby lookin’ head.) Do note that I'm trying to compress 4 hours of ranting into a handful of paragraphs. For your burning non-spoiler inducing questions, you're always free to ask us questions at our Official Discord Server where we have an #ask-the-devs channel! In case you missed it, answers to common questions can be found at our FAQ.

Board Game Updates

If you haven’t yet nabbed a copy of Slay the Spire: The Board Game, another round of pre-orders are open now and will ship in October! Contention Games will also be at BGG.CON from November 13-17 where they’ll be running demos and selling Collector’s Editions–while supplies last!! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/52af69ad9bec642813d888b584335da693952097.jpg (A glimpse of the Slay-tastic action at Contention Games’ booth from last weekend at PAX West.)

The Office

Did you know? Mega Crit is currently around ~10 people and while the majority of us work remotely, half the team is in Seattle, WA. After 3 years in our current office, we're moving... 1 mile away. We'll be closer to a donut shop, so productivity should improve by 0%. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/e8f3ceb3d51cb6bc230fe797fc08e802ca513118.gif

Activity Corner

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/90457f727831edbaee4a143e9657fd2c832e869f.png We noticed that some of our community members have been making custom Slay the Spire Connections puzzles and our Community Manager, Demi (that’s me writing this section, hi), was inspired to make an official unofficial StS Connections puzzle for you all to try, too! Maybe this will become a regular thing??

Fan Art Roundup

And last but not least, here are some of the past month’s fan art highlights: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/ff1183ee7b892bfd0ce8d1a3767458d52dbe4bc8.jpg A serenely vigilant Watcher by @ElesDecroisa {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/5392533173b2d755ae9ba885743ee06079c3b91f.gif An incredible and slightly ominous pixel animation of The Silent by @DankShamwow {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/ad667e19562efb7c1fe4769178e503d3969d3d83.gif Even MORE pixel animation, this time featuring rare footage of Neow’s body off-screen by @ktwfc That concludes the September 2024 issue of The Neowsletter. Tune in next month for more StS2 behind-the-scenes looks and community updates!

Looking to eat up the time until Slay the Spire 2 comes out? We have just the thing! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/8b26f65bbdf9da5272e6b8bc71e6b08eedfd3234.png While away the hours with your very own limited edition Time Eater plush from Makeship by your side! Plus, the next time Time Eater ruins one of your runs you'll have a healthy, squeezable outlet for your frustration ^-^ Get yours here now--before time runs out!!

It's time for us to reveal what we've been working on for the last 3+ years! Could it be!? A sequel to Slay the Spire? Yes, it is! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krDFltgjLtE While it's not available until we figure out a good launch window in 2025, we can say for certain that it's coming to Steam, it will be launching with a ton of stuff, and it will be very very fun to play. Check out the store page with screenshots and information here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2868840 We'll be revealing more information on the Slay the Spire 2 store page as we near launch so be sure to Wishlist, Follow, or whatever to keep up-to-date if you want to know more. You can also follow us on social media if that's your preference:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/megacrit
• Discord: https://discord.gg/slaythespire

Everybody's favorite geometric duo are here and softer than ever! It's time for another merch drop: the limited edition Deca and Donu plush campaign from Makeship is now live! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/29087962/d0e836f4a4a5f450a5652b5449773364191fefda.png If you've ever wanted to squeeze these iconic Slay the Spire bosses (whether out of love or frustration) now is your chance!! But don't wait, because the pre-order campaign ends in 21 days--and after that they're gone for good! Disclaimer: DONU IS NOT EDIBLE... OFFICIALLY. PS - The Mega Crit team knows you're all looking forward to news of our next game, and while we can't give you an ETA on that just yet... be sure to stay tuned!