One of our most anticipated games of the year will no longer enter Early Access in 2025. Slay the Spire 2 has confirmed that its Early Access launch has been delayed to a secret Thursday in March 2026. There’s no single reason for the delay, with developer Mega Crit saying that personal stuff hit the team (though everyone’s okay), that they kept coming up with new ideas, and that the game needed more polish to meet their standards. As a result, the decision was made to push the release to March. And no, Hollow Knight: Silksong played no role in this one, as Mega Crit made the decision before Silksong’s release date was announced.
While the team isn’t willing to share too many details yet about the features it’s working on, it teased that Slay the Spire 2 has a lot more content than the original Slay the Spire’s Early Access launch and even its final 2.0 form. If you haven’t been paying attention to the Neowsletters, Slay the Spire 2 is going to feature new characters; more cards, potions, relics, and events; more visual polish and animation; numerous quality-of-life changes; entirely new mechanics; and more.
One of the new mechanics heading to the sequel is alternate acts. Once the feature is unlocked, any time a player enters a new act, they’ll be randomly presented with one of two possible acts. These two acts are very different in terms of their environments, enemies, events, and bosses, resulting in even more variety in gameplay between runs. For example, Act 1a is Overgrowth, a lush, tangled ruin with mystical woodland creatures and sentient flora. Meanwhile, Act 1b is the Underdocks, a miry waterway filled with mutant sea creatures and vagrants. That means, eventually, Slay the Spire 2 will have double the content with the new act structure, although not all the alternate acts will initially be available in Early Access.
While it is unfortunate that Slay the Spire 2 has been delayed to 2026, we do have Monster Train 2 to keep us occupied for the remainder of the year. The excellent deckbuilder just received the free Lost Arsenal update, filled with new cards and numerous balance changes. If you need something to tide you over until Slay the Spire 2, I highly recommend Monster Train 2.
