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
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!
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!
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!
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!
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
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!
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!
This gorgeous, funny, and regal art of The Regent by @Thornclaw!
These adorable and hilarious “doodles” of various StS2 characters by @sharkeesart!
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!