An indie game is beating major AAA releases on Steam – and saying no to microtransactions, of all things. Slay the Spire II seems like the antithesis of the market. Is this the indie sensation of 2026 – or just the perfect hype?
Its predecessor, Slay the Spire, already caused a worldwide sensation. The deck-building roguelike with comic book graphics struck exactly the right chord. Even seven years after its release, the game has lost none of its appeal – and now the second installment has been released. And it’s generating enormous hype.
More than 570,000 simultaneous players on Steam set out to climb the eponymous tower (Spire) and find the best combination of heroes and card decks.
A fan favorite through and through
Slay the Spire II has been launched in early access, meaning the game is not yet final. Nevertheless, Steam is overflowing with praise, earning the title an “overwhelmingly positive” rating.
Developer Mega Crit expressed its own amazement at the response in several social media posts and promised to continue working intensively on the game. The studio is also keeping an eye on the community’s wishes. Mega Crit recently made it clear that Slay the Spire II will not include microtransactions – even though many players would be willing to spend money on them.
“Many of our players threaten to buy all the cosmetic content we could ever release. But we have no interest in offering anything like that – we hate microtransactions,” explained Mega Crit co-founder Casey Yano.
It is also noteworthy that the indie title temporarily had more concurrent players on Steam than some current AAA releases from major studios. The best example of this is Bungie’s Marathon: despite its well-known name, it fell short of expectations. Both games were released on the same day.
Battling card heroes
The appeal of Slay the Spire II lies mainly in the combination of tactical deck building and the skillful use of the chosen character’s abilities. Players build their card deck step by step during a round and must constantly adapt their strategies to new opponents and situations.
As is typical for the roguelike genre, no two playthroughs are alike. Each round brings new cards, relics, and challenges that players either grow from – or fail miserably at. Compared to its predecessor, Slay the Spire II also expands the repertoire of available cards and introduces new playable characters. Fans of the original can also look forward to familiar heroes returning to the tower.
The game is currently available exclusively via Steam in Early Access and costs €24. However, like its predecessor, Slay the Spire II is likely to find its way onto other platforms such as PlayStation or Xbox in the future.