Review

Slay the Spire II

A roguelike deckbuilder and sequel to a genre favourite. You build a deck card by card, face enemies in turn-based combat, pick up relics and make route choices across each run. New characters, cards and events change how each run plays. Besides solo play, it offers online co-op for up to four players. Is it your kind of game?

DeckbuilderRoguelikeTurn-basedPC

Games like Slay the Spire II

9/10

Game Avant verdict

A sequel that keeps the original's razor-sharp card-by-card decision making and adds a real reason to come back: new characters, alternate acts and co-op that changes how a deck is built.

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By GameAvant · Published Oct 9, 2026 · Updated Oct 9, 2026 · 20 min read

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IGDB

85%

36 ratings

Steam:

61%

184,557 reviews

Fits you if

you like optimizing a deck and finding strong card combinations.

Skip it if

you want real-time action or dislike randomness in runs.

Availability

Where to play

Steam

$24.99

Buy

Facts

Platforms: PC
Release date: March 5, 2026
Length: About 31 hours
Difficulty: 4/5 (estimated)
Genres: Strategy · Indie · Card & Board Game
Themes: Fantasy
Perspective: Side view
Modes: Online up to 4
Languages: 3 languages
Text in your language: Yes
Steam Deck: Verified
Microtransactions: None

More about Slay the Spire II

Slay the Spire II is a sequel built by a team that clearly understood exactly what made the original a genre-defining roguelike deckbuilder, and it refuses to break that formula in pursuit of novelty for its own sake. Mega Crit released it into Early Access on 5 March 2026, and the result plays like the original on its best day while adding enough genuinely new machinery that a veteran of the first game cannot simply coast on old habits and muscle memory. The core loop stays exactly where it needs to: climb a spire built from branching routes, construct a deck one card at a time, read what each enemy is actually telegraphing before it acts, and lose a run to a specific, nameable mistake rather than bad luck you cannot account for. That legibility is the entire secret behind why the original worked, and the sequel protects it carefully while expanding what surrounds it. Five playable characters are available at launch, each with their own distinct card pool and strategic identity, and every one of the game's three acts now has two separate versions, meaning the specific sequence of enemies, events, and environmental hazards a run presents changes meaningfully between playthroughs rather than simply reshuffling the same fixed content. Four-player co-op is the single biggest structural addition, and it changes deck-building in ways a purely solo roguelike never had to account for: card choices now have to consider what the rest of the party needs as much as what any individual deck wants, turning the genre's traditionally solitary optimization puzzle into something closer to a negotiated, shared strategy. Very few roguelikes make losing feel this genuinely productive rather than simply frustrating. When a run ends in Slay the Spire II, the reason can almost always be traced directly back to an identifiable decision: a card taken because it looked strong in isolation without accounting for how it interacted with the rest of the deck, a fight chosen from the map when a rest site would have kept the run alive longer, a single attack ignored for one turn too many. Nothing about a loss feels opaque or arbitrary, and that clarity is precisely why the score here lands as high as it does. The one caveat that genuinely matters sits directly in the release model rather than in anything about the design itself. The game remains in Early Access, and the developers have stated they expect it to stay there for one to two years while they add more cards, events, environments, and enemies, improve balance and visual effects, and build toward a proper ending before the eventual full release. This assessment rates the game as it exists right now, fully functional and already excellent, and anyone looking for a complete campaign with a definitive finish line should go in knowing that finish line is still actively under construction rather than simply unpolished.

The thing you'll love. Or hate.

Randomness as the core loop

Two versions of every act

Four-player co-op

Not quite for you?

Three alternatives, one line each on why.

Shorter

Similar, but noticeably shorter.

With co-op

Similar, but playable together.

Cheaper or free

Similar, for less money.

Frequently asked questions

How long is Slay the Spire II?: About 31 hours to finish the main story.
Which platforms is Slay the Spire II on?: Slay the Spire II is available on PC.
Does Slay the Spire II have co-op?: Yes — Online up to 4.
Does Slay the Spire II run on Steam Deck?: Verified
What does Slay the Spire II cost?: $24.99 on Steam.