Slay the Spire News

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!

[h3]Event Rooms[/h3]

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.



This time around, we're trying to avoid having any options where you simply do nothing and pass through.


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.


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.

[h3]Q&A with C&A[/h3]

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.

[h3]Q&A... with Anailis and Bruce![/h3]

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)!!

[h3]Spire Spotting[/h3]

It's time to spot some Spire-dwellers!! First, a recap of last month's shadow monster:



Our research has concluded, and we can now share the results of your hypotheses...


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...


The award for least correct has to go to Funguy, who definitely lives up to their name at least :)



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:


Credit from left to right: WildSamich, Coquillette, Teh Quiper, Cannoliy, Syrupybug, Colin, jangjorim, someitoj, JellyfishLightning.

So what does this mysterious being look like anyways?



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...



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!

[h3]Pride with Friends![/h3]


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
[h3]Merch Madness[/h3]

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!!

[h3]Connections Section[/h3]


Another Slay the Spire Connections puzzle is here! And I must say I'm quite ~proud~ of this one :)

[h3]Community Corner[/h3]

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!


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!


This intricate illustration by Sean inspired by the Defect's initial promo image!


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!

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.

[h3]Working working...[/h3]

So April has been a WORK MONTH.



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.



[h3]Character Evolutions[/h3]

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.

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.



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...



Looking forward to seeing all the ways you manage to break this card. Or die trying. >:)

[h3]Spire Spotting[/h3]

And now it's your local Spirelife guide, Demi, here to update you on our latest findings about last month's mysterious creature:



But before that, let's test out some of your brilliant hypotheses...



The award for most inventive guess goes to Kangaroodoo, who imagined the creature's jittery movements as an engine!



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:



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...



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...?



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!

[h3]Q&A with C&A[/h3]

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

[h3]Merch Madness[/h3]



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!

[h3]Connections Section[/h3]



And without any flowery further ado, the monthly Slay the Spire Connections is here!

[h3]Community Roundup[/h3]

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!



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...



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!




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!

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!



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.

I wish I had made a cool VFX for this move...

Once your cards are promptly afflicted, you end up with something like this.

Hmm, how would you work around this conundrum?



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:



So let's see which ones came the closest (or made us laugh the most)!



The award for memey-ist submission goes to GM_Whitose for this Ironclad creature!



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!



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...



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!



What could it be? What could it do?? Submit your guesses in our Discord, on socials, or via [email protected], as usual!



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.



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



The Dylster asks: Does the Transient like to play chess
Anthony: No

targetson. asks: Does Silent have a better starter deck?
Anthony: No





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!



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.



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!!





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!)



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:



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!



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!

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...

[h3]Quests![/h3]

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 :).

Quest cards look quite different from regular cards; when do they show up?

New friend acquired!

Okay, that was quite exhilarating.

[h3]TikTok & YouTube Shorts[/h3]

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!)



[h3]ThatGuyGlen Made a Documentary About Us![/h3]

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 👀!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Spire Spotting[/h3]



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...



The award for most funny/absurd guess goes to annyamako for this unholy amalgam of StS1 elites!



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


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

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...



Phew, now that's settled! I'm sure there are no more shadowy monsters lurking nearby wAIT A MINUTE--what's this??



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!

[h3]Q&A with C&A[/h3]

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

[h3]Merch Madness[/h3]



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...



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!!

[h3]Collab Corner[/h3]



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!!

[h3]Connections Section[/h3]



We hope this month's Slay the Spire Connections puts a little extra Spring in your step ^-^

[h3]Community Roundup[/h3]

First up, we want to shout out the other lovely submissions for March's Neowsletter cover!


by grunk


by Ansi


by Georgia

And last but not least, here are some other incredible fanworks from the past month!


A series of beautiful character redesigns by JustOzzy


An incredible pixel animation of Necrobinder and Osty by var1egated


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!

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 :)

[h3]Back to Work[/h3]

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.

[h3]Enchantments[/h3]

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.

Enchanted cards have a little icon and additional effects are added to the card in purple.

[h3]Merch Madness[/h3]



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.



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 ❤️

[h3]Spire Spotting[/h3]



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...



The award for funniest guess goes to Kodiak_Krew, who created a particularly defective-looking abomination charming creature :) We appreciate the wishful thinking!!



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:



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!



[h3]Q&A with C&A[/h3]

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!

[h3]Connections Section[/h3]



And now, it's time for us to show our ~love~ for you all with this month's Slay the Spire Connections puzzle! ❤️

[h3]Community Roundup[/h3]


A lovely illustration of the Slay the Spire 2 gang by MagusOfArc / @inanitasDei4


Some beautiful Year of the Snecko envelopes made by GM_Whitose


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."

[h3]Localization Info[/h3]

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!