Slay the Spire News

Slay the Spire certainly turned heads when it released, immediately cementing itself as one of the best deckbuilders in town and helping to kick off a trend that persists today. That was nearly seven years ago at this point, but the game is turning even more heads today: it just hit an all-time concurrent player peak on Steam, according to SteamDB...
Read more.

Slay the Spire has peaked at 57,025 concurrent players on 27 December 2025 which is 7 years after release.
View charts and more statistics on our website.

The last Neowsletter of 2025 is here!

For those who didn't hear, Slay the Spire 2 was recently ranked the number one game on the PC Gaming Show's Most Wanted list! We want to thank the voting council as well as all of you steadfast Slayers out there! As a treat, you can find quite a few tidbits of new StS2 info in the interview we did with PC Gamer in honor of our number one spot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NgLqPWqDss
Now, let's cap this year off with a preview of a most mysterious character...

[h3]The Regent[/h3]



Hailing from a distant planet, The Regent has traveled long and far on his quest for excitement that his homeworld cannot offer. His journey has of course taken him to the Spire, full of strange, formidable creatures to conquer and innumerable treasure to plunder. Heir to the Throne of Stars, he is a domineering and arrogant being who draws on the power of the cosmos and his long-suffering minions to do his bidding.



The most fundamental aspect of The Regent's kit is that he has another resource that some of his cards rely on besides energy: Stars. After generating Stars, they can then be spent on certain cards that require them to deal damage, block, and empower himself with. Some cards even scale with the Stars you have stored up. Stars do not deplete at the end of your turn and there is no cap on how many you can have at once, so the sky is the limit.



The Regent is also capable of transforming other cards into unceasingly loyal Minions to attack and defend for him. Formed of celestial material, you will also find these disposable but adorable Minions painstakingly lugging The Regent around on his giant throne.



As the heir to his family’s empire, The Regent has the ability to Forge his own signature weapon, the Sovereign Blade, a large, gleaming sword that orbits around him. The first time you play a card with the "Forge" keyword each combat, the Sovereign Blade's corresponding card will be created. Every time you Forge after that, the amount of Forge increases the amount of damage Sovereign Blade will deal. It has Retain by default, so you can continue to build up your Blade to be as lethal as possible until the exact right moment.



Something else that is unique to this character is his synergy with colorless cards, which he can both create and interact with in interesting ways. You may have noticed that Sovereign Blade is a colorless card, so this opens up a whole new avenue of Forge-based builds to explore, as well.

Overall, The Regent is a character that revolves around your ability to manage his resources and scale up his power. What exactly his backstory is and what his future entails will be unveiled in due time...

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

The Singaporean Smoked Machine asks: Are there any ideas that you have decided to completely scrap in STS2 that you could tell us?
Casey: There was a brief exploration of 3D but it was scrapped because the value add wasn't high and Anthony and I are more into games with a lot of content rather than flashy stuff. Sorry flashy lovers, it's just a lot easier to create and iterate content if they're 2D assets.

BaySharp asks: Since STS2 got delayed for a fair amount of time, will we get any new gameplay trailer to compensate for it? Or perhaps, new gameplay footage? Or a demo even? Or just pretty much anything that will bring more hype to the game before the release?
Casey: Yes, we publish a monthly newsletter (The Neowsletter) with sneak peeks and stuff. We even answer questions on there! Also, you may want to keep a particularly close eye out for something happening in February, closer to the launch...

[h3]Spire Spotting[/h3]

Don't think that the harsh winter weather will keep us from exploring the Spire! Let's take a look at last month's mystery monster...



And now this month's artistic hypotheses...


The award for funniest guess goes to Lyvern, for this statuesque creature reminiscent of the Giant Head.


The award for most logical guess goes to Comfy Chair, for this antenna-headed, snail-like creature. There's a lot of Slay the Spire stylistic DNA in this one!



The award for most accurate guess goes to Shor--you definitely captured the gooeyness and the color scheme!

And here are just some of the many other submissions we received over the past month:


Credit from left to right: Vexnator, Kmanscan, Breyson Cherryson, Niké Air, Maria, monmon, placeholder.exe, Dester, RinNekoChan, 9ryu108, Dracia, キョッキョのかば焼き, Star, John, 벌개미's daughter (8 years old!), Moggoose

Now it's time to unveil this strange creature...



Aha, got it! Whatever this creature is, and whatever ability it's using, it appears it was interfering with our photo-capturing equipment... and perhaps the very fabric of reality itself. Let us call it The Obscura.

On the bright side, this next silhouette may be a little easier to parse:



Though this may seem like it has a simple solution, we're sure you'll come up with very creative theories all the same. If you'd like to further our investigative endeavors, be sure to submit your guesses via [email protected] or in our Discord's fanart channel!

[h3]Merch Madness[/h3]


Makeship is back at it again with more Slay the Spire drops! You can now add The Collector to YOUR collection as well as some shiny new enamel pins of the first three Slayers' iconic designs! Also, in classic Neow fashion, she's giving you another chance to grab her plush if you missed it the first time around (from all the way back in 2023)!

The pre-order campaign will only last until Tuesday, December 23, so grab them while you can! Neow may not always be able to resurrect these limited-edition goodies...


Also, we've channeled some more pieces for the Slay the Spire x Artovision collection!

Now you can have 3D art of the Defect right there on your desk for every run OR a shadowbox of the Silent facing the Shiv deck's worst enemy, the Time Eater.

[h3]Mega Crit-mas![/h3]


It's that time of year again... the time to make the Yuletide SLAY! Tag us on Twitter or Bluesky with any original festive fan creation, be it art, writing, mods, a video, some Spire-y holiday decorations, etc, and we just might spread the cheer, too! AND if you share your work in the event's channel on our Discord, you’ll get an exclusive role to wear with honor throughout the season!

And, as always, no holiday ambience is complete without the official Slay the Spire Yule Log, featuring some cheerful renditions of classic StS boss themes to accompany the crackling rest site flames!

[h3]Connections Section[/h3]


Here's a Slay the Spire Connections puzzle befitting a king. Or a Regent.

[h3]Community Corner[/h3]

Thank you to Alcalmy for this month's cover image (and the rainy cover image from last month's honorable mentions that we couldn't include in time!) Speaking of honorable mentions, thank you to jamqwert and Shor for your lovely, wintery submissions!



Next month's theme is: New Year, new 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!

Now let's take a look at some more creations from the people that make up our wonderful community!


These very adorable crocheted keychains of Donu, Deca, and Snecko Eyes by 萝卜头子! (You can find a whole bunch of their crocheted relics in our Discord's fanart channel!)


This lethally beautiful illustration of The Silent by @JasperConcepts!


This stunning atmospheric of The Silent facing off against Giant Head by @taydungeon! (Timelapse in link)

And that's all for this month's Neowsletter, we hope it put you in the Crit-mas spirit! See you all in 2026 ;)

Greetings, Slayers! It's November. Just a few more months until the sequel is available in Early Access. To get hyped, we've got another big content sneak peek.

Last month, we properly introduced you to one of Slay the Spire 2's new playable characters, The Necrobinder. This month, we're introducing you to some new non-playable characters...

[h3]Ancients[/h3]



The Spire is brimming with species of all shapes and sizes which have evolved alongside their environments over the ages. However, there are some beings that have persisted since the Spire's inception, accumulating wisdom and power as they witness the death and birth of countless generations. You may already be familiar with one such being: Neow, Mother of Resurrection.

At long last, Neow's fellow Ancients have emerged to bless you with doses of their power each time you enter an Act. These blessings take the form of exclusive, powerful relics, replacing the boss relics you may be familiar with from the Spire's previous incarnation.

The Ancient pictured above is Tezcatara, or "It Which Feeds The Fire." A warm, shining light in the darkness of the Spire, this Ancient's blessings are generally known for burning bright but extinguishing quickly. A selection of its possible blessings includes a transformation of the current Act's map into a single special path, a bounty of temporary relics, and a way to reduce the cost of Strikes but also make them impossible to remove from your deck.

These oldest of the Spire's beings all have their own specialties, therefore their offerings will differ greatly from one another. As Neow's special power is that of resurrection, she will be there to greet you at the beginning of a run like always. However, Acts 2 and 3 will have their own separate pools of random Ancients for you to encounter, such as Tezcatara. Specific Ancients will be denoted by a node on the map similar to the ones that signify specific bosses, as you can see below. This new system adds even more variance to each run, making them feel that much more unique.



Though the individual reasons behind the Ancients' involvement may be unclear--and though some of their blessings may come with significant tradeoffs--anyone would be lucky to count such powerful beings as their allies. Perhaps you will be able to learn more about their mysterious motivations as time goes on...

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

Anonymous asks: Can we get more of the pear? I really like pears, maybe it could be as an enemy that spits pear juice or a card that includes a pear.
Casey: If you like pears, why would you want an enemy that spits pear juice? That seems disrespectful

Justin Quirk asks: How in the world does the Ironclad keep his mask on? Clearly it doesn't wrap all the way around his head, and he is a very active fighter. Does it fall off sometimes in the middle of a fight, or does he have a strap or something? Was this part of his demonic pact? What terrifying power allows him to always stay protected and fashionable?
Casey: The ironclads keep their masks on by biting. I will not elaborate.

Ballsyjones asks: has everything about Slay the Spire 1 been discovered by players!?
Casey: Since the game code can be decompiled, I don't think there are too many undiscovered game logic secrets. StS1 was also translated by the community, so patches and translations always came with notes and a reference cheat sheet so the translators understood the reasoning for odd naming or choice of relic objects.

Anonymous asks: Are you guys planning on also making Slay the Spire 2 a low spec friendly game or will it be more demanding than the first one?
Casey: Yep, we're quite strict on performance! We try to accumulate a wide range of cheap and terrible computers to test the game on :).

A big STS fan asks: Does jaw worm still exist floors 1-3 in sts 2?
Anthony: No

[h3]Spire Spotting[/h3]

As we continue our investigations into the Spire's many new species, it's time to first take a look at last month's mystery silhouette:



And now for your hypotheses...


The award for most... award-like goes to Snowbyte! It kind of looks like a solid gold, automaton-shaped trophy.


The award for most accurate goes to bojhyg! The mask in particular came the closest to the real deal.

And here are the rest of the guesses from our community of Spire explorers:


Credit from left to right: 빙길, Tinamyte, 水角神, PorpleKnight, Sebastian, ssorgatem, LoneDonut, Dracia, Lyvern, hazudee, SamuraiBaker, mainasuarufa, Dolly, koiking213, Simon, mitlon.

And now for the unveiling...



Ooh--it seems that the pattern of Defect-ive hypotheses wasn't totally far off. It's definitely some sort of automaton construct, seemingly designed for punching. A Punch Construct?

Now, what's next on our roster of shadowy species...



Our work is never done! If you have any clues as to what this creature could be, be sure to submit them via [email protected] or in our Discord's fanart channel!

[h3]Connections Section[/h3]


Time to dive right into this month's Slay the Spire Connections puzzle like a fresh pile of autumn leaves!

[h3]Community Corner[/h3]

Thank you to Snubobo for this month's corNeowcopia-themed cover image!

Next month's theme is: Wintery 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!

Thank you to everyone who submitted their spooky Spire content for Mega Crit-or-Treat last month! Here are just some of the highlights:


A creepily cute illustration of the 4 Slay the Spire characters by spacelarktemple!


This super accurate Reptomancer cosplay by commentbagel!


Some Spire-y jack-o-lanterns by LegendofLonk, JoeGo, Zoie, Falspar, and Pug!

Alright, hopefully this month's Neowsletter was a nice sneak peek into what we're cooking up for Slay the Spire 2! We'll be back next month with even more good tidings.

It's October, the month of tricks, treats, and... spooooky things~🦇💀

For those who missed it, we announced a delay last month. Slay the Spire 2 is coming to Early Access in March 2026. I know, I know, it's hard to wait.

But speaking of spooky things, let us properly introduce you to...

[h3]The Necrobinder[/h3]

At long last, the time has come to dive deeper into the first new character we announced for Slay the Spire 2: The Necrobinder, a sassy lich who relies upon a giant, reanimated hand called Osty in battle. (It's a funny name but not technically a pun, so should be safe.)





Her kit is themed around necromancy, fittingly enough, and plays with the balance of life and death. Osty can attack enemies independently of the Necrobinder and is unaffected by debuffs afflicting her. Faithful companion that he is, Osty also takes attack damage that would normally affect the Necrobinder... as long as he has HP to give, that is. To increase Osty's HP or revive him from the dead once more, the Necrobinder can Summon him. Your strategy may see you building up a high HP Osty for a constant source of protection or sacrificing him only to bring him back from the dead over and over again.



Another key component of the Necrobinder's kit is Doom, which we have teased in previous Neowsletters. When a creature's Doom meets or exceeds its current HP, it will die. It's a debuff that's applied similarly to Poison, but it does not deal damage over time or tick down, and it only affects creatures at the end of their turn, as opposed to the start.





She can also use her necromantic magic to draw (ha) on the power of Souls, giving her a source of card draw.



Transformation is a major part of necromancy, of course, so the Necrobinder also has many cards that allow her to alter other cards, applying different keywords to them and changing how they play.

That's all the information on our little lich that we have for you today, but there will be plenty more to uncover still.

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

We didn't answer any questions last month because there was a Q&A section for the delay announcement. Fear not, we're back to answering your exciting questions. As always, send your questions to [email protected] and we'll respond within 90 business days. Yes, it's slow. At least we're honest about it.

posmen asks: The community has dubbed quitting and reloading from the start of a floor as savescumming. It seems to be a pretty divisive topic but being that Slay the Spire is a single player game there's no real impact aside from being used as a progression loophole. Is this still going to be a "feature" of StS2?
Casey: Yeah you can still save scum. Play how you want

Brandon asks: Do the characters have canon names? Like, sure, they're the Ironclad, but is his real name Steve? What about watcher? Is her name Jasmine? Cause that's a pretty name
Casey: Well, it's not Steve

OdditY asks: Are you guys thinking of adding more to the game after it fully releases? Maybe additional characters, new events, more enemies, maybe even collab content (especially since you guys have always given in collabs and haven't taken)?
Casey: If people like the game we'll add more stuff. I don't know about collabs, I feel like it dilutes the identity of games? Then again, it depends on the genre.

Matt asks: Is Poison back for The Silent in STS2, or does she now have to rely on a new kit to make her way through The Spire?
Casey: we like poison

The Singaporean Smoke Machine asks: Will there be a feature for shiv cards where there will be a "throwing" card animation? Like when you play a shiv, the card itself flies striaght into an enemy before spinning and falling off-screen? I think it would be really cool!
Anthony: No

[h3]Spire Spotting[/h3]

And now it's time for some spoooooky research into one of the Spire's many new denizens!! Although it's no more spooky than it usually is, I suppose.

As always, let's take a look at last month's mystery monster silhouette:



Now let's see what guesses you all had this time around...


The award for cutest guess goes to rinny.Ly._.nn, which might have been the toughest category this time around!


The "Hit the Slay button" award goes to gold! No need to sashay away.


The award for most accurate goes to Lemonpie--super close!

Here are some other incredible hypotheses that we've received from our community of Spire explorers:


Credit from left to right: koiking, bomo73, Gabe, Peter, EcksDee, Oliver, Eqyizo, Super malfunctioning robot, ramy, tree bucket, Metonka, Brave

I think we finally have enough information to dispel the veil of shadow...



AAAAAH... aww? It's just a little guy, surely he's harmless! Either he's a sentient stack of hay or that's just a very convincing costume.



JUMPSCARE! I'm sure you weren't expecting that--another shadowy creature is in need of unveiling. If you have any clues as to what this creature could be, be sure to submit them via [email protected] or in our Discord's fanart channel!

[h3]Merch Madness[/h3]



SLIME... plush??

For a limited time ONLY, you can grab this Makeship Slime Boss doughboi (meaning it's BIG and squishy just like the real, in-game deal) as well as a couple of cute, fuzzy Louse plushies for you to Curl Up with
Get into the spooky, slimy spirit and pre-order yours right here before the campaign ends forever!

[h3]Connections Section[/h3]



BOO! This month's terrifying Slay the Spire Connections puzzle is here!

[h3]Mega Crit-or-Treat Returns![/h3]


What's this? Could this be the work of the Necrobinder? Everyone's favorite spooky, seasonal Slay the Spire event has been revived once more!

Here are the details for those out of the loop: Mega Crit-or-Treat is your chance to share any Halloween-themed Slay the Spire content, be it drawn, written, modded, cosplayed, cooked, carved, crocheted, interpretively danced, whatever!

Until Sunday, November 2, post your beautiful and/or terrifying creations in our Discord server and you will be granted this year's limited time "Ghostly Gremlin" role!

If you want to participate in the time-honored tradition of pumpkin carving but can't think of a design, you can always use these StS stencils made by our art director, Marlowe!

Also, if you post any spooky Spire content on Twitter or Bluesky, be sure to spread the eerie cheer by tagging us @MegaCrit!

[h3]Community Corner[/h3]

Thank you to Jolfe for this month's hauntingly beautiful cover image, and shout out to these other great submissions from 문서영 and Alcalmy--they're so good it's scary!!



Next month's theme is: Neowvember! This one can be a free space, so you can draw anything as long as it's Neow-related. 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!

Without further ado, let's look at this month's community highlights!


An incredible illustration of the Ironclad facing off against the Awakened One and its Cultists by taydungeon (timelapse on TikTok again!)


These amazing Ironclad and Watcher cosplays by Rocklin and Smartz!


A beautiful illustration of the Silent by triggeredtale!

That's all the spooky news we have for you this month, but be sure to tune in next month for less spine-chilling but just as thrilling Slay the Spire 2 info!