Slay the Spire 2 dev rejects the concept of deadlines: ‘I don’t want Sloppy Spire 2’

Slay the Spire 2 has quietly been one of the most-played games on Steam since it launched in March. Even in early access, it’s a bigger game than the original (both in terms of popularity and content), but it’s far from done. Among the incoming additions teased in developer Mega Crit’s latest update are:

• Alternate versions of Acts 2 and 3 (the first act already has two forms, Overgrowth and Underdocks)
• Steam Workshop support
• “Experimental game modes”
• A new character
• New “cards, events, relics, and potions”
• And, eventually, “true victory” and “everything that comes with it”

That’s on top of the expected bug fixes, refined audio and artwork, balance tweaks, additional languages, and more. The only things missing from the roadmap are dates, which the studio says are just not its style.

“You might see this and think, but where are the dates! Why can’t you promise dates??” writes Mega Crit co-founder Casey Yano. “My response is: It’s not what works for us.

“Mega Crit is a small team where each member understands their responsibilities, knows everyone else, and I try my best to ensure that we work at a healthy pace. We evaluate our tasks each week and work on what feels most impactful. It’s not the most organized method, but this allows spontaneous experimentation like the dialogues you have with the Ancients or the existence of a Room Full of Cheese. We won’t massively expand the size of the studio to finish the game faster. Exacting deadlines produce sloppy uninspired work and I don’t want Sloppy Spire 2, I want Slay the Spire 2.”

I also don’t want Sloppy Spire 2, so I will patiently wait for Slay the Spire 2. Yano notes, however, that players can opt into the game’s beta branch to try out experimental changes early and provide feedback—something they got a lot of recently after some controversial balance changes.

Those balance changes made it to the main Slay the Spire 2 branch yesterday in the game’s first “Major Update.” (Something I had not noticed when I wondered when they were coming in an earlier version of this article!)

In that Q&A section, Yano also reveals the one thing Slay The Spire 2’s developers refuse to compromise on above all: “There must be whimsy.” You can read the full newsletter on Steam.