Slay the Spire 2 Launches in Early Access and Immediately Dominates Steam

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The long-awaited sequel to one of the most influential deckbuilding roguelikes has finally arrived, and its launch is already breaking records. Slay the Spire 2 entered Early Access on Steam today and quickly surged to more than 170,000 concurrent players, instantly outperforming the peak numbers of its predecessor and climbing into the platform’s most-played titles.

According to data from SteamDB, the sequel rapidly reached a peak of 177,362 players shortly after release, with numbers continuing to grow. That figure already far surpasses the all-time concurrent player peak of the original Slay the Spire, which stands at 57,025 players. Interestingly, the original game only achieved that milestone recently when it dropped to its lowest-ever price of 2.49€ during a major Steam sale.

The sequel, however, is achieving its success under very different circumstances. Slay the Spire 2 launched in Early Access with a price tag of 24.99€, yet still managed to surge up the platform’s rankings. By concurrent players, it quickly became the sixth most-played game on Steam, sitting just behind long-standing multiplayer titles like Arc Raiders and Rust.

The momentum didn’t stop there. Within hours of release, the game also climbed to the top of Steam’s global top sellers chart, overtaking several major releases. That position had previously been held by Marathon, which itself had recently dethroned Resident Evil Requiem.

For fans of roguelike deckbuilders, and even those who normally avoid the genre, the explosive start suggests that the sequel to Slay the Spire could become one of Steam’s biggest success stories this year.