5/5 ★ – beemancer's review of Slay the Spire II.

Did you like Slay the Spire? I did. This is more Spire. I wanted this. Slay the Spire 2 is looking to expand on the success Mega Crit already had with the original. Picking it up feels instantly familiar; many of the starting decks are even exactly the same. But of course, there's two completely new characters and all the enemies and events in the spire are completely fresh. There's something really refreshing about new cards and items in a game you love, and 3rd party mods just don't scratch that itch the way official content does. StS2 makes a few notable improvements to the formula that are obvious after even a couple runs. The boss relics are replaced with random boons that are far more transformative than a simple energy relic. Far too often the original game's Act 3 and 4 were more of a test of the deck you built in the first two acts, as you would often skip card rewards and just focus on refining your already trim game plan. In StS2, you can pick up some crazy effects that will have you wanting to continue to build the deck, and I love that. Events feel more powerful. It's much rarer that an event is just completely out-valued by a hallway fight or worse, a total setback. They feel like valid options for routing, and lead to much less consistency in your builds. Cards also feel a bit stronger, especially with the new enchantments, making relic hunting the elites less mandatory but (hopefully) still a viable option. Overall, decks at the end of Act 3 feel more unique and powerful than decks in the original, but I have no idea how hard the game will be at its peak when they add the final Act(s?)/Ascensions/whatever else. This of course presents a very difficult balancing problem, but I trust Mega Crit with it more than I would any other company Visually, the game is improved dramatically, but is still kind of whatever. There's lots of placeholder art at this stage of early access but I really just don't care. The lore of the spire is much more interesting - the characters are vivid and the Spire retains its rather flippant attitude. There's something serious going on, but also sometimes you have to act as a judge for a trial or something or a weird nerd helps you build a cool new card. The residents that give you boss rewards are unique and just lovely. The co-op mode is shockingly not some afterthought. I think this mode is genuinely awesome. There's a number of multiplayer only cards for each character to encourage team work, you can use your potions on each other, and you make routing choices that benefit the group. It's not free, but it is a bit easier, I feel - one player dying isn't the end, although it's tough to recover from, and your combined power with good synergies outpaces the extra health pools and other effects the multiplayer gives the enemies. This is a good thing, you don't want to die over and over in Act 1 as a group, you want to just go have some fun. I really do not give a fuck that this is in Early Access. Mega Crit proved they are responsible and genuine with that label with the first game. That and the game is already worth $25, and is only going to get better. I don't even need to wait to give this game a review because the scale doesn't go any higher than 5 stars anyway.