Slay The Spire 2’s Early Access Release Has Been Delayed To March 2026

In the studio’s announcement on Steam, it specifically states that the launch will occur on a “secret Thursday in March 2026.” Originally planned to release in late 2025, the studio explains that the delay isn’t due to a single “dramatic reason” but rather “the game just needs more polish to meet our standards.” As the team puts it, there were one too many “wouldn’t it be cool if…”s during the development process.  

The team also prepared an FAQ for questions it thought might be levied at them following this announcement, including: if the delay was because of Silksong (no, the decision was made prior to Silksong’s release date announcement); if the delay is for adding new content (“yes, in part,” followed by a statement saying this sequel has a lot more content than the original Slay the Spire); and what’s different about this sequel compared to its predecessor (“new characters, more cards/potions/relics/events/etc, more visual polish, more animation and VFX, quality of life changes, entirely new mechanics, and still a whole lot more”).

Game delays in and of themselves don’t have to be bad news since they often mean a game coming out better than it would’ve originally, but in case a longer wait for Slay the Spire 2’s Early Access has you down, the team also shared a fairly significant content teaser for the game.  Revealing what’s called alternate acts, the dev team shares that once unlocked, players will be granted with one of two possible acts at the beginning of a new act. These will differ in “their environments, enemies, events, and bosses,” increasing the variety of gameplay between runs. Screenshots offer a glimpse of Act 1a versus 1b, with the former showing ruins tangled by green overgrowth and the latter showing a waterway connected to the Spire’s sewer system. Not all of the alternate acts will be available right away, with Acts 2b and 3b coming to Early Access later down the line. 

Don’t expect this delay to hinder any excitement for Slay the Spire 2. Its 2019 predecessor sits at a comfortable Overwhelmingly Positive rating on Steam with over 67K reviews. The deckbuilding roguelike has enjoyed a long appreciation cycle, offering diverse characters that each offer unique playstyles and relics that can change the game in an instant. With a promise of even more content in the sequel, players will have to wait only a few months longer to see how the sequel mixes things up.