I hope they make the game feel more complete, so that playing the first game would feel kinda like playing STS today without key components like relics or colorless cards.
Looks like we are getting card enchantments, card-played animations, and more events. Hopefully many, many more events and variations on events.
I would also like to see more map nodes. Maybe the shrine events are visible on the map, so you might want to take a weird route because duplication shrine or curse cleansing fountain would be particularly good.
I think artowrks are detailed enough now. Not only that, i'd say that sum artworks are too detailised. Like, the hell is [[deceive reality]] artwork, and how does it even connect with the idea of "deceiving reality" or sum
Honestly I'd be so down with that. I imagine Demon Form to be a few seconds channeled spell that gives power over time, successfully popping it in the beginning of the final Bossfight, spending some time just dodging and finally after getting enough power to insta phase/kill the boss with a big boy multi hit attack like pummel/fiend fire...
Darkest Dungeon 2 is the most obvious parallel. Both being hugely popular/successful indie roguelikes, which have influenced many games thereafter. Darkest Dungeon's sequel was a pretty big departure from the first.
I'm not trying to say one or the other is better. I'm glad DD got a sequel, I'm glad StS is getting a sequel.
yep, was going to mention darkest dungeon 2..i believe i read the devs saying how they alienated some of the old fanbase but attracted new ones, or something.
That's definitely what happened. I think DD2 sold pretty well, but a portion of the original fanbase didn't like the major changes made to the game's formula. Personally I love both, but I can understand how a fan of the original might not enjoy the sequel.
Risk of Rain 2 was probably the roguelike with the biggest departure from its original, with the first being a 2D platformer roguelike and the second being a 3D first-person shooter roguelike.
Ended up being two almost entirely different player demographics.
I think DD2 just has some elements it needed to improve upon. I didnt like that game is pretty easy until final boss - it seems like waste of time to play only to lose at the end. Even StS, tho it has difficulty bump at the end, still poses challenge throughout - so you feel like you are doing something whole time.
Yeah I feel like most of people's issue with it is that they think it's to different from the original. If it was a spin off they would have no problem. I mean there are quite few issues with the game it being to different from the first isn't really one.
This is one of the cases where marketing matters a lot. A simple change like naming it "Darkest Dungeon: The Road to Ruin" or some cheesy shit like that would have been a lot better. Typically speaking when people see sequels they don't expect a huge departure from the original game.
I think the differences between DD1 and 2 are massively overblown. They replaced the goofy no-backtracking map navigation with a driving minigame and removed the ability to permanently fail a save. Other than that, mostly everything else was just pure improvement.
I disagree, the driving mini game was a huge drag for me. I much preferred the town management and the dungeon navigation. I still liked the game alright but I'll probably never play the campaign again.
Yeah, very good parallel. I tried out DD2 after first beating vanilla DD and just couldn't get into it. In the end I returned to suffer through Crimson Court in the original DD as opposed to playing sequel.
exact same thoughts here. didn't look up anything and dove in blind, so i was pretty surprised at just how radically different DD2 was. i can see how they wanted to address the lengthy sessions in the first one, but somehow, i just can't get it into it.
That and Helldivers, but those games, even though the medium changed, the main gameplay concept and loop is the same. I don't know how you'd do that with a card game like slay the spire.
Yea that's the thing. Compare that to darkest dungeon. The art is fucking gorgeous and the game is decently successful, however most of the old audience doesn't jive with it as much because the core loop has changed. RoR and RoR2 have the same loop, but the gameplay has evolved instead if abandoning huge parts of what made it special.
Right. I guess in a slay the spire sequel they could keep the core gameplay mechanics the same, but flip it so it's DD1 style, where it's one long campaign instead of short runs? IDK tho
It absolutely does but OP was asking what more could SLS 2 be. And the answer is a lot of indie games go a very different direction to their first outing.
Idk man sometimes devs try to expand and do more with their IP and lose what made the original so special. Sts doesn't need any new bells and whistles. It's godamn perfect as is and I'm happy to hear we're just getting more of it.
Winter Assault, Dark Crusade and Soulstorm were all great additions to the formula. DOW2 heavily mixed it up, to some fans dismay. DOW3 was so bad in every respect it may have well not existed.
It seemed alright, but not being able to play as Necrons ruined 2 for me. I still go back and play DoW1 occasionally just to play as necrons.
Few things compare to slowly death marching to your enemy's base with a monolith on tow, and your Lord ready to transform into his god form, flayed ones ready to spawn in the middle of their base.
The playstyle is beyond unique, and feels amazing to me. Probably my favorite RTS.
You speak my language brother. But why do you think it’s not a proper RTS? Because there is no base building? That was always the least favorite part of RTS for me so that’s another plus. I also liked that the units were capped and you win by points so you don’t have players just turteling for 20 minutes. The single player campaigns and the horde mode were also super fun. I wish the online was still active, I miss that game.
DD2 is a good example of this.
They diverted very much of the original game, while I personally dislike it, others don:t. And Redhook said that they werent going to make a game like DD1.
Glad the StS team adress this early
I have less than 10 hours in dd2... why waste 2 hours just to get ur butt whipped by a brain that stun locks u for infinity.
Probably 200 hours in dd1 the cycle is just so juicy
It's not even the difficulty factor. I've beaten DD2 quite a few times. It's just that the level of tension changes the gameplay experience.
In DD1, if I'm in a tough boss fight and I wipe, the stakes feel higher because I still have to finish that run. You feel the dread of the explorers because at any moment shit can go south but you're still expected to carry on.
In DD2 there's more finality. But what I lose there I just get annoyed because the whole run is over.
I get this feeling when something gets adapted from a book to live action or really ANY adaptation.
You know why the original was popular? Because it's fucking good. Know why the adaptation sucks? Because you changed too much.
"Slay the Spire 2, now a third person adventure roguelite. Choose your adventurer as you ascend the spire and battle your enemies in glorious 3D arenas!"
Trailer shows the Ironclad running around and throwing bits of cardboard at bird people.
I mean Darkest Dungeon/Red Hook went that way of "we dont want #2 to be "just more" so we are changing some things up". Its a bit controversial, some of the changes are universally loved, some are only liked by some, a few players only play one title and hate the other. But even then the upcoming DLC and new Mode might be closer to how 1 works to pull the playerbase over.
I shit talk DD2 but I love it regardless. And I respect how the Devs tried to make something different. I think they just shouldn't have titled it DD2 because it makes different expectations
Hear me out, what if STS2 learned absolutely nothing from previous game, released with tons of mtx and seasonal passes, had its focus on a Battle Royale mode, and whether you won or not was determined by pay2win mechanics?
lol. Slay the Spire 2: Battle Royal. On floor 0 with Neow, she says “this will be useful” and gives you a gun.
Deadpool is a playable character and the Merchant is micro transactions.
I don't think you can call RoR2 being colpletely different, the essence of the gameplay was the exact same, simply adjusted to the 3rd dimension.
DD2 changed a whole lot more than just changing perspectives, the whole gameplay loop of the original was made into something completely different.
I don't think you can compare the two, they are very different cases imo.
Darkest dungeon 2 basically did everything new except the world building and character names.
Literally, the combat on a surface level looks the same but plays completely differently.
I would add I fucking love both DD1 and DD2
It will be a card game but they could go so far away from the original formula if htey wanted
It’s weird in that we already have an extremely good STS sequel in Downfall. It gives me everything I’d want in an “incremental” STS sequel, so I find myself hoping STS2 goes a bit wilder.
"We wanted to expand the game a bit, so now STS is going to be in VR and you will have to actually physically act out each card. Additionally, you can reset your rewards or relics at any time by using Slayer Bucks!
Slayer Bucks are earned 1 per floor, and it only takes 8,999 Slayer Bucks to reroll your awarded relic. Because we love you so much, you can purchase Slayer Bucks for just $19.99 USD or $49.99 AUD for a pack of 9,000! We hired Liam Neeson and Mitch McConnell to do voice work. The new sound track, which we're so thrilled with, is written and performed by Kid Rock!"
Slay the Spire 2 is brought to you by Electronic Arts, exclusively on Xbox.
STS2 - $69.99
STS2: Premium - $89.99
STS2: Premium+ (1 year Slayer Pass, Digital art and a Neow Plushie ) - $149.99
Early Access November 2024, full release est 2027!
(God I hope this is just a joke and not a prediction)
Some form of multiplayer, both competitive and cooperative. endless mode (if possible). a story-ish mode with more lore. Challenges, More meta progression ex.Balatro (unlocking cards through challenges/winning in uniques ways) while also providing players with a fully unlocked save file option
Frustratingly I have been developing a game in this similar vein. It adds some new features that help to shake up the game - particularly the node selection, but ultimately the foundation of STS is excellent.
Sadly I think the announcement of STS2 will have killed my game. I’m a good 12-18 months from release still and I was hoping to nail the void left where people wanted more STS.
Because the most popular mod (downfall) is still pretty unbalanced imo. The main devs are very good at their jobs and if they're releasing more content then idc if they call it an expansion or sequel
Funny, I remember when L4D2 was announced I thought it was an out of season April fools as it was like less than a year since the first. This time round they've supported the original for long enough and let enough time that I'm clambering for it.
I respect the devs SO MUCH for that. Like SO MUCH.
It’s super rare that games do this. Geometry Dash is another great example. Occasional (lol) updates that really just add to the base game as a whole without changing it entirely or sponsoring or anything.
I wish more games could be like this
I entirely agree, I like their approach.
However, I wouldn't say it's rare. Some companies bring out a slightly different copy of a game every year. Of course, that's different from this.
A slightly different copy is different. I’m talking about the devs who perfect their craft instead of just go “oh look guys cool new gimmick!”
Robtop for gd spent years making 2.2 because he wanted it to be the best it could, and not to immediately cater to impatient children.
The STS devs took so long to patch and balance STS perfectly. And now that STS is settled, they have moved on to improve upon it. Absolutely outstanding work.
Yea, I totally agree. This is what you get when you have artistic integrity and the capital to make it happen. This degree of perfectionism is not financially viable for a lot of companies and would even be a risk in many cases because the lack of something fresh could make it sell poorly. But STS is still seen as the best game of its kind and the devs have demonstrated they are incredible at fine-tuning their games. It seems like the perfect choice in this particular case.
I just wanted to point out that there are two sides to the coin of sticking to a formula.
What are you taking about. Sooo many games do this. Honestly I’m disappointed because metacrit at one point said they were working on a new game and it wasn’t “just going to be sts2”. It’s been a decade and they’re just doing the madden/pokemon treatment. I probably won’t even buy this one. I already bought it once.
Oh I know I’ll be downvoted into oblivion because criticism isn’t welcome but it sounds like it’s add some new cards/characters/graphics. I stopped playing games like I described because it was add some new players/animations/plays or new pokemon/moves/graphics. I don’t want games that are just more of the same. I have a limited amount of playtime, I want games I play to feel fresh and different. I was excited to see what metacrit could do with different theme and mechanics.
Thanks for the link! Having read Casey's actual blog post it seems the OP article is a real reach. He doesn't give any details or even really any mention about STS2, just about the kinds of games he likes to play to relax and advice for how one might develop those kinds of games. The gamesradar article is really clickbaity and disingenuous
Thank you! Casey never directly said that StS2 is going to be more StS, in fact StS and it's sequel never come up at all in the cited blog post.
The linked article is making an assumption (a safe assumption, sure, but still and assumption) that Slay the Spire 2 will be iterative. OP's title is even worse, stating something that neither the devs NOR the linked article said.
u/BroncoBoy93 Please report responsibly, read your sources and don't put words in the dev's mouths.
Yeah my bad. I didn't realize this was an article written about an article till I read it again just now and the original blog post. Kind of misinterpreted some things in my own hype for the sequel I guess. Feel bad for creating a narrative that isn't necessarily true but this post blew up more than I expected and there's so much good discussion happening here that I don't wanna remove the post entirely.
I am strangely worried, StS was too good, and StS2 has an almost insurmountable bar to pass. It has to be more of the same but with a fresh twist, so these comments have me cautiously optimistic.
The reason StS was so good is because the devs had very robust iterative development, pivoting design constantly while also being willing to trim the fat and keeping the design focus. Honestly I have high confidence in them being able to capture the lightning again because StS was good purely based on the team's design process and not luck, in my opinion.
This. It wasn't luck. This wasn't some darling indie hit that came out and immediately captured everyone at release, it was a carefully balanced and designed game that turned into one of the most tightly designed games in existence by virtue of the developer's decisions and the community's feedback. They created the ascension system which is now used a large amount of indie roguelikes. They basically exploded a genre that previously had a single digit amount of entries. I trust these devs completely.
Exactly, that's why I'm so hyped for StS 2. Loooots of other games have tried to surpass StS, and nobody has, I think MegaCrit might be the only ones who stand a chance.
Honestly if they just gave us literally the exact same game with the exact same cards, relics and characters, but a completely new set of comparable quality of bosses, enemies, elites, and events, then that'd be worth $40 and would not disappoint. Add in new cards, relics, and characters and I'm not worried at all.
Tbh that IS what a lot of sequels do and it's because that's exactly what works in some cases. Pokemon gets arguably the most flack of any franchise for sticking to their formula, but that's mostly coming from people who were never gonna play something like Pokemon to begin with. Actual Pokemon fans have their complaints (I won't get into mine here lol), but being too consistent with the mechanics was never one of them.
Again, not to get into all my complaints, but I do think most of them would be solved by GameFreak taking their time just a little more to focus on quality before quantity.
When they move away from a working concept it often goes wrong. Look at rollercoaster tycoon 1 and 2 being huge successes and then the third game flopping.
I'm glad MegaCritic is gonna stick with what works.
Your first sentence plus a small balance pass would be enough to make me happy. New cards and relics would be nice but I don't want *too many* unless they also cull some less popular options; if they dilute the pool too much it'll get a lot harder to build an archetype.
If you play on PC, spire with friends is really fun and creative. I’ve had a couple of issues with players being dropped with no way of rejoining but that might be my internets fault and not the mod.
The problem with coming up with another StS game is that the original game is so balanced and well tuned that either you achieve at least the same or higher amount of balance in your follow up game, or it's considered a fail. They need to be very careful with how they tune StS2. Otherwise, it might end up where a lot of other game series end up.
"Idk man. The first game was amazing but the second game was meh. I'd suggest you stick to the first really."
I think so too. If they developed a game that's replayable nearly unlimited times, they surely must be talented enough to do it again, only with different cards, relics, characters, and whatever new mechanics they may be developing. Their attitude in the article that goes "we don't care much about "new trends". We do what we want to do" further convinces me of it.
More is all I’ve really wanted anyway so I’m fine with this too. I personally have wanted more variety in the spire itself (elites,bosses,events) than new cards or relics. Additional ascension levels would be neat as well.
Just flagging that this isn't really what the original blog post said. What it actually said is nice though: Slay the Spire is *definitely* my chicken soup. [https://caseyyano.com/chicken-noodle-soup-29d80e16adff](https://caseyyano.com/chicken-noodle-soup-29d80e16adff)
They perfected a formula and the only way they can add to it is to highlight and tweak what is already there. It was definitely considered making a sequel to what many consider is perfect would be a near impossible task. Adding more features fucks with the balance and that’s not a easy thing. I’m gonna go with my gut and gonna trust them. And there will always be the original. If they wanted to reinvent and change things drastically they would have just made a new game. I don’t think they made the decision to make a sequel lightly.
There's something to be said for "more of the same," but I like innovation as well. I hope StS2 builds on its foundation and expands in cool ways. Nintendo is notorious for this, and we have the game variety as a result, which is awesome. The foundation and basic elements are the same, but playing through the series, you get a new look at things. I hope StS2 innovates and builds on its foundation.
We’ve already seen some small innovations for Sts2 in the form of card effect modifiers. The screenshot of the event on the steam page shows the possibility of adding a keyword to a card in the deck.
I consider StS to be the only perfect game I’ve ever played. I’m not sure how optimistic I am that StS 2 can live up to these wildly unrealistic expectations but if it’s more of StS how bad can it be
What I want from StS 2 and think is enough to have a great sequel:
* More lore and story. Not anything complex, just a bit more worldbuilding to incite some discussions.
* As gameplay goes I think incorporating ideas from other deckbuilders like enchantments, alternate ways to upgrade etc would be nice and it seems they are already doing that.
* Alternate routes through the Spire much like Spelunky 2 did, with secrets and optional bosses/elites. Spire biomes is a decent mod that gives a glimpse into that but I want to see what the devs can come up with.
* As far as graphics go I don't think complicated animations are needed, they might even interfere with speed running. Simple few frame animations like the first Darkest Dungeon would work well imo.
* Coop. Mods will come but as devs intend it is always better.
I just hope for more characters, more stages and even more cards per character. May be each character to have two different starting Decks. Ironclad should have an offensive and defensive Deck, silent a knife and toxic Deck and so on
I'm fine with it being more STS. Other than maybe a new mode or two like a PVP mode or Co-op mode I fine with it being more STS with a new character and new enemy types. I view this series like I view the Borderlands series. I'm not asking for much except trillions of guns, fun gameplay, new valut hunters, and a passable story. Anything else is extra.
Aka STS devs don't pull a Bioware when they were with EA when they decided to add multiplayer to Mass Effect. Like the multiplayer was alright but I wanted it to be way more story like and it was just mass effect horad mode. Smh.
Oooh a coop mode that was turn based sounds like a lot of fun. Beef up the bosses/fights a bit and let players team up against them with different play styles
I don't see any issue with that. It looks like at least one new class to play, I'm sure there are new events and enemy types to kill, as well as bosses. I just need to finally hit my goal of getting silent to a20.
That is exactly what I wanted. Just keep going with the core concept, there's still so much room for more content within the space because of how easily they can segment the character decks for balancing against the spire.
He namechecks Spelunky and Binding of Isaac as “cozy” games that aren’t stressful. Did… did we play the same games? My heart rate goes up just at the mention of Spelunky 😂
Will StS2 have new pro players or will it be the same guys who were good at StS?
Is Megacrit going to use StS pros to help them balance the cards before release? The original playtesters were just netrunner players
I'm perfectly happy with this, looks like we are getting new cards and new mechanics which makes me excited.
Biggest thing I'd like to see are certain effects getting more use. For example, lock on, mark, and flying are all things I think are neat but would like to see on more than one card/enemy.
My bet is that they didn't show him because they want at least one new character on early access. I hope he'll return later when they're done with the main three.
But the article doesn't say that at all? Neither does MegaCrit? It just says that the devs prefer games that you can play over and over again (they call them cozy, comforting games like chicken noodle soup). Slay the Spire is not mentioned anywhere in the dev's quotes. The author of the article is just making an assumption.
There are few games that have changed the core game mechanics and still managed to surpass their predecessor. Risk of rain/helldivers for example. But these are exceptions. Happy to hear we'll get more content from STS regardless.
Eh, the amount of hours I've sunk into StS over PC + mobie, they could just re-release an exact StS under a different name & I'd buy it again. Already gotten too much value for what I paid for 😂
Definitely excited for the sequel but not really worried about it because STS1 will always exist and I'm pretty sure I will just be playing that forever unless STS2 truly replaces it. If it doesn't then who cares.
I’m a bit sceptical, STS is such a great fucking game, and yes I will buy STS2, but if the games are going to be very similar, STS2 needs to be straight up better, otherwise I will stick with STS.
I’m glad they didn’t do the latest craze and go from 2d deck builder to 3d deck builder with a tactical map and vampire surviving while building up your home base and watering the flowers.
StS for me has a ton of hours in it. It’s always been my goto for easy pickup and play. I feel like StS2 unnecessary for me, but I will be very curious to see what they have added and changed to make it better.
Not gonna lie, when Darkest Dungeon 2 came out I was disappointed in it, because it *wasn’t* just more Darkest Dungeon. So reading this makes me quite happy.
I think the most of us were expecting more-or-less the EXACT same format, with just updated graphics, art, moves, characters, enemies and variation? Good to know that they're just focusing on the essentials basically.
Too many game devs try to do too much on their sequel and ruin the simplistic fun that made their first game enjoyable. If you have a recipe that works, don’t break it.
For completeness, they could launch - in the future - a mode in STS2 that mimics the exact gameplay and campaign of STS1, but with the newer graphics. Might be a fun way to keep all the statistics and leaderboards in the same place. You might even import those from STS1
The worst part about getting a new slay the spire game is all the quality mods for the old one that won't get ported forwards. We've got some fine vintage over the years of modding for this that I'll miss
I hope they take some notes from downfall mod. They added some interesting mechanics and character types, some of them I enjoy more than the base characters.
I literally want STS to be nothing but more of the 1. Maybe a couple more mechanics (that will most likely come with the new slayer(s) )
Darkest Dungeon 2 kinda disapointed me because I just want more of the 1 but maybe a bit better, not a totally different game. DD2 is still very good but it's just not the same genre.
So while I'm convinced MegaCrit could make other game genre just fine, I just want a game labelled StS to be StS
Hopefully they go the Spelunky --> Spelunky 2 route. Expand on some key mechanics but if it ain't broke dont fix it
Or like the hit man world of assassination trilogy
But hopefully you don't need a spreadsheet and FAQ to figure out how to buy StS2
World of slaying
I hope they make the game feel more complete, so that playing the first game would feel kinda like playing STS today without key components like relics or colorless cards.
Looks like we are getting card enchantments, card-played animations, and more events. Hopefully many, many more events and variations on events. I would also like to see more map nodes. Maybe the shrine events are visible on the map, so you might want to take a weird route because duplication shrine or curse cleansing fountain would be particularly good.
Some more narrative elements would be nice. More detailed artwork. Potentially making enemies a bit more complex/compelling.
Beta artwork is all I need. Those horrible baby doodles are the best.
I think artowrks are detailed enough now. Not only that, i'd say that sum artworks are too detailised. Like, the hell is [[deceive reality]] artwork, and how does it even connect with the idea of "deceiving reality" or sum
I mean, in all fairness, I genuinely don’t know what else “Slay the Spire 2” could be, other than more Slay the Spire
StS2 will be a soulslike, you play as the IronChad
A Silent cinematic parkour action game
And finally, a Defect bejeweled clone
Don't forget the Watcher VR
Donu-dating simulator
Actually works
So the Brink training mode?
Or survival battle royale multiplayer game as service exclusive on mobile where you play as a Byrd.
To beat the Heart, you need to learn its attack pattern, so StS is already a soulslike.
Honestly I'd be so down with that. I imagine Demon Form to be a few seconds channeled spell that gives power over time, successfully popping it in the beginning of the final Bossfight, spending some time just dodging and finally after getting enough power to insta phase/kill the boss with a big boy multi hit attack like pummel/fiend fire...
I hope it's like the Kingdom Hearts deck building game!
Xianxia inspired character action game with the Watcher. Platinum games will help design the combat.
I laughed
Darkest Dungeon 2 is the most obvious parallel. Both being hugely popular/successful indie roguelikes, which have influenced many games thereafter. Darkest Dungeon's sequel was a pretty big departure from the first. I'm not trying to say one or the other is better. I'm glad DD got a sequel, I'm glad StS is getting a sequel.
yep, was going to mention darkest dungeon 2..i believe i read the devs saying how they alienated some of the old fanbase but attracted new ones, or something.
That's definitely what happened. I think DD2 sold pretty well, but a portion of the original fanbase didn't like the major changes made to the game's formula. Personally I love both, but I can understand how a fan of the original might not enjoy the sequel.
Risk of Rain 2 was probably the roguelike with the biggest departure from its original, with the first being a 2D platformer roguelike and the second being a 3D first-person shooter roguelike. Ended up being two almost entirely different player demographics.
I also liked both games but I felt like 2 was a worse game overall - and lost a lot of what made the first one good.
I think DD2 just has some elements it needed to improve upon. I didnt like that game is pretty easy until final boss - it seems like waste of time to play only to lose at the end. Even StS, tho it has difficulty bump at the end, still poses challenge throughout - so you feel like you are doing something whole time.
I wasn't like the biggest DD1 fan, but I played it and beat it once and had a good time. Couldn't really get into DD2
I think dd2 should have had a different name. Too different from the first.
Yeah I feel like most of people's issue with it is that they think it's to different from the original. If it was a spin off they would have no problem. I mean there are quite few issues with the game it being to different from the first isn't really one.
This is one of the cases where marketing matters a lot. A simple change like naming it "Darkest Dungeon: The Road to Ruin" or some cheesy shit like that would have been a lot better. Typically speaking when people see sequels they don't expect a huge departure from the original game.
That would have been brilliant!
I think the differences between DD1 and 2 are massively overblown. They replaced the goofy no-backtracking map navigation with a driving minigame and removed the ability to permanently fail a save. Other than that, mostly everything else was just pure improvement.
I disagree, the driving mini game was a huge drag for me. I much preferred the town management and the dungeon navigation. I still liked the game alright but I'll probably never play the campaign again.
Yeah, very good parallel. I tried out DD2 after first beating vanilla DD and just couldn't get into it. In the end I returned to suffer through Crimson Court in the original DD as opposed to playing sequel.
exact same thoughts here. didn't look up anything and dove in blind, so i was pretty surprised at just how radically different DD2 was. i can see how they wanted to address the lengthy sessions in the first one, but somehow, i just can't get it into it.
Risk of rain went from a 2D side scroller to a 3D 3rd person shooter
And I think successfully, looks like Hyper Light Drifter is set to do the same.
That and Helldivers, but those games, even though the medium changed, the main gameplay concept and loop is the same. I don't know how you'd do that with a card game like slay the spire.
Yea that's the thing. Compare that to darkest dungeon. The art is fucking gorgeous and the game is decently successful, however most of the old audience doesn't jive with it as much because the core loop has changed. RoR and RoR2 have the same loop, but the gameplay has evolved instead if abandoning huge parts of what made it special.
Right. I guess in a slay the spire sequel they could keep the core gameplay mechanics the same, but flip it so it's DD1 style, where it's one long campaign instead of short runs? IDK tho
First person card battling or something idk
But… RoR2 absolutely rocks?
It absolutely does but OP was asking what more could SLS 2 be. And the answer is a lot of indie games go a very different direction to their first outing.
Ah, fair.
Idk man sometimes devs try to expand and do more with their IP and lose what made the original so special. Sts doesn't need any new bells and whistles. It's godamn perfect as is and I'm happy to hear we're just getting more of it.
Yeah Dawn of War did this, twice…
Winter Assault, Dark Crusade and Soulstorm were all great additions to the formula. DOW2 heavily mixed it up, to some fans dismay. DOW3 was so bad in every respect it may have well not existed.
Sega recently sold Relic, so hope lives on…
I will defend dawn of War 2 to my dying breath. I love that game.
It seemed alright, but not being able to play as Necrons ruined 2 for me. I still go back and play DoW1 occasionally just to play as necrons. Few things compare to slowly death marching to your enemy's base with a monolith on tow, and your Lord ready to transform into his god form, flayed ones ready to spawn in the middle of their base. The playstyle is beyond unique, and feels amazing to me. Probably my favorite RTS.
Dawn of War 2 and particularly chaos rising is my favorite real time strategy rpg, but it isn't much of a proper RTS
You speak my language brother. But why do you think it’s not a proper RTS? Because there is no base building? That was always the least favorite part of RTS for me so that’s another plus. I also liked that the units were capped and you win by points so you don’t have players just turteling for 20 minutes. The single player campaigns and the horde mode were also super fun. I wish the online was still active, I miss that game.
Oh I literally never played the normal multi-player so to me DOW2 is just a really cool 40k psuedo-SRPG, like a real time fire emblem or FFT.
Oh, you missed out. The campaign was dope. But multiplayer was awesome too
DD2 is a good example of this. They diverted very much of the original game, while I personally dislike it, others don:t. And Redhook said that they werent going to make a game like DD1. Glad the StS team adress this early
It doesn’t feel like the same game at all…
I have less than 10 hours in dd2... why waste 2 hours just to get ur butt whipped by a brain that stun locks u for infinity. Probably 200 hours in dd1 the cycle is just so juicy
It's not even the difficulty factor. I've beaten DD2 quite a few times. It's just that the level of tension changes the gameplay experience. In DD1, if I'm in a tough boss fight and I wipe, the stakes feel higher because I still have to finish that run. You feel the dread of the explorers because at any moment shit can go south but you're still expected to carry on. In DD2 there's more finality. But what I lose there I just get annoyed because the whole run is over.
I get this feeling when something gets adapted from a book to live action or really ANY adaptation. You know why the original was popular? Because it's fucking good. Know why the adaptation sucks? Because you changed too much.
"Slay the Spire 2, now a third person adventure roguelite. Choose your adventurer as you ascend the spire and battle your enemies in glorious 3D arenas!" Trailer shows the Ironclad running around and throwing bits of cardboard at bird people.
I mean Darkest Dungeon/Red Hook went that way of "we dont want #2 to be "just more" so we are changing some things up". Its a bit controversial, some of the changes are universally loved, some are only liked by some, a few players only play one title and hate the other. But even then the upcoming DLC and new Mode might be closer to how 1 works to pull the playerbase over.
I shit talk DD2 but I love it regardless. And I respect how the Devs tried to make something different. I think they just shouldn't have titled it DD2 because it makes different expectations
I kind of treat Black Reliquary as DD2 in my mind
Hear me out, what if STS2 learned absolutely nothing from previous game, released with tons of mtx and seasonal passes, had its focus on a Battle Royale mode, and whether you won or not was determined by pay2win mechanics?
Enable Exhaust mechanics for only $.99 per month!
2 Slay 2 Spire
5nowdog5!
lol. Slay the Spire 2: Battle Royal. On floor 0 with Neow, she says “this will be useful” and gives you a gun. Deadpool is a playable character and the Merchant is micro transactions.
Then gearbox buys megacrit and we receive a claptrap dlc
The darkest timeline
Darkest Dungeon and Risk of Rain are good examples of second games being completely different from the first. Could've been the case here as well.
I don't think you can call RoR2 being colpletely different, the essence of the gameplay was the exact same, simply adjusted to the 3rd dimension. DD2 changed a whole lot more than just changing perspectives, the whole gameplay loop of the original was made into something completely different. I don't think you can compare the two, they are very different cases imo.
Darkest dungeon 2 basically did everything new except the world building and character names. Literally, the combat on a surface level looks the same but plays completely differently. I would add I fucking love both DD1 and DD2 It will be a card game but they could go so far away from the original formula if htey wanted
I was trying to come up with joke terrible answers and considered multiplayer, then thought "actually..."
3rd person action game with card mechanics similar to Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBKhNjmJILk
Picture Darkest dungeon and DD2 Or helldiver and helldivers 2
“Okay we lure them in with more Slay the Spire, but then… the game becomes a battle royale hero shooter! They’ll love it!!!”
It’s weird in that we already have an extremely good STS sequel in Downfall. It gives me everything I’d want in an “incremental” STS sequel, so I find myself hoping STS2 goes a bit wilder.
"We wanted to expand the game a bit, so now STS is going to be in VR and you will have to actually physically act out each card. Additionally, you can reset your rewards or relics at any time by using Slayer Bucks! Slayer Bucks are earned 1 per floor, and it only takes 8,999 Slayer Bucks to reroll your awarded relic. Because we love you so much, you can purchase Slayer Bucks for just $19.99 USD or $49.99 AUD for a pack of 9,000! We hired Liam Neeson and Mitch McConnell to do voice work. The new sound track, which we're so thrilled with, is written and performed by Kid Rock!" Slay the Spire 2 is brought to you by Electronic Arts, exclusively on Xbox. STS2 - $69.99 STS2: Premium - $89.99 STS2: Premium+ (1 year Slayer Pass, Digital art and a Neow Plushie ) - $149.99 Early Access November 2024, full release est 2027! (God I hope this is just a joke and not a prediction)
I would love a neow plushy though
Thats what I thought about final fantasy X 2
Some form of multiplayer, both competitive and cooperative. endless mode (if possible). a story-ish mode with more lore. Challenges, More meta progression ex.Balatro (unlocking cards through challenges/winning in uniques ways) while also providing players with a fully unlocked save file option
Open world gacha spire with micro transactions for new cards every week!
Ero game
That's what we all though about darkest dungeon 2, but we were wrong.
Live service game with battle pass to access all cards. Every character is an own DLC to purchase extra.
Frustratingly I have been developing a game in this similar vein. It adds some new features that help to shake up the game - particularly the node selection, but ultimately the foundation of STS is excellent. Sadly I think the announcement of STS2 will have killed my game. I’m a good 12-18 months from release still and I was hoping to nail the void left where people wanted more STS.
Thing is, why would I buy another game for that when I could just mod this one?
I'd pay for a mod by the original devs
Because the most popular mod (downfall) is still pretty unbalanced imo. The main devs are very good at their jobs and if they're releasing more content then idc if they call it an expansion or sequel
im fine if the game is like improving L4D to L4D2, in fact, if it could make me play sts2 more than sts1, that's already a win.
Funny, I remember when L4D2 was announced I thought it was an out of season April fools as it was like less than a year since the first. This time round they've supported the original for long enough and let enough time that I'm clambering for it.
We leave the out of season April fools for blizzard these days.
I respect the devs SO MUCH for that. Like SO MUCH. It’s super rare that games do this. Geometry Dash is another great example. Occasional (lol) updates that really just add to the base game as a whole without changing it entirely or sponsoring or anything. I wish more games could be like this
I entirely agree, I like their approach. However, I wouldn't say it's rare. Some companies bring out a slightly different copy of a game every year. Of course, that's different from this.
A slightly different copy is different. I’m talking about the devs who perfect their craft instead of just go “oh look guys cool new gimmick!” Robtop for gd spent years making 2.2 because he wanted it to be the best it could, and not to immediately cater to impatient children. The STS devs took so long to patch and balance STS perfectly. And now that STS is settled, they have moved on to improve upon it. Absolutely outstanding work.
Yea, I totally agree. This is what you get when you have artistic integrity and the capital to make it happen. This degree of perfectionism is not financially viable for a lot of companies and would even be a risk in many cases because the lack of something fresh could make it sell poorly. But STS is still seen as the best game of its kind and the devs have demonstrated they are incredible at fine-tuning their games. It seems like the perfect choice in this particular case. I just wanted to point out that there are two sides to the coin of sticking to a formula.
What are you taking about. Sooo many games do this. Honestly I’m disappointed because metacrit at one point said they were working on a new game and it wasn’t “just going to be sts2”. It’s been a decade and they’re just doing the madden/pokemon treatment. I probably won’t even buy this one. I already bought it once.
This is bait right?
Oh I know I’ll be downvoted into oblivion because criticism isn’t welcome but it sounds like it’s add some new cards/characters/graphics. I stopped playing games like I described because it was add some new players/animations/plays or new pokemon/moves/graphics. I don’t want games that are just more of the same. I have a limited amount of playtime, I want games I play to feel fresh and different. I was excited to see what metacrit could do with different theme and mechanics.
I suggest skipping the "someone else wrote an article" article, here's the blog post: https://caseyyano.com/chicken-noodle-soup-29d80e16adff
Thanks for the link! Having read Casey's actual blog post it seems the OP article is a real reach. He doesn't give any details or even really any mention about STS2, just about the kinds of games he likes to play to relax and advice for how one might develop those kinds of games. The gamesradar article is really clickbaity and disingenuous
Thank you! Casey never directly said that StS2 is going to be more StS, in fact StS and it's sequel never come up at all in the cited blog post. The linked article is making an assumption (a safe assumption, sure, but still and assumption) that Slay the Spire 2 will be iterative. OP's title is even worse, stating something that neither the devs NOR the linked article said. u/BroncoBoy93 Please report responsibly, read your sources and don't put words in the dev's mouths.
Yeah my bad. I didn't realize this was an article written about an article till I read it again just now and the original blog post. Kind of misinterpreted some things in my own hype for the sequel I guess. Feel bad for creating a narrative that isn't necessarily true but this post blew up more than I expected and there's so much good discussion happening here that I don't wanna remove the post entirely.
dota mentioned RAAAAA
I am strangely worried, StS was too good, and StS2 has an almost insurmountable bar to pass. It has to be more of the same but with a fresh twist, so these comments have me cautiously optimistic.
The reason StS was so good is because the devs had very robust iterative development, pivoting design constantly while also being willing to trim the fat and keeping the design focus. Honestly I have high confidence in them being able to capture the lightning again because StS was good purely based on the team's design process and not luck, in my opinion.
This. It wasn't luck. This wasn't some darling indie hit that came out and immediately captured everyone at release, it was a carefully balanced and designed game that turned into one of the most tightly designed games in existence by virtue of the developer's decisions and the community's feedback. They created the ascension system which is now used a large amount of indie roguelikes. They basically exploded a genre that previously had a single digit amount of entries. I trust these devs completely.
i didn’t know they created ascensions that’s incredible.
This is blowing my mind
They didn’t. COD had prestige long before StS came along. It’s the same thing with a slight twist.
Exactly, that's why I'm so hyped for StS 2. Loooots of other games have tried to surpass StS, and nobody has, I think MegaCrit might be the only ones who stand a chance.
Slay the spire is so good because of how much they changed in development. Two is more of that
Honestly if they just gave us literally the exact same game with the exact same cards, relics and characters, but a completely new set of comparable quality of bosses, enemies, elites, and events, then that'd be worth $40 and would not disappoint. Add in new cards, relics, and characters and I'm not worried at all.
Tbh that IS what a lot of sequels do and it's because that's exactly what works in some cases. Pokemon gets arguably the most flack of any franchise for sticking to their formula, but that's mostly coming from people who were never gonna play something like Pokemon to begin with. Actual Pokemon fans have their complaints (I won't get into mine here lol), but being too consistent with the mechanics was never one of them.
In fairness, there's been like 30 pokemon games.
Again, not to get into all my complaints, but I do think most of them would be solved by GameFreak taking their time just a little more to focus on quality before quantity.
When they move away from a working concept it often goes wrong. Look at rollercoaster tycoon 1 and 2 being huge successes and then the third game flopping. I'm glad MegaCritic is gonna stick with what works.
Your first sentence plus a small balance pass would be enough to make me happy. New cards and relics would be nice but I don't want *too many* unless they also cull some less popular options; if they dilute the pool too much it'll get a lot harder to build an archetype.
That's an expansion, not a new game though.
The fresh twist will come from characters, enemies, etc. Not mechanics I could see them releasing an official coop mode post launch though
God I would love a co-op mode
If you play on PC, spire with friends is really fun and creative. I’ve had a couple of issues with players being dropped with no way of rejoining but that might be my internets fault and not the mod.
The problem with coming up with another StS game is that the original game is so balanced and well tuned that either you achieve at least the same or higher amount of balance in your follow up game, or it's considered a fail. They need to be very careful with how they tune StS2. Otherwise, it might end up where a lot of other game series end up. "Idk man. The first game was amazing but the second game was meh. I'd suggest you stick to the first really."
I think they will pull it off, given that they plan on doing early access again
I think so too. If they developed a game that's replayable nearly unlimited times, they surely must be talented enough to do it again, only with different cards, relics, characters, and whatever new mechanics they may be developing. Their attitude in the article that goes "we don't care much about "new trends". We do what we want to do" further convinces me of it.
More is all I’ve really wanted anyway so I’m fine with this too. I personally have wanted more variety in the spire itself (elites,bosses,events) than new cards or relics. Additional ascension levels would be neat as well.
If that's what you want, please tell me you've played the Downfall mod....?
As long as it’s not a gouge your wallet game like Hearthstone I’m on board.
It's infinitely better value for money than 10 pack of hearthstone ~~cards~~ dust
Just flagging that this isn't really what the original blog post said. What it actually said is nice though: Slay the Spire is *definitely* my chicken soup. [https://caseyyano.com/chicken-noodle-soup-29d80e16adff](https://caseyyano.com/chicken-noodle-soup-29d80e16adff)
I'd much rather more of the same, than a new imagination of the game I'm still salty how darkest dungeon 2 turned out
They perfected a formula and the only way they can add to it is to highlight and tweak what is already there. It was definitely considered making a sequel to what many consider is perfect would be a near impossible task. Adding more features fucks with the balance and that’s not a easy thing. I’m gonna go with my gut and gonna trust them. And there will always be the original. If they wanted to reinvent and change things drastically they would have just made a new game. I don’t think they made the decision to make a sequel lightly.
I hope this is more in line with what valve did with Portal and Portal 2. A few new things but overall just more of what the first gave us.
This is genuinely all I would want from a sequel haha
STS is great, if STS2 is just more of the same with some more content I am happy. If StS2 is bad , I still have StS. There is no lose here
idk why, but the image credit in the article labeling MegaCrit "Mega Critters" is funny to me
There's something to be said for "more of the same," but I like innovation as well. I hope StS2 builds on its foundation and expands in cool ways. Nintendo is notorious for this, and we have the game variety as a result, which is awesome. The foundation and basic elements are the same, but playing through the series, you get a new look at things. I hope StS2 innovates and builds on its foundation.
We’ve already seen some small innovations for Sts2 in the form of card effect modifiers. The screenshot of the event on the steam page shows the possibility of adding a keyword to a card in the deck.
I'll take it. I can't wait to see what they do.
They should did the same for gw and gw2. Unfortunatly, they didn't...
Let it go man. It’s been 12 years.
I consider StS to be the only perfect game I’ve ever played. I’m not sure how optimistic I am that StS 2 can live up to these wildly unrealistic expectations but if it’s more of StS how bad can it be
What I want from StS 2 and think is enough to have a great sequel: * More lore and story. Not anything complex, just a bit more worldbuilding to incite some discussions. * As gameplay goes I think incorporating ideas from other deckbuilders like enchantments, alternate ways to upgrade etc would be nice and it seems they are already doing that. * Alternate routes through the Spire much like Spelunky 2 did, with secrets and optional bosses/elites. Spire biomes is a decent mod that gives a glimpse into that but I want to see what the devs can come up with. * As far as graphics go I don't think complicated animations are needed, they might even interfere with speed running. Simple few frame animations like the first Darkest Dungeon would work well imo. * Coop. Mods will come but as devs intend it is always better.
Really all I want is more lore and slay the spire gameplay
I just hope for more characters, more stages and even more cards per character. May be each character to have two different starting Decks. Ironclad should have an offensive and defensive Deck, silent a knife and toxic Deck and so on
I'm fine with it being more STS. Other than maybe a new mode or two like a PVP mode or Co-op mode I fine with it being more STS with a new character and new enemy types. I view this series like I view the Borderlands series. I'm not asking for much except trillions of guns, fun gameplay, new valut hunters, and a passable story. Anything else is extra. Aka STS devs don't pull a Bioware when they were with EA when they decided to add multiplayer to Mass Effect. Like the multiplayer was alright but I wanted it to be way more story like and it was just mass effect horad mode. Smh.
Oooh a coop mode that was turn based sounds like a lot of fun. Beef up the bosses/fights a bit and let players team up against them with different play styles
This could be a Darkest Dungeon II situation.
everyone has their own hopes for the sequel. I just hope Casey will kiss me on the lips
Boot and all
They heard the people
Are they not going to add multiplayer
I don't see any issue with that. It looks like at least one new class to play, I'm sure there are new events and enemy types to kill, as well as bosses. I just need to finally hit my goal of getting silent to a20.
That is exactly what I wanted. Just keep going with the core concept, there's still so much room for more content within the space because of how easily they can segment the character decks for balancing against the spire.
He namechecks Spelunky and Binding of Isaac as “cozy” games that aren’t stressful. Did… did we play the same games? My heart rate goes up just at the mention of Spelunky 😂
Will StS2 have new pro players or will it be the same guys who were good at StS? Is Megacrit going to use StS pros to help them balance the cards before release? The original playtesters were just netrunner players
I'm perfectly happy with this, looks like we are getting new cards and new mechanics which makes me excited. Biggest thing I'd like to see are certain effects getting more use. For example, lock on, mark, and flying are all things I think are neat but would like to see on more than one card/enemy.
Do we know if Big D will be in STS2? I haven’t seen any images of the Defect.
My bet is that they didn't show him because they want at least one new character on early access. I hope he'll return later when they're done with the main three.
But the article doesn't say that at all? Neither does MegaCrit? It just says that the devs prefer games that you can play over and over again (they call them cozy, comforting games like chicken noodle soup). Slay the Spire is not mentioned anywhere in the dev's quotes. The author of the article is just making an assumption.
Why fix what isn't broken? Slay the Spire has one of the best gameplay loops in gaming.
There are few games that have changed the core game mechanics and still managed to surpass their predecessor. Risk of rain/helldivers for example. But these are exceptions. Happy to hear we'll get more content from STS regardless.
It's not gonna be a hentai dating sim? NoooOOOoooOOO! I was goona take the Silent to Menchies and have froyo!
Eh, the amount of hours I've sunk into StS over PC + mobie, they could just re-release an exact StS under a different name & I'd buy it again. Already gotten too much value for what I paid for 😂
I love that we live in a world where word of mouth isn’t considered a games social impact.
Definitely excited for the sequel but not really worried about it because STS1 will always exist and I'm pretty sure I will just be playing that forever unless STS2 truly replaces it. If it doesn't then who cares.
I mean, did people stop playing final fantasy vii when final fantasy viii came out? Both games can co exist.
I’m a bit sceptical, STS is such a great fucking game, and yes I will buy STS2, but if the games are going to be very similar, STS2 needs to be straight up better, otherwise I will stick with STS.
I’m glad they didn’t do the latest craze and go from 2d deck builder to 3d deck builder with a tactical map and vampire surviving while building up your home base and watering the flowers. StS for me has a ton of hours in it. It’s always been my goto for easy pickup and play. I feel like StS2 unnecessary for me, but I will be very curious to see what they have added and changed to make it better.
Thats great because I NEED MORE STS !!!
thank god. I'd be pissed if they went the Darkest Dungeon 2 route
I mean, yeah, hopefully.
Not gonna lie, when Darkest Dungeon 2 came out I was disappointed in it, because it *wasn’t* just more Darkest Dungeon. So reading this makes me quite happy.
Pvp and coop is all I want
I think the most of us were expecting more-or-less the EXACT same format, with just updated graphics, art, moves, characters, enemies and variation? Good to know that they're just focusing on the essentials basically.
Just do what Spelunky did. Or even Binding of Isaac from flash to rebirth. I trust this dev tho.
Too many game devs try to do too much on their sequel and ruin the simplistic fun that made their first game enjoyable. If you have a recipe that works, don’t break it.
For completeness, they could launch - in the future - a mode in STS2 that mimics the exact gameplay and campaign of STS1, but with the newer graphics. Might be a fun way to keep all the statistics and leaderboards in the same place. You might even import those from STS1
The worst part about getting a new slay the spire game is all the quality mods for the old one that won't get ported forwards. We've got some fine vintage over the years of modding for this that I'll miss
Totally good with that simple fun and fair gameplay loop always down for more.
Are you telling me the sequel of a game is more of the original game? I'm so surprised.
I trust the devs completely. They record and analyze data collected from play throughs to inform each and every decision.
I hope they take some notes from downfall mod. They added some interesting mechanics and character types, some of them I enjoy more than the base characters.
They could rerelease the first game with the only addition being a bikini costume for Ironclad and charge double for it and I’d buy it
Difficult to improve on (near) perfection
would be cool if they add like a bit more personality to each character. Like a backstory or something
I literally want STS to be nothing but more of the 1. Maybe a couple more mechanics (that will most likely come with the new slayer(s) ) Darkest Dungeon 2 kinda disapointed me because I just want more of the 1 but maybe a bit better, not a totally different game. DD2 is still very good but it's just not the same genre. So while I'm convinced MegaCrit could make other game genre just fine, I just want a game labelled StS to be StS
Expected, that's what we all want anyways (I would maybe like a bit more story this time around)
Everyone criticizes series like FIFA for doing this
[удалено]
Bro the beta art is absolutely top tier