Despite a rough patch of player negativity in March, Slay the Spire 2‘s future sounds more exciting than ever based on what the developers of the deckbuilder are saying about the game. Some things in store, like new characters, are obvious. More surprising are the three different modes that Mega Crit is sketching out during early access.
In a lengthy interview with PC Gamer, Mega Crit co-founder Casey Yano dished on all things Slay the Spire 2. Yano comments on recent events, like the way some newer team members were apparently taken aback by the fan backlash to a card tweak. There are also fun tidbits in the interview, like the fact that Ironclad and the Regent are generally tied when it comes to win rates. Yano also reveals that he’s a fan of the controversial Snakebite card, and suggests that other people just haven’t figured it out yet.
The juiciest parts of the interview, however, are also its vaguest.
“There are three specific things I have in mind,” Yano told PC Gamer, in reference to potential new modes.
Yano continued, “the first one is a mode that is meant for people who want to play in a very competitive fashion. The second is for people who want the Slay the Spire experience, but not have the time to do so. And the third one is, what if there were other ways to interact in a social or a multiplayer kind of setting, with the current systems that exist today?”
Yano does caution that, while Mega Crit has sketched out specific design ideas for these modes, the studio is still experimenting. “We don’t wanna just make a bunch of things and be like, here’s 25 game modes!”
In terms of new characters, Yano was similarly vague on what players can expect — but he did describe how Mega Crit approaches the challenge. The creator emphasized that the studio doesn’t come up with general character ideas and then tries to find mechanics to work with that concept. Instead, the team applies a more design-oriented, mechanics-based approach and then tries to conceptualize a potential card pool for the archetype. While it sounds like the designers are in the thick of making more characters, Yano is hesitant to describe any of them. The developer notes that, in the past, Mega Crit has sometimes toyed with a character idea for a long time only to cut it. But if players can expect one thing, it’s characters with more complexity.
“I think we’re going to be looking at a slightly stranger character than the original,” Yano says.
The full interview is worth watching here.