The highly anticipated sequel to one of the best Roguelikes ever just hit Steam Early Access and is already blowing up

Slay the Spire 2 is finally out in Steam Early Access, and it's already proving to be a big hit with gamers. Slay the Spire 2The Steam release has been long overdue, and the sequel was only announced in April 2024.

Originally released in January 2019 after its own entry into Steam Early Access, the first Kill the scepter is widely considered to be one of the best roguelikes ever made. For the unaware, Kill the scepter is a villainous deck builder that sees players choose a specific character with predetermined abilities and attempt to beat each floor of an ascending tower using the cards and items they discover along the way. Kill the scepter was a major critical and commercial success, with developer Mega Crit confirming that 1.5 million copies had been sold as of March 2019, and the game received a Top Critic Average of 89 on OpenCritic.

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You've probably never heard of the top-rated Steam RPG of 2026

This year's top-rated RPG sits alongside Resident Evil Requiem and Pokemon Pokopia, but it hasn't received the same fanfare as them.

Slay the Spire 2 is doing big numbers on Steam

Image via Mega Crit

Achieved an all-time peak play of 282,314 on launch day

Seven years after its predecessor hit the front page of Steam, Slay the Spire 2 is here to continue his legacy. This sequel brings two brand new characters to the table, along with a host of new cards and items, new lore elements, new enemies and bosses, and a new 4-player co-op mode. The long-awaited sequel also features more detailed animations and a more vibrant art style.

Despite launching in early access, Slay the Spire 2 has already passed an incredible milestone in terms of player count. According to tracking site SteamDB, Kill the scepter 2 currently has a record time of 282,314 players, which the game achieved at 11:00 PM ET on launch day, March 5th. At the time of writing (4:00 a.m. ET), Slay the Spire 2 has an active player count of 249,728. According to SteamDB, Slay the Spire 2 is currently the fourth most played game on Steam, below Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2and just a little under PUBG: Battlegrounds. At the time of writing, Slay the Spire 2 has more active players than Rust, Arc Raiders, Apex Legendsand Resident Evil Requiem.

In just one day, Slay the Spire 2 have managed to bring in more than four times as many players as their predecessor did during their prime. The original Kill the scepter had a peak 24-hour player count of 33,086 on its first day of early access launch in February 2018. When it fully launched on Steam in February 2019, it had a peak player count of just 12,442. Kill the scepterThe all-time player peak actually occurred well after launch, bringing in 57,025 players as of December 2025. Slay the Spire 2 also set a new record for the roguelike genre on Steam, more than doubling the all-time top player count Mewgenics and Hades 2the previous record holders.

Given the game's early access nature, not many critics reviews of Slay the Spire 2 are currently available. That said, the sequel seems to have hit the mark with gamers, earning an “Overwhelmingly Positive” score from 6,731 Steam user reviews.

Slay the Spire 2 more than double the number of players

Slay the Spire 2 was just one of several big games coming to Steam on March 5th, with one of the biggest probably being Bungie's Marathon. A first-person Sci-Fi extraction shooter, Marathon has had a rather tumultuous development, with Bungie delaying the game indefinitely after its closed alpha in April 2025. But Marathon is now officially out, and while day one player count is solid, especially for a paid live service game, it pales in comparison to Slay the Spire 2. Marathon achieved a peak play of 88,337 on day one, which is about 31% of Slay the Spire 2s peak player count.