The long-awaited sequel to one of the best roguelikes of all time just hit Steam Early Access and is already blowing up

Slay the Spire 2 it's finally out Steam Early Access and it's already proving to be a huge hit with gamers. Slay the Spire 2The release on Steam didn't take long, and the sequel was first announced in April 2024.

Originally released in January 2019 after own work in Steam Early Access, the first Kill the tower is widely regarded as one of the best roguelikes ever made. For those unaware, Kill the tower is a rogue deck builder that allows players to choose a specific character with predetermined abilities and attempt to defeat each floor of a rising tower using cards and items they discover along the way. Kill the tower was a major critical and commercial success, with developer Mega Crit confirming that it had sold 1.5 million copies by March 2019, and the game received a Top Critic average of 89 on OpenCritic.

you've-probably-never-heard-of-top-rated-rpg-in-2026-gamerant-feature-alt

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

The top-rated RPG of the year sits alongside Resident Evil Requiem and Pokemon Pokopia, but it hasn't garnered the same fanfare as they have.

Slay the Spire 2 is doing big numbers on Steam

Image via Mega Crit

It peaked at 282,314 players on launch day

Seven years after its predecessor hit the front page of Steam, Slay the Spire 2 she is here to continue her legacy. This sequel brings two brand new characters to the table along with tons 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 boasts more detailed animations and a more vivid art style.

Despite launching in Early Access, Slay the Spire 2 has already reached an incredible milestone in terms of player count. According to tracking site SteamDB, Kill the tower 2 currently has an all-time high of 282,314 players, which the game reached at 11:00 PM ET on its March 5 release date. At time of writing (4:00 a.m. ET) Slay the Spire 2 has 249,728 active players. 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 Raider, Apex Legendsand Resident Evil Requiem.

In just one day, Slay the Spire 2 it was able to bring in more than four times as many players as its predecessor during its peak. original Kill the tower it had a peak 24-hour player count of 33,086 on the first day of early access in February 2018. When it fully launched on Steam in February 2019, it had a peak player count of just 12,442. Kill the towerThe all-time high in players actually came long after launch, bringing in 57,025 players in December 2025. Slay the Spire 2 it also set a new record for the roguelike genre on Steam and more than doubled the total number of players Mewgenics and Hades 2previous record holders.

Due to the Early Access nature of the game, there aren't many critic reviews Slay the Spire 2 are currently available. That said, the sequel seems to have struck a chord with gamers, earning an “Overwhelmingly Positive” score from 6,731 Steam user reviews.

Slay the Spire 2 More than twice the number of players in Marathon

Slay the Spire 2 was just one of several big games to hit Steam on March 5th, with Bungie's arguably one of the biggest Marathon. A first-person sci-fi extraction shooter, Marathon has had a rather tumultuous development, with Bungie delaying the game indefinitely after its April 2025 closed alpha. But Marathon is now officially out, although its player count is solid, especially for paid games with live services, compared to Slay the Spire 2. Marathon peaked at 88,337 players per day, up about 31%. Slay the Spire 2highest number of players.