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However, not even the developers behind the game were expecting it to land as well as it did with players. Despite fierce competition from one of gaming’s most lauded studios, Slay the Spire 2 has come close to unseating Hollow Knight: Silksong as one of the most popular indie games ever. It’s a huge success story for Mega Crit and a major victory for indie gaming.
Slay The Spire 2 Is Doing Better Than Mega Crit Expected
Slay the Spire 2 was coming out with some real expectations, given the enduring popularity of the original game. Mega Crit’s follow-up has been five years in the making, with the follow-up to 2019’s original drawing plenty of eyes onto the new rougelike deckbuilder. However, the developer had no idea how strong the initial reception to the game was going to be, as it already seems to be really exceeding expectations. Slay the Spire 2 has been racking up massive player counts on Steam, all while just in early access. At its height, the game had 574,638 active users.
That’s a truly massive number of active players for an indie title like this and extremely close to the 587,150 player record set by Hollow Knight: Silksong last year. Mega Crit has released a statement expressing their surprise and excitement over the development, telling fans online that they were “totally blown away” by the reception to the game. The team posted that “Our team is totally blown away by the amount of people who have been playing and sharing their love for the game we’ve been working on for the past half-decade.” The fact that this launch succeeded so well, even as the game launched alongside the release of Bungie’s Marathon and the remaster of the cult classic Poker Night at the Inventory, only underscores just how successful the game has become in the eyes of fans — with the inevitable console release of the game only increasing the likely success of the title.
Slay The Spire 2’s Success Continues A Solid Streak For Indie Games In 2026
The gaming industry has been increasingly caught between the AAA market and the indie space, with the former’s massive budgets oftentimes undercutting any major success with players. Conversely, a number of indie titles from smaller developers have been breaking out in big ways, helping prop up the industry at large. Cairn found millions of players within a few days of release, while Mewgenics became one of the most played rougelikes in Steam history. The indie space has always been an exciting place to find innovative approaches to game design and storytelling, with the expansive marketplaces offered by the likes of Steam and the Nintendo eShop giving developers a clear pipeline to bring their games directly to players.
Slay the Spire 2 managing to outpace massive titles like Marathon — which attracted a respectable 88,337 player peak in the same time-frame — is a big deal. It underscores that developer brand recognition, massive budgets, and flashy graphics aren’t necessarily crucial to a game’s success. Sometimes, a title like Slay the Spire 2 can build on what worked previously and refine it somewhat, with new elements like co-op apparently drawing more players into the experience than even the developers expected. Slay the Spire 2 is still only in early access, which means that it’s a success story for the industry that is just starting. In light of other new games like Highguard struggling to find an audience, it can be encouraging to see that players are still engaging with fresh games.
