Slay the Spire certainly turned heads when it released, immediately cementing itself as one of the best deckbuilders in town and helping to kick off a trend that persists today. That was nearly seven years ago at this point, but the game is turning even more heads today: it just hit an all-time concurrent player peak on Steam, according to SteamDB.
Remarkably, it's not even close. Its previous peak is from when it released into early access in 2018, at just over 33,000 players, and this holiday season has brought it screaming past 57,000 a few hours before I wrote this article (it's settled down to about 35,000 now—still a notch above the old record). The game has been good the whole time, but there are a few probable causes for this sudden surge in spire slaying.
As SteamDB notes, the 2025 winter sale brought Slay the Spire to a historic low of $2.49; while the site only records sale history two years back, I don't recall it ever being quite this cheap. As everyone rushes to burn their Steam wallets on the best deals, such an acclaimed game for the price of a pack of gum is a no-brainer.
There's also Slay the Spire 2 on the horizon, which we crowned our "most wanted" game at this year's PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted. It seems natural that prospective players and returning vets alike would want to dive into the original as they prepare for the eagerly-awaited sequel. And hey, maybe some new converts trickled in via the Slay the Spire board game, which holds an impressive 8.7/10 user rating on BoardGameGeek.
Ultimately, it's also just a great game currently withstanding the test of time. As PC Gamer's Evan Lahti said in his review, it's a "genre-bending achievement" that "puts absolutely broken combos within your grasp." That's a timeless strain of joy, and hopefully we'll be seeing a lot more of it come Slay the Spire 2.
If you'd like to join the player pile-up, Slay the Spire is available for $2.49 on Steam.
