The devs of a promising Slay the Spire-alike are delaying their game to Dodge and Roll away from Slay the Spire 2's launch: 'You'll be playing it, we'll be playing it, everyone will be playing it'

A wizardly figure with purple hair reaches for a rainbow-hued orb. — (Image credit: 58BLADES)

There are few deckbuilding roguelikes more celebrated than Slay the Spire, which has ruled the genre roost since 2019 when it blew everyone away and got a 92% review from PC Gamer strategic director Evan Lahti.

Its sequel where "everything is bigger" is releasing into early access March 6. Great news for the PC gamer team, which crowned it our Most Wanted game last year—not so much for anyone dropping a deckbuilder in the same week.

A post on X from 58BLADES explains the studio's reasoning. "Our original plan was simple: drop Handmancers during #TurnBasedThursdayFest. You watch the showcase and boom— 'Handmancers Available Now.' Perfect, right? Then literally the next day we saw the news."

The statement continues that "you'll be playing it, we'll be playing it, everyone will be playing it. We're huge fans and insanely excited. But launching a deckbuilder the same week as Slay the Spire 2? Yeah… we'd get absolutely crushed."

Justin first became enamored with PC gaming when World of Warcraft and Neverwinter Nights 2 rewired his brain as a wide-eyed kid. As time has passed, he's amassed a hefty backlog of retro shooters, CRPGs, and janky '90s esoterica. Whether he's extolling the virtues of Shenmue or troubleshooting some fiddly old MMO, it's hard to get his mind off games with more ambition than scruples. When he's not at his keyboard, he's probably birdwatching or daydreaming about a glorious comeback for real-time with pause combat. Any day now...

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