The long-awaited third character for roguelike card game Slay the Spire is now available in the beta version of the game. The new character is a robot wizard named The Defect, and once you update to the beta, all you need to do to unlock him is start a run as The Silent.
To update to the beta, find Slay the Spire in your Steam library, right-click it and go to properties, open the beta tab on the far right, and find the beta build in the dropdown. If you want to use your save files from the main game, you'll need to duplicate the preferences folder in the game's local files and rename the copy to "betaPreferences." Luckily, you can also access local files from the game's Steam properties. If you need them, you can find more detailed instructions in this post.
The Defect is more complicated than both The Silent and The Ironclad, Slay the Spire's original two characters. He's built around orbs that provide passive and active bonuses. You can maintain up to three orbs at once, and cycle through different orbs when you want to change up your options.
As developer Mega Crit Games told us when we spoke to them about Slay the Spire's past and future, The Defect will be the last character released in Early Access, but the studio does plan to release more characters once the game is fully released. They're still unsure whether future characters will be paid or free DLC.
