Key facts
- Mega Crit released its biggest Slay the Spire 2 patch to date on the beta branch, introducing the first new Early Access character, The Fool, plus two new game modes named Blitz and Dread.
- The studio placed experimental modes on the Early Access roadmap at launch and listed them as active development in August, along with an alternate Act 2 and a new character.
- Mega Crit had shipped beta patches every two weeks before slowing its cadence; the last regular patch, v0.111.0, arrived on the beta branch on August 13, 2026.
- Mega Crit will keep the new content on the beta branch at first while fixing issues, and players can join the beta through Steam by selecting the public-beta branch.
Mega Crit put out the largest Slay the Spire 2 patch yet on the Steam beta branch on Nov. 12, 2026, adding the first new Early Access character, The Fool, plus two game modes called Blitz and Dread.
The Fool plays as a silly musician with a bow, and Mega Crit expects many content and balance changes before the character is ready for the main branch. The studio will keep the new content on the beta branch at first while fixing issues, and players can join the beta through Steam by selecting the public-beta branch.
Blitz is a condensed, chaotic deckbuilding mode in which the Merchant’s wares feel off, the map is gone, and Gold no longer matters. It offers five shared Ascension levels and unlocks after any Ascension run completion.
Dread is a brutal difficulty mode unlocked only after reaching Ascension 10 on every character including The Fool. All ascension modifiers are enabled, bosses are stronger and buff enemies in their Act, curses pile up during the climb, and death is expected.
The experimental modes support single-player and multiplayer, Casey Yano said in a Neowsletter Q&A, though he would not say how many are coming or how they play. The modes have sat on the Early Access roadmap since the game’s March 5, 2026, launch, and the game has run a beta branch since that same month with co-op for up to four players.
Mega Crit announced in August that a sixth playable character and an alternate version of Act 2 were in active development, expanding a current roster of Ironclad, Silent, Defect, Necrobinder and Regent. The game launched on March 5, 2026, and sold three million copies in its first week, and holds 91% Very Positive reviews across more than 67,000 English-language ratings. The alternate Act 2 would randomly replace the Hive zone with different enemies, events and bosses, mirroring the existing Act 1 choice between Overgrowth and Underdocks.
The company estimates a full release could arrive in 2027 or 2028 after a one-to-two-year Early Access span. The patch reworks several cards, including Ironclad’s Expect a Fight, which now costs three Energy and grants 15 Block while lowering the Energy cost of attacks in hand by one until played. The Silent card Memento Mori now costs three Energy and deals 19(23) Sly damage to the enemy with the lowest HP.
Defect’s Power Cell relic now gives priority to zero-cost cards that lack Innate over cards with Innate. Salvo colorless card damage falls from 12(16) to 10(14). The patch also adds a new colorless card called My Shinies. Silent’s Expertise now draws two cards unupgraded and three upgraded, and retains the hand this turn, replacing a version that gave drawn cards Retain.
The Tunneler move Attack from Below is now called From Below, and its damage rises from 23 to 24. The patch sets Axebot HP at 70 instead of a 70-78 range. Event adjustments include Doors of Light and Dark, where the Light Door now upgrades one card instead of two random cards, and Zen Weaver, where Breathing Techniques costs 25 gold instead of 50.
Rest sites can now show up one floor earlier in every act.
Playing with others has driven much of Slay the Spire 2‘s success, and a lot of players stick to multiplayer only. Yano said the response has been really positive. “If players can pool their resources to a single player it’s sometimes too easy to have one player snowball,” Yano said, explaining why the studio ruled out shared gold pooling. The team still wants to add more longevity to co-op.
Features for exploring hidden parts of the game will probably come in a pass near the 1.0 launch, Yano said, because controller support and minimum text size requirements make them hard to build. Giovannetti said the team plans to add a feature for viewing old beta card art and the Timeline. Yano said Ascension 10 should serve as about the top end for standard difficulty, and the enchantment system will keep a one-enchantment-per-card limit.
Mega Crit observed its annual break across September 2026 and came back at month’s end. Before slowing down, the studio had been putting out beta patches every two weeks. The most recent regular beta release was v0.111.0, which landed on Aug. 13, 2026. The October Neowsletter set Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026 as the patch target.
The studio told players to back up saves before moving to the beta branch through the game versions and betas menu in Steam Library properties. Mega Crit expects beta testers to share balance feedback on the new content before the next newsletter arrives. More acts are in development beyond what is currently in Early Access. Steam Achievements are not coming until 1.0, and a dedicated touchscreen mode waits for the mobile port to enter serious development.
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