Slay the Spire 2: One of the best indie Steam launches of all time
In early access, Slay the Spire 2 has ALREADY made more money on Steam than Silksong & Hades 2. Keep reading for Alinea estimates on revenue, copies, DAUs, reviews, wishlist conversion, and more.
Roguelikes generated around $400M in Steam revenue in 2025, up 80% from 2024 (which was also a record for the genre). Thanks to the Q1 launches of Mewgenics and now Slay the Spire 2, roguelikes are on track to reach new revenue heights this year.
Slay the Spire 2, the sequel to one of the most iconic deck-builders ever, launched in early access for $25 on Steam on March 5. Our estimates show that in two weeks, the roguelike has sold 4.6M copies on Steam, generating over $92M:
While there’s been a good amount of buzz around Slay the Spire 2, I feel like its early-access success has been understated. To put the $92M into perspective, Slay the Spire 2’s Steam revenue has already passed Steam lifetime earnings for two of the most anticipated indie titles of the last two years:
Slay the Spire 2 has already generated 10% more revenue on Steam than Silksong’s $83M
It’s also eclipsed the total Steam earnings of Hades II ($82M) since that title entered Early Access in May 2024.
This means Slay the Spire 2 has had one of the best indie Steam releases of all time, and certainly the best since Palworld.
Both Palworld and Slay the Spire 2 have something in common that helped them achieve these highs: they’re huge in China. Chinese players account for over a quarter of Palworld’s Steam audience and over a third of Slay the Spire 2’s
China was also pivotal for the original Slay the Spire. As per Anthony Giovannetti, Mega Crit’s co-founder and designer, China – via a Chinese a streamer – was one of the reasons the original game blew up.
China’s growing importance on Steam is something we’ve highlighted before, including last month with Nioh 3. Even indies without Chinese localisation, like Mewgenics, are finding China among their top Steam markets.
Inertia and built-up hype: Slay the Spire 2’s success was no surprise
We all knew this one was going to be a hit.
For a bit of context, the original Slay the Spire has sold well over 10M copies on console and PC, and it’s one of the most iconic indies of all time (and one of my personal favourites).
Slay the Spire is iconic for its balanced mix of roguelike unpredictability and deep, strategic deck-building. It also has the gnarliest just-one-more-run loop I’ve ever seen. It rewards skill, experimentation, and constant adaptation, and has led to many 3 a.m. nights for me, and many difficult subsequent workdays…
Mega Crit knows how obsessed we are in the community and has been drip-feeding cards and mechanics for two years via the Neowsletter, while also spotlighting community members, fostering a hungry, high-intent audience.
By the time March 5 rolled around, just under two million people had Slay the Spire 2 on their Steam wishlists, as per Alinea estimates. What I wasn’t expecting, though, was the wishlist-to-buyer conversion. It’s been off the charts for Slay the Spire 2.
Typically, a successful launch might see a 7% conversion rate in the first week – 10% if you’re lucky. But Slay the Spire 2 smashed that. Of the total wishlists since January 2025, 31% converted to buyers within a week, climbing to 34% by the two-week mark.
You can see how many wishlisters from each month converted a week after launch (‘’7D’’) and within 30 days of launch (as of March 19) below:
The standout cohort here is February, when Mega Crit announced Slay the Spire 2’s release date. Of the 161K Steam users who wishlisted that month, nearly half converted into buyers.
While Slay the Spire 2 has been available for wishlisting since 2024, the campaign hit its stride during the February 2026 window. Mega Crit moved into high gear, more aggressively promoting links across Twitter, other socials, and directly in the newsletter.
As always, putting those calls-to-action front and centre captured a high-intent segment right when their excitement was peaking. Very Silent-coded, but business as usual for indies.
Still, Slay the Spire 2’s conversion figures show that quality trumps quantity during a time when wishlist bloating is becoming a reality. There weren’t any artificial get-wishlists-quick schemes here.
Players are hooked on Slay the Spire 2
Slay the Spire 2’s Steam DAUs grew steadily throughout the launch week as word-of-mouth spread, eventually peaking at 2.2M over the weekend of March 14-15.
The depth of play so far has also been impressive:
Of the 4.6M Slay the Spire 2 players on Steam, over half have already crossed the 20-hour mark.
Meanwhile, about 14% have played more than 50 hours, and a dedicated 1% – the real Ironclad among us – have logged 100 hours or more. In two weeks!
The moreish gameplay loop, as well as the co-op mode (more on that later), is clearly working as intended.
But how are the user reviews looking?
Players are also having a blast (mostly)
Slay the Spire’s review data remains overwhelmingly positive, with a 94% positive reviewers who bought the game. Yet, looking at the language-specific breakdown reveals some regional nuances.
Reviews in Simplified Chinese carry a lower average of 87% (despite Chinese players being the top group by player numbers):
In our experience, more negative reviews in Chinese are common. On Steam, some Chinese players use reviews as a means to reach Western devs, as players in China have less access to other international social platforms.
Chinese gamers also tend to be more critical or vocal in the review section to ensure their feedback (often on localisation, value, and bugs) is taken on board. Even with this slight dip, 87% positive in China is a good sign.
One minor critique surfacing in the early negative reviews – including in the Chinese ones – is that Slay the Spire 2 feels is too iterative. There are many mechanical echoes of the first game, sure, but when the predecessor is a genre-defining masterpiece, that feels more like high praise than a drawback.
I digress.
Slay the Spire 2’s co-op has been a hit so far
Anyway, the most significant new thing in Slay the Spire 2 – and a massive driver of the current hype – is the co-op mode. While there were some cool co-op mods for the first game, this is the first time Mega Crit has officially added the mode.
The timing couldn’t be better. We’ve been vocal in our coverage of co-op’s popularity on Steam, and Slay the Spire 2 has hit the ground running with a mode that feels integrated rather than tacked on.
It successfully moves away from the solitary feel of the original, allowing 2-4 players to navigate a shared map and sync their strategies.
I was extremely sceptical about this mode initially, fearing that Mega Crit was jumping on a trend that was very contrary to the balanced, solitary experience I loved in Slay the Spire 1.
I ate my words almost instantly:
The tactical depth in Slay the Spire 2’s co-op is impressive. Enemies scale their health and launch coordinated attacks on the entire party, forcing teams to communicate constantly to balance offense and mitigation.
Features like Mending (healing a teammate at a campfire) and multiplayer-exclusive card synergies transform the experience into a genuine team RPG that adds a fresh, shareable layer to a fantastic game.
Mega Crit has really strived to make this mode feel organic and not tacked on, thanks to light but appreciated touches like a map-drawing tool for route planning (and rude doodles…) and a Rock-Paper-Scissors system to settle disputes over reward choices.
In the process, Mega Crit has also managed to bake some extra virality in. High-profile creators have jumped on squad runs immediately, which has helped Slay the Spire 2’s word of mouth and reached non-franchise fans. Our data shows that 39% of Slay the Spire 2 players on Steam never played the original on Steam.
It seems that there’s no sophomore slump for Slay the Spire. Mega Crit so far delivered on an experience that fans love. But Slay the Spire 2 is still in early access, and there’s a lot more to come.
The eventual 1.0 launch will trigger a secondary influx of wait-and-see players, while the inevitable expansion to the console and mobile markets will provide the multi-year tail necessary to cement Slay the Spire 2 as a permanent fixture for our market.
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It's great well deserving game.