Greetings, Slayers! It's November. Just a few more months until the sequel is available in Early Access. To get hyped, we've got another big content sneak peek.
Last month, we properly introduced you to one of Slay the Spire 2's new playable characters, The Necrobinder. This month, we're introducing you to some new non-playable characters...
Ancients
The Spire is brimming with species of all shapes and sizes which have evolved alongside their environments over the ages. However, there are some beings that have persisted since the Spire's inception, accumulating wisdom and power as they witness the death and birth of countless generations. You may already be familiar with one such being: Neow, Mother of Resurrection.
At long last, Neow's fellow Ancients have emerged to bless you with doses of their power each time you enter an Act. These blessings take the form of exclusive, powerful relics, replacing the boss relics you may be familiar with from the Spire's previous incarnation.
The Ancient pictured above is Tezcatara, or "It Which Feeds The Fire." A warm, shining light in the darkness of the Spire, this Ancient's blessings are generally known for burning bright but extinguishing quickly. A selection of its possible blessings includes a transformation of the current Act's map into a single special path, a bounty of temporary relics, and a way to reduce the cost of Strikes but also make them impossible to remove from your deck.
These oldest of the Spire's beings all have their own specialties, therefore their offerings will differ greatly from one another. As Neow's special power is that of resurrection, she will be there to greet you at the beginning of a run like always. However, Acts 2 and 3 will have their own separate pools of random Ancients for you to encounter, such as Tezcatara. Specific Ancients will be denoted by a node on the map similar to the ones that signify specific bosses, as you can see below. This new system adds even more variance to each run, making them feel that much more unique.
Though the individual reasons behind the Ancients' involvement may be unclear--and though some of their blessings may come with significant tradeoffs--anyone would be lucky to count such powerful beings as their allies. Perhaps you will be able to learn more about their mysterious motivations as time goes on...
Q&A with C&A
Anonymous asks: Can we get more of the pear? I really like pears, maybe it could be as an enemy that spits pear juice or a card that includes a pear.
Casey: If you like pears, why would you want an enemy that spits pear juice? That seems disrespectful
Justin Quirk asks: How in the world does the Ironclad keep his mask on? Clearly it doesn't wrap all the way around his head, and he is a very active fighter. Does it fall off sometimes in the middle of a fight, or does he have a strap or something? Was this part of his demonic pact? What terrifying power allows him to always stay protected and fashionable?
Casey: The ironclads keep their masks on by biting. I will not elaborate.
Ballsyjones asks: has everything about Slay the Spire 1 been discovered by players!?
Casey: Since the game code can be decompiled, I don't think there are too many undiscovered game logic secrets. StS1 was also translated by the community, so patches and translations always came with notes and a reference cheat sheet so the translators understood the reasoning for odd naming or choice of relic objects.
Anonymous asks: Are you guys planning on also making Slay the Spire 2 a low spec friendly game or will it be more demanding than the first one?
Casey: Yep, we're quite strict on performance! We try to accumulate a wide range of cheap and terrible computers to test the game on :).
A big STS fan asks: Does jaw worm still exist floors 1-3 in sts 2?
Anthony: No
Spire Spotting
As we continue our investigations into the Spire's many new species, it's time to first take a look at last month's mystery silhouette:
And now for your hypotheses...
The award for most... award-like goes to Snowbyte! It kind of looks like a solid gold, automaton-shaped trophy.
The award for most accurate goes to bojhyg! The mask in particular came the closest to the real deal.
And here are the rest of the guesses from our community of Spire explorers:
Credit from left to right: 빙길, Tinamyte, 水角神, PorpleKnight, Sebastian, ssorgatem, LoneDonut, Dracia, Lyvern, hazudee, SamuraiBaker, mainasuarufa, Dolly, koiking213, Simon, mitlon.
And now for the unveiling...
Ooh--it seems that the pattern of Defect-ive hypotheses wasn't totally far off. It's definitely some sort of automaton construct, seemingly designed for punching. A Punch Construct?
Now, what's next on our roster of shadowy species...
Our work is never done! If you have any clues as to what this creature could be, be sure to submit them via [email protected] or in our Discord's fanart channel!
Connections Section
Time to dive right into this month's Slay the Spire Connections puzzle like a fresh pile of autumn leaves!
Community Corner
Thank you to Snubobo for this month's corNeowcopia-themed cover image!
Next month's theme is: Wintery Neow! If you'd like to submit your art for consideration, reminder that it must be submitted to us via [email protected] or in our Discord's fanart channel, have dimensions of 800x450px, feature no text, and leave room for a title!
Thank you to everyone who submitted their spooky Spire content for Mega Crit-or-Treat last month! Here are just some of the highlights:
A creepily cute illustration of the 4 Slay the Spire characters by spacelarktemple!
This super accurate Reptomancer cosplay by commentbagel!
Some Spire-y jack-o-lanterns by LegendofLonk, JoeGo, Zoie, Falspar, and Pug!
Alright, hopefully this month's Neowsletter was a nice sneak peek into what we're cooking up for Slay the Spire 2! We'll be back next month with even more good tidings.