@Shacklestein - I can't speak from experience when it comes to early access Spire either, but my impression is that the two might be hard to compare. MegaCrit now have a foundation to build on, a bigger team, and aren't limited by a measly Kickstarter budget. Slay the Spire only had two characters, no final boss, no ascension levels; Slay the Spire 2's early access release appears to already start with more characters and features than the original had when it was complete. It's probably going to be less than optimally balanced for a while, though?
Yeah, those are good points. It will probably be a very different EA experience this time around.
I am just wary of EA in general, after being burnt by Prison Architect. Not because they did something wrong; quite the opposite really, PA is a great example of how to do EA right. It was just that every time a new build came out I played it a fair bit. By the time the game reached 1.0 I was pretty much done, and then barely touched the final product.
@Shacklestein I cannot possibly imagine a universe in which Slay the Spire 2 would exist in any playable form and not snapping it up the instant my twitchy fingers can hit the Buy button on Steam. In fact, one of my biggest regrets is that I was too slow on the uptake with the first one (I bought it in Early Access but didn't really dive in until it was close to 1.0). I'm incredibly excited about getting in on the "ground floor" with this one and seeing the game evolve over time.
But if you think you might be frustrated or irritated by having cards change frequently, then maybe it'd be better to wait. Although they were tweaking things on the first game well past the 1.0 release.
I'm pretty confident that they waited until the game was in a very polished state before committing to the release date, especially given that they spent two years saying the game would be out in 2025 and then gave it a March 2026 date and then held to it. I think Early Access in their case just means that obviously they don't have the wide breadth of playtesting data that a release would provide, rather than some games approach of "well, the game is rough and buggy and nowhere near content complete, but hey, I need a quick cash infusion to finish it."
But if you think you might be frustrated or irritated by having cards change frequently, then maybe it'd be better to wait.
No, that is no my concern. My concern is this: Every game has a limit to how many hours it can be played before it is time to put it away. Be that permanently or temporarily. So do I want to spend a portion of those hours in EA now, or do I want to spend all of them in 1.0 (and beyond) later? And to help with that decision, knowing more about what type of EA to expect is useful information.
Also worth noting is that my buy process usually involves reading only the negative reviews before making a final decision. As in, I'm interested, almost ready to buy, now let us see if there are any good reasons not to. Some of that same logic applies here.
Every game has a limit to how many hours it can be played before it is time to put it away
Though -- the fact that my 212 hours with Slay the Spire 1 don't put me in the Top 3 for Hours Played on my relatively short Steam friends list (I'm at #4, and just barely ahead of #5), with one friend at 868 Hours Played (!!) might indicate that the cap for playing time for these games is high.
338 hours, so I have you beat. Or you have me beat, depending on what the objective is. Though last played Nov'22, so it has been a while.
I am not so sure that it is as simple as saying that a "high time cap" makes a game "safer" for EA. Could even be the other way around. Like with the PA example from earlier, it really caught my attention during EA, which meant I ended up "spending" most of its "allotted hours" before it reached 1.0. Whereas something that has a smaller "time cap" could still end up with more hours spent post 1.0, due to a less compelling EA leading to a "I'll get back to it later" situation.
I think the closest I am getting (for now) is the observation of @Cornelis above coupled with what I have seen of trailers and other material:
It almost looks like a 1.0 already, so it is likely that a good portion of the EA will be fine tuning of game balance. And much of the fun in StS is when you manage to build a ridiculously unbalanced deck, so I am not worried on that front.
i can't remember the last time i was this excited for a game that isn't even out yet as i am now for Esoteric Ebb. maybe i'm just lucky to be the precise target audience for it, but i strongly recommend anyone who likes Disco Elysium to at least check out the demo.
Came here to say exactly that! I am really thrilled. Played through the demo twice and enjoyed every minute of it. Will buy it on launch immediately.
The game beautifully captures the atmosphere of a well run DnD campaign as well - serious enough, but lighthearted and occasionally goofy, if the player wants to run that way.
@guidedog Agreed! The only thing I'm a bit bummed about is the lack of voice acting. I fully understand why that is, though. The amount of text is staggering. One can hope for a final cut like Disco Elysium eventually got!
Hmm, I recently tried to play Furi but its tendency to poorly emulate anime tropes was exactly the thing that repelled me from it, so Homura Hime is probably out... except Furi didn't have you fighting off-brand vtubers, so maybe it's back on the menu.
How is it that Applecalypse is more of a Troma game than the actual game Troma released? Which was already a pretty Troma game if I do say so myself. Even if the Troma game is no longer available. Troma.
I was really intrigued by "Descend a shaft of threats and obstacles in Sad God. Touch an orb. Then, return to the surface before the larvaclaims you." What a weird and wonderful setup!
But then over on the steam page I realised it says lava...
Played a bit of of the Marathon server slam this weekend. Despite getting my ass handed to me constantly, I really enjoyed what I played. I’m someone who normally takes issue with “games that are hard for the sake of being hard”, but I can’t deny that I really dug the tension involved in never knowing what will get me got (although poisonous plants that blend in the background and pretty much take off more than half your health can absolutely get fucked)
Is it worth paying full price for? I dunno. I don’t think that’s anything on Marathon or even Bungie, and more on Live service games in general. I’ll put it this way: I bought into the hype and picked up Arc Raiders, and was like “that’s it? Why were people mad about Marathon?” when I saw what the full release had. I mean that is the issue with any live service, especially one that asks for money up front to access. It’s trusting that the devs will support the game with meaningful content and that the game will last long enough to make that investment worth it.
As someone who still really likes Destiny 2, I get the baggage that comes with a modern Bungie game. But I’m hoping it all works out for Marathon and they do seem to be promising more content for the full release
Slay the Spire 2 has existed for so long in the same part of my brain that Haunted Chocolatier does; something that people say is going to exist at some point but I can't bring myself to believe it. I cannot possibly be more excited to jump in on the ground floor with a sequel to a game that literally gets better and better the more time you spend with it. Just in the past two weeks I've finally gotten a handle on the best way to play the Watcher (which is the only of the game's four characters not returning in the sequel), and I've put hundreds of hours into getting there.
I don't think I've been this excited for a game since LA Noire in 2011 (and that was primarily just because of my very specific obsession with James Ellroy novels and noir detective fiction.)
This reminds me that I want to go and play the free mod/expansion type thing for the first Slay the Spire - Downfall. Apparently it adds a ridiculous amount of new gameplay (and its available to search for like a normal game if youre looking on steam)
No -- I've never given it a try. I have one friend who swears Downfall is Must Play, a huge improvement over the base game, but this friend is someone who has only played 60 hours of StS total. My friend who has played 868 hours of StS looks down their nose at Downfall and declares it to be an interesting curiosity, but not nearly as much a polished / balanced creation as StS proper.
Although technically released last week (on Friday), I want to give a shout-out to Laysara: Summit Kingdom. Check it out if you like city builders -- it does quite a few things a bit differently and is really a looker.
Esoteric Ebb and Slay the Spire 2 are the two big names for me this week, but it’s also worth mentioning that Docked comes out on March 5th.
I’m not always into Saber’s big heavy machinery games, but Docked’s next fest demo last fall got me excited enough to check it out after release. 3+ different types of oddly compelling gameplay to move around cargo containers plus a base management layer for upgrading your port; I’d recommend checking out the demo if nothing else!
I want to shout out Banquet for Fools, the crunchy lil claymation-inspired CRPG that hits 1.0 on Thursday the 5th! I've only played through the opening prologue in early access, but I was immediately like "OK I love this" and have been saving the rest for 1.0.
Slay the Spire and Esoteric Ebb top my interest list for the week, but there's a lot of neat stuff here!
One name that I'm just starting to recognize from a few recent and several upcoming releases that have caught my eye (This week, it's Angel Engine): Black Lantern Collective is publishing some really interesting stuff. "a group of experienced horror specialists that rejected the rigid structures of traditional publishing in order to bring you the weird stuff that freaks like us want to play", they describe themselves -- I like the vibe!
So many good things coming out this week. Esoteric Ebb is the highlight for me, but now I'm thinking that The Abbess' Garden looks really great as well. Age of Barbarians looks ace for a coop session or two.
From my wishlist:
- The latest Arcen joint, Heart of the Machine, is coming out of Early Access. Wink wink nudge nudge Sin could write this up? Pretty please? :P
- Eternal Afternoon: the world's ending this afternoon, you're a child, what do you do? Has a GenAI disclosure that they used but curated and edited AI images...
- The Long Winter: I am not an animal weird title (we're all animals!), I think this was shared by someone who played the demo over in the wappity. Manage a tavern, but someone's trying to eat you.
- Ascendant Dawn, a grand strategy game with an exclusively bronze age setting. Frankly, it looks pretty rough, but there's promise in the setting at least, and the menus sort of remind me of Dominions, which makes me warm inside.
There is quite a lot of "Disco Elysium-inspired" games recently. And you need to keep an eye on which is the "real one" and which is the "money grab".
I kid of course, but Esoteric Ebb is the third game I am hearing of that is Disco Elysium's spiritual successor. I think people don't really see that it was a lightning in a bottle, something that simply turned out great, rather than being prepared as a "sequel/continuation/successor/inspired-by a great".
Also, anybody knows if Homura Hime is a boss rush, like Furi?
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I did not pick up the first StS until it hit 1.0 (at which point it immediately consumed every free moment).
So, for anyone who was around for the early access: Dive in now, or wait for 1.0 this time too?
@Shacklestein - I can't speak from experience when it comes to early access Spire either, but my impression is that the two might be hard to compare. MegaCrit now have a foundation to build on, a bigger team, and aren't limited by a measly Kickstarter budget. Slay the Spire only had two characters, no final boss, no ascension levels; Slay the Spire 2's early access release appears to already start with more characters and features than the original had when it was complete. It's probably going to be less than optimally balanced for a while, though?
@Cornelis
Yeah, those are good points. It will probably be a very different EA experience this time around.
I am just wary of EA in general, after being burnt by Prison Architect. Not because they did something wrong; quite the opposite really, PA is a great example of how to do EA right. It was just that every time a new build came out I played it a fair bit. By the time the game reached 1.0 I was pretty much done, and then barely touched the final product.
@Shacklestein I cannot possibly imagine a universe in which Slay the Spire 2 would exist in any playable form and not snapping it up the instant my twitchy fingers can hit the Buy button on Steam. In fact, one of my biggest regrets is that I was too slow on the uptake with the first one (I bought it in Early Access but didn't really dive in until it was close to 1.0). I'm incredibly excited about getting in on the "ground floor" with this one and seeing the game evolve over time.
But if you think you might be frustrated or irritated by having cards change frequently, then maybe it'd be better to wait. Although they were tweaking things on the first game well past the 1.0 release.
I'm pretty confident that they waited until the game was in a very polished state before committing to the release date, especially given that they spent two years saying the game would be out in 2025 and then gave it a March 2026 date and then held to it. I think Early Access in their case just means that obviously they don't have the wide breadth of playtesting data that a release would provide, rather than some games approach of "well, the game is rough and buggy and nowhere near content complete, but hey, I need a quick cash infusion to finish it."
@Epsilon82
No, that is no my concern. My concern is this: Every game has a limit to how many hours it can be played before it is time to put it away. Be that permanently or temporarily. So do I want to spend a portion of those hours in EA now, or do I want to spend all of them in 1.0 (and beyond) later? And to help with that decision, knowing more about what type of EA to expect is useful information.
Also worth noting is that my buy process usually involves reading only the negative reviews before making a final decision. As in, I'm interested, almost ready to buy, now let us see if there are any good reasons not to. Some of that same logic applies here.
@Shacklestein
Though -- the fact that my 212 hours with Slay the Spire 1 don't put me in the Top 3 for Hours Played on my relatively short Steam friends list (I'm at #4, and just barely ahead of #5), with one friend at 868 Hours Played (!!) might indicate that the cap for playing time for these games is high.
@SeekerX
338 hours, so I have you beat. Or you have me beat, depending on what the objective is. Though last played Nov'22, so it has been a while.
I am not so sure that it is as simple as saying that a "high time cap" makes a game "safer" for EA. Could even be the other way around. Like with the PA example from earlier, it really caught my attention during EA, which meant I ended up "spending" most of its "allotted hours" before it reached 1.0. Whereas something that has a smaller "time cap" could still end up with more hours spent post 1.0, due to a less compelling EA leading to a "I'll get back to it later" situation.
I think the closest I am getting (for now) is the observation of @Cornelis above coupled with what I have seen of trailers and other material:
It almost looks like a 1.0 already, so it is likely that a good portion of the EA will be fine tuning of game balance. And much of the fun in StS is when you manage to build a ridiculously unbalanced deck, so I am not worried on that front.
i can't remember the last time i was this excited for a game that isn't even out yet as i am now for Esoteric Ebb. maybe i'm just lucky to be the precise target audience for it, but i strongly recommend anyone who likes Disco Elysium to at least check out the demo.
@guidedog
Came here to say exactly that! I am really thrilled. Played through the demo twice and enjoyed every minute of it. Will buy it on launch immediately.
The game beautifully captures the atmosphere of a well run DnD campaign as well - serious enough, but lighthearted and occasionally goofy, if the player wants to run that way.
@guidedog agreed, I’ve really enjoyed the writing so far - clearly a labour of love.
@guidedog well, this sounds promising, all. thanks! I'll check out the demo!
@guidedog Agreed! The only thing I'm a bit bummed about is the lack of voice acting. I fully understand why that is, though. The amount of text is staggering. One can hope for a final cut like Disco Elysium eventually got!
@guidedog Yeah I'm with you, that demo was exquisite. I've been chanting its praise since then.
Hmm, I recently tried to play Furi but its tendency to poorly emulate anime tropes was exactly the thing that repelled me from it, so Homura Hime is probably out... except Furi didn't have you fighting off-brand vtubers, so maybe it's back on the menu.
How is it that Applecalypse is more of a Troma game than the actual game Troma released? Which was already a pretty Troma game if I do say so myself. Even if the Troma game is no longer available. Troma.
What a disappointment!
I was really intrigued by "Descend a shaft of threats and obstacles in Sad God. Touch an orb. Then, return to the surface before the larva claims you." What a weird and wonderful setup!
But then over on the steam page I realised it says lava...
@Mapkinasekinasekinase Whoops!
@Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Sorry, that came across wrong. You didn't mistype, I misread!
@Mapkinasekinasekinase ...I retract my "whoops", and will make a note to be less automatically guilty in future
Played a bit of of the Marathon server slam this weekend. Despite getting my ass handed to me constantly, I really enjoyed what I played. I’m someone who normally takes issue with “games that are hard for the sake of being hard”, but I can’t deny that I really dug the tension involved in never knowing what will get me got (although poisonous plants that blend in the background and pretty much take off more than half your health can absolutely get fucked)
Is it worth paying full price for? I dunno. I don’t think that’s anything on Marathon or even Bungie, and more on Live service games in general. I’ll put it this way: I bought into the hype and picked up Arc Raiders, and was like “that’s it? Why were people mad about Marathon?” when I saw what the full release had. I mean that is the issue with any live service, especially one that asks for money up front to access. It’s trusting that the devs will support the game with meaningful content and that the game will last long enough to make that investment worth it.
As someone who still really likes Destiny 2, I get the baggage that comes with a modern Bungie game. But I’m hoping it all works out for Marathon and they do seem to be promising more content for the full release
Slay the Spire 2 has existed for so long in the same part of my brain that Haunted Chocolatier does; something that people say is going to exist at some point but I can't bring myself to believe it. I cannot possibly be more excited to jump in on the ground floor with a sequel to a game that literally gets better and better the more time you spend with it. Just in the past two weeks I've finally gotten a handle on the best way to play the Watcher (which is the only of the game's four characters not returning in the sequel), and I've put hundreds of hours into getting there.
I don't think I've been this excited for a game since LA Noire in 2011 (and that was primarily just because of my very specific obsession with James Ellroy novels and noir detective fiction.)
This reminds me that I want to go and play the free mod/expansion type thing for the first Slay the Spire - Downfall. Apparently it adds a ridiculous amount of new gameplay (and its available to search for like a normal game if youre looking on steam)
@Spacemonkeys
Or at this link address!
@SeekerX
Whoa, links? I'm not ready for this new-fangled technology. Have you played it?
@Spacemonkeys
No -- I've never given it a try. I have one friend who swears Downfall is Must Play, a huge improvement over the base game, but this friend is someone who has only played 60 hours of StS total. My friend who has played 868 hours of StS looks down their nose at Downfall and declares it to be an interesting curiosity, but not nearly as much a polished / balanced creation as StS proper.
@SeekerX
Regardless of its qualities – or lack thereof – three days before #2 drops is probably not the perfect timing for checking out a mod of #1.
Although technically released last week (on Friday), I want to give a shout-out to Laysara: Summit Kingdom. Check it out if you like city builders -- it does quite a few things a bit differently and is really a looker.
Oh boy, "Sailor take mawning" is walking a fine line.
Esoteric Ebb and Slay the Spire 2 are the two big names for me this week, but it’s also worth mentioning that Docked comes out on March 5th.
I’m not always into Saber’s big heavy machinery games, but Docked’s next fest demo last fall got me excited enough to check it out after release. 3+ different types of oddly compelling gameplay to move around cargo containers plus a base management layer for upgrading your port; I’d recommend checking out the demo if nothing else!
I want to shout out Banquet for Fools, the crunchy lil claymation-inspired CRPG that hits 1.0 on Thursday the 5th! I've only played through the opening prologue in early access, but I was immediately like "OK I love this" and have been saving the rest for 1.0.
@renner Wow, I had not heard of that one, but it looks awesome! How good do you think the story is going to be?
Slay the Spire and Esoteric Ebb top my interest list for the week, but there's a lot of neat stuff here!
One name that I'm just starting to recognize from a few recent and several upcoming releases that have caught my eye (This week, it's Angel Engine): Black Lantern Collective is publishing some really interesting stuff. "a group of experienced horror specialists that rejected the rigid structures of traditional publishing in order to bring you the weird stuff that freaks like us want to play", they describe themselves -- I like the vibe!
So many good things coming out this week. Esoteric Ebb is the highlight for me, but now I'm thinking that The Abbess' Garden looks really great as well. Age of Barbarians looks ace for a coop session or two.
From my wishlist:
- The latest Arcen joint, Heart of the Machine, is coming out of Early Access. Wink wink nudge nudge Sin could write this up? Pretty please? :P
- Eternal Afternoon: the world's ending this afternoon, you're a child, what do you do? Has a GenAI disclosure that they used but curated and edited AI images...
- The Long Winter: I am not an animal weird title (we're all animals!), I think this was shared by someone who played the demo over in the wappity. Manage a tavern, but someone's trying to eat you.
- Ascendant Dawn, a grand strategy game with an exclusively bronze age setting. Frankly, it looks pretty rough, but there's promise in the setting at least, and the menus sort of remind me of Dominions, which makes me warm inside.
official start of WoW: MIdnight on the 3rd aswell.
and there´s some lists with disabled comments poppign up around RPS, what´s the point when one cannot disagree with yours all nonsensical listings?
I'm rather late noticing this for yesterday's Sunday Papers, so I'll put it here, too -- I was pleased to find out via Jank's weekly news roundup that The Guardian's RE9 review was by Nic Reuben. https://www.theguardian.com/games/2026/feb/26/resident-evil-requiem-review-theres-plenty-of-life-in-the-undead-yet
@SeekerX hope they give him a book column soon!
i'll also add that heart of the machine is exiting early access on friday
There is quite a lot of "Disco Elysium-inspired" games recently. And you need to keep an eye on which is the "real one" and which is the "money grab".
I kid of course, but Esoteric Ebb is the third game I am hearing of that is Disco Elysium's spiritual successor. I think people don't really see that it was a lightning in a bottle, something that simply turned out great, rather than being prepared as a "sequel/continuation/successor/inspired-by a great".
Also, anybody knows if Homura Hime is a boss rush, like Furi?
Thanks so much Edwin for featuring AETHUS again! See you all on Friday for the full straight-to-1.0-launch! <3
On March 5 Banquet for Fools is coming out of Early Access. A very unique crpg with amazing presentation.