Slay the Spire 2 forces Steam creator to prepare for game's release failure

Two deckbuilding games, Handmancers and Grimslair, are treating the news of Slay the Spire 2's early access with wildly differing philosophies

Do clashing release dates truly impact the success of any given game? Some studios would rather not find out, hence the immediate delays for games coinciding with the release window of giants like Hollow Knight: Silksong or Grand Theft Auto 6. Slay the Spire's recent sequel announcement has similarly sent some deckbuilding games into a tailspin. At least one developer, though, is throwing caution into the wind by refusing to budge on their card game's release date.

In mid-February, Mega Crit announced a sequel to iconic roguelike deckbuilder Slay the Spire, which will hit early access on Steam on March 5. While fans of the iconic original are thrilled right now, any studio crafting its own Spire-like would be justified in feeling some anxiety about the announcement. And as luck would have it, there are at least two Spire-like games that were aiming for a 2026 release date.

One of these games, Handmancers, is a first-person roguelike deckbuilder built on a rock-paper-scissors design philosophy. "Pick a Sign, punish the right target, and capitalize on mistakes," reads the game's Steam description. Though it's not out yet, early previews of Handmancers have deemed it "promising."

Originally, the plan was to release Handmancers in the first week of March. Now, however, developers 58Blades has decided to push things back to an undetermined date. The studio fears that launching in the same week as Slay the Spire 2 would see Handmancers "get absolutely crushed."

"Buying two deckbuilders in the same week? In this economy? Not happening," 58Blades wrote on social media site X.

Then there's Grimslair, a deckbuilder where you play as the reaper's son. In it, Death Jr. has a daily soul quota that he collects by bending time and finding the right card synergies. Developer ThunderRam Studios originally announced a release date of March 6, a day after STS2. Seemingly on the heels of 58Blades' release pushback, ThunderRam Studios has declared it won't be backing down from its intended release window. The post, which was shared on X, uses many of the same phrases 58Blades did — but the thrust is entirely different.

"I ain't no bitch," ThunderRam's social media account said, while reiterating its March 6 release date. "No delay. No 'TBA.' No hiding in the bushes until the hype train passes. Just raw, chaotic, 'send it energy.'"

ThunderRam did not immediately return a request for comment, but the graphic shared by the studio explains the reasoning behind the move.

ThunderRam knows there could be benefits to moving Grimslair's release date, like having more time to polish the experience or having an excuse to add more content to the game. But the developer does not want to wait around, hoping for the best.

"Honestly, this feels like the right call," the post reads. "I'd rather launch Grimslair with my whole chest than spend 6 months asking the calendar for permission."

In late 2025, a multitude of indie studios building metroidvanias experienced something similar following the announcement of Hollow Knight: Silksong, the long-awaited sequel to the beloved gothic platformer. At the time, nearly every studio in that bucket decided to delay their own games just to be safe. Infamously, the release date of Grand Theft Auto 6 also is feared so much that it has quietly influenced the wider release schedule for some big publishers. Slay the Spire, which arguably created its own genre back in 2019 with its clever mechanics, holds the same sway in its own niche.

Will things work out for Grimslair, a small game that is daring to defy convention? Hopefully — but if the game doesn't succeed, it sounds like ThunderRam Studios is ready for the consequences.