Image: Mega Crit

For all the grumbling happening in the Steam review box, the long-awaited sequel Slay the Spire 2 continues to be one of the most popular roguelike deckbuilders ever made, and players have come rushing back in to try out the game's latest beta update. Available via an opt-in branch (as it contains many in-testing changes), it adds a sixth playable character and two new game modes, which should help keep things fresh until they finally let us kick the Architect's behind.

The patch notes are here, but they've left much of the details up to the community to discover as they descend upon the game like a swarm of card-hungry locusts. The centerpiece of the update is, of course, the Fool. They're a plump and jolly sort wielding a multi-stringed bow that doubles as a musical instrument.

The Fool brings five new mechanics to the table. Arrows, Aim, Stretch, Joy and Sadness. The first is self-explanatory (how many shots you have to fire, consumed by many cards), while Aim is a stacking buff that increases the power of your next arrow hit. Stretch represents the Fool's surprisingly limber and resilient body, toned through intense yoga - a buff that doubles the amount of Block granted.

Joy and Sadness are two kinds of hand-stuffing cards generated by many of the Fool's grander actions. Joy cards cost nothing, give you one energy, let you draw another card, and are then exhausted - all good stuff. Sadness is unplayable and not discarded at the end of the turn, making it possible to fall into a depression spiral where you're barely able to act, unless you've got cards to convert Sadness into positive effects.

The Fool also has a bunch of interesting musical spell cards, accompanied by them singing the spell out loud, which is a cute touch. Cho spells are defensive, Wah are offensive, and Ki spells are mostly utilitarian, with some interesting synergies happening between the three, and several cards modifying the three styles. With the update rolling out last night, players are still figuring out what the Fool can do, but I've seen Aim stacked high to do some utterly unreasonable damage on some builds.

Amusingly, (at least according to the Slay the Spire 2 Wiki), the Fool's gender is defined as 'Tree', which causes some confusion, as any character that would refer to your pronouns ends up guessing at random.

The other two big things added in the update are the new game modes. Blitz is an accelerated form of the game, with no map, stores you can raid for free goodies, and more extreme highs and lows in what's available. Dread mode is an extra hard challenge for players who have stripped everything from the game's bones already, requiring you to have reached Ascension 10 on every character to unlock. Everything here is tougher and more dangerous, and you pick up curses like candy. So, for those with something to prove.

It's a big ol' slab of new content, all told. To access it on Steam, you'll need to right-click the game in your library and go to Properties/Game Versions & Betas and select 'Public Beta' from the dropdown. You will also, obviously, need to own Slay the Spire 2, which is currently discounted by 20% from its usual £20/$25 price until November 26th, with a bunch of discount bundles to bring that even further down.