Last week, Slay the Spire 2 announced not only that it would be bringing four-player co-op to its winning roguelike deckbuilding formula, but that it would also be launching in Early Access next week, on the 5th of March. That's great for everyone looking forward to the game, but at least one developer is scrambling to get out of the way of this steam train moving through the release calendar.
Handmancers, a roguelike from developer 58BLADES, revealed that it would be releasing on the 9th of March. That reveal came a day before the release date information about Slay the Spire 2. Now, the developer is backtracking somewhat, knowing it would harm the launch sales of the game to release it at the same time as Slay the Spire 2.
<social>https://x.com/Handmancers/status/2025236242204336358?s=20</social>
"You'll be playing it, we'll be playing it, everyone will be playing it. We're huge fans and insanely excited. But launching a deckbuilder the same week as Slay the Spire 2? Yeah... we'd get absolutely crushed," 58BLADES wrote in a post on social media.
The plans have changed to now release Handmancers some time in the near future, but this does allow the developer to continue to work on things like balancing, polish, and more features that can help it shine when it does come out.