Tech: Slay the Spire 2 - early access impressions

I was a big fan of Slay the Spire, considered by many to be the ne plus ultra of roguelike deckbuilding games, so I broke my general rule of never buying "early access" games and picked up the long-awaited sequel, Slay the Spire 2:

The sequel doesn't deviate at all from the formula you know and love - you're still fighting enemies one by one in turn-based battles over three acts, with a final boss at the end of each act.  Even the starting decks of the returning characters - Ironclad, Silent, and Defect - are exactly the same, though most of the rest of their cards are new.  As a result, the initial hours might be a little underwhelming for diehard STS fans.

Where things start getting interesting are the addition of two new characters - the Regent and the Necrobinder.  They have unique mechanics that will change your playstyle drastically.  Many of the Regent's cards generate and spend an additional resource, Stars, that persist from turn to turn, while the Necrobinder summons a skeletal hand, Osty, that can both shield her and smack down her enemies. Like all early access games, the jury's still out when it comes to whether STS2 can become an all-time classic like its predecessor, but it's already a darn good game.