Slay the Spire 2's creator reveals the inspiration for its most controversial foe: "I was playing too much Deadlock."

Slay the Spire 2 is full of strange and sinister creatures, and I’m always curious where the ideas for them originated. Mega Crit Co-Founder Casey Yano has provided us with some answers in a new edition of the developer’s ‘Neowsletter’ blog, and he claims its most notoriously balanced threat actually came about after spending too much time with Valve’s Deadlock. My personal favorite reveal, however, is the origins of elegant fairy Ancient Nonupeipe, who has a rather less glamorous claim to fame.

Keeping track of every tiny terror and big, bad beastie in Slay the Spire 2 just got a lot more straightforward, courtesy of the first implementation of the Bestiary in its second major update. Currently, it’s mostly just for art and animations, but Mega Crit has promised that it will be introducing stats and lore. After this latest update from Yano, however, I’m hankering for some juicy behind-the-scenes trivia to be incorporated as well.

At the top of the question list is Doormaker – the boss so awkward to find a balancing sweet spot for that Mega Crit ended up wiping it from the game and starting fresh with newcomer Aeonglass. Yano is asked whether it’s a nod to web serial Worm, by John C. McCrae, but denies this, simply answering, “I was playing too much Deadlock.” I can’t blame anyone who’s been pouring hours into Valve’s latest from having some lingering Doorman trauma, but I didn’t expect it to have manifested in quite this way.

As for Nonoupiepe, Yano’s explanation is one that has me smacking my head: “Her name is an easter egg reference to the NOPE placeholder icon we use for content.” You’ve probably seen this if you played early test builds where relic icons were missing, or tackled some of the roguelike deckbuilder’s daily challenge runs. “When two of these icons line up next to each other (for instance, the relics in the top bar), it reads NONOPEPE.”

Among the rest of the responses, Yano comments that the Ceremonial Beast boss was based on Princess Mononoke’s Forest Spirit, and was initially more “solemn and grotesque” in its concept stages. He adds that it was the first boss designed for Slay the Spire 2, and says he can see why people compare it to Valheim’s Eikthyr. “I’m a big fan of Valheim, actually!”

Yano chimes in on naming as well, explaining that Kaiser Crab was branded thus “because I’m tired of things being ‘Emperor X’ and ‘King Y.’ We have all these wacky words for kings, sultans, etc, and it’s always the bland western one. The world feels small when we use the most accessible titles.” He also responds to concerns about multiplayer matches where several players pick the same character, noting that the team is “messing with a bit of color change stuff” to help you distinguish between one another.