Ironclad:
I always struggled with Ironclad's playstyle in 1, and I still do in 2. A number of ways to exhaust and draw cards makes him fairly consistent though. Self damage cards are fun to build around. Block/Body Slam archetype still feels difficult to get going reliably.
Necrobinder:
Having a 2nd health bar in Osty you can actively bolster makes Necrobinder very resilient. Souls are very good even after getting nerfed a few times. Ethereal cards exhaust themselves when you don't need them. Doom helps Necrobinder play defensively too.
Slay the Spire 2 is a pretty cool game. Even though I've pretty much ran through everything it currently has to offer with Ascension 10 wins on each character multiple times, I still like booting it up and just playing runs.
I suppose I'll talk about each character a bit.
I'm just a guy and still have a lot to learn about being consistent at Slay the Spire 2, but the game in its current state is still very fun even in early access. It'll be cool to see what else they add.
And hopefully local couch co-op support someday. Pretty please.
I'm gonna say the same thing I hope for every time one of these nintendo things comes around.
I would really like a new Wave Race game and a new 1080° Snowboarding game. Or if they were both combined into one game that would be pretty cool too.
Silent:
Far and away the strongest character right now I think. Sly and card draw/discard is very good and can play a passive/defense style at minimal risk. Shivs feel strong as well. Poison feels underwhelming until you get accelerant or can stall with good defenses.
I would really like a new game like Milo's Astro Lanes.
Bowling games are already pretty sparse. A Bowling game with wacky lanes and Mario Kart style items is very neat.
It has cool ideas, which could be great to see a modern take that improves on it.
youtube.com/watch?v=GIFG...
Regent:
Feels like he has the toughest Act 1 out of the characters right now. Having great cards locked to a secondary resource makes deck building early tough. Sovereign Blade and Colorless Card archetype feel tough to get going consistently, at least to me.
Unfortunately, real hardware is becoming more scare as time goes on and is unrealistic for a lot of people with how much the retro game market has inflated prices.
Emulator is the only way we can realistically play these games anymore, and some way is better than no way.
Defect:
Juggling orbs is still fairly consistent and strong I feel, even with less ways of getting permanent focus. 0 cost (claw) and status archetypes can go off but are less consistent than hiding behind orbs I feel. A constant supply of frost orbs especially is very safe.