Slay The Spire dooms us all by adding official mod support

Oh, great. The very last thing I needed was another reason to play Slay The Spire every day for the rest of my life, forever and ever and ever and ever. On the other hand, perhaps I can finally fulfil my dream of replacing The Time Eater with a GIF of Jareth the Goblin King, which I've just decided I've wanted since the day I was born.

Yep, Spire mods - via the doughty Steam Workshop - are very much go. Let's all look forwards to this perfectly-honed machine becoming a big ol'Katamari of madly conflicting ideas.

We're but three weeks away from Spire exiting early access (and also consuming what little part of my life it hasn't already with its forthcoming Switch port), and that means just a few more weekly patches to put things in place for that glorious day. Patch 54, Loop, is a biggie, in that it opens up official mod support. Mods have been possible, and have existed for a while now, but the click'n'subscribe ease of the Steam Workshop is going to make them a going concern rather than an experimental journey into mystery for those few of us who can tear their eyes away from the monstrously compulsive base game for long enough.

At the time of writing, there are 39 mods available via the Workshop - the most immediately tantalising of which are brand new characters, such as The Disciple, The Blackbeard, The Witch and The Slimebound. Given what a big, honking deal the official third character, The Defect was to this perfect Jenga tower when it arrived, I can't help but regard outside efforts of that magnitude with some suspicion, but I'll be damned if I'm not going 'em a whirl.

There are also, needless to say, unlock everything mods, make everything easier mods, Star Wars mods and anime ladies in undersized clothing mods, because this is the internet. There're also a ton of extra cards'n'relics-centric efforts, which'll be the ones to really remix the experience. No Jareth yet, but hey, I've a day off next Wednesday.

Patch 54 also brings the usual bug-squishes and balance tweaks, as well as adding an option to enable the new final act in custom mode and making the Note For Yourself pay it forwards room available to less experienced players.

What, if any, surprises are in store for the release version on January 23 are being kept under wraps for now. Is it greedy of me to want a fourth stab-o-friend?