For the second time in the last 30 days, Slay the Spire 2 is getting review-bombed on Steam. As of this writing, 3,609 negative reviews have been levied against the game in the past 12 hours, and, once again, the overwhelming majority of the negative reviews are from accounts based in China.
Earlier today, Mega Crit dropped “Major Update #1” for Slay the Spire 2 on Steam. Unlike the last few updates, this one is specifically for the main branch of the game (in other words, the official version of the game played by the overwhelming majority of players) and contains “all of the content, changes, and fixes from the beta branch.”
If you haven’t been following the updates to the beta branch over the past month, then lemme tell you, you’re in for a treat. The v0.103.2 patch contains dozens of pieces of new art, a few bug fixes, a bunch of new relics, and even new cards, such as the “Not Yet” card for Ironclad (a rare card that heals you for 10 HP).
Personally, as someone who has been playing through the beta content for the past month, I think this is a phenomenal update. However, clearly some people disagree, but the new content isn’t what’s upsetting folks; it’s Groundhog Day all over again, because all those negative reviews are complaining about the balancing changes.
Much like the last time Slay the Spire 2 was review-bombed, the complaints from players in China are focused on the removal of infinite combos (such as, for instance, changes to how Hellraiser interacts with Pommel Strike) and buffs to the Doormaker boss fight. Several of the negative reviews also specifically mention Anthony Giovannetti, Mega Crit’s co-founder, who politely asked fans to complain using Slay the Spire 2’s in-game report function back in March rather than through review-bombing.
As many have pointed out before, review-bombing on Steam in China is prevalent due to the fact that social platforms such as X and Discord are blocked by the People’s Republic of China’s “Great Firewall.” Steam users in China instead opt to complain on Steam via review-bombing, as they believe it’s their only way to be heard.
I just hope Mega Crit outright ignores all of these complaints. I’ve literally no-lifed this game for the past month, and can confidently say that every single beta patch has improved Slay the Spire 2. And the truly ridiculous thing is that, even though all of the negative reviews are complaining about it suddenly being harder, I think this patch actually makes the game way easier.