*Slay the Spire 2* Receives Nearly 10,000 Negative Reviews — This Time, the Changes Really Hit a Nerve

There’s a problem.

Slay the Spire 2 recently released the patch notes for its first major Beta update, v0.100.0. The core changes were very straightforward. Nerf infinite builds. Increase the difficulty of clearing the game.

And the outcome was just as straightforward. Nearly 10,000 negative reviews flooded into Steam within a single day. The positive rating in the Simplified Chinese region fell to 56%. In other language regions, it still remains “Overwhelmingly Positive.” That shows the game as a whole didn’t suddenly fall apart. It’s that this round of changes hit the most sensitive point for Chinese players with pinpoint accuracy.

The issue isn’t just the nerfs. It’s that before the nerfs, the old problems still hadn’t been solved. A lot of the negative reviews are saying the same thing. The original mechanics felt clunky. The balance wasn’t properly filled out. Yet the design team chose to go after infinite builds first. The end result, in terms of player experience, is that the difficulty was forcibly pushed upward.

What do deckbuilding games like this fear most? Not powerful cards. But narrowing strategic options. Players spend ages researching and eventually find a build path that is internally coherent. Then an update comes along and cuts it off in one stroke. But without adding any new fun to replace it. That’s not balance. That’s taking back the player investment.

What’s even more troublesome is communication. Slay the Spire 2 has sold 4.6 million copies in total. About one-third of its players are from China. That is not a marginal market. It is a major core market in very real terms. Some overseas netizens also pointed out that domestic players have limited access to Discord and the Steam Community discussion boards, making feedback channels ineffective, so in the end they could only push their voices to the top through negative reviews. It’s not a graceful method. But it is very effective.

Players also have another point of dissatisfaction. The developers seem to place more weight on feedback coming from Reddit. The actual experience of Asian players has been pushed to the back. This may not be something that can be fully confirmed. But when there is such a huge gap between Chinese and overseas reviews, the developers should at least take that sentiment seriously.

Mega Crit’s response wasn’t exactly perfunctory. They emphasized that the game is still in the Early Access Beta phase. Over the next 1 to 2 years, they will continue adjusting numbers and systems based on player data and feedback. That is a reasonable statement. But the players’ dissatisfaction right now is equally reasonable. A Beta is not a shield. Especially when you have already sold 4.6 million copies.

My view is very simple. Adjusting balance is fine. Dismantling the core fun first is not. Early Access can be a place for trial and error. But mainstream players should not be made to pay for design mistakes first.

The buying advice is simple too. If you’re already playing now and prefer build-focused strategies, wait and see what the upcoming patches do. If you can accept a Beta with repeated numerical changes, keep testing. If you want to wait for a more stable version, there is absolutely no problem with waiting longer.

This wave of negative reviews is not just emotion. It is also a reminder. When making a deckbuilding game, balance is never just about cutting down the strongest strategy and calling it done. What really matters is whether, after the nerfs, players still want to keep climbing the Spire.