Current Slay the Spire 2 Steam evaluations have fallen to “Combined” after a brand new replace triggered a second wave of evaluation bombing.
The sequel to developer Mega Crit’s widespread roguelike deckbuilder, which launched in Early Entry to “Overwhelmingly Constructive” evaluations March 5, acquired its first main replace (model 0.103.2) yesterday. It’s a patch that launched up to date artwork, a variety of UI and UX changes, tweaked writing for readability, and extra, however not everyone seems to be happy with the host of steadiness modifications it added.
It’s resulted in an inflow of damaging evaluations and, at the very least briefly, left Slay the Spire 2 with the mustard-yellow Combined current evaluations label. Sadly, it additionally seems to be one thing Mega Crit anticipated, with its patch notes starting with a warning in daring: “That is nonetheless an Early Entry sport, so simply because one thing made it from beta to most important doesn’t imply it is set in stone.”
“Make sure you pay shut consideration when embarking in your subsequent few runs: many issues that you have grown used to have been re-balanced, reworked, and even eliminated (in a pair uncommon instances),” the Slay the Spire 2 patch notes added. “Nevertheless, fairly a number of new items of content material have additionally been added so that you can dig into.”
At the time of this piece’s publication, a whopping 4,800 damaging evaluations have been posted right now alone. Steam filters present that customers sharing evaluations in Simplified Chinese language have fallen to Combined, with most different languages reflecting a “Very Constructive” or “Overwhelmingly Constructive” reception.
Operating lots of the extra widespread evaluations via Google Translate reveals that gamers look like upset in steadiness modifications. Some have advised Mega Crit swiftly pushed out the model 0.103.2 replace with out consideration for followers.
“That is not the Early Entry title I supported financially,” one person, who translated their own review, stated when requesting a refund. “It is a hostile, gutted shell of what was promised. I’m genuinely nauseated by each minute I’ve spent with this construct of the sport.”
As you might have seen in the graph above, that is the second time Slay the Spire 2 has confronted some degree of review-bombing. The primary occasion occurred following an earlier replace in March, with lots of the damaging evaluations posted in its wake additionally criticizing steadiness modifications. As identified by Kotaku, Steam customers in China will usually take to review-bombing on account of restrictions on social media throughout the nation. Valve’s digital storefront in flip affords a spot for gamers to voice their frustrations.
Some customers have additionally began leaving constructive evaluations not solely to share their appreciation for Mega Crit’s work however to talk out towards the flood of damaging evaluations.
“Why are we evaluation bombing the sport????” one user said throughout the first wave of review-bombing in March. “The steadiness patch isn’t that unhealthy, the sport remains to be enjoyable, the sport is in early entry and it’s best to count on many steadiness modifications, and THE PATCH ISN’T EVEN ON THE MAIN BRANCH ITS ON THE BETA FOR TESTING. You must ignore all the current damaging evaluations complaining about the steadiness patch.”
As Slay the Spire 2 faces a string of damaging evaluations, participant numbers on Steam appear to be holding robust. After launching to a staggering peak of 574,000 concurrent gamers early final month, the sequel at the moment has a 24-hour peak of 286,000 gamers (by way of SteamDB).
We gave Slay the Spire 2 a 9/10 evaluation upon the arrival of its Early Entry launch. We stated at the time that it “does not radically rethink the unique’s deckbuilding roguelike successes, nevertheless it does construct on high of them in a manner that reinvigorates its charming gameplay.”
Michael Cripe is a contract author with IGN. He is greatest identified for his work at websites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Make sure you give him a comply with on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).