Slay the Spire 2 slammed on Steam over patch that makes game harder

Adjustments to popular decks and buffs to enemy bosses have Steam fans up in arms

On Thursday night, roguelike deckbuilder Slay the Spire 2 developers Mega Crit dropped an update that totally changed the balance of the game. Most people probably won't notice the effects of the tuning, which nerfs popular strategies for nearly every character while buffing a number of enemies, including the final boss. But less than 24 hours later, the Steam darling has become a target of unbridled rage as players fume over the direction of the early-access game.

The patch notes touch on nearly every aspect of the game, from card balance to game UI and artwork. The patch also introduces a new Phobia Mode, which replaces potentially triggering imagery with less frightening artwork. The update also reduced the price of Relics in shops by 25 gold.

Beyond the nice quality-of-life changes, the fan base has taken umbrage with the overall balance of the game. Notably, the latest patch makes it harder for fans to pull "infinite" plays, that is, turns where a specific combination of cards nets the user an inordinate amount of resources or damage. One of the most controversial changes is for The Silent, a poisonous assassin. Previously, the slick trickster could use a card called Prepared, which allowed players to draw a card and discard a card for no energy. Now, the card prompts players to discard two cards in exchange for some energy on the next turn, and the card is no longer free. It's a change that will theoretically have a big impact on Sly builds that focus on discarding.

Another controversial change is that enemies have been buffed, including the current final boss, Doormaker. Mega Crit teased the magnitude of this change by telling players to "beware" their encounters with Doormaker in the patch notes. Now, Doormaker will eat every 10th card the player draws — on top of hitting the player for massive damage on most turns.

The Regent, already a tough character to master, has also been hit by nerfs that adjust common deck picks such as Glow and Charge. While there are too many changes to detail here, the overall gist is that Slay the Spire 2 just became a much harder game for everyone. And Slay the Spire 2 wasn't an easy game to begin with!

"Was a good game but devs just [fucked] up everything they had worked for by releasing the most garbage update ever," reads one recent negative review from a player who has already put 67 hours into the game.

While many reviews are short, angry outbursts, other players actually explain their reasoning. One of the most upvoted negative Steam reviews, from user Leo Dilu, is a lengthy essay of 17 paragraphs. In regard to nerfed infinites, the Steam reviewer notes that "the problem lies in the fact that they haven't addressed the root cause: players don't necessarily 'prefer' infinites; rather, under current environmental pressures, they are forced into cycling and infinite-based builds." The player also goes on to detail the issue with Elite battles, which have become so notorious, some players now avoid the encounters altogether.

The draw of infinites for players is obvious, but they can bog the game down during multiplayer. When an ally plays a long move, others have to sit there and watch it unfold. But some fans don't understand why Mega Crit is adjusting "broken" strategies in the single-player portion of the game.

"Players accept 'nerfing the strong,' but only if they already have 'usable alternatives,'" Leo Dilu's review continues, "When the environment itself moves toward health, balancing adjustments are seen as optimizations; when the environment remains imbalanced, any nerf to the mainstream solution is magnified as further damage to the player experience."

But here's the kicker: these controversial changes aren't being doled out to the entire community. Instead, you have to opt into the Experimental branch of the Steam game, where the point is to test out changes before they hit the wider user base. But it seems like many of those players got a bit more experimentation than they bargained for. Since Slay the Spire 2 is still in Early Access, the mechanics and balancing being tested now may be very different from what's in the full game.

All the same, Slay the Spire 2's optional patch has seen nearly 8,000 fans write negative reviews in a handful of hours. While that may not sound like much compared to the millions who are enjoying the game, by the end of Friday, the number of negative reviews will eclipse the total number of reviews for the deckbuilder's initial release.