Mega Crit released Major Update #1 for Slay the Spire 2 on Steam, bringing beta branch content to the main version with balance changes, new cards, and UI improvements. The update triggered a second wave of review bombing in the past 24 hours, with 3,609 negative reviews mostly from Chinese accounts. Players cited nerfs to infinite combos and buffs to bosses like the Doormaker as making the game harder.
Mega Crit deployed Major Update #1 for Slay the Spire 2 earlier on April 17, merging a month of beta tweaks into the primary Steam branch. The patch includes dozens of balance adjustments, such as reworking Ascension 6 from fewer rest sites to costlier card removal at merchants, cheaper shop relics, and improved map generation. New content features the Ironclad's 'Not Yet' rare skill card that heals 10(13) HP and exhausts, alongside buffs to the Regent character, including reworked Arsenal and Regalite relic for better synergies with created cards. Five new Neow relics were added, like Hefty Tablet and Winged Boots, while enemies such as the Doormaker received significant buffs. Art updates, UI badges for run achievements, friends-only leaderboards, and a phobia mode to reduce scary visuals round out the changes, per the developer's Steam blog post. Bug fixes and writing improvements also arrived en masse. This marks the first major update since early access launch, addressing character balance across Ironclad, Silent, Regent, Necrobinder, and Defect. Within 12 hours, Steam saw 3,609 negative reviews, predominantly from China, echoing complaints from a prior incident 30 days ago. Reviewers targeted balancing shifts that eliminated infinite combos, like changes to Hellraiser with Pommel Strike. Mega Crit co-founder Anthony Giovannetti had previously urged players in March to use the in-game report function instead. Chinese players often resort to Steam reviews due to blocks on platforms like X and Discord behind the Great Firewall.