Slay the Spire 2 Gets Review Bombed Over Upcoming Balance Patch

Slay the Spire 2 has taken a dramatic hit on Steam, dropping from an Overwhelmingly Positive 97% rating to a Very Positive 83% in just 24 hours. The culprit? A balance patch that has not even officially launched yet — it is only available as an opt-in beta.

What Happened

Developer Mega Crit announced Beta Patch v0.100.0, describing it as the first major post-launch update. The patch focuses on making infinite combos harder to achieve and introduces a new Phobia Mode with bespoke assets to address creepy phobia concerns.

Despite the patch being entirely opt-in through Steam's Game Versions & Betas tab, approximately 11,000 negative reviews appeared overnight, tanking the game's overall score across its roughly 60,000 total reviews.

The Controversial Changes

Two changes are at the center of the backlash:

• Silent's Prepared Skill Rework: The beloved 0-cost Prepared skill — which drew two cards and discarded two — has been replaced with Prepare, a 1-cost skill that discards two cards and grants 2 energy next turn. Many players considered Silent overpowered, but the community is split on whether this was the right approach.
• Doormaker Boss Buff: The Act 3 boss now permanently removes the tenth card you draw and gains 1 strength when it does. A popular Reddit thread argues there is "almost no reliable counterplay" if Doormaker removes a key card from your deck. The boss was widely considered too easy before, but players feel this particular buff may be overkill.

Our Take

Review bombing a game over an opt-in beta patch is, frankly, ridiculous. Mega Crit has consistently been transparent about their development process, and beta patches exist precisely so the community can test and provide feedback before changes go live. The game literally has a built-in Feedback option — there is no reason to trash the overall rating over changes that may never ship in their current form. That said, Mega Crit should take the intensity of the reaction as a signal that these particular changes need more iteration before hitting the main branch.

Key Takeaways

• Slay the Spire 2 dropped from 97% to 83% positive on Steam overnight due to review bombing
• The beta patch nerfs Silent's Prepared skill and significantly buffs the Doormaker boss
• All changes are opt-in only — players must manually switch to the beta branch
• Over 11,000 negative reviews appeared in response to changes that are still subject to revision
• The community's frustration may be valid, but review bombing undermines legitimate feedback channels