Slay the Spire 2 received 3,609 negative Steam reviews in 12 hours after Major Update #1 reached the main branch on Apr. 17, according to Kotaku. The site says the new wave is the game's second review-bombing episode in the last 30 days and that the overwhelming majority of the negative reviews came from China-based accounts. The r/Games post was created on Apr. 18 at 06:49 UTC and had 809 score with 677 comments at crawl time.

The update is v0.103.2. Kotaku describes it as the main-branch release of content, changes, and fixes that had been in the beta branch. The patch includes dozens of new art pieces, bug fixes, new relics, and new cards. One cited card is “Not Yet” for Ironclad, a rare card that heals 10 HP.

Balance, not new content, is the pressure point

The complaint cluster is about balance changes rather than the new assets or cards. Kotaku says negative reviews focused on the removal of infinite combos and buffs to the Doormaker boss fight. One example is a change to how Hellraiser interacts with Pommel Strike. The article also notes that Mega Crit co-founder Anthony Giovannetti previously asked players to use the in-game report function instead of review-bombing on Steam.

The regional context matters because Steam reviews are being used as a feedback channel. Kotaku points to blocked access to platforms such as X and Discord in China as one reason some players route complaints through Steam. The r/Games thread's 677 comments at crawl time show that the patch has become a broader discussion about balance, difficulty, and whether Steam reviews should be used to pressure a live Early Access build.

Patch: Major Update #1 / v0.103.2
Negative reviews: 3,609 in 12 hours
Main complaint: balance changes and infinite combo removal
Platform: Steam

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Slay the Spire 2 v0.103.2 draws 3,609 negative Steam reviews in 12 hours