Slay The Spire 2 Turned On Steam Reviews After Major Update #1

Mega Crit released Major Update #1 for Slay the Spire 2 on April 17, 2026, moving every change from the v0.100.0 through v0.103.1 beta patches onto the main branch under version v0.103.2. The release covers balance passes across all five characters, five new Neow relics, an overhaul of the leaderboard and score system, a Phobia Mode toggle, placeholder-art replacements, and a bug-fix list that includes the Fatal Error Steam cloud sync issue. The studio packaged the patch as a high-level recap rather than chronological notes, citing the volume of reworks and reverts that had moved through the beta channel.

The push follows a beta patch from the previous month in which Mega Crit reversed its earlier energy-cost increase on the Prepared card after Steam reviewers argued the change had broken Sly decks, and handed numeric power increases to the character with the lowest pick rate.

STS2 Patch v0.103.2 Review

The v0.103.2 build consolidates roughly a month of beta iteration into one release for the main branch, which is the version used by the majority of players. Mega Crit confirmed that main-branch and beta-branch leaderboards will run on separate tracks going forward because the scoring schema has changed, and that global leaderboards remain on the roadmap without a date attached.

I think the Regent rework is the most important change in the patch, because it rewires a character whose identity had been locked to a narrow card pool. Ironclad shifts toward stalling and grinding: Not Yet sits at Cost 2 with a 10 or 13 HP heal and Exhaust, while Grapple's removal and reworks on Dominate, Expect a Fight, Spite, and Stoke close some builds and open others anchored in survivability. Silent's Sly deck takes a direct hit as Blade of Ink seeds the Shiv pool with Inky Shivs, dealing 2 extra damage and applying 1 Weak, and Acrobatics moves to Uncommon to match Skim, Parse, Glimmer, and Burning Pact.

General changes

• Ascension 6 reworked from Gloom ("Less rest sites.") to Inflation ("Removing cards from your deck at the Merchant is more expensive.")
• All shop relics cost 25 gold less, and gold-generating relics no longer appear in the shop
• Map generation adjusted for consistency
• Deprecated cards left in a saved deck are replaced with a placeholder Status card that draws one, removes itself, and exhausts

Ironclad

• New card Not Yet: Rare Skill, Cost 2, Heal 10 (13) HP, Exhaust
• Dominate, Expect a Fight, Spite, and Stoke reworked
• Grapple deprecated
• Multiple buffs, nerfs, and rarity shifts aimed at survivability and Exhaust synergy

Silent

• Blade of Ink now generates Shivs enchanted with Inky: "This card deals 2 additional damage and applies 1 Weak"
• Acrobatics moved from Common to Uncommon, aligning it with Skim, Parse, Glimmer, and Burning Pact
• Further buffs and nerfs targeting Sly deck dominance

Regent

• Arsenal grants Strength based on any cards created, not just Colorless
• Regalite relic grants Block for any card created, not just Colorless
• Largest buff pass of any character, with only a couple of nerfs

Necrobinder

• Borrowed Time reworked from Uncommon Cost 0 ("Apply 3 Doom to yourself. Gain 1 (2) Energy.") to Uncommon Cost 1 ("Gain 4 (6) energy. Cards cost an additional energy this turn.")
• Further buffs and nerfs across her pool, with the new Borrowed Time pitched at Reap and Bury builds

Defect

• The smallest change list of any character, limited to a couple of buffs and nerfs

Neow relics

• Hefty Tablet: "Choose 1 of 3 Rare cards to add to your Deck. Add 1 Injury to your Deck."
• Neow's Talisman: "Upgrade 1 of your Strikes and 1 of your Defends."
• Neow's Bones: "Upon pickup, gain 2 random Neow Relics. Add 1 random Curse to your Deck."
• Phial Holster: "Upon pickup, gain 1 potion slot and procure 2 random potions."
• Winged Boots: "You may ignore paths when choosing the next rooms to travel to 3 times."

Cards, relics, events, enemies

• Colorless cards, relics, and potions take buffs, nerfs, and pool or rarity shifts
• Hidden Gem card and Pendulum relic reworked
• Events receive option and spawn condition tweaks
• Ancient offerings rebalanced
• Skulking Colony altered; the Doormaker receives the most drastic enemy rework in the patch

Art and VFX

• Placeholder art replaced on cards, relics, enemies, and Nonupeipe the Ancient
• New enemy animations and VFX on specific character moves
• Card affliction VFX added
• Character-based VFX on energy counters

UI and UX

• Badges appear at the end of a run, marking feats like beating a boss without HP loss, quick clears, easter eggs, or forgetting to spend gold
• Leaderboards show friends' scores only; global leaderboards are promised later
• Score sorting uses win status, badge count, then finish time; Magic Numbers dropped from leaderboard scoring
• Phobia Mode toggle added
• In-game feedback tool raised from 500 to 8,000 characters
• Achievements and epochs can no longer unlock in Daily or Custom runs
• Controller support improvements

Writing and bug fixes

• Fairy in a Bottle text rewritten to state it triggers only when HP reaches 0, not on deaths from The Insatiable
• Fatal Error Steam cloud sync fix
• Crash, softlock, and black-screen startup fixes
• Vakuu's Whispering Earring logic corrected
• Controller navigation fixes
• Multiplayer state divergence and Error 5008 disconnect fixes

The Regent pass is the clearest pivot in the character list. Arsenal now ties Strength to any created card, and Regalite grants Block on any created card, opening the loop to decks built around attack effects, events, or relic triggers rather than Colorless pulls alone. Mega Crit framed the buffs as a response to concerns the Regent felt weaker than the rest of the roster.

Necrobinder's Borrowed Time is the largest cost shift in the character passes, trading the zero-cost self-Doom gamble for a one-cost burst that raises every other card's cost this turn, steering her toward Reap and Bury. Defect gets the lightest touch. Ascension 6 swaps Gloom for Inflation, punishing Merchant-heavy deck thinning; shop relics drop 25 gold and gold-generating relics leave the shop pool. Neow's five new relics reshape the opening choice, from Hefty Tablet's Rare-for-Injury trade to Winged Boots granting three path-ignore moves, while the Doormaker rework drives most of the patch's pacing complaints. Leaderboards now sort on win, badge count, then clear speed, with friend-only boards sidestepping anti-cheat entirely and global boards held for a later release.

Why Do Players "Bomb" The Update?

Steam logged 3,609 negative reviews against Slay the Spire 2 in the twelve hours following the v0.103.2 release, per tracking by Lewis Parker. The majority came from accounts based in China, repeating the pattern seen thirty days earlier. Complaints center on the removal of infinite combos, including changes to how Hellraiser interacts with Pommel Strike, and on the Doormaker buffs. Several reviews name Mega Crit co-founder Anthony Giovannetti, who in March asked players to route complaints through the in-game feedback tool rather than through Steam reviews. Observers note that review-bombing remains one of the few public channels open to users in China, given that X and Discord are blocked by the country's firewall.

Mega Crit has confirmed the beta branch will continue to run experimental changes and that nothing in v0.103.2 is final because the game remains in Early Access. I see the beta work landing on the main branch as improvements that, despite the negative reviews, actually make the game easier to finish rather than harder. The studio has asked players to report issues through the in-game feedback tool, now with its 8,000-character ceiling, while promising more sorting features and a global leaderboard in future builds.

Read also, Slay the Spire 2's early access launch generated an estimated $92 million on Steam in its first 14 days according to Alinea Analytics, exceeding the combined lifetime Steam earnings of Hollow Knight: Silksong and Hades 2 at $83 million, with analyst Rhys Elliott placing unit sales at 4.6 million and Mega Crit having confirmed 3 million copies sold by March 13.