Slay the Spire 2, which received rave reviews upon its early March launch, has seen public opinion sour significantly following a recent patch. The game's reputation has dropped from 'Very Positive' to 'Mostly Positive'.

At the heart of the controversy is a patch that restricts infinite loops and deck cycling. The developers have significantly nerfed core draw and energy-generating cards for each character, such as The Silent’s 'Prepared', The Defect’s 'Aggregate', and The Necrobinder’s 'Dirge'. The shift from instant benefits to a delayed, next-turn effect is a key change. Additionally, the overall difficulty has been increased by buffing elite monsters and introducing a boss mechanic that exhausts every 10th card drawn.

Critics point out that this patch undermines the fun of the genre. Players feel weaker while enemies have become stronger, leading to unavoidable damage in high-difficulty runs. Furthermore, because benefits are delayed to the next turn, active deck management has become difficult, forcing players into passive playstyles focused on avoidance or defense.

Since the patch was released on March 20, Steam user reviews have been 'Mostly Negative' (34% positive out of 21,589 entries). The community is pushing back, arguing that the developers are forcing a specific playstyle. One sarcastic review remarked, "I'll skip the upvote this turn and give you a downvote next turn," mocking the delayed-reward mechanic. Many critics also feel the developers made these nerfs based on data without a deep understanding of the game.

The developers stated that this balance patch was the first of many adjustments planned over the next two years and that they would continue to refine the game based on feedback. However, given the strong backlash that has lowered the overall user rating in a short period, they will need to respond to feedback more quickly.

Elsewhere, Ready or Not climbed to 6th place. Its new DLC, released on the 13th, has received a 'Very Positive' reception, and combined with the Spring Sale, it has re-entered the top rankings. ARC Raiders, which had briefly fallen out of the top 10, returned to 7th place.

In the top 20 daily peak concurrent players, Stardew Valley rose to 11th with 154,063 players due to the Spring Sale. Crimson Desert reached 248,530, an increase of nearly 10,000 from its launch day, setting a new personal record.