Backlash Hits, Studio Responds
More than 9,000 negative Steam reviews landed on Slay the Spire 2 within a day of its first beta balance patch, a tidal swing that would spook most studios. Mega Crit co-founder Casey Yano says he wasn’t bothered. Some newer members of the team were rattled by the intensity, he admitted in a new interview with PC Gamer, but he understood why it happened.
“It’s difficult for players to feel like they’re heard by developers, so I understand why they choose to use Steam and do something that would impact visibility in the store to try to portray their feedback,” Yano said. “I don’t really get mad at players for doing bandwagoning stuff.”
Why Steam Reviews Became the Megaphone
The first wave of reaction online targeted the reviewers themselves—many of whom posted in Simplified Chinese—for not using the Steam discussion forums or Mega Crit’s official Discord. That critique missed a crucial piece of context. In China, restrictions on internet activity make those channels difficult or impossible to use, leaving Steam’s review section as the only straightforward way to send feedback without workarounds.
Reports from players in China suggest the global version of Steam is accessible for some users, but the platform’s community features often aren’t. That gap helps explain why reviews, not forum posts, carried the message. As Yano put it: “I think it’s really easy, if you’re a player in America, to be like, ‘Why don’t they just use these systems?’ I don’t really feel that way. It’s unfortunate that they feel the only way to be heard is through Steam reviews.”
He also pushed back on reducing the moment to a culture clash. “We’re all just people, and we all have different restrictions. I don’t like to say things like ‘Chinese players.’ In my mind, I think ‘players in China,’ because they’re just in a different place,” he said. “They’re all just humans. They’re all trying to interact with the game and be heard. Being heard is so important, and we want to improve that.”