Slay the Spire 2's early access has been turbulent since launch, due to three waves of review bombing from the Chinese community. For a long time, fans from other countries and the developers themselves from Mega Crit couldn't understand the exact reasons for such negativity: criticism fell upon the game after changes to the third act boss, Doormaker, who, according to the studio's statistics, was one of the easiest in the game.
The situation was clarified by blogger Iris Raphael, who organized a round table with eight top Chinese streamers and esports players for Slay the Spire 2. It turned out that the root of the problem lies in cultural differences in gameplay, specifically in the so-called SL-runs.
In China, playing Slay the Spire for record win streaks is very popular. For this, players constantly restart the battle through the menu if the situation is unfavorable. This approach is considered normal in the local professional scene, while outside of it, it is usually dismissively called "savescumming."
The updated Doormaker, with its card burning and draw prohibition mechanics, broke this scheme, making a perfect restart almost impossible. Pro-players from the Middle Kingdom considered this a personal insult and went to crush the rating on Steam, because due to the ban on social networks in China, review bombing is considered the only effective way to reach the authors.
Mega Crit has already replaced the boss with a new opponent named Aeonglass, but negative reviews are still hanging on the game's page. The studio promised to consider a separate mode for those who like to play through restarts, as balancing one game for regular runs and SL-run fans is virtually impossible.