First big Slay the Spire 2 patch aims "to make infinites harder to achieve" and calms down the creepiest crawlies in the roguelike with a Phobia Mode

Mega Crit has just released the first major balance patch on Slay the Spire 2's Steam beta branch, bringing in countless buffs and nerfs that are sure to help or hinder countless builds. Today's patch also adds a Phobia Mode to address some accessibility concerns.

"Welcome to the first BIG post-launch patch, Slayers," the developer's new blog post reads. "This one has a huge balance pass, the main aim of which is to make infinites harder to achieve." Infinites in Slay the Spire 2 are essentially rare builds that have some form of both energy regeneration and card draws to keep your loop going to infinity.

In its effort to reach the ever-elusive, definitely attainable concept of perfect game balance, Mega Crit also says all shop relics now cost 25 Gold less, "Power values can no longer stack above 999,999", and you can't acquire epochs on daily or custom runs anymore.

Of course, the sweeping balance patch reworks several cards and slightly turns the knobs on too many stats to name here. They're all handily listed in the studio's patch notes, though.

"We're also introducing a Phobia Mode with bespoke assets that should mitigate various creepy phobia concerns," Mega Crit writes. You can toggle Phobia Mode in the game's setting, which will then no longer animate the infection affliction overlay and display alternate visuals for Hive backgrounds, The Insatiable, Phrog Parasite, Wrigglers, Terror Eel, and Entomancer.

That should turn down the ickiness of the game's creepiest crawlies for anyone who's made really uncomfortable by the Terror Eel's endless eyeballs, for example.

Bug fixes, new card portraits, UI tweaks, and updated text to clear up some common misunderstandings round out the rest of the patch, so you'll have a better idea of when you're closer to becoming monster chow: One of The Insatiable's abilities is "now worded more clearly on the turn that it will eat you."

Struggling through the hit roguelike? Here's how to unlock all Slay the Spire 2 characters and a ranked Slay the Spire 2 character tier list.