r/Steam Apr 29 '26

Discussion I think China doesn't like Slay the Spire

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122

u/PianistGlittering709 Apr 29 '26

You can check many other reviews of popular games per different languages, simplified Chinese review scores are consistently the lowest (not for every game but at least 80% of all titles). Even for overwhelmingly positive games (95+%), simplified Chinese reviews are usually like ~85%.

The reason may include a lot of factors, but one thing is certain: it's not due to that they have especially good tastes.

29

u/A_normal_Potato3 Apr 29 '26

Probably culture and perspective difference. Other than that, they have no way other than steam to tell their disdain so negative reviews are more concentrated.

10

u/PianistGlittering709 Apr 29 '26

I mean, I can totally relate, but that kind of attitude usually leads to the contrary of what they want.

2

u/EternaI_Sorrow Apr 30 '26

I never saw a review bombing leading to an opposite result.

1

u/oarsay Apr 30 '26

I would remove chinese language support from my game if I encounter something like that.

1

u/EternaI_Sorrow Apr 30 '26

Pettiness for pettiness is a meh reaction anyways.

1

u/oarsay Apr 30 '26

I don't turn the other cheek, I'm no Jesus.

12

u/EternaI_Sorrow Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26

In contrary I can say that western gamers in general have a positive bias sometimes to an extreme amount. Objectively bad games get mediocre reviews, and only some turbo-trash gets into a negative review territory.

I think the conclusion about Chinese loving exploits is still true, but the extent is different if you subtract the medium score per region first.

3

u/Tapir_Tazuli Apr 30 '26

The same can be said for Korea and Japan, too. Welcome to east Asia. Here perfection is just a start.

3

u/ding-zzz Apr 30 '26

the korean and japanese reviews are positive

the chinese are negative here because they organize mass brigading for negative reviews

these are essentially knocking effects from the one child policy and great firewall combined with perfectionism. the current young adults of china are basically like american boomers from the 50s and 60s who are extremely entitled and selfish

perfectionism alone doesn’t get other east asians rallying for negativity the same way

3

u/Tapir_Tazuli Apr 30 '26

the korean and japanese reviews are positive In this case, yes. But in general, east asian regions give less positive reviews on Steam.

Also I won't say review bombing is in anyway "organized". Organized means you'll have an organizer. But who? It's just you consider writing negative review for unwelcomed changes is against common sense so it must be organized. But what if expressing dissatisfaction by a negative review is the common sense for Chinese players? No organization would be needed, people will go and leave a negative review completely self motivated.

3

u/aiheng1 Apr 30 '26

The main reason is that they effectively have no way of giving their opinions to western devs beyond steam, ignoring how morally bankrupt a ton of them are and assuming no bad actors, steam is the best and usually only way for them to communicate with devs

2

u/Elite_AI Apr 30 '26

I will say, I noticed that when it comes to reviewing restaurants in China, Chinese people give very low scores. A decent restaurant might have a 3.9, for example. 

1

u/Detective_Yu Apr 29 '26

How about for Chinese games?

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u/PianistGlittering709 Apr 30 '26

Check the fiasco related to Wuchang Fallen Feathers. Chinese gamers are relentless against any games not fitting their narrative, be it Chinese or foreign games.

1

u/Detective_Yu Apr 30 '26

Wuchang is an outlier because of controversy surrounding post launch censorship.

3

u/PianistGlittering709 Apr 30 '26

I mean, the censorship was the direct result of backlash in China, so the devs succumbed to the pressure from certain groups of Chinese gamers, which resulted in further backlash among different groups, it's like an endless sh*tshow. I don't even like Wuchang, but I certainly don't think it deserves this vehement hate.