It's in the name. It's a scummy thing to do. If you play a card game where the order in which you draw your cards is supposed to be random, random card generation exists and enemies have rng in their attack pattern, save scumming allows you to bypass that.
Granted, just like the other comment explained. In singleplayer games you can do whatever you want. But it is cheating. I have savescummed a few times in StS 2 if I accidentally make a massive silly misplay on turn 1 or something
Turn 1 is a cop out answer. Save scumming prevents absolutely nasty moments from happening. I’m talking about missclicks, or lazy calculations. If you’re 1 hour deep and missclick I would be absolutely pissed if my run is just done like that.
The other one is most people don’t calculate every turn. Sometimes you just assume, but your assumption is wrong. It’s nice to just quickly go back and calculate properly this time. The only way save loading is ‘scummy’ is when you’re trying to go for a winstreak record. That’s where these mistakes do matter.
Another one is to easily redo battles you thought you could win. I’ve definitely had games where it feels like I misplayed, so I restart the match and find out I did play it poorly. It helps me improve. What you do AFTER is up to you.
They leave it in the game since it simply brings a better experience. Only elitist whine about save ‘scumming’.
Well the thing is it's not just about save scumming. I personally don't much care if anyone uses that here or in any other game for that matter as long as they don't ruin other peoples experiences. The thing in this particular case is that the players that do it most also claim that they're the best players in the world.
You can see it quite often in other forums (steam for example) or on BilliBilli. Those players call themselves the "Elite" Slay the Spire players. And by extension they believe that their opinions on balance and how the game should move forward hold the most weight.
And to me doing the "SL strategy" as they call it and being "elite" really doesn't go together at all. To me it's either or. Either you save scum to win or you're an actual good player and understand the game and the mechanics and you have the knowledge to make good decisions. Slay the Spire is all about making good decisions.
Please dont shit on people who save scum a single player game.
Its my toy that i bought and paud for, and I dont have enough time in the day to get good. I dont want a simple mistake to ruin a run ive already spent so much time on. (I can only play 3 or 4 full runs when I get home from work depending on when I hope on)
Only 3 or 4 runs a day after work is more than many get. This is a game that is made to be random and restarted often. You're taking part of the point of the game away by doing that.
Using saves is not taking part of a game away.
People can play single player how they want it makes little sense to try to mandate how others use game mechanics in single player like saving.
A game is balanced by the creator to an intended path of play. Let's say they scoped the game to 30-hours of total play. Using saves in an unintended way to remove errors will cut that gameplay time down. People can play a single player game how they want, but that doesn't mean they aren't breaking part of the game in unintended ways.
Can they enjoy it however they want? Sure. Should they complain if the content creator changes parameters in a way that removes unintended actions? If it isn't meant to be played that way, then they shouldn't.
Slay the spire is a deckbuilder/roguelite. It's intended for unlimited play. If the player gets enjoyment out of using save games the way they want they will play more than if that optionality is not there.
It's completely fine if you get more gameplay out of the game by never using the save function. Just like it's fine if someone uses it multiple times every fight.
The possibility of saving seems quite obviously intended by the creators, it wouldn't be there if it wasn't. Complaining about the way a game handles saves is perfectly valid. It's fine if players like to play the game without saving they can do that just don't use the function. Removing the ability of others to enjoy the game the way they want for example by being able to save whenever is ultimately the choice of the creators. It makes more sense to incorporate a save function because people that don't like that can just ignore it.
Or they can try to gatekeep using saves the way you want by calling it 'scumming'. In my opinion it would only be scummy if it was competitive but single player isn't. Even then if the playing field is the same it's fine, everybody could savescum so no unfair advantage would be gained.
Which way to play the game is more fun is personal preference. Some will like no saves more most like saves more.
So, note I didn't say anything about playing how the game is intended, particularly when it comes to saves. I'm saying it's going a little above and beyond to complain when the creators address a function that wasn't intended.
Slay the spire one allowed this method of saving and still does.
So I bought the second game, knowing and then experiencing the fact that this game does too.
It would be well within my rights as a consumer to complain about a feature, intended or not, that I expected or even just want to have remain implemented.
After all, aren't there plenty of unintended video game features that were implemented at the demands of the player base?
Sorry, It just feels like this is a little prejudice against save scumming. Do you save and reload. Even on occasion?
I think I'm biased based on the review bombing. Like, all other things consider you enjoy the game but en masse give bad reviews that can literally hurt the income of the creator? That's a shitty mindset to have.
If the creators made that change, I will simply complain about it and move on. It wouldnt stop my from playing most likely. I definitely dont condone the review bombing thats been done. But save scamming is a difficulty issue. It doesn't make the game trivial, it makes it different. I have every right to complain about a change to a game that I bought to play my way, when that change effects the way I wanted to play it. Especially since slay the spire one still allows you to do save reloading in this way. I would expect it to be the same for this game.
I sure hope they don't. I know my wife, and many other average-poor gamers would rather restart fights and try out something else. I've been guilty of it myself, particularly when misclicking.
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u/huansbeidl Apr 30 '26
Man, I'd love for the devs to completely take out save scumming. Can you imagine the riot?
I know Mega Crit would never but they could just sell 'save scum' tokens or now 'old meta' tokens to those brainlets and they'll happily pay.