Games

Or You Can Just Read Steam Reviews

Every indie dev at some point gets supermad about Steam reviews. However, 99 times out of 100, skimming the reviews on the game’s front page will tell you everything you need to know

And mostly read the negative one to see if there's any issue with the feature or lack thereof, or whether there's any performance issue or bug, anything you won't tolerate. Dev will tell you the stuff is good anyway. I rarely read from review site these day, and i find Yahtzee being very helpful in that he will be very enthusiastically tell you how some part of the game don't work, which is exactly what i'm looking for.

The moment you see a pokemon or a cod title get a 9/10, you understand how these reviews are shit.

This was a pretty dumb read. Lots of things just slightly wrong and mostly complaining.

First of all game reviews have always been about finding a core that you can connect with your audience about as with all reviews. Maybe its the game genre, it maybe it is a style or an emotion you have at your core.
And to that there are new trusted reviewers all the time, you just aren't personally hearing about them.

A new one that has gained following is IronPineapple who set their core to darksouls like games but because of their willingness to flub the definition a bit they have character and people have flocked to them for trusted takes about skill based games.
RyeGames is becoming a trusted voice in acting as a living games historian.
No new reviewers? Bullshit.

The one thing I agree on is how useful steam reviews are. Yes or no and show the percents and see what people said. Almost always there is a synopsis review and a more emotional review to tell you if its for you or not.

IMO due paid reviews and companies being too scared of getting sued for defamation or similar reasons I also do not trust "professional" reviews any more and stopped reading them. But while less professional and more subjective, I almost always read user reviews on plattforms that allow them like Steam on PC or the Play Store on mobile. At least you can tell if there are some issues that most people seem to hate and then you can judge for yourself if that is a dealbreaker to you or if you're gonna gice it a shot anyway.

Way better than any review is a free demo for an actual hands-on experience. Or I also often look for some gameplay on YouTube, especially if there is no demo available.

Every indie dev at some point gets supermad about Steam reviews. However, 99 times out of 100, skimming the reviews on the game’s front page will tell you everything you need to know.

I think I get both sides of the matter. Some devs seem to be mad simply because the review is not under their control, and the player isn't shy saying what's wrong with the game. But some reviews are like, "2/10 Chinese restaurant, there were no burgers".

I want a game review site where there’s a number and it’s legit. Like

1/10 - Irredeemably bad. The music is terrible, the sounds are grating (or missing), the visuals hurt to look at (or are completely boring, which might be worse.) controls make it frustrating to navigate. I also give this to bland games with extremely predatory monetization, where the goal of the game is “make as much money as possible from whales”. Usually a mediocre mobile game skinned to a popular IP, maybe with some of the same aspects as that other game, but a huge wall where suddenly it’s spendin’ time.

2/10 - this is rough. Like, really rough. Something about it is either unique, funny, or novel, so it gets a point for that. Overall, you’re proooobably gonna want to skip this. It’s going to be tough for even big updates to fix the flaws in this game.

3/10 - this game has some redeeming qualities, but huge flaws as well. Worth it to try if you can get a deal, but needs a lot of work, and won’t be for everyone. Probable skip for most folks.

4/10 - A good game with many flaws, but worth picking up if you’re really into this kind of game. Maybe this has been done better by other games, or maybe there’s glitches. It’s not terrible, but below average.

5/10 - a perfectly serviceable game. If you like this series, you’ll certainly be playing it. If you like this game type, it’s worth checking out. A lot of CoDs and BF games have fallen here since BF4 for me.

6/10 - A good game. It’s good! Above average, and definitely worth playing if you like this type. This is the most stacked category for games I’ve played overall.

7/10 - Pick this game up, it’s very good. If this is on a console with a smaller library (N64, Dreamcast, 32x, GameCube) deeefintiely pick it up.

8/10 - A True Great. Few or no flaws, very fun. Great controls, interesting graphics, fun story, overall just a stellar game. Play this.

9/10 - almost perfect in every way. Maybe perfect, but a genre that might limit people. Or incredible but very difficult to play without spending a lot of money (Alyx comes to mind when I say that, but that’s an eight for me)

10/10 - Should almost never be given out. Incredible flawless perfection that everyone in the world with most of their limbs, sight, and vision in tact MUST check out. I have very few games (or movies, shows, books) that get a 10. We don’t need to grade things like their parents are getting a report card, some 10s I see given out are baffling.

It’s always been like this. The pro reviewers get wined and dined by the publishers and consider themselves part of the industry (Dorito Pope!), so it’s not in their interest to rock the boat. The days of renegade and experimental reviews are long gone.

My complaining might just be sadness. When I was 25, I had the time and energy to dig into a game like this and find all the cool secrets everyone swears are there. Now I’m old, which is not great.

Same here :-/

Reviews and rating systems are by and large shit everywhere at this stage of capitalism. I'd actually say I trust Steam review sections more than most websites that have them anymore... It almost feels like a boomer af thing to leave a review on something, so I have to question the sanity of the people leaving the reviews, and if they can't be trusted, why would I trust their opinion of the product?

I like reading the RockPaperShotgun reviews. Nice writing, no score, usually some interesting points about the game going deeper than what a trailer shows.

Dude discovers tastes are subjective and hard to describe with numbers.

Man, i just finished reading a review that spent half the time complaining that this top down merchant sim wasn't Kingdom come deliverance 2. Professionals really suck.

I just watch some gameplay videos on YouTube if I’m vaguely interested.

this writer desperately needs a vacation and needs to stop writing gaming reviews cause apparently it's made him an overly dramatic, cynical weirdo.

"*Can There Be More Professional Game Reviewers Again?

It’s hard to see how. That takes money, and we’ve all been trained to not pay money for reviews. I used to actually subscribe to game magazines, with actual dollars! I haven’t done it in a long time.

So whose fault is it that game reviews are pointless now? It’s mine. And probably yours.*"

just because you're tired and jaded doesn't mean everything is hopeless. the bit about the steam reviews was extremely telling, honestly. this is a whine-piece. nothing more.

Ultimately it's entertainment people just have fun reading them, and yeah that's like 90% of the economy. Mcdonalds burgers aren't better than any other burger, it's just a fun psychological experience that's why it's a huge business.

I think in things like games, movies, etc it's good to find a journalist or two that often share your preferences or you know when they differ & #s are pointless especially when people get fired for giving a1 or 2 review

I feel like game reviews kinda died off with 'total biscuit' RIP. Was was good about his reviews is you could understand his personal tastes which may not have been the same as yours but you could still vibe out if it was good or not. Like he might forinstance give a average for a bolmer shooter because it wasn't his vibe. But you'd know 'oh if he's giving it an average' that's actually pretty good considering. But with IGN etc, you get different people reviewing stuff and then everything becomes arbitrary.

See also: 1984 out of 10, which is essentially a videogame wrapper around George Orwell's In Defence Of The Novel essay.

I like the part where reviewers have a scale then use less than half that scale. Like 5 star movie reviews where half of films are 4 star or higher and 99% are 3 star or higher. Maybe if a movie has an incoherent story, is obnoxious AND offensive, and sounds like it was filmed in a well then it'll be 2.5 stars. To get 2 stars it has to be something that doesn't even qualify as a movie and thus won't get ranked.

In france we have an independent video game magazine with reviews I trust. They don't always bother putting a score to videogames and sometimes they don't follow their own system. Their best rated games are games nobody ever heard about (I remember a 15/10 for an obscure managing game years ago).

They have been there for decades but they go almost bankrupt every 2 years or so.

It's nice to have them around.

That was my favorite game as a kid