What's with the conflicting recent reviews?

[Fireball]

So I've been interested in this game since its announcement, given that Wolfeye studios are mostly former Arkane members, and that it's an immersive sim.

Most mainstream reviewers praised it on launch, and it had a "very positive" tag on the overall steam reviews.
However, this week when I checked, it kept changing between a "mixed" and "mostly positive".
I can't make up my mind on this one since most recent reviews are currently alternating between recommendations and non-recommendations.
Like is it a buggy unfinished mess that's not worth the current asking price?
Or is it the next big thing in immersive sim?

So I'm asking those who have played it for a decent amount of time; should I buy it right now or wait for a better sale?

[fourfourtwo79]

It's not a game universally liked by everyone, and wasn't from the beginning. It's been sitting on a 73-75% ratio of recommendations for like two to three weeks. Metacritic score also hasn't hugely changed. Mainstream/press reviews have been mostly positive from the start, however likewise far from universally so. See Gamespot, etc. This hasn't much changed.

Immediately upon release however, a lot of early adopters/also testers steam-rated/reviewed the game. This is kind of a front-loaded bias towards a more positive reception, also because naturally a lot of reviews are from players who hadn't played huge hours yet. You can also see this on the rating timeline. The overall ratio of positive/negative reviews after about two, three weeks into it hasn't hugely changed much.

There isn't anything specific anyway that would cause a more recent change, if anything, it should be the opposite, as the game has received content updates as well as bugfixes and balancing patches. The overall amount of reviews (see also the rating timeline) however is naturally dropping with each passing day, which makes any "change" in positive to negative ratios on any given day more prone to being fully down to nothing but randomness (If you asked ten random guys on the street whether Dishonored was any worthwile, chances are all of them would say no. Do the same with 100 or 1000 and it's going to a different story. The same naturally goes vice versa).

Watch somebody playing it (tons of let's plays) to get a better idea. I wouldn't argue it's The Next Big Thing, but it's pretty damn fun. I'd personally definitely buy this again (bought it on release day and finished it last weekend). I'm also going to by story DLC if it's decent and coming. For more details, I've posted a lot about the game in my post history.

[-=GHS=-Kewlpersin]

This thread from several weeks ago will help answer your question(s):

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1097350/discussions/0/3271311587246949615/?tscn=1650466328

[Fireball]

Thank you all!
One last question, any significant changes with the most recent patch?

[suejak]

Originally posted by Firebrand:

Thank you all!
One last question, any significant changes with the most recent patch?

Yes, the game is very actively and enthusiastically supported. They are actively trying to fix everything that people complain about, from the obvious (bugs) to the surprising (they are adding more maps and other content in every patch, and next on the list is "rework of economy and player progression").