Quick honest review before I get into the main reason I wrote this: This game is fun. It's an idle game. It's like runescape in conceptual design. If those two descriptions sound appealing to you, consider buying it.

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Now for what I came here to say...

There is a malicious and intentionally dishonest review about this game claiming it plans to hack into webcams and install spyware, among other ridiculous accusations. I hate to waste a review to debunk this, but it seems far too many people are taking it seriously.

The reviewer in question is a habitual troll. Several of his reviews on Steam have been blocked and banned by them for reasons one can only imagine. (Note, that reviewer is also deleting any comments that prove his claims wrong.)

Regarding his accusations against this game: completely ridiculous. The EULA for this game is fairly standard. Go read the EULA for any other game you own and chances are they'll be very similar.

The EULA is public ( https://store.steampowered.com/eula/1267910_eula_0 ).

There is nothing in there about installing spyware -- which, by the way, is illegal. What company is going to claim they plan to do that? And if it's not claimed in the EULA, why would the reviewer in question claim it? I'll leave it to your intelligent observations to figure that one out. There's nothing in there about hacking into webcams -- which, by the way, is illegal. There's nothing about selling your location data or other personal information. And the information about "3rd party software" does not mean what some people think -- they're programming libraries (resources that developers use to make accomplishing certain tasks easier). There's nothing malicious in there, despite persistent claims otherwise. But there are people claiming all of these and worse are going to happen. Why? I'll leave it to your intelligent observations to figure that one out as well.

Don't fall for the negative drama. There's nothing shady going on. It's just a licensing agreement. Every program you own has one.

It's like RuneScape except you don't have to play it, so essentially the ideal RuneScape experience.

Oh, Idle Games, why do I play you? After much rumination on this question, self-inflicted shame, peer-inflicted shame, self-reflection, I have finally come to the conclusion: They're like ant farms. Give it some food, water, fresh soil and worms every now and then, and watch them grow. Real ant farms, unfortunately, require a constantly expanding space and an unshakable feeling of itchiness. Idle games, however, only require my computer be running, which it already is. I've been here from the start. Progress Quest was a neat little experiment, but not very interesting past the first day. Cookie Clicker popped up on a message board, and the renaissance was born. Idle games suddenly exploded in popularity, but most of them are quite short or bad. A Dark Room, while quite good, is over in a week. Trimps was also good, but eventually the core mechanic of "reset all your progress, start over fresh, but slightly faster" lost its luster. Melvor is long, very long, and it doesn't require the cop-out "prestige" mechanic so many games depend on to artificially lengthen their play-time.

I've played a decent number of idlers, clickers, etc., and Melvor has kept my interest the longest. It scratches that runescape itch perfectly. I picked up OSRS recently, trying to relive my childhood, and was blown away by how unbearably grindy it was. Click the same spots in the screen 6,000 times. Now do it again, somewhere else. I played for about a week until my brain started to turn to mush, then I turned it off for good. A friend recommended Melvor, and it's a perfect replacement. It captures the feeling of OSRS quite perfectly, without any of the brain-numbing. My one criticism, which I have come to accept, is that it does not have an image of my dude doing actions. Fishing is just watching a bar fill up. I'd like to see my guy, in his obscenely glorious armor, throwing a net out every few seconds to catch shrimp, but alas, can't win 'em all.

This game is not nearly as active as some other incrementals (Hence, Melvor "Idle"), so if you want a bit more clicking, probably check out NGU or something instead. But, to me, the intense requirements of those games kind of defeats the point. If I'm going to be heavily involved, I'd rather play a real video game. This is just a nice little bonsai tree in my room. It's there, I have to tend to it every day, but I don't need to slave over it. If you like idle games, you'll like this. I've been playing in browser for a while, but I bought a copy for mobile and a copy for steam, because the developer deserves my money.

PS: Ignore that guy that says "start in adventure mode". It's complicated and if you don't know what you're doing, you'll find this game unnecessarily difficult and not fun. Play normal mode first.

You ever wanna play RuneScape but then remember you would have to play RuneScape? Melvor is all the RuneScape without the RuneScape.

Progress bar, the game.

Are you a busy professional and closet gamer? Do you find yourself scrolling through your Steam library mournfully gazing upon two decades of games that don't catch your fancy anymore due to family, slower reflexes, work, or your insatiable sex life? Do you wish you could play video games and not play them at the same time?

Introducing the panacea to all of those problems: Melvor Idle.

Low time investment, high fun yield.

I'm not addicted

Lately this is the only game I play. Very low energy but numbers still go up and brain likes.

its okay
barbara please bring back the kids i promise ill stop playing

Finally caved in and bought the Steam version...

I had already purchased premium on mobile tho (not the way to do it) so that money was kind of wasted. If you want the full experience its best to buy it on here first, as that then gives you the premium version on mobile. So no need to buy it twice like i did.