Reviews

[SimonTookie]

Devs, you may have already done this, but can you address reviews. It's going to be much MUCH harder for you to bounce back if reviews continue as they have. There are a lot of negative reviews that have put myself off purchasing, and will likely put others off if there isn't an easily accessible address of these concerns.

I do wish you all the luck, the game concept looks very good.

[ShadowBane]

Really?! I have only seen positive reviews. Gotta go check now.

[SimonTookie]

Originally posted by ShadowBane:

Really?! I have only seen positive reviews. Gotta go check now.

I feel it is important to filter to see both positive and negative reviews. The negative reviews are SO consistent in their feedback and warning to "Not yet buy". However, if it continues this way, they risk dropping from "Mostly Positive" to "Positive" and below. Which I don't want if the devs can just address peoples concerns.

[ShadowBane]

Originally posted by SimonTookie:

Originally posted by ShadowBane:

Really?! I have only seen positive reviews. Gotta go check now.

I feel it is important to filter to see both positive and negative reviews. The negative reviews are SO consistent in their feedback and warning to "Not yet buy". However, if it continues this way, they risk dropping from "Mostly Positive" to "Positive" and below. Which I don't want if the devs can just address peoples concerns.

Are you talking about Steam reviews? Yah I never read them, positive or negative.

[SimonTookie]

Originally posted by ShadowBane:

Originally posted by SimonTookie:

I feel it is important to filter to see both positive and negative reviews. The negative reviews are SO consistent in their feedback and warning to "Not yet buy". However, if it continues this way, they risk dropping from "Mostly Positive" to "Positive" and below. Which I don't want if the devs can just address peoples concerns.

Are you talking about Steam reviews? Yah I never read them, positive or negative.

I am, I suppose each to their own on where they read reviews. But I look for patterns and consistency, not just angry players etc...

[Ragnarok]

Care to summarize what the negative reviews are saying and have in common?
Maybe then the devs could see very simply a list of what might be wrong and could be fixed instead of just saying there's issues but not what those issues are.

[Osok]

Originally posted by Ragnarok:

Care to summarize what the negative reviews are saying and have in common?
Maybe then the devs could see very simply a list of what might be wrong and could be fixed instead of just saying there's issues but not what those issues are.

I, too, like to read negative reviews and see what they don't like about the game - is it a fundamental problem that can't be fixed? Or is it something that can be fixed over time?

Interestingly enough, I noticed that only 10 negative reviews were in English, so I switched that setting to "All Languages" to see what else I could see and noticed a *lot* of negative reviews in Chinese.

I dug a little deeper, and did a little math (with the help of Steam review filters), and:

Of 411 total reviews, 75% are positive.
Of 150 reviews in English, 92% are positive.
Of 171 reviews in Chinese, 49% are positive.
(These two groups account for 78% of reviews at the time I looked into it.)

Long story short, for some reason, Chinese-speaking users are *far* less positive about the game than English-speaking users, and it seems to be a major reason reviews for the game are dropping so quickly. That said, English-speaking negative reviews seem to be critical of game difficulty and weapon durability, and hope it's tweaked going forward.

Hope this helps, or at least was interesting! :D

[fourfourtwo79]

There seem to be a lot of complaints about weapon durability, OP zombies et all.

Has this changed since the demo? I found that tamer than expected after you're getting the hang of things. Not sure, but kinda reminds me of people complaining about weapons degrading and breaking in System Shock 2 -- obviously that too wasn't "realistic", similar to axes breaking after a few uses. It was meant to encourage risk / reward gameplay looping and ressource management (alongside to enemies actually respawning in Shock). Still one of the best games of all time btw, and, as an interactive experience, infinitely more engaging than the "streamlined" Bioshock.

Now nobody wants to play a game they can't succed at. However, if the vision is to have that kind of survival, ressource management and tense experience, there's people who are gonna be rubbed by it. If you try to please everyone, you make a worse experience for anyone. That's why so many games in particular in the zero risk big budget space are this samey.

https://polydin.com/playtesting/

[Dev]

Negative reviews seems to focus on weapons durability, inventory management & in-game difficulty mechanics. Chinese or english all similar criticisms. Game difficulty related feedback is generally a little easier and quicker for devs to address than foundational problems like how the game looks, the character designs etc.

[RoadDog]

there is a demo to try it out. i dont read fake or troll reviews. try demo, u like it? u buy it and play it. easy as that. u got your own brain

[ShadowBane]

People don’t like the mechanics that they feel make the game too hard. Personally I disagree with those negative reviews. I like the challenge of this game and see it as a positive thing.

[Ravenns24]

Poor balance at current state. Way too many zombies that spawn right in the first room, so you cannot avoid them at all, and they roar and bring other zombies, and all of a sudden you are fighting five of them as soon as you step into the map.

Weapons break in like 2-3 hits, which is hilarious considering how much action and fighting the game has. Had knife broke after one stealth attack. What the?

Clunky controls, often your guys will just turn in different direction for no apparent reason. Zombies being able to take a swing at you while you attack them and don't get stunned, they just continue swinging at you, which is big issue if you get sandwiched.

Not enough hiding spots or alt routes to building rooms, making avoiding combat almost impossible.

Think the core game is good (being This War of Mine engine), but they really need to fix balance by either making weapons more durable, adding more hiding spots or just reducing the number of enemies that spawn on map.

In TWoM, you would rarely have to rely on combat, it was kinda desperation move as last resort, you could avoid 9/10 encounters with patience and proper planning. In this game? Not so much, combat is unavoidable in 9/10 encounters.

[Rammstein]

The only thing they should "fix" really soon, is the weapon durability. I think the majority of players agrees on this. Every other "complaint" is very mixed imho, like some like some mechanics, some dont.

[Guybrush]

On now days I look about reviews with some caution. A lot of 90% games I didn´t like and some "bad reviewd" games I love it. First people need to contain anxiety when the game is just Early Access. I know, I have to say it´s hard even for me too. This game looks amazing and promissing. But it´s not finished yet. People needs to understand.

[Rammstein]

Originally posted by Guybrush:

On now days I look about reviews with some caution. A lot of 90% games I didn´t like and some "bad reviewd" games I love it. First people need to contain anxiety when the game is just Early Access. I know, I have to say it´s hard even for me too. This game looks amazing and promissing. But it´s not finished yet. People needs to understand.

Its one of the "more polished" EA titles definately. At least in my opinion. Tons of games enter EA in some kind of pre-alpha state, to get money. Sometimes unplayable because of bugs, or simply pretty much no content. Doesnt apply here. This is the shape a product should enter EA, then EA wouldnt be a no-go for many people. This game definately doesnt abuse the EA tag. love it <3

[RZ @PikPok]

Hey everyone - thanks for your comments. Rest assured the dev team are currently working on bug fixes, and we're reviewing all reviews and forum posts (as well as our Discord) to see where we might make gameplay adjustments or changes.