How about some negative reviews?

[SpyderCanopus]

We see what you like, but not what you don't.

[nateraade]

He only leaves positive "reviews", which he has admit aren't reviews, but just first impressions. Positive reviews for a wide amount of games, and big ones, drives more traffic and gets more followers, so Taylor can collect more games. Yes, he's admit to this in a few threads. While he has no legitimacy as a trustworthy curator, at least I can scroll through his games and see what's out there. I've added plenty of good stuff to my WL doing this, but I obviously ignore his fake reviews.

[Kris.vdv]

How can you recognize the ‘fake reviews’?

[nateraade]

Originally posted by Kris.vdv:

How can you recognize the ‘fake reviews’?

Well, Taylor's personal admission (in a few threads) that he just leaves positive reviews for everything, and they're first impressions as well kinda opened my eyes. The Curator system is broken, and those involved are just taking massive advantage of this, Taylor included.

You can review any game...even ones that get a store page a year or two before it's released. You don't need to put a single second into the game to do it.

With that being said, there are a few red flags that can tell you a review is fake:

-The game is a AAA title and isn't out yet. These AAA companies don't need Curator exposure, so they most likely won't send out free games to these groups. It's quite rare. The biggest games I can think of that have been given to Curator Groups is The Medium and Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning, both of which are big-ish but not massive hits like Skyrim.
-The review has no actual information indicating that they've even played the game. I only pay attention to Curators that give insight and details in their limited review, as it's actually valuable instead of generic BS.
-The review has nothing to do with the game. For example, one Curator Group seriously just puts "meow" in for every damn review. Another writes "I'm Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite game on Steam." These are fake reviews.
-The review is just a close rehash of the game's description, or a blatantly copy-paste of it. I've seen this A TON.
-The Curator Groups is a meme or joke group. There are many of these, and their reviews are always just the same crap, with pop culture references and other generic things that make no references to the game.

All in all, there are a few Curator Groups I actually value. My favorite would have to be Designer Plays, comprising of at least one person who's been designing games for 25+ years. S/he gives good insights and positive points on the games, and isn't afraid to point out issues, doubts, misgivings, or outright negatives as well.

I think the much larger group Rock, Paper, Shotgun is pretty good, and they have a big enough team to actually play all of the games, and since they're a major publication off of Steam, they're getting all the big games anyway well ahead of their release so they can review them.

There are even a few game developers that use their page as a Curator Group! A favorite of mine is Supergiant Games, who made the masterclass games Hades, Pyre, Transistor, and Bastion. They review other games (not many) in a "team member pick" style.

[SpyderCanopus]

Good info nateraade. I have found some gems with this page as well. I now understand these "reviews" better.

[nateraade]

Originally posted by SpyderCanopus:

Good info nateraade. I have found some gems with this page as well. I now understand these "reviews" better.

Yeah, I suppose that's the silver lining to the dark cloud, so to speak. For discovering more gems with actually earnest and seemingly honest and original reviews, I tend to turn to these Curators, however:
https://store.steampowered.com/curator/6856591-Designer-Plays/
https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32410833-Devious-Picks/
https://store.steampowered.com/curator/30811293-IndieGameDiggers/

[GamingTaylor]

I'd advise avoiding the curator system completely. Every curator just wants free games. What affects free games is the tags + amount of followers.

Leaving negative curator reviews doesn't show up on the main page of the game, so its better to leave positive reviews on upcoming / popular games.

[Sprinkles298]

Why are your reviews the same as other people's reviews @GamingTaylor?

I found 3 other reviews that were absolutely glowing about BF2042 that say "Recommended" despite the game being a complete wreck, all of which were the same.

Are they YOUR review reposted? Or are you the same person under these curators? Why am I seeing your review posted 3-5 times under specific games for multiple *other* curators?