"Capital" is a weird Unreal Marketplace asset flip (it's possible the plagiarized assets will be replaced by genuine ones in the future, but I wouldn't bet on it) with an equally weird progression loop about blowing stuff up in this badly made, highly unpolished collection of Unreal assets.
There's no clear direction for the development of the game... this feels more like a tech demo or a development/learning sandpit than a serious attempt to create a game with vision. It's a hodgepodge of different Unreal Engine gameplay features that don't fit together cohesively.
The game graphics look better than you might expect, but that's just because it looks like some or all of them are "borrowed" from asset stores or wherever. Gamers can tell... and it comes across as insincere.
There's also the old adage that those who lack the budget and talent to make their own game assets usually lack the budget and talent to do the rest of the job of game development properly, too.
Not every "free" game really is. There's often MTX, or content locked behind DLC, or donations being requested, or any other number of things that could mislead gamers, but in this case I'm glad to say this really does appear to be a fully free game.
Nothing demonstrates a developers belief in themselves and their work than giving it away without any remuneration. This is a service to themselves, and the gaming industry, and should be applauded. Of course, just because something is free, doesn't necessarily mean it's valuable.
Even though this is "free", it failed to appeal to the 120 million+ gamers on Steam. SteamDB showed the game peaked at only 4 concurrent players... this is a dismal public reception. This was so bad they couldn't even give it away.
Bearing in mind that free games don't add +1 to your game collector count, should you bother adding this to your library and downloading it?
Nope. This isn't worth downloading. While this didn't cost me any money up front, I still feel ripped off.
[quote][url=https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/reviews]Developer Response![/url][/quote]The developer has weighed in to inform everyone they didn't read the [url=https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/reviews]Developer Usage Rules[/url] for Steam "partners", or they deliberately ignored the part where Valve says:
[quote]Though it may be tempting, not every review needs to be responded to. A developer response will frequently draw more attention than the original statement, potentially turning a small issue into a much larger community discussion. It's also not a good idea to use this feature to refute customer opinions. Your direct attention can be seen as validation or a defensive attempt to silence your customers.[/quote]
The developer breaches Valve guidelines for developers just to... admit he stole other people's assets and slapped his own name on them to try get famous for the work of other people?
Plagiarism is a serious problem, and when "developers" rip off other people's assets, even if they're "free", it's a disservice to everyone. It results in crap games, pollution like "Capital".
If the developer had committed this kind of plagiarism in Hollywood or academia, even if they didn't face legal troubles, they would never work in the industry again. It's unknown why unethical behaviour, asset flipping like this failed developer with this godawful asset flip is permitted in the gaming industry.
But make no mistake, gamers can smell plagiarists, IP thieves and asset flippers a mile away. There's reasons this garbage only hit 4 concurrent users.
Plagiarism is a disgusting problem, and this "developer" seems proud of the way he ripped off other people's assets and tried to fool people into thinking he was the creator. This is never okay. This is why indie devs have such a bad name.
Game development is a serious endeavour that requires a lot of time, money, talent, and staff. There's no benefits for gamers when people who have access to none of those things steal other people's Unreal assets, slap their own name on other people's work, and try to get "Famous" for other people's effort.
It's just weird the developer chose my review to admit their plagiarism... but this kind of intellectual bankruptcy has no place in your Steam library.
Nothing in the developers pointless breach of Valve guidelines changes any of the objective facts of my review. My review stands unaltered. I cannot recommend this game to anyone.
