[quote][b][url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asset_flip]Warning: Asset Flip![/url][/b]
Dark Forest: The Horror is a Digital Homicide style asset flip, or what Valve calls a "Fake Game". The "developer" paid for/pirated a few Unity asset store assets, dumped them all in a blender, and submitted it to Valve as if they're real game developers.[/quote]
This is a 10 minute long "Find the asset flipped skulls, avoid the asset flipped knight" fake game from Atomic Fabrik. Run around an environment hacked together out of stolen/plagiarised assets for 10 minutes and realize if you paid money for this garbage, you got scammed. That's because Atomic Fabrik/Gamesforgames is a known scammer. It has no value or merit as a real game.
Most of the assets are stolen from the Fantasy Village Pack and [url=https://www.fab.com/listings/7e0d5dd2-8040-456f-8eea-dff43fc46415]Cemetary Vol 1[/url] asset pack from Dekagon.
Gamesforgames/Atomic Fabrik/Maks Volegov have shown a repeat pattern of unethically dumping other people's work onto Steam as a cheap, nasty cash grab, through this account or through closely linked/alt accounts. Here's some examples so you can see for yourself:
[list]
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/3052600]Police Atv Offroad[/url]" = [url=https://www.sellmyapp.com/downloads/police-atv-training-off-road/]Police ATV Training Off Road[/url] developed by Zoobs Man
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2123690]Forest Tower Defense[/url]" = [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhUqV456MFI]Tower Defense 2D Template[/url] developed by GoodDay
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1906320]Arena Drift Master[/url]" = [url=https://www.sellanycode.com/item/206/zombie-drive-trending-game]Zombie Drive Trending Game[/url] developed by Virgil Source
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2159880]Highway Cross[/url]" = [url=https://www.sellmyapp.com/downloads/crazy-stick-man-road-crossing-rescue-64-bit-source-code/]Crazy Stick Man Road Crossing Rescue 64-bit Source Code[/url] developed by Sim Studio
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1522350]Zombie Drift[/url]" = [url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/packs/endless-car-chase-game-template-116027]Endless Car Chase Game Template[/url] developed by Puppeteer
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2159920]Lion King Simulator[/url]" = [url=https://www.sellmyapp.com/downloads/lion-king-jungle-simulator-wildlife-animal-hunting-64-bit/]Lion King Jungle Simulator[/url] developed by Sim Studio
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1938460]Masterchef Chinese Food Edition[/url]" = [url=https://www.sellmyapp.com/downloads/cook-chinese-food-asian-cooking-games/]Cook Chinese Food - Asian Cooking Games[/url] developed by Webelinx
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1859590]The Zombie Smasher[/url]" = [url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/packs/zombie-apocalypse-143231]Zombie Apocalypse[/url] developed by BoneCracker Games
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2805640]Desert Special Forces[/url]" = [url=https://www.sellmyapp.com/downloads/frontline-army-commando-war-battle-games/]Frontline Army Commando War[/url] developed by Deeko Games
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/3592350]Happy Piggy[/url]" = [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IXQGJuLFvI]Unity C# Tutorial[/url] developed by Unity No Code
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2100740]Save The Girl[/url]" = [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEVzzD9iMXE]Save The Girl[/url] developed by Unity Source Code
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2364250]Hypermarket Tycoon Manager[/url]" = [url=https://www.sellmyapp.com/downloads/idle-market-tycoon/]Idle Market Tycoon[/url] developed by Fox Game Studio
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1917720]Two Sedans Driving Simulator[/url]" = [url=https://www.sellmyapp.com/downloads/dual-control-hypercasual-game/]Dual Control[/url] developed by Game Polygon
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1967620]Tuk Tuk Extreme Simulator[/url]" = [url=https://www.sellmyapp.com/downloads/tuk-tuk-rickshaw-driving-offroad-auto-game-2022/]Tuk Tuk Rickshaw Driving Offroad Auto Game 2022[/url] developed by Zoobs Man
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2805620]Zombodesert[/url]" = [url=https://www.sellmyapp.com/downloads/animal-racing-complate-game-racing-game-support-unity-5-5/]Animal Racing[/url] developed by SplayGame Official
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1284510]In a search of a new home[/url]" = [url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/2d/characters/pixel-adventure-1-155360]Pixel Adventure 1[/url] developed by Pixel Frog
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2126300]Fix My Legs Doc[/url]" = [url=https://www.sellmyapp.com/downloads/foot-doctor-games/]Foot Doctor Games[/url] developed by Webelinx
[/list]
Taking this shovelware seriously as if it was a genuine attempt to make a game, it doesn't meet basic minimum requirements that most PC gamers expect as standard.
The poor quality of this game is reflected by how many people spent time with it. At the time of this review, SteamDB shows the all-time peak player number was [b]only 4 players[/b], and the worst part is these weren't genuine players, these were the Russian fake review accounts that the developer paid to make the fake reviews. Since the fake reviews are all done, now the only player activity occurs once or twice a month, presumably someone loading it up to see what it is then quickly uninstalling it. Considering there's over 130 million gamers on Steam and well over 140,000 games for gamers to choose from, the overwhelming lack of interest in this low quality game is to be expected.
[quote][b][url=https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/federal-register-notices/16-cfr-part-465-trade-regulation-rule-use-consumer-reviews-testimonials-final-rule]Warning: Review Manipulation![/url][/b]
This game features a number of fake positive reviews from accounts known to be in the business of review manipulation/paid reviews. They're all written in either Russian, broken English or ChatGPT AI slop, appear at almost exactly the same time, very shortly after the game launched on Steam, all have a direct Steam purchase of the game, and the accounts are used consistently to write fake reviews for asset flips and other cash grabs/scams. The "Positive" review score on this game should be disregarded due to this blatant, unethical review manipulation. This is done to deceive and scam gamers into paying for a bad product.
Due to the 2024 FTC ruling (16 CFR § 465.4, 15 U.S.C. § 45), these fake reviews are a violation of US Federal Law.[/quote]
This kind of asset flipping isn't harmless. It makes it harder for gamers to find genuinely made games from ethical developers. It makes it harder for genuine indie developers, who put hard work into trying to make real games, to find an audience for their products. It gives indie developers a bad name.
Let's talk about price and what this asset flip is actually worth. Is this significantly better than any of the 140,000+ genuinely made games on Steam? Of course not!
Dark Forest: The Horror has the preposterous price of $11 USD, for which you could easily get any number of older AAA games.
For comparison, the $11 asking price for this game could get you games like "Phantasmophobia", "Hunt: Showdown" or "Cuphead". Quality, professionally made games like those are frequently on sale cheaper than this.
Given the defects and quality issues with the game, coupled with the unrealistic price, and the questionable ethical nature of the developer and/or their associates (as outlined above), this is impossible to recommend. Because this is just a fake game/cash grab scam, and due to the sheer unethical nature of the developer, you should avoid this completely. Don't reward this morally bankrupt, unethical behaviour from Maks Volegov/Gamesforgames.
