[b][quote][url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asset_flip]Warning: Asset Flip![/url][/quote][/b]Desert Strait: Operation Online is a Digital Homicide style asset flip, or what Valve calls a "Fake Game". The Russian "developer" paid for/pirated a few Unity asset store packs, dumped them all in a blender, and submitted it to Valve as if they're real game developers. It's important to also note the "developers" here didn't credit any of the artists and real, actual game developers who created the assets here, so this is plagiarism, as well as cash grab shovelware.
The core of this would-be painfully generic FPS arena shooter seems to have been stolen from Hardworker Studio's [URL=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/systems/advanced-sniper-starter-kit-7593]Advanced Sniper Starter Kit[/url] but in fairness it seems a lot of work went into contorting the digital assets taken from the Unity Asset Store into some kind of real game... of course, the "developer" here didn't credit any of the actual asset creators who did all the work for the game, so this is absolutely plagiarism. Claiming credit for the work of others, even if the licensing doesn't require credits, is highly unethical behaviour, and it's done with the intention to mislead gamers and scam them out of money.
The focus of the game is pure PvP, there's no single player content. The developer gambled that other players would be an acceptable substitute for adding storytelling, level design etc to the game. The vast majority of PvP-only games fail because they don't "go viral", and without players, or single player content to add a lasting value to the game, the game dies. Developers must learn that other players are not an acceptable substitute for adding content to a game.It failed. SteamDB shows the game hit all-time peak player numbers just after launch, with only a tiny 6 concurrent users, which is a pitiful number, and now the game has practically no players, with nobody playing at all, just a one or two people logging on every week or so then quickly deleting the game when they see how bad it is. Why did it fail? It's video game autopsy time!
The developers made the fatal, lazy mistake of believing that PvP, other players, would be an acceptable substitute for doing the difficult job of adding single player level design, storytelling, NPCs and other rich aspects of designed game content to the game. As a result of this choice by the developers, the game has little to no actual interactive game content. It's a little considered fact that the vast majority of PvP only, multiplayer only games [b]fail[/b]. Developers must learn that other players are not an acceptable substitute for doing the job of game developers and building a game filled with content. PvP only games must have a [b]huge[/b] player base for them to "go viral" and succeed. But with no single player experience to add lasting value to a game, the developers instead chose to bet against all odds that their game would "go viral" without any actual reason for players to want to play the game. Predictably, they lost this bet.
Desert Strait: Operation Online didn't appeal much to the people who own a copy of the game, either. It has achievements, and they show us a very clear picture that the game didn't really capture any interest from gamers. The most commonly and easily attained achievement is for starting the game, but only around 26 percent of players bothered to get that far before uninstalling the game. Hardly a success story, gamers just weren't all that interested in the game.
Desert Strait: Operation Online is carried the cash grab price of $5 USD, which has now shifted to a P2W "freemium" DLC that costs $5 USD (absolutely don't buy that). It's unclear how many people were scammed into paying for this asset flip before it became free. Given the asset flipped nature of the game and the questionable ethical nature of the developer (as outlined above), this is impossible to recommend. Just play CS:GO. Don't waste your time on asset flips.
