[quote][b][url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asset_flip]Warning: Asset Flip![/url][/b]
Fallen Ninja is a Digital Homicide style asset flip, or what Valve calls a "Fake Game". The "developer" paid for/pirated a few Unreal Marketplace assets, dumped them all in a blender, and submitted it to Valve as if they're real game developers.[/quote]
Two notable criteria for what makes an asset flip instead of legitimate use of stock assets are whether those assets comprise the majority of the game, and whether the "developer" properly credited the people who created most of the assets in the game. This game fails both of those tests. 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.
In this case, the asset flipper took a bunch of Unreal assets like the ninja character, which he stole from the [url=https://www.artstation.com/marketplace/p/Bn5Om/fighters-pack]Fighters Pack[/url], created by actual game developer, Maksim Bugrimov. These stolen assets got dumped on a very poor quality, lazy third person brawler/lightweight ARPG template. This is possibly in violation of the ArtStation Standard License, but Tero likes breaching intellectual property and copyright licenses to dump this toxic garbage onto Steam, as a paid product. It has no value or merit as a real game.
HaDe Games/Valkeala Software/VS Revolution (aka Candy games... basically Tero Lunkka has started using a lot of fake developer accounts to hide his identity) 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/2109550]Office Racer[/url]" = [url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/props/interior/polygon-office-low-poly-3d-art-by-synty-159492]Polygon Office[/url] developed by Synty Studios
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2985190]Candy Renovation[/url]" = [url=https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/renovation-simulator]Renovation Simulator[/url] developed by Manudog
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/723830]Cyborg Invasion Shooter[/url]" = [url=https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/third-person-shooter-kit]Third Person Shooter Kit[/url] developed by Epic Games
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/777270]Thirsty Bubble[/url]" = [url=]Low Poly Scenario Pack+POLYGON Knights Pack+Simple Dungeons[/url] developed by
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/768060]The Warrior Of Treasures[/url]" = [url=https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/dynamic-combat-system]Dynamic Combat System[/url] developed by Grzegorz Szewczyk
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2975920]Candy Puzzle[/url]" = [url=https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/platformer-3-chocolate]Platformer 3 - Chocolate[/url] developed by ithappy
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/3046850]Candy Golf[/url]" = [url=https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/mini-golf-template]Mini Golf Template[/url] developed by GoFlood
[/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 mismatched game assets are fairly mediocre/low quality, it's a wonder why they couldn't be bothered "borrowing" higher quality assets for this asset flip. This is a lot like going on a shoplifting spree but only stealing the cut price store brand goods. Regardless, the poor quality assets alone should be enough to deter gamers from bothering with this.
The developers didn't design the game for modern gaming PCs, as such the display resolution caps out at 1080p, a very low resolution that became mainstream back in 2006 and became obsolete when 4K entered the mainstream in 2014. The game simply won't look right on modern gaming displays due to this failure on the part of the developers.
The controls can't be customised, which will be an annoyance for many, but it can also render the game unplayable for differently-abled gamers, left handed gamers or gamers using AZERTY or other international keyboard layouts.
These technical defects push this game below acceptable standards for any modern PC game.
Fallen Ninja 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 "Find blue Crystal Water station", for finding a blue crystal (another stolen asset), trivial to get, but less than 21 percent of players bothered to get that far before uninstalling the game. Hardly a success story, even the people who own this game weren't interested in it.
The poor quality of this game is also reflected by how many people spent time with it. At the time of this review, SteamDB shows the all-time peak player number was only 5 players. Even worse, these were the fake review accounts Tero paid to write fake reviews for the game.
[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 or broken English, 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 Part 465), 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.
So, should you buy this asset flip? Is this better than any of the 100,000+ genuinely made games on Steam? Of course not!
Fallen Ninja has the almost comically optimistic (if it wasn't so sad) price of $7 USD, for which you could easily get any number of older AAA games. 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.
For comparison, the $7 asking price for this game could get you games like "Monster Hunter World", "Cities: Skylines" or "Dead by Daylight". Quality, professionally made games like those are frequently on sale cheaper than this.
[quote][b][url=https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/marketing/profile]Profile Features Limited![/url][/b]
Valve have marked this game as "Profile Features Limited" at the time of this review. This is usually caused by poor sales figures and low community acceptance for the game (to date). Until this status changes, this game will not give you +1 to your Game Collector badge count, appear in profile achievements or any other Steam meta-accomplishments, nor can it be displayed in some profile showcases. If these factors are important to you, it may be worth holding off before buying this game.[/quote]
