First Session

"First Session" is not a game. It's an advertisement for a product called "Wild Dose". Wild Dose is not even finished... an apparently abandoned attempt at making a drug dealer/cyberpunk themed Unity asset flip. But wait, there's more... and it gets so much worse. The developer apparently decided to blank the game manifest and replace it with a requirement that you pay a whopping $5 USD to download the full advertisement. With achievements locked behind the DLC. Yeah... that's right... they tried to scam gamers into paying cash money just to play through a short advertisement for an unreleased Unity asset flip. What an apalling joke... this kind of behaviour from developers, even if they roll it back, it utterly unacceptable. On the topic of this being a (now weirdly paid) advertisement... It's important to understand there's a formal process to create a demo/page for a game which hasn't been followed here: https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/application/demos While it might seem like an inocuous mistake, publishing demos and advertisements as if they are full games is misleading and in some ways harmful. This advertisement is taking up marketing space and visibility that would be better made available to a developer that's done the right thing and created a full game. Instead, that visibility is given over to a demo/advert that's been published incorrectly and is polluting the marketplace. It's unclear if this mistake was made through incompetence or a deliberate intent to mislead gamers. Often developers may choose to incorrectly publish demo/advertisements as separate games as a cheap way to bypass paying Valve for marketing presence on the Steam front page, which may seem clever to them, but it's harmful behaviour and it's not good for gamers. However, actions from the developer show a history of shady and unethical behaviour intended to mislead gamers for profit... this is never okay. Even though this is "free", it failed to appeal to the 120 million+ gamers on Steam. SteamDB showed the game peaked at only 8 concurrent players... this is a dismal public reception. This was so bad they couldn't even give it away. Advertisements and incorrectly published demos don't add +1 to your game collector count, they aren't full games. It's impossible for me to recommend this incorrectly published advertising spam to gamers, you deserve better than adverts. [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] Gamers, you know that old saying, when you're in a hole, stop digging? The developers certainly don't. Their breach of Valve guidelines shows us clearly their unethical behaviour much more deliberate than ignorant. 1. The developer acknowledges separate demo pages haven't been available until about 5 months ago. Prior to that, you had to finish your game before advertising. The developers, seeing the correct and ethical course of action, said, "SCREW THAT!!!!" and dumped an incomplete advert for an incomplete game as if it was a full standing product ON PURPOSE. I tried to give them the benefit of the doubt with an ignorance excuse... they have abandoned that. They did the wrong thing deliberately. This is unethical, and harmful to gamers and the gaming industry... polluting the store with adverts because their ego is more important than the millions of gamers on Steam. Amazing arrogance. 2. The developer has no idea what they're doing and are now trying to pretend their advertisement is not an advertisement. It still obviously is. 3. The developer posts a ridiculous essay about how they're not a professional game developer, so therefore all this unethical behaviour, adverts in the wrong place, development hell games etc etc is all perfectly okay. No, it isn't. I'm not sure how best to say this, but the gaming industry does not revolve around this one failed amateur developer and his damaged ego. Gamers deserve better. Remember, the developer is doing all this unethical stuff to try profit from you, the gamer. It's okay for developers to be held to reasonable, ethical standards and at least some degree of professionalism, none of which is evident here. There's a reason this garbage failed. SteamDB doesn't lie, 8 concurrent players for something "free" is a clear indication of a complete and utter failure. The developers ridiculous breach of Valve guidelines and tacit admission they love to breach guidelines for their own benefit at the cost of that of gamers makes the reasons behind the failure of this mess apparent... but it doesn't excuse the harm this kind of pollution causes. My advice is to stick with products from genuine, professional, ethical developers, and avoid the garbage and pollution like this. 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.