[quote][b]Warning: Broken Game![/b]
This game has design/implementation defects that will render this unplayable for many gamers. The game was so badly made, it's missing dependencies that are not necessarily available for all new versions of Windows. The developer didn't know how to include all dependencies in the game package and requires you to try to find them outside of Steam and install them yourself. I have never seen such incompetence.[/quote]
[quote][b][url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asset_flip]Warning: Asset Flip![/url][/b]
Freak Hunter A Retro Type is a Digital Homicide style asset flip, or what Valve calls a "Fake Game". The "developer" ripped off a few online assets, dumped them all in a blender, and submitted it to Valve as if they're real game developers, claiming credit for the work of others.[/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 cartoony assets stolen from the internet (a prime example of this is the players character which is really the [url=https://opengameart.org/content/2d-soldier-guy-character]2D Soldier Guy[/url] that the developer stole and is plagiarising from Segel. The other game assets are also plagiarised. It has no value or merit as a real game.
Freak Hunter A Retro Type is yet another of literally thousands of 2D retro platformers infesting Steam and lowering the average quality of all video games everywhere. It's painfully primitive and just involves some lightweight jumping and shooting... this is more like a tech demo than a real game, even if you can get it to work.
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 game features somewhat lazy, simplistic "retro" looking 2D graphics, and it's hard to say if this is due to the age of the assets used, if it's a deliberate attempt for the game to look bad/retro on purpose, or if the assets are just, well, terrible looking. Considering this is being evaluated as a PC game in 2024, such poor quality 2D graphics in the 3D era just aren't good enough, whether it's a deliberate design fault on behalf of the developer or they just couldn't manage to do any better, this is a compromise gamers shouldn't have to put up with.
These technical defects push this game below acceptable standards for any modern PC game.
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 only 2 players. This is a remarkably low number, and 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 120 million gamers on Steam and well over 100,000 games for gamers to choose from, the overwhelming lack of interest in this low quality game is to be expected.
Unethically, the developers have left this on the Steam store in an unplayable and broken state. It's the responsibility of the developer to maintain their product, ensure it runs on all modern PCs, or if they determine there's defects and the game doesn't work, they should remove it from sale instead of misleadingly trying to scam gamers into buying knowingly defective products.
This is harmful to Steam and to gamers, not just because it's a direct and intentional attempt to scam people, but because it takes a share of the marketing space and visibility away from other games. It's polluting Steam and making it harder for gamers to find genuine games and for genuine indie developers who put months or years into making proper games find an audience.
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 game? Is this one of the best of the 100,000+ games on Steam?
The developer is deliberately and unethically trying to scam gamers into paying them the greedy, cash grab price of $2 USD for an asset flip they know doesn't even work. Don't give it to them. Remember that if you buy a game from an unethical developer, you're putting your money at risk.
[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]
[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 brazenly admits this is an asset flip, and admits he took the work of others and did not credit them, choosing instead to put his own name on the work of others. This is plagiarism and highly unethical. If this was done in academia, the culprit would have their qualifications shredded. If this was done in film or television or literature, legal action would be taken. It's unclear why this unethical activity is allowed in game development, but importantly, the developer admits their crime of plagiarism, and that this is an asset flip.
The developer did not create the majority of this game, other people did. But he claims credit for their work, and is trying to scam gamers into buying it. Unacceptable.
The developer knows the game doesn't work properly. I'll point to this post from the developer himself as evidence:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/2397230/discussions/0/7318962605494907096/
Valve only tests games [b]once[/b]. And they don't test against all operating systems. When it became apparent the game basically doesn't work, the post above is all the developer bothered to do. [b]He knows it's faulty and he refuses to fix the problem.[/b]
I've provided evidence to support the facts and findings of my review. The developer themselves admit they took the work of others.
Don't take my word for it, the court of public appeal has spoken. This game only ever had 2 concurrent players. You can see from the developers appalling attitude just why this was such a failure.
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.
