[quote][b][url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asset_flip]Warning: Asset Flip![/url][/b]
This is one of literally thousands of creatively bankrupt asset flips infesting Steam and lowering the average quality of all video games everywhere.[/quote]
[quote][b][url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microtransaction]Warning: In-Game Cash Shop[/url][/b]
This game is infested with a toxic mobile app style cash shop. You will be prompted to and expected to give money/credit card details to the developers through this cash shop to buy in-game goods so you can play the game.[/quote]
"Mauled" is a low key asset flip, a bunch of other people's assets assembled badly to make a basic game, typically this kind of thing is done by amateur developers without sufficient budget, talent and/or staff to do the job of game development professionally. It's then quickly rushed into Steam Direct. And, unsurprisingly, this never results in a product with any quality, interest, or value for gamers.
This badly made Unreal asset flip is riddled with bugs, comes across as abandoned Early Access. Sure, it promises battling endless hordes of monsters, with weapon upgrades and health regeneration obtainable in citadels between rounds, but none of it works well. Looks great though, thanks to the Unreal Marketplace (now FAB), enabling people who should never make games to waste $100 on Steam Direct with shovelware.
So, the game might look better than you'd expect from an amateur project, but this is because it's partially or completely made up of stock assets, "borrowed" from asset stores and free asset websites. Very little in this game is truly the creation of the "developer", it's just a bunch of rearranged assets.
While there's no up front price for this asset flip, the other problem with asset flips is that when developers aren't capable of doing their job and creating high quality assets, it's also true they can't do any of the rest of the job of a game developer either. That's definitely true for "Mauled".
As mentioned, this isn't really free as the game is infested with mobile app store like microtransactions. This is a consumer hostile model that we don't need to see on PC. It's deceptively priced to gouge gamers, and that's a reason in itself to avoid this.
Even after that, this still isn't really free as the game is infested with mobile app store like microtransactions. This is a consumer hostile model that we don't need to see on PC. It's deceptively priced to gouge gamers, and that's a reason in itself to avoid this.
Despite having no up-front cost, this failed to appeal to the 120 million+ gamers on Steam. SteamDB showed the game peaked at just a dozen or so concurrent players, and now there's basically nobody playing it. Even though it's free. This is a dismal public reception, but it's easy to see why gamers rejected it.
Bearing in mind that free games don't add +1 to your game collector count, should you bother adding this to your library and downloading it?
Nope. This isn't worth downloading. While this didn't cost me any money up front, I still feel ripped off.
[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 first thing the developer wants everyone to know is that they are "The Main Character". You, as a gamer, don't matter. They breach Valve guidelines for developers just to complain about a fully accurate and informative review (with facts their ego doesn't like). It's evident from their attitude that they never created this product with gamers in mind. They did so to stroke their own ego. When developers, especially failed ones who would never be able to get a professional job in the industry, put themselves before gamers, we end up with garbage products like this. That explains how this trash ended up on Steam, but it doesn't excuse it. At least we finally got to meet The Main Character, and nobody else matters.
The developer admits they didn't hire a team of talented staff to produce the game and tried to do the whole thing on their own, instead. This is a lot like boarding an airplane, and halfway through the flight, having the pilot come out and serve peanuts. It's going to end in disaster. It requires a team of competent people to do a complex job properly, and that's not what has happened here... another explanation for the poor quality of this game.
In a display of astounding arrogance, the "Main Character" is seems to think toxic mobile app style microtransactions and disgusting cash shops are perfectly fine. They are not. The developer will argue that there's no intention they ever get used, this is of course pure BS. The developer had all the time to build a mobile app cash shop and financial back end to infest this garbage, and now they tell you they did all that work with the intention nobody would use it. This is obviously BS.
The developer admits this was insufficiently polished and in no fit state to be launched as a game, but did so anyway. We know why: This guy is the main character, after all. Nothing else matters but his ego.
The developer admits this is a morally bankrupt, disgusting asset flip. And he infested it with a nasty cash shop intended to scam gamers out of money... this guy wants YOUR cash for assets he ripped off the Unreal Marketplace. Disgusting, isn't it?
This kind of creatively, intellectually and morally void asset flipping and cash grabbing is harmful to everyone. It harms real, honest, ethical indie developers because it gives indie devs an even worse name. It makes it harder for honest, ethical indie devs to find an audience for their games as they have to complete with all these fake games and asset flips. And it harms gamers because of all the garbage asset flip pollution like this crap.
Nothing in the developers pointless breach of Valve guidelines changes any of the objective facts of my review. My review stands mostly unaltered, but with additional warning about the asset flip nature of this cash grab. I cannot recommend this asset flip to anyone.
