[quote][b][url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asset_flip]Warning: Asset Flip![/url][/b]
MUZEGATE is a Digital Homicide style asset flip, or what Valve calls a "Fake Game". The "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.[/quote]
One of the other key problems here is that this isn't a game, it's an art exhibition that's been dumped on Steam, presumably because the local art galleries took out a restraining order on the "artists" who had no other choice but to pay Valve $100 to dump this on Steam.
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 assets like the [url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/environments/urban/walking-street-85895]Walking Street[/url] asset made by Tirgames Assets and dropped in a few low poly NPCs that don't actually do anything, then play some godawful music you can't turn off, to create a "rave scene" that you can just sort of look at and be annoyed by. It has no value or merit as a real game.
Dystopian Edge Publishing/MUZEGATE TEAM have a known history of trying to scam people into paying them money for someone else's work, through this account or through closely linked/alt accounts. One example of Dystopian Edge Publishing/MUZEGATE TEAM doing this is [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2026590]Grindshift[/url], which is really the "[url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/systems/snowboard-game-starter-pack-template-186097]Snowboard Game Starter Pack[/url]" asset, written by the actual developers, Denis Lapiner.
So, we have a proven asset flip, from proven asset flippers, that's not even a game.
For those unfamiliar with what actually makes something a game, a "game loop" describes the interaction and feedback a gamer has when playing a game. Tetris, for example, has a game loop where a random block appears, the gamer interacts with the block to position it, and then the game decides if that finishes a row or not, increases the players score if any rows were completed, then gives the gamer another block to position. Counter-Strike has a game loop where a player seeks another player, tests their skill against that player by shooting them or being shot, the computer rewards the player if they win, and then if the player survives, they repeat that loop. There's no loop here, no true interactive feedback. It simply is not a game, it cannot be "played".
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 lazy low-polygon "retro" assets, making this look like a barely functional 3D game from the mid 2000s. It's unclear why the developers weren't able to arrange high quality, high polygon count contemporary assets for this terrible art exhibit, and also irrelevant... what matters is that this looks bad as a result of their decisions, a compromise PC gamers shouldn't have to put up with.
The developers didn't design the art exhibit for modern gaming PCs, as such the display resolution caps out at around 1440p, there's no support for the state-of-the-art 4K or higher resolutions. The art exhibit simply won't look right on modern gaming displays due to this failure on the part of the developers.
Bewilderingly, the art exhibit doesn't include proper audio controls, so you can't turn off the annoying sound/background music, you'll need to alt+tab out and stop it using the Windows sound mixer. This is obviously not okay and it's unclear why the developers chose not to include this basic feature.
The controls can't be customised, which will be an annoyance for many, but it can also render the art exhibit difficult to interact with for differently-abled gamers, left handed gamers or gamers using AZERTY or other international keyboard layouts.
These technical defects push this art exhibit below acceptable standards for any modern PC game.
The poor quality of this art exhibit is reflected by how many people spent time with it. At the time of this review, SteamDB shows the art exhibit all-time peak player count was only ONE viewer. That's right, only one person ever played this at a time. When I played this for the purposes of reviewing it, I equalled the peak player count for the art exhibit. OUCH. The only viewer 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 art exhibit is to be expected.
So, should you buy this art exhibit? Is this one of the best of the 100,000+ games on Steam?
MUZEGATE has the almost scam-like price of around $5 USD, it's not worth it given the defects and shortcomings with the product, especially considering the unethical nature of the developer.
For comparison, the $5 asking price for this art exhibit could get you real games like "X-Com: Enemy Unknown", "Mad Max" or "This War of Mine". 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 art exhibit as "Profile Features Limited" at the time of this review. This is usually caused by poor sales figures and low community acceptance for the art exhibit (to date). Until this status changes, this art exhibit 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 art exhibit.[/quote]
