Psi Project is yet another asset flip from Russian shovelware pushers, ZGold/Droid Riot/Onblind. These guys do nothing but copy premade game templates and game tutorials, fill out a few things/stamp out basic levels using the construction kit templates, slap on an asset flipped set of sprites/assets, and dump them on Steam and into DailyIndieGame bundles as cash grabs. Trying to get paid for someone else's game templates, assets... at best, this is shovelware, at worst, it's a scam/cash grab. The developers doubled down on this unethical behavior by stealing sprites from another developer, stealing sound effects without permission from Valve, and lying to gamers about the game having trading cards to fraudulently sell more copies of the game.
Psi Project is an asset/template flip made with the godawful Raycasting Game Maker engine used to generate cheap ripoffs of Wolfenstein 3D. Gameplay consists of simple single plane FPS shooting sprite based enemies on small 2D levels, just like Wolf3D.
The Raycasting Game Maker engine is garbage. It has oversensitive mouse settings, so if you use the mouse to steer, you will just flip around endlessly with zero control. However, you must use the mouse to shoot, so the game is effectively unplayable. This is no different from any other game made with this engine. It's garbage. Also, like every other Raycasting Game Maker asset flip, resolution and controls are locked and can't be changed, and the graphics horrible, low resolution "pixel" trash. It's pure trash, and while the intent of the construction kit was to make small games to pass around with friends, and to teach some aspects of game making, unethical developers will dump the games on Steam as cash grabs. Like Psi Project.
I used to think things like GameMaker Studio and RPG Maker were the worse game construction kits for allowing talentless "developers" to make "games". Actually, they still are, no matter how bad or unplayable this trash is.
OnBlind/TSS Studio/Vyacheslav Shilikhin/Droid Riot (all closely linked accounts) have shown a repeat pattern of unethically dumping other people's work onto Steam as a cheap, nasty cash grab, directly through the account used to publish this, or through one of those closely linked/alt accounts. Here's some examples so you can see for yourself:
[list]
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/769440]Beach Restaurant[/url]" = [url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/packs/fast-food-restaurant-cooking-tycoon-starter-kit-31747]Fast Food Restaurant & Cooking Starter Kit[/url] developed by Finalboss
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/881170]Bloody Sand[/url]" = [url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/environments/urban/urban-town-pack-middle-eastern-99580#content]Urban Town Pack - Middle Eastern[/url] developed by FlamingSands
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/838980]Eon Fleet[/url]" = [url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/packs/space-ace-shooter-game-template-22106]Space Ace Shooter Game Template[/url] developed by Puppeteer
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/848010]Find Your Way[/url]" = [url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/environments/historic/polygon-western-low-poly-3d-art-by-synty-112212]Polygon Western - Low Poly 3D Art Pack[/url] developed by Synty Studios
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/874830]School of Horror[/url]" = [url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/environments/urban/school-scene-66006]School Scene[/url] developed by Tirgames Assets
[/list]
The poor quality of this game is reflected in the general public reception. At the time of this review, SteamDB shows the all-time peak player number was only 10 players. That's right, only 10, and that number is inflated because of the developers deceptive and fraudulent claim that the game has trading cards. 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 50,000 games for gamers to choose from, the overwhelming lack of interest in the game is to be expected. Gamers just didn't take this low quality game seriously, and for good reason.
It's also important to note the "developer" here has connections to a number of shady Russian asset flippers and review manipulators who show an organised pattern to scam and defraud gamers with fake reviews and asset flipping the work of others for profit. While reviews are about the games, gamers should be informed when developers act unethically. Whether these connections are the same developer using multiple accounts, or just working closely with other unethical developers, gamers should be warned about the harm to gamers by this developer and their associates. Buying games from unethical developers puts your money at risk.
[quote][url=https://mmofallout.com/valve-bans-titles-for-review-manipulation/]Warning: Review Manipulation![/url][/quote]
This game features a small 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.
Psi Project is relatively cheap at $1 USD, but it's not worth it. 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.
