[quote][b][url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asset_flip]Warning: Asset Flip![/url][/b]
Sea Scenes 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]
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 random boat assets and dumped them onto an empty map with no objectives, all you do is just move the boat around. That's it. This is insulting even for an asset flip. Who do they think we are? It has no value or merit as a real game.
Dystopian Edge Publishing/Sea Scenes 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/Sea Scenes 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.
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.
One of the important quality checks for any video game is the audio. The bare minimum of audio controls must be there, so the experience can be tailored. The audio and music must be of high quality. Bizarrely, Sea Scenes doesn't even have any music at all. That's an immediately failure and yet another reason to avoid this game.
The controls can't be customised, which will be an annoyance for many, but it can also render the game unplayable for differently-abled gamers, left handed gamers or gamers using AZERTY or other international keyboard layouts.
The game features no proper level design or game/story flow/plot, and while some game formats can be ameniable to this, they must be truly exceptional, where this is not. The developers of this game made the deliberate, arguably lazy choice to avoid doing the most important component of game development, content creation, and instead made this an empty "sandbox" game with no goals or point to playing.
The developer hopes gamers can just make their own fun without them having to do any work for it. And sure... a sandbox could be fun, if it had a bunch of things to do like a bucket and space to make sandcastles... but this game doesn't give you much. It's just a box of sand. Just sail around an empty map with asset flipped boats. There's a good chance the game won't be appealing because of this laziness/lack of effort from the developer.
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 game all-time peak player count was only ONE player. 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 game. OUCH. 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.
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.
So, should you buy this game? Is this one of the best of the 100,000+ games on Steam?
Sea Scenes has the insane price of around $7 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 $7 asking price for this game could get you games like "Dragon Age: Origins", "X-Com 2" or "Fallout: New Vegas". 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 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]
