[b][quote][url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asset_flip]Warning: Asset Flip![/url][/quote][/b]
Sheptun is an asset flip, what Valve calls a "fake game". The "developer", Frosted Wings Studio, took the [url=https://www.fab.com/listings/dc3333f3-7bc7-4d62-a85d-f7c8514dc55c]Wild West Ghost Town of Fogmourn[/url] game assets from the real developers, YuryVorobiev, changed the name, combined it with a basic Unreal first person horror game template, and dumped the result onto Steam. They're attempting to scam people into buying this, so they can get your money for someone else's work.
Frosted Wings Studio has a known history of trying to scam people into paying them money for someone else's work.One example of Frosted Wings Studio doing this is [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2690790]Christmas Present[/url], which is really the "[url=https://www.fab.com/listings/fd558d8c-bd7e-461f-8449-a7cc9c277078]Assetsville Town[/url]" asset, written by the actual developers, Assetsville.
The products that result from asset flips aren't "real" games. They lack depth and content, because they're just simplistic copies of demos or tutorials. In this case, "Wild West Ghost Town of Fogmourn" is just a basic asset pack with a western ghost town environment that the Russian “developer” ripped off and is trying to pass off as his own work, and doesn't have any merit as a proper, fully fledged PC game. It's just a minimum viable product, just enough to get through the non-existent quality control on Steam Direct. Not a real game.
Asset flips don't involve any professional game development. Sure, sometimes they may change a few cosmetic things, swap out different assets etc, but at heart it's functionally identical to the asset they're ripping off.
Asset flips like this are harmful to the gaming industry and to Steam because they reduce the visibility that sincerely made indie games should have, and make it harder for gamers to find real games from genuine developers.
Another important Note: Frosted Wings Studio have been caught using fake reviews on their games in an attempt to mislead gamers by creating a fake positive review score. The reviews are all from known/compromised pay-per-review accounts, all in Russian or broken English, and show as Steam purchasers (to make the fake reviews count). The fake reviews are all posted within roughly 24 hours of each other, and usually shortly after the game launch. There's no evidence of fake reviews on this game, but that may change in future. Gamers have a right to know when developers act in a highly unethical manner.
Let's look at the price and what kind of value this actually offers gamers. Should you buy this game? Is it one of the best of the 140,000+ games on Steam?
Sheptun is relatively cheap at $1 USD, but it's not worth it. This is also competing with over 14,000 free games available on Steam, many of them far better than this paid product.
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 [b]only 4 players[/b]. 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 130 million gamers on Steam and well over 140,000 games for gamers to choose from, the overwhelming lack of interest in this low quality game is to be expected.
The quality problems and defects with this game makes the asking price totally unrealistic. It's impossible to recommend this to gamers here on Steam, especially considering the unethical stuff going on. Because this is just a fake game/cash grab scam, and due to the sheer unethical nature of the developer, you should avoid this completely. Don't reward this morally bankrupt, unethical behaviour from Frosted Wings Studio.
[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]
