The Great Axe

Low quality shovelware with fake positive reviews - only a paid Russian would positively review a game but say "Сan't pass any levels. It's a lot of fun". Either way, it a pretty bad game. First of all, it's locked to either fullscreen or a single resolution in borderless window mode. The art style is wildly inconsistent and poor - a high resolution main menu background + logo, multiple blurry pixel fonts, poorly scaled and varying pixel art sizes, plus more inconsistencies. As for the gameplay, it was pretty boring - it's a basic side-scrolling beat-em-up where enemies sometimes spawn on top of you. Stopped playing at the second level, where there is an underwhelming boss fight that you can easily hit off screen and he won't come back.

[quote][b][url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asset_flip]Warning: Asset Flip![/url][/b] The Great Axe is an asset flip, or what Valve calls a "Fake Game". The "developer" paid for/pirated someone else's example/template/tutorial game, changed the name/reskinned a couple of things, and submitted it to Valve as if it was their own game.[/quote] You can see the same asset here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1561870/FALCO_AXE/ Yes, the exact same game flipped by a different Russian asset flip scammer. It's obvious what's going on. Gamesforgames have shown a repeat pattern of unethically dumping other people's work onto Steam as a cheap, nasty cash grab, through this account or through closely linked/alt accounts. Here's some examples so you can see for yourself: [list] [*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2864300]Zombodesert[/url]" = [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cXnw-32BjA]Macho Dash[/url] developed by TAPP Games [*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2805630]Botmobile[/url]" = [url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/car-stunts-48972]Car Stunts [/url] developed by Ace [*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2833830]Gas Gas Rocket![/url]" = [url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/packs/hovershift-107789]Hovershift[/url] developed by SgLib Games [*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2387820]Beach Gas Gas[/url]" = [url=https://www.sellmyapp.com/downloads/highway-racer-traffic-car-race/]Highway Racer Traffic Car Race[/url] developed by Unity Boy [*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2474180]Save The Settlers[/url]" = [url=https://1up-indie2.itch.io/free-tower-defence-project-gamemaker]Free Tower Defence Project[/url] developed by 1UP Indie2 [*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2862030]Lunatic Taxi Driver[/url]" = [url=https://www.sellmyapp.com/downloads/offroad-taxi-driving-city-taxi-sim/]Offroad Taxi Driving Sim[/url] developed by Sim Studio [*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2862060]Wild Animals Transporter[/url]" = [url=https://www.sellmyapp.com/downloads/wild-animal-transporter-truck-game-2021/]Wild Animal Transporter Truck Game 2021[/url] developed by Zoobs Man [*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2999780]Skeletos Sword[/url]" = [url=https://unityunreal.com/unreal-engine-assets-free-download/ue-props/1947-gothic-island.html]Gothic Island[/url] developed by UnityUnreal [*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2124660]Fix My Cat Doc[/url]" = [url=https://www.sellmyapp.com/downloads/kitty-cat-doctor-pet-vet-doctor-game/]Kitty Cat Doctor Pet Vet Doctor Game[/url] developed by Fast Games [*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1284510]In a search of a new home[/url]" = [url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/2d/characters/pixel-adventure-1-155360]Pixel Adventure 1[/url] developed by Pixel Frog [*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2805650]Diamonds Collector[/url]" = [url=https://www.sellmyapp.com/downloads/city-car-driver-street-racing-game-64bit-source-code/]City Car Driver Street Racing Game[/url] developed by The Armor Gaming [*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2833820]Fox Golf[/url]" = [url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/packs/golf-royale-104938]Golf Royale[/url] developed by Code Master Studio [*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2477000]Next Station: Zombies[/url]" = [url=https://getunitycode.com/product/merge-train-zombie-defense-unity-source-code/]Merge Train Zombie Defense[/url] developed by Virgil Source [*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/3461200]Matchmania Donate[/url]" = [url=https://gamemaker.io/en/blog/match-three-gamemaker-template]Match 3 GameMaker Template[/url] developed by YoyoGames [*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2805660]Fight Till The End[/url]" = [url=https://www.sellmyapp.com/downloads/squid-7-challenge-top-trending-game/]Squid 7 Challenge[/url] developed by Flexy Gam [*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2862020]Let's Park Bus Edition[/url]" = [url=https://www.sellmyapp.com/downloads/smart-bus-parking-games-bus-driving-simulator-2021/]Bus Driving Simulator 2021[/url] developed by The Armor Gaming [*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2862040]One Chance[/url]" = [url=https://www.sellmyapp.com/downloads/i-hate-fingers/]I Hate Fingers[/url] developed by Fox Game Studio [/list] If you tried to take this asset flip seriously, it's just a GameMaker Studio demo pack for making a retro pixel arcade brawler... because it's just a demo pack, it's a shallow and empty experience, not a real game. The quality is deplorably low.. GameMaker Studio is a terrible game engine at the best of times. The poor quality of this game is also reflected by how many people spent time with it. At the time of this review, SteamDB shows the all-time peak player number was only 2 players. 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. Worse, these accounts were just the Russians at the fake review farm writing the fake reviews. 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][b][url=https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/federal-register-notices/16-cfr-part-465-trade-regulation-rule-use-consumer-reviews-testimonials-final-rule]Warning: Review Manipulation![/url][/b] This game features a 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, broken English or ChatGPT AI slop, 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. Due to the 2024 FTC ruling (16 CFR Part 465), these fake reviews are a violation of US Federal Law.[/quote] This kind of asset flipping isn't harmless. It makes it harder for gamers to find genuinely made games from ethical developers. It makes it harder for genuine indie developers, who put hard work into trying to make real games, to find an audience for their products. It gives indie developers a bad name. So, should you buy this asset flip? Is this better than any of the 110,000+ genuinely made games on Steam? Of course not! The Great Axe has the ridiculous, laughable price of $20 USD, for which you could easily get any number of older AAA games. It's possible this price is either for the purpose of money laundering, or simply to prevent genuine reviews from reducing the fake "positive" review score from the fake reviews the developer paid for. Either way, this is unacceptable manipulation of the Steam store for profit. It's harmful to gamers and to genuine indie devs, because it gives indie devs a bad name.