[quote][b][url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asset_flip]Warning: Asset Flip![/url][/b]
Virus Petya 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]
Virus Petya is a basic Unity asset flip, some stock pixel assets slapped on a basic JRPB engine, but Laush was too lazy when doing his asset flip to make a JRPG out of other people's assets so this is just a platespinner where you run between computers to "fix" them with a button click. It's a shallow and pointless game made to scam gamers out of a few roubles through review manipulation, a standard MO for this Russian "developer".
Laush Dmitriy Sergeevich/Laush Studio 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. An example of Laush Dmitriy Sergeevich/Laush Studio doing this is [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/894070]Unmanned helicopter[/url], which is really "[url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/environments/urban/simple-town-pack-91947]Simple Town Pack[/url]", written by the actual developers, MyxerMan. Also, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/794190]Football Russian 20!8[/url], which is really "[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNoCLwRvLHs]Goalkeeper Animation: How to Make a Penalty Shoot Game in Unity[/url]", developed by Grafik Ganes.
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.
A choice was made to use obsolete, decades old retro pixel "art" as a substitute for contemporary PC graphics. It's unclear if this is due to lack of budget or talent, regardless, the overall visual quality of the game is extremely low as a result.
There's no option to change the resolution and no useful graphics tweaks. There's no way to ensure this is running at the native resolution of your display. There's no guarantee this game will look right on any PC as a result of this hamfisted design decision.
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.
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 all-time peak player number was only 3 players, and the worst part is these weren't genuine players, these were the Russian fake review accounts that the developer paid to make the fake reviews. Since the fake reviews are all done, 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 130,000 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.
[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 130,000+ genuinely made games on Steam? Of course not!
Virus Petya has the preposterous price of $11 USD, for which you could easily get any number of older AAA games. 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.
For comparison, the $11 asking price for this game could get you games like "Hunt: Showdown", "Valheim" or "Phantasmophobia". No pixelcrap is worth $11. If developers want to get paid the same kind of money as real game developers who know how to do graphics properly, they need to learn how to do graphics properly.
