[quote][b][url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asset_flip]Warning: Asset Flip![/url][/b]
Way to Hell 2 New era is a Digital Homicide style asset flip, or what Valve calls a "Fake Game". The "developer" paid for/pirated a few Unity asset store assets, 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.
This time, Tero stole a bunch of various asset packs, most from Synty (Western, Battle Royale etc), didn't change anything, and dumped a basic wave survival shooter game on top of them (with plagiarised gun assets, stolen monster assets... this is pure plagiarism). There's no real game here, it's a barely working collection of other people's assets with Tero's name on it and a big fat price tag as Tero once more tries to scam gamers out of money.
Valkeala Software 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/4486980]Super Clown Puzzle[/url]" = [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2BvzZlnM1Q]Unreal Engine 4 3D Platformer Project[/url] developed by Unreal University (as Tero Lunkka)
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/4679770]Sad Virus Waterland[/url]" = [url=https://www.fab.com/listings/8899d4e5-0beb-4f6c-bc00-8bd639bb89b0]Sharur's Underwater Temple[/url] developed by Sharur (as Tero Lunkka)
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/723830]Cyborg Invasion Shooter[/url]" = [url=https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/third-person-shooter-kit]Third Person Shooter Kit[/url] developed by Epic Games (as Tero Lunkka)
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/989340]Aliens Dont Exist[/url]" = [url=https://craftpix.net/freebies/2d-game-alien-character-free-sprite/]Alien Character - Free Sprite[/url] developed by Craftpix (as Tero Lunkka)
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1776540]Lawnmower Game: Pinball[/url]" = [url=https://github.com/freezy/pinball-construction-kit]Pinball Construction Kit[/url] developed by Epic Games (as Ruskija game experience)
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/3922060]Sad Virus Land[/url]" = [url=https://www.fab.com/listings/40dfca50-70f1-42f6-91dd-1abe39672f80]Stylized Windmill Valley[/url] developed by StylArts (as Tero Lunkka)
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2617210]Lost Princess: Winterland[/url]" = [url=https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/polygon-vikings-pack]Polygon Vikings Pack[/url] developed by Synty Games (as Tero Lunkka)
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/3010760]Cadoom[/url]" = [url=https://www.fab.com/listings/9eec7a8a-b17c-4b89-a0d9-369a6ed5ac8c]Tokyo Stylized Environment[/url] developed by Shua (as Tero Lunkka)
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/4584120]Sad Virus Military[/url]" = [url=https://www.fab.com/listings/90b72290-8bc0-4097-8661-dd28b8a26dff]POLYGON: Battle Royale[/url] developed by Synty Games (as Tero Lunkka)
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/3561820]Trump Searching Vigaro[/url]" = [url=https://www.fab.com/listings/fce76096-4cc6-4f21-a040-55ddd3355a0c?lang=en]Stylized Sky Dungeon[/url] developed by AleksandrIvanov (as Tero Lunkka)
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/4299850]Lawnmower Game 2026[/url]" = [url=https://www.fab.com/listings/fd558d8c-bd7e-461f-8449-a7cc9c277078?lang=fr]Assetsville Town[/url] developed by Assetsville (as Tero Lunkka)
[/list]
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.
The game assets are fairly mediocre/low quality which fits with the idea they weren't developed by the game creator... they look like they're "just reasonable enough" to go on sale as part of an asset pack. The issue of asset flipping aside, ultimately the quality of these assets is low and low quality always makes for a less than optimal gaming experience.
The game assets, such as they are, are much higher than the general quality of the game and it seems apparent the developer has just plagiarised/kitbashed them. Stock assets are just there to be used as placeholders while the developer creates their own assets for their games, but what happens far more often is lazy/unethical developers just throw a bunch of other peoples assets into a blender and put their own name on the horrible Frankenstein's Monster that results. Like this mess.
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.
Those technical flaws drag this game well below the minimum quality standards expected of a 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 [b]only 3 players[/b], 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 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.
[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 § 465.4, 15 U.S.C. § 45), 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.
Way to Hell 2 New era has the cash grab price of around $4 USD, it's not worth it given the defects and shortcomings with the product, especially considering the unethical nature of the developer.
Ethics aside, there's enough defects and quality problems with this game that it's not worth recommending to gamers, but the unethical nature of the developer/their associates makes it completely impossible. 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 Valkeala Software.
