Axecutioners

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[quote][b]Note: Dead PvP game[/b] This game contains no meaningful single player content. There are no formal online matchmaking servers - the only multiplayer on offer is local co-op or Steam Remote Play Together. This game cannot be played as intended.[/quote] This is a laughably bad, bug riddled local PvP arcade fighter versus with some low poly deaths head executioners waving comically large axes at each other. Yes, once more Steam Direct gives us a bad idea, implemented badly. It's a dead PvP game, and it's time for us to have a post-mortem to see some of the reasons this failed. [i]Almost every PvP exclusive game on Steam fails.[/i] Developers often assume just because they published their game, it's going to "go viral". I'm guessing this is a case of the developers making this game in complete isolation without even bothering to look at what other PvP games on Steam already offer. PvP games face extreme competition, PvP gamers have plenty to choose from and they gravitate to where all the other players are. This game didn't offer anything to peel those PvPers away from the PvP games they're already invested in. It had no upfront cost, but gamers still rejected it. This game lacks any meaningful solo content. The developer tried to use other players as a substitute for real work like level design and story, gambling that just because their game exists, it's going to magically pull the entire player base of Counter-Strike 2 over to this failure instead. They lost that unwise gamble. A game with no players and no solo content is a dead game. Developers need to stop relying on players as a substitute for real content, just because they feel creating genuine narrative, level design and so on is "too hard". The developer of this game couldn't figure out how to add proper online networking, so they expect players to all drive to one house and sit next to each other in the same room. Using Steam "Remote Play Together" is just a band-aid for that huge technical failure here. Not having online matchmaking for a game that requires other players is a sign of incompetence and it makes this valueless... no wonder it failed. In terms of visuals, this features fairly low quality low poly 3D graphics which will deter a lot of gamers, understandably. Gaming is a visual medium, and while some developers struggle with creating high quality visuals, failing to do so is a disservice to gamers. It's very difficult to recommend bad looking games. The game assets here look a lot better than the actual game they're assembled on... that doesn't mean this is necessarily an asset flip or a kitbash, because there's no proof. But what matters is that this has all the same terrible quality as asset flips, and at the end of the day that's one of the reasons people don't like asset flips, the quality is bad. That's a problem. Next is pricing and what value this has for gamers. Most "free" games on Steam aren't really free. There's usually some kind of monetisation, from nasty mobile app cash shops, or content locked behind DLC, or donations being requested, to any other number of shady pricing schemes that could mislead gamers, but in this case I'm glad to say this really does appear to be a fully free game. Nothing demonstrates a developers belief in themselves and their work than giving it away without any remuneration. This is a service to themselves, and the gaming industry, and should be applauded. Of course, just because something is free, doesn't necessarily mean it's valuable, or something you might want to spend your time on. Despite having no up-front cost, this failed to appeal to the 130 million+ gamers on Steam. SteamDB shows this peaked at [b]only 4 concurrent players[/b]... this is a dismal public reception. This was so bad they couldn't even give it away. All other issues aside (any of which would disqualify this from being worth your time), this is a game that relies on other players for it to be viable, and because there's not enough players, it's not viable. I can't recommend anyone downloads this, it's basically dead.