[b][quote][url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asset_flip]Warning: Asset Flip![/url][/quote][/b]
Broken World is an asset flip, what Valve calls a "fake game". The "developer", Hunt Studio, took the [url=https://www.fab.com/listings/5960fe93-0f5a-433f-b02a-db4db30a9cba?lang=en]Ultimate Multiplayer Survival Pack[/url] game assets from the real developers, Dreamrise Studios, changed the name, 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.
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, "Ultimate Multiplayer Survival Pack" is just a basic survival game blueprint that comes populated with the Synty Polygon Apocalypse Pack assets… a double whammy of stealing other people’s assets to try scam gamers, 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.
Don't believe me? Here's some other asset flips from this same developer, all shamelessly dumped on Steam as nasty cash grabs:
[list]
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/3329620]Broken Time[/url]" = [url=https://www.fab.com/listings/b83d3f03-2fd1-461c-a03c-e78265d4482c?lang=en]Polygon Apocalypse Wasteland[/url]
[/list]
You can see the developer shows a pattern of this unethical behaviour, trying to scam gamers for someone else's assets and products.
Now on to pricing and value for gamers. So, should you buy this game? Is this one of the best of the 140,000+ games on Steam?
Broken World 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 5 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 Hunt 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]
