Dash Duels

[quote][b]Note: Dead PvP game[/b] This game contains no meaningful single player content. There's no viably populated servers/active player population. This game cannot be played as intended.[/quote] DIG Games got their hands on someone's garbage minimalist 2D arena brawler slapped together with some MS-Paint tier "minimalist" sprites and a basic Godot platformer tutorial to make an arena brawler. The game was designed for up to 4 players, but it only ever had two players on it, and that only happened once [i]once[/i]. [b]This has never been played as a full PvP game, ever[/b]. It's that bad! If that's not failure, I don't know what is, but it's easy to see why this failed, so let's break it down. But first to help gamers understand where this came from and why it should be avoided: DIG Games 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/1647280]ChicScape[/url]" = [url=https://gleygames.com/mobiletools/]Mobile Tools + Complete Game (Jumpy)[/url] developed by GleyGames [*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1512320]Yabgits: Haunted Cemetery[/url]" = [url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/packs/block-breaker-template-63173]Block Breaker Template[/url] developed by Daniel Buckley [*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1786570]Driftence[/url]" = [url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/systems/extreme-drift-88601]Extreme Drift[/url] developed by Mehdi Rabiee [*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1863990]Stapel[/url]" = [url=https://github.com/telecoda/stack]Stack[/url] developed by Telecoda [*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1235480]Abst Clicker Farm[/url]" = [url=https://marketplace.gamemaker.io/assets/4936/bit-clicking-engine]Bit Clicking Engine[/url] developed by Mfzz99 [*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1769390]Lack of Water[/url]" = [url=https://www.sellanycode.com/item/297/happy-glass]Happy Glass Source Code[/url] developed by SellAnyCode [*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1814100]In Shape 2[/url]" = [url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/packs/shape-change-complete-game-142295]Shape Change Complete Game[/url] developed by Ragendom [*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1618000]Monkey Hit[/url]" = [url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/packs/kong-hero-platformer-complete-game-template-66709]Kong Hero – Platformer Complete Game Template[/url] developed by ADDPGAMES [*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1842130]Blinky[/url]" = [url=https://github.com/GambusinoLabs/Vlinky]Vlinky[/url] developed by Gambusino Labs [*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1646600]ReBall[/url]" = [url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/packs/ballx-infinite-brick-breaker-complete-game-template-87125]BallX - Infinite Brick Breaker - Complete Game Template[/url] developed by App Advisory [*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1630270]Death Moon[/url]" = [url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/tutorials/2d-game-kit-107098]2D Game Kit[/url] developed by Unity Technologies [*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1819280]Hot Roads[/url]" = [url=https://www.sellanycode.com/item/1225/biker-stars-racer-gold-edition]Biker Stars Racer Gold Edition[/url] developed by William [*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1605530]Upside[/url]" = [url=https://www.sellanycode.com/item/1295/rise-up-unity-source-code-admob-unity-ads]Rise Up Unity Source Code[/url] developed by SellAnyCode [*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1623220]Ball Twist[/url]" = [url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/characters/zigzag-endless-runner-complete-game-template-54018]ZigZag Endless Runner [/url] developed by Mario Ostwald [*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1265130]iMemo[/url]" = [url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/packs/memory-game-starter-kit-19589]Memory Game Starter Kit[/url] developed by Eikester [/list] This is a dead PvP game. Why did "Dash Duels" fail? Time for a video game autopsy. [i]Almost every PvP exclusive game on Steam fails.[/i] Hard truth. 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. There is no real single player content in this game. The developer thought other players could replace actual storytelling and level design. That was a bad bet to make, and yeah, the developer lost. Hard. Without a player base or meaningful solo content (storytelling, narrative, you know, what makes games like GTA famous), the game has nothing to offer. Other players are not a substitute for doing the job of a developer and creating meaningful game content. 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. This looks a lot like it was designed for consoles, but released on Steam instead by mistake. While this is on PC, it has all the hallmarks and deficiencies of a console game, from the clunkier than needed control scheme to the less than cutting edge graphics. There's 10's of thousands of PC games on Steam, and PC gamers deserve only the best. This might not appeal to many gamers due to the lack of PC-centric design. It's unclear why this never made it to the video game console appliances it seems to have been designed for. 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 game features some of the laziest, most minimalist "art" you're likely to see outside of a low effort Flash or browser game. This is supposed to be a PC game but it looks worse than primitive 3D games of the 1990s. When developers are lazy/untalented and the graphics are phoned in this badly, you end up with stuff like this that doesn't meet basic visual quality standards. These flaws make this game fall far short of the professional standards we expect from 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 2 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. Next is pricing and value. Is this game worth buying from among the 140,000+ games on Steam? Dash Duels has the pathetically optimistic price of around $5 USD, it's not worth it given the defects and shortcomings with the product, especially considering the unethical nature of the developer.