[quote][url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AI_slop][b]Warning: AI Slop[/b][/url]
The marketing material and fake reviews for this asset flip are made with talentless, soulless AI generated content.[/quote]
[b][quote][url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asset_flip]Warning: Asset Flip![/url][/quote][/b]
Swords Fantasy: Battlefield is an asset flip, what Valve calls a "fake game". The "developer", Whale Rock Games/Quacky Games, took the [url=https://www.fab.com/listings/94b15d98-ddf9-4c96-a66e-9e1d62aa65f1]Medieval Village[/url] game assets from the real developers, PolyPixel, 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.
Whale Rock Games/Quacky Games has a known history of trying to scam people into paying them money for someone else's work.One example of Whale Rock Games/Quacky Games doing this is [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1631850]PolyClassic: Wild[/url], which is really the "[url=https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/polygon-western-pack]POLYGON - Western Pack[/url]" asset, written by the actual developers, Synty Studios.
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, "Medieval Village" is just a simple Unreal Marketplace asset pack with a medieval village, 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.
[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-rue]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 or broken English, 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]
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 6 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.
There's enough defects and quality problems with this game that it's really impossible to recommend to gamers. 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 Quacky Games.
The use of AI slop is a direct insult to gamers and real, ethical content creators and artists everywhere.
[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]
