Steam Reviews

Despite selling over 40,000 copies and having more than 30,000 unique players, we've only received 209 reviews. Our recent review rating has also dropped to Mixed, which has never happened since the game launched on Steam.

We went from Very Positive to Mostly Positive (77%), which is the lowest rating the game has ever had.

Since the last update, we've been hit by a wave of negative reviews that I honestly can't make sense of.

One person left a negative review because the game includes AI-generated animations, even though the store page clearly discloses the use of AI and the teaser itself showcases the new animations. Before implementing those animations, we conducted several surveys, and the overwhelming response was positive. The AI animations have also been in the game for more than six months. When I asked why they bought a game with an AI disclosure if they were opposed to it, they replied that they wanted the game to be at the "trash bottom" of Steam.

Another person claimed the game is only ten minutes long, left a negative review, and then refunded it. Someone else said there was no option to mute the music and left a negative review, despite the game including a separate option to mute the music.

Experiences like these make it feel as though we're going through another wave of review manipulation, similar to the two previous periods the game has experienced.

That said, putting bad actors aside, the biggest issue is simply the number of reviews we've received. On average, an indie game (early access & full access) gets about one review for every 100 copies sold. For NSFW games, around 1% of players leave a review. Ours is below 0.5%, which is less than half that average. That's honestly discouraging as a game developer because, in practical terms, it means our game isn't recommended enough on Steam.

Game development is expensive, and as indie developers we live paycheck to paycheck. We don't rely on servers or rented infrastructure. Everything we create is done on our own hardware, and it is expensive to run. When we don't have a strong review score or enough reviews, Steam's algorithm assumes the game isn't resonating with players and recommends it to fewer people. As a result, we sell fewer copies, and that directly affects the continued development of the game.

For the past few months, I've been handling development entirely on my own because my wife is pregnant and unable to work. I'm doing everything I can to keep updates coming while also working on my wife's game, "It Was Raining That Night." It's a lot of work, but I'm committed to seeing both projects through.

If you've played the game and have an opinion, I'd genuinely appreciate it if you shared it in a review. I don't mind negative reviews when they're based on the actual experience. Constructive criticism helps us improve. What is discouraging are reviews that are factually incorrect or don't reflect the game itself.

I have confidence in the game we've made, and I know many people genuinely enjoy it because I talk with the community every day on Discord, Patreon, and elsewhere.

If you've been meaning to leave a review but haven't gotten around to it yet, please consider doing so. It helps more than you might realize, and it gives the game a better chance of reaching new players through Steam's recommendations.