Game Reviews are Ruining Gaming, and it’s Our Fault

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The reviews for Stellar Blade seemed pretty positive! Or so I thought. People are somehow angry at the game landing in the 80s on Metacritic. This is an issue much larger than Stellar Blade itself. The conversation around game reviews has become so toxic in recent years and I believe we are reaching a breaking point. It's time we change the way we talk about game reviews before it ruins gaming forever.

[@mhaster87]

why are they mad at an IGN review if they already think reviews suck and inaccurate ? i never take their reviews as my main go to for buying a game because half the time the reviews are so inn-accurate. the reviews i usually trust and usually reflect the truth are the "Before you buy" series by Gameranx

[@Monsolido]

Counterpoints. Nowadays there are so many games coming out in a year, that even if you played 15 hours every day without any week end or vacation... you'd still have nowhere near enough time to finish all the games that are rated above 80/100. There are so many genuinely great games churned out all the time, you're bound to miss some of them. Metacritic lists over 40 for 2024, so around 10 games per month. If you indulge in playing the mid tier games, it gets exponentially worse. It doesn't mean you can't fall in love with a game that has a mid rating, if the trailer catches your eye, or it belongs to a niche you're already into, etc. But when you don't have any preconceived ideas, it makes sense to edge your bets by focusing on the best, which are already too many. Nowadays most gamers have a backlog and need to manage the time they spend on video games. The time when you went into a shop and bought a game because the jacket looked cool is gone, but I don't think it's because of online reviews. By the way, you may disagree with some influencers, some reviews, some bombing, etc but as a whole the criticism is positive since it forces companies to be more competitive and make better games. And we can all agree the big studios need to do better in some areas. Video game is an art and artists live for the critic. They know what they're getting into. Nothing good would come from silencing opinions.

[@ZackLillipad]

You make some very good points. Thanks for watching!!

[@zacatkinson3926]

It’s still bland to me and her yelling voice is annoying

[@TwinFather0420]

@@zacatkinson3926I’m sure the games you play are all fun as hell and not bland and annoying to ANYONE else.

[@zacatkinson3926]

@@TwinFather0420 Yes and they should enjoy them

[@koenvandiepen7651]

I don't think companies are forced to make better games. These days to stay out in the crowd your better off having a marketing gimick. Something this game did really well.

[@AM-uk7jv]

So many games come out every year that I can't play them all. If they're not an 85% or higher on Metacritic, I'm not gonna play them. This especially goes double for high budget AAA titles. I may make exceptions for indie or unique games, but those are on a case by case basis. If 80 reviewers say the game is good and 20 say the game is bad, I'm gonna take the side of the majority. It just makes my decision making easier. I value my time, and I don't have enough of it to invest on a game that may or may not be good. It is either a good game, or it isn't. I've been using this binary method to pick which games to play to great success. Sure, I may have missed out on some good experiences from games that miss the cutoff score, but that's just life. I don't need to experience everything. If there's a lull in the game release calendar, I may look at the games I passed on. Which I have done in the past, to mixed success. A lot of gamers cope so hard when the game they expected and wanted to be good isn't objectively good. Personal preferences aside, many games ARE objectively better than other games. And many games just miss the mark and fail to deliver. I've been disappointed many, many times when I was anticipating a game would be good, only to end up the opposite. I moved on with life, as should anyone else in that situation. Reviewers are people like you and me. And they have their preferences like you and me. Which is why it's important to read and watch many reviews to see if a game is worth people's time and money. If people are triggered that a game you've been anticipating isn't getting the reviews they feel like it deserves, then that's a them problem. There's nothing worse than a disgruntled gamer publicly defending a below average game on Reddit or the forums or reviews. If a game is as good as they say it is, then it will reflect that in the reviews. If not, they can cope harder. Or just see a therapist. It's a healthier alternative than angry coping and being angry gamer.

[@GRAHFMETAL]

ffs, Stellar Blade is THE most 7/10 game I think I've ever played

[@VatchGaming]

no buddy, it's not my fault lol.

[@yeayea8226]

We are enabling them

[@VatchGaming]

@@yeayea8226 im not part of your "we"

[@kap1zel437]

Just wanna give my opinion. For me, either 7/10 or 70/100 is at a very weird scale for scoring the games. So different people view the score differently, like IGN said that at 7/10 it is recommended, but due to 7 is at a weird spot, people will have mix feelings whether it is good or bad since 8 is consider really good and 6 is consider quite bad. So when a 7 or 70 is given, arguments will start due to that weird spot for scoring.

[@Sekobek0]

that is what seems to be the general view but I still don't understand how this happened. You just said that a 6/10 is bad but why????? like a 6 is still above average. I feel like there should be a unified review scale for games, movies, etc.

[@gmorgcyborg]

I judge scores the same way I do grades in school.. 7 is fine .. 6 is below average but doesn't make it terrible etc

[@tomparkin2068]

Objectively speaking, 5 is the average - so anything above that is essentially good to some degree. I’d personally consider most Ubisoft games a 5 because they’re serviceable, but very uninspired. I’ve never understood the 7/10 argument as that score is 2+ above average - so pretty damn good in other words. When I was a kid and saw a 7 out of 10 game I’d be buzzing.

[@ahmadrunningwild85]

A 7 is more than 5. If you see it that way, games rated 7 are alright tbh.

[@superbob24]

Society on a whole is fucked when it comes to rating things 1 out of 10. If you tell someone they are a 7/10 attractiveness, they get insulted.

[@cowpercoles1194]

It's a combination of IGN France giving reviews that didn't address gameplay or quality, but jumped right to identity politics and woke hot takes to dis the game, and get click bait attention. Then, true to form, it caused a row with fans, who are sick of this nonsense, and immediately blamed the fans, stating that the only possible reason they could be upset, is because the game actually is "objectionable". This is like suddenly calling someone a "poopy pants", and when they get naturally mad at you, following up by saying "the only reason you're mad is because you're afraid to be called out for being a "poopy pants". It's proof that my accusation is true. Actually it doesn't prove anything -- except that people get mad when they're called names, and that innocent people get upset and deny false accusations.

[@Phillipmurr]

Talking about IGN’s review of Stella blade without mentioning the toxicity which came from some of their writers. Going as far to disrespect the game designer and his wife. And also trying to shame players who enjoy the character design.. The thing that’s changed about reviews over the last 10 years as they’ve become politicised . Complaining about lack of diversity or sexualisation . Or in days gone case the protagonist being too white . Has led to disingenuous reviewing I would have the opposite of opinion of this video. It’s the game review and journalist who have become toxic. . So I would throw game reviews are ruining video games and it’s their fault . Just my thoughts. Also in regards to the infamous 7. Scores, I believe this is also IGN’s fault, Their review system works basically like this a 10. Is a great game from a well-known publisher who is likely to advertise on our site. A 9 is a good game, and is recommended or has a female lead character or diversity . Think horizon zero Dawn or the last of us 2 An 8 is an okay game. Or from a studio who advertise with us and we don’t have the balls to give it a lower score. A 7. The game is average. Or has something in it we don’t like politically. Or the lead characters are white protagonist think days gone. My list is satire in case that’s missed . But blaming the gaming community and not the low standards of the journalism , just doesn’t sit right

[@ironmaidenmetalgod]

The demo sold me on the game. I was gonna get it regardless of reviews.

[@TheVDaddyo]

100%. That’s how I forbes my own opinion 😅

[@ahmadrunningwild85]

Game reviews don't ruin gaming. They are a gauge for gamers to decide if a game is worth to buy

[@originaldarkwater]

This is really nothing new. Inflated game scores have been a thing for a long time. I remember back in the 90s, if a game scored less than 90% on some sites (or magazines, which were more common review sources then), it was considered not worth buying. I kind of got away from gaming site reviews for a while, so maybe there was an effort to scale the scores back so that you could have more nuance in the "worth playing" category, but as new games come out and reviewers and players have a honeymoon period where that game seems like the best game ever, review scores would inevitably get inflated again. The descriptions that the site gives may state one thing, but if you compare games they have reviewed with the descriptions of how good the score is supposed to be, you'll notice there's always a discrepancy.

[@koenvandiepen7651]

I don't fully understand how this happened? Marketing is how this happened. Fake hype created by the marketing team around scores have ppl believeing everything needs to be a 9/10 to be good. On top of that ppl form a identity around the media they consume so a 7/10 makes them feel like a 7/10 and nobody wants that. That is verry clearly the case around Stellar blade. Where for some reason ppl think this games is some kind of sign of what it means to be a good game (aka tits and ass)

[@anthony7440]

i think 7 is moderately good of a score, i don't usually follow corporation of reviews as it only have a few people running the show with a ton of biased gameplay.

[@thanhdo1963]

nope, the part where SB gets a 7 and everybody cry about because of IGN France. if they did not kick on their own balls by *publishing the article*, people would not cry about it that much.

[@Phillipmurr]

Stella blade has a 93 user score on Metacritic 😅😅. Maybe the reviewers other ones out of touch and toxic .

[@originaldarkwater]

Welcome to the culture wars. You're not allowed to judge things with nuance anymore, you are either fully in favor of a thing or fully against it. If you are for it, you will be beloved by the side that has adopted the thing and hated by the side that has decided the thing is the root of all evil in the world. Stating the thing has both strengths and flaws will only get you hated by both sides.

[@valdimer11]

I think part of the problem has been the poor reviewing that has begun to plague these large review sites as well. I mean you never used to see such huge disparities between what the reviewers graded a game and what the general audience thought. I think this disconnect is continually eroding trust between gamers and reviewers culminating in this cynicism and growing toxicity with the community.

[@ZackLillipad]

Very well put. Thanks for watching!!

[@Phillipmurr]

It’s also important to point out the large amount of toxicity coming from the games journalist of past 10 years. Sharing their political beliefs to shaming parts of the communities for XYZ. Definitely happened with Stella blade . They straight up disrespected the developers the model and their wives .

[@SuperRamos619]

Yea it is your fault. A 5 is supposed to be the baseline for an average game. But everyone using standardized test scores instead to determine a pass or fail result. In this case a 7 isnt above average, its now barely passing. Is Stellar Blade a 7? I think it is. Its a perfectly fine game. People are just obsessed with a thing they like not getting all the praise they think it deserves.

[@typicallatenightgamer7122]

ok you have criticezed stuff like review bombing and such, but what is the solution? you cant really refund a game youv'e already spent even 5 hours in, and when they suddenly make decisions you don't agree with, how are you supposed to tell the devs about your opinions? send them an email that gets filtered to spamm automatically?

[@austinvw1988]

The game isn't pushing new boundaries or showing us new features or experiences. It has sub optimal graphics for the ps5 and bad voice actors. I think a 5-7 is fair. I wouldn't go below or above these values.

[@gutz4garterz735]

why do gamers still watch IGN ?

[@KaijuRaiden]

oh fr?

[@iscream8963]

corp: review copy IGN: 8/10 corp: money* IGN: 10/10 corp: no review copy IGN: 5/10 corp: no money no copy IGN: 3/10

[@HighKnighter]

Yet starfield got 7/10. People just want their opinion reaffirmed, other people opinions or the quality of the product in question be damned.

[@misterhoobomaster]

You're incredibly stupid if you think they actually paid for reviews. It would get leaked instantly in the year 2023 and ruin the entire website & person.

[@ahmadrunningwild85]

Just say you don't trust ign reviews.

[@Krakonospivo]

Starfield was shite on by everyone and their mothers, yet I had plenty of fun playung the game. Recently released Dragons Dogma 2 became one of my favourite action RPGs ever, yet amount of hate it recieved is unbarable. I think a lot of this ckmes from hype that creates unrealistic expectations. When a grame releases ad its only good, people get mad

[@Sorrus-B4lyfe]

”our” = Speak for yourself… People out there are saying the Fallout TV show or One Piece show is some sort of masterpiece when it’s generic content depraved crap… followed up by, if you follow IGN = Your life is a joke.

[@DoubleTGameHustle]

I always like playing games for myself before making a judgement. There has been tons of games I like but review terribly.. 🤝🏽

[@traviscue2099]

Game reviews by companies and by youtube personalities are all massively biased. From politics to personal taste. The second I stopped listening to everyone else, was the second I found some of the best games that got dog piled on.

[@ahmadrunningwild85]

Game reviews don't ruin gaming. They are a gauge for gamers to decide if a game is worth to buy