There have been lots of unexpectedly low Steam scores lately. Civilization 7 seemed like a certain hit, and reception to that is still officially ‘mixed.’ Path of Exile 2 has suddenly plummeted down the ratings after criticism of its new season, and Grand Theft Auto 5 Enhanced is clawing its way back from a tricky anticlimax of a launch. Looking at player figures, new zombie survival game Darkest Days, which feels inspired by DayZ, State of Decay, and the other genre mainstays, should be doing well. But the player-given rating tells a different story.
Released on Thursday April 24, Darkest Days is the debut game from a studio called NHN. You pick a survivor. You explore an open world. You scavenge, craft, and kill the undead – it’s a zombie game in the most straightforward sense. You can also drive, build a settlement, and recruit NPC companions. Swap over to multiplayer, and there are wave-defence and other PvE modes. It all looks perfectly typical.
And from one point of view, Darkest Days is doing quite well – it’s already hit a concurrent player count high of more than 4,000. According to SteamDB, as of this writing precisely 3,090 people are still playing Darkest Days, suggesting that it’s managed to hold the interest of early adopters at least beyond the initial hours.
On the contrary, Darkest Day’s Steam reviews are through the floor: of the 423 that have been posted so far, a mere 17% are positive. Players are primarily critical of Darkest Day’s in-game purchases (it’s free to play) and also draw comparisons with Fntastic’s infamous The Day Before.
“After playing the game for an hour, they hit you with the practically expected pay-to-win store, with crazy prices, and where the monthly membership gives you a reload speed bonus,” one respondent says. “No thank you. I’ll go back to Once Human.”
“This game reminds me of The Day Before,” another player says, “and will die the day after.”
Other reviews are slightly more positive. “It’s a State of Decay clone,” one Steam player says. “It’s passable. The graphics are from somewhere around 2012. Not awful, but it’s not great. If you like State of Decay, you might like this. If you love State of Decay, just play State of Decay.”
Based on current players, Darkest Days is the 296th most popular game on Steam right now, above comparative giants such as The Division 2, Manor Lords, and fellow zombie shooter World War Z.
You might want to try some of the best survival games, or maybe the best RPGs on PC today.
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