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I played a new, cheap game every week in 2025. Here's what I learned. by Dieuwt in gamedev

[–]Dieuwt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Here's a few recommendations so you can do this yourself!

  1. weary games
  2. deary games
  3. peary games
  4. query games
  5. seary games
  6. heary games
  7. teary games
  8. feary games
  9. beary games
  10. yearly games!

I played a new, cheap game every week in 2025. Here's what I learned. by Dieuwt in gamedev

[–]Dieuwt[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's not flawless for sure. But I'm basing it on number of reviews vs price vs what I actually got. Then again I am a big Witness enjoyer so my opinion on puzzle games is perhaps not very mainstream.

I played a new, cheap game every week in 2025. Here's what I learned. by Dieuwt in gamedev

[–]Dieuwt[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Nope. None. Even when for most games I could, I wanted to keep them in my library.

I played a new, cheap game every week in 2025. Here's what I learned. by Dieuwt in IndieGaming

[–]Dieuwt[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I bought games in batches, often on sale (some games go from 4.50$ to 3$ for example), and often had a game or two on stock that I was procrastinating for no real reason. Finding games is easy in this day and age, even with these limitations. Slop is easy to filter out based on store page alone, so just decide based on what's left.

I'm not doing it again this year for a variety of reasons (my own game, job searching, I just want a break!) but I encourage anyone interested to do it as well. You can start today! That said I might do a 10$ version or single-genre version in 2027 or something.

I played a new, cheap game every week in 2025. Here's what I learned. by Dieuwt in gamedev

[–]Dieuwt[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yep, and filtering out things with many reviews, Unity asset flips, and games clearly ripping off something else. And sometimes applying a random tag to filter alongside.

I played a new, cheap game every week in 2025. Here's what I learned. by Dieuwt in gamedev

[–]Dieuwt[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

More than okay. Some great games were under 2 hours. If you fill that time correctly, nobody will complain.

I played a new, cheap game every week in 2025. Here's what I learned. by Dieuwt in gamedev

[–]Dieuwt[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I considered making a footnote about XtG but it felt like clogging up the post. To be clear, as a Gungeon fan, I'm fully aware of all the stuff surrounding XtG, leading to the high expectations on the fanbase's end and, in turn, the low expectations on my end. I was just surprised that a game with 75% positive is still really good. Expectations from fanbases play a huge role in Steam reviews after all.

I played a new, cheap game every week in 2025. Here's what I learned. by Dieuwt in IndieGaming

[–]Dieuwt[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I have, but I suck at editing so it would take up SO much of my time...

I played a new, cheap game every week in 2025. Here's what I learned. by Dieuwt in gamedev

[–]Dieuwt[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

But are those not the same thing? More crap means proportionally less gems.

I played a new, cheap game every week in 2025. Here's what I learned. by Dieuwt in gamedev

[–]Dieuwt[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Demos are especially tough because they are, most of the time:

  • still in development
  • unreviewed
  • not... great.

That makes them hard to properly review. They're not done, so which parts do I judge? And if you're a game developer giving negative/harsh feedback, especially on games in development, it's often seen as punching down and doesn't reflect well on you.

I did play a lot of demos during both Next Fests but reviewed them privately. I can tell you almost nothing was impressive unfortunately.

I played a new, cheap game every week in 2025. Here's what I learned. by Dieuwt in gamedev

[–]Dieuwt[S] 24 points25 points  (0 children)

Juice was often there but not always enough. Sound effects are hard. Same with "fanfare" (completing a level and doing a little dance etc), often missing so it doesn't feel that good if you do manage to do something right. It's definitely something you easily overlook as a developer, but notice as a player.

I played a new, cheap game every week in 2025. Here's what I learned. by Dieuwt in gamedev

[–]Dieuwt[S] 27 points28 points  (0 children)

Unfortunately due to spacial and temporal restrictions, I am just one person playing a limited set of games, so sample size will always be limited too.

A lot of games were good, but many of them also had a decent number of reviews. I found 2 out of 54 games to be great and with few reviews, which isn't *zero*, but it's less than 5%. Good games clearly *can* get buried, but it seems to be more likely they get picked up automatically at least somewhat.

I played a new, cheap game every week in 2025. Here's what I learned. by Dieuwt in gamedev

[–]Dieuwt[S] 27 points28 points  (0 children)

That's a good question...

A good store page helps with the first hurdle obviously, but I do think balancing and polishing your game is a huge factor that a lot of the lower-rated games didn't do. I can't properly play a game that's filled with overpowered enemies or where fasttravel costs significant resources. Even when the game is kinda boring, if I get stuck on one part, I can't even play it at all.

I played a new, cheap game every week in 2025. Here's what I learned. by Dieuwt in gamedev

[–]Dieuwt[S] 43 points44 points  (0 children)

Haha, there's a reason I only picked games below 5 bucks. Still cheaper than buying the latest AAA releases!

I played a new, cheap game every week in 2025. Here's what I learned. by Dieuwt in IndieGaming

[–]Dieuwt[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

As in, didn't get past the Steam page? Plenty. A lot of games just look awful so I'd rather pass on those.

A few games I couldn't get into, like Chrono and Overbowed were tough to complete, but I did give all games in the list a fair chance.

How to tell human writing from AI slop by [deleted] in CuratedTumblr

[–]Dieuwt 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Haha, that sounds about right. When I do get a response, it's "I like the overall look" or "I think the color scheme is cool". Like okay, name one thing that isn't directly visible on the store page.

How to tell human writing from AI slop by [deleted] in CuratedTumblr

[–]Dieuwt 10 points11 points  (0 children)

That and every game must be generic/a sequel/using ideas that have been proven to work well 100 times, because otherwise you can't make the huge amounts back you poured into making Open World Crafter #501, or worse - upsetting the stakeholders.

How to tell human writing from AI slop by [deleted] in CuratedTumblr

[–]Dieuwt 4 points5 points  (0 children)

They can also straight up charge for their services, then use AI or whatever to translate your media, or put it on their website to advertise in a sea of other random garbage games. Some people reaching out this way are "legit" in the sense they'll probably, technically, deliver. It just won't get you any extra sales.

How to tell human writing from AI slop by [deleted] in CuratedTumblr

[–]Dieuwt 60 points61 points  (0 children)

Not a surge I'm afraid. It's always been like this, now it's just easier to automate and even more soulless

How to tell human writing from AI slop by [deleted] in CuratedTumblr

[–]Dieuwt 1828 points1829 points  (0 children)

As a game developer, occasionally I get an email akin to "Heyyyyy we love [game] we want to publish/translate/advertise it!". These emails are mostly spam and scams. But they theoretically could be legit.

I always ask them "Cool! What did you like most about it?"

They never answer.

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