Click here after you read ——> Update

All reviews will be positive.

I recently started offering some services on Fiverr. It’s a cool little site that you can get some extra cash from, but it was also on this site that I discovered “The Good Review.” The person offering this service is doing multiple positive Steam reviews. Here is what is being offered:

So…like any beginning investigative journalist I needed to find more information. After some digging I was able to find answers as to what was offered.

Reviews for games are important. They help people make informed decisions about what they’re getting into. For a paid review to always be positive essentially drives up the rating for the game on Steam. It’s also against Steam’s review policy unless there is disclosure. You can find that information in an article Gamasutra has up. (GAMASUTRA ARTICLE)

“Sure, reviews are always positive.”

Now, I also got confirmation that he will write multiple reviews from two other places.

The description for the gig being offered:

and

So…there is no regard for ethics in his reviews. It is clearly stated that writing reviews is a hobby, but yet he is charging for strictly positive reviews for games. Now, have I found any of his reviews? I believe I have. I can’t say for 100%, but the evidence does speak for itself. I did, however, find an interesting Steam profile with almost an identical name as the Fiverr seller. On Fiverr he goes by “Ludenss.” The Steam profile was only missing one ‘s’ making it “Ludens.” Ludens had some of the same games reviewed. Most notable was Chasing Dead and the VR game Roomscale Tower. Chasing Dead has shown up every single time across the profiles. The attachment I received from Ludenss led me to my findings. By using some of the layout I was able to find reviews that used the same wording.

1) Developers are building a historically correct game and all of the *name of the game* aircraft seem to be accurate with good choice of paintjobs, behaves well and looks to be made of real blueprints. Real, unusual locations in Asian setting. They also make sure there is something for everyone, with the different game modes (from campaign to dogfight to free flight to multiplayer), where they put planes of any nation with the “some-what” same performance in a battles in Asian region. Gameplay is good, game is action packed all the time beyond what you can ask from a small studio and there is as I mentioned before, something for everyone. Runs surprisingly well on even a low-end PC, on a well-optimised engine and impressive distance rendering. Expect stable/high FPS (frames per second) no matter if you are playing on low or high graphics settings or flying high or low (depending on your PC hardware of course). I am running at 60 FPS when I play the game at the highest graphical settings and I love the action the game delivers, can’t wait to play final version as this is Early Access title for me easily 4/5 stars. 2) Okay so, *name* is a really good game, the devs are pushing out a lot of work, getting things done, really doing a good job. The campaign is really fun and I like it totally. The battles are giving me trouble sometimes, but I can’t complain, I’m just not good at them like I was when I got the game. What I really like: 1) Nice combat system and game mechanics in general 2) Cute graphics + wonderful visual design 3) A lot of planes already and new planes are always incoming

My Few Complaints:

1) had some glitches with the rain;

2) not all game modes are popular, so you can wait for a long time to find players for some of them In the end, *name* is a good game and has provided me and friends with plenty of fun. 3) Well, I’ve purchased HTC Vive and I needed to test it. This game really shows the power of your headset. Graphics is great and feelings are really deep, medieval setting, tons of weapon and any of them can be used (bow with oiled arrows, axes, halberds, swords). “name” looks great and I launched it without problems. I hoped VR is a future for entertainment industry, but had some doubts. Now I see it’s true. Even now, at the dawn of VR technology, performance is very quality, can’t wait to see what kind of games we will see in 5 years. I recommend to test your VR here. It’s just thrilling and astonishing experience.

In the case of Ludens’ steam profile being the guy from Fiverr, I’d like to point out this piece of evidence that matches one of the layouts pretty much word for word. The evidence is pretty damning.

And now I present the rest of my findings.

Ludens again:

Alright…I think I have enough photos for your enjoyment.

So, did these developers pay this person to do these reviews? Each profile has at least one review that matches up to the format provided. I haven’t had any response from the developers on this matter. If I receive any contact I will update this article.

This could potentially steer users into purchasing games that are being misrepresented. Games may even have stolen assets in them and possible optimization issues that are never explained in paid reviews. The layout provided already had a score in it and that just screams “sketchy.” Steam does have a report feature and I do recommend doing research in order to find shoddy reviews. The ones that match up with the format provided will be getting reported by me. This is a despicable business practice. Ultimately, it’s very unfortunate because it shows that developers may not have faith in their products. Instead, they might just buy positive reviews in hopes that it will gain them better standing in the market.

This is a not very “good review” practice.

Click here —-> UPDATE