PC Games on Steam: 13 of the worst

Should Greenlight actually have been called red light? 13 stinkers that will make you wish you'd lost your wallet instead

Graeme Burton
@graemeburton
16 December 2016

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1. The Slaughtering Grounds 79p/$1
Owners: 212,522

alt='' Aw, c'mon. Just 79p. How can anyone kick a game that costs so little? Very easily, as it happens, when it is as bad as The Slaughtering Grounds from what would appear to be one of the least popular developers on Steam with an impressive string of unpopular games under its belt.

Developed using Unity, bought-in models and even graphics that some reviewers had suggested might have been filched from Google Images, the game features shonky physics, poor graphics, low frame-rates, some very odd effects, zombies that noiselessly maim and kill, bad AI, and so on.

None of this would be quite so bad were it not for the (euphemism alert) uncompromising attitude of the developers towards criticism, however constructive.

In which case we'll just leave it there.

STOP PRESS
Just as this feature was being loaded into Incisive Media's excellent content management system the news arrived that Digital Homicide had been told to go do one by Valve Software after the company sued 100 players who had left not entirely complimentary reviews of the company's games.

Digital Homicide is seeking $18m in damages, a mere $180,000 each, on top of the $15m it tried to squeeze out of British game reviewer Jim Sterling for being mean to the firm in an online review.

Steam reviews:
"This game is probably one of the worst games I've ever played. All you do is run around and shoot zombies. You can see from the pictures that they poorly cut textures on the screen. The frame rate is low, the gameplay is repetitive and the unlockables make no difference. Not to mention the dev is a whiny ♥♥♥♥♥. I actually thought this game was satire at first, but nope [it's] 100 per cent serious."
User name deleted

"Don't buy this: it's buggy, unfinished and looks like zero effort was put in. Mod teams have done better jobs than this. Quite surprised this is being sold, it's in an alpha stage. Best moment: I had a laugh when I saw a plane flying sideways."
User name: Tofke

"The perfect gift for someone you never want to talk to again."
User name: Malachite (Azarokkusu)

So, are we right or are we wrong? What have we missed, and what have we unfairly included? Flame the author with your opinions in the usual receptacle below.