Last year, the German-developed, classic JRPG-inspired Chained Echoes celebrated great success, for example on Steam. The average rating for the PC version on Metacritic is a high 91, making it one of the best games of 2022. But suddenly, negative user reviews poured in, and no one knows the reason.
What happened? Chained Echoes is rated “very positive” not only on Steam but also marked as “Must Play” on Metacritic. On Twitter, the Head of Product from DECK13 tweeted that suddenly there were many negative user reviews:
The ratings are also just pure ratings without reviews or explanation, making it difficult to assess the reasons, especially 5 months after release.
Normally, written reviews or a sudden scandal can give clues as to where negative ratings come from. For example, the “Monster Hunter” movie was responsible for poor ratings for Monster Hunter World in 2020.
Here you can watch the launch trailer for Chained Echoes:
What could the reasons be? It is hard to guess where the sudden outcry against the game comes from. One suspicion might be the lack of localizations in different languages.
The developer often receives requests to translate Chained Echoes into new languages. Due to the length of the game, the high costs, and the presumably small sales figures in those regions, a translation for Chained Echoes is not worthwhile outside of the 4 available languages.
At the same time, Head of Product Michael Hoss criticizes Metacritic. In an interview with GamesRadar+, he talks about the problems smaller developers face with such review bombing.
Why is review bombing so bad? Hoss mentioned that while Chained Echoes does not suffer lasting damage from the annoying situation, he also speaks for smaller indie companies that can suffer massive damage to their sales due to review bombing.
While a The Last of Us 2 can cope with it, a small indie title can really suffer.
He also criticized Metacritic in his tweet (embedded above) for apparently only responding to AAA games. Back then, a discussion about the review bombing of The Last of Us 2 led Metacritic to make a change.
He also talks about psychological damage and says that review bombing on Metacritic is just the beginning and can lead to harassment and hate mails. Post-release depression exists and all these things hurt people. And I hate that.
At least, it seems that the negative reviews have finally been removed after the outcry, and Chained Echoes has regained its original user rating on Metacritic.
Another game that is getting very good ratings in 2023 and only costs 5 €, is ideal for a cozy gaming weekend.
