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[ChoosableOne]

I played it's demo and it was fun, but i'm not a big fan of Factorio. I just want to know how this "review" business works. Do the producers pay for them, or do the reviewers have other criterias? Is a digital code gift enough for a review?

Rimworld also reviewed by 8 critics. These two games are on the top ten most positive user reviewed steam games list according to steamdb.

 

[AV]

Factorio has only been reviewed by 4 critics that are counted on Metacritic*

I imagine it's too niche and weird for most mainstream critics to bother. Same reason Opus Magnum only has 4 MC reviews even though it's fantastic. Both cheap (in a good way) foreign PC only puzzle games that are easy to play and very hard to master.

 

[Denton]

Effectively Factorio has been out for years and through those years quite a few articles were written about it. People who are interested in this type of game have no doubt heard of it. Still, more reviews of the 1.0 version would be nice.
On steam it has 74500 reviews (98% positive) which is more than many (if not most) AAA games get.

 

[RedVIper]

I made an OT when it released:

Factorio - Official Release

About the game: Factorio is a game in which you build and maintain factories. You will be mining resources, researching technologies, building infrastructure, automating production and fighting enemies. Use your imagination to design your factory, combine simple elements into ingenious...

www.neogaf.com

There's a few reviews there, I recommend watching the latest one posted by MandaloreGaming. The ssethtzeentach one is hilarious but outdated.

If you have any question about the game feel free to ask.

 

[Alandring]

I played it's demo and it was fun, but i'm not a big fan of Factorio. I just want to know how this "review" business works. Do the producers pay for them, or do the reviewers have other criterias? Is a digital code gift enough for a review?

Rimworld also reviewed by 8 critics. These two games are on the top ten most positive user reviewed steam games list according to steamdb.

Usually, we receive an email saying "hey, do you want to review our game?" and if someone in the team is available and interested, we say yes, they give us a code for the game and we do the review. So the only price is one code for the game.

Sometimes, the publisher don't contact us, but we send it an email to ask a review code because we are really interested by the game (for example, we did it about Hades).

It also happens that we make a review of a game we have bought ourself, but it's really unusual.

So if a game only have a few reviews, it's probably because:

• The publisher (or indie developer) doesn't have a local PR who knows who contact to have a media coverage.
• The publisher (or indie developer) doesn't want to give review codes to the press.
• The editors aren't available and/or interested when the game launch.

 

[supernova8]

It could be that they knew their game was niche and that no mainstream reviewer would spend the necessary time to appreciate it. I tried the demo and I got confused but I can see the appeal for the right audience.

 

[Mahadev]

The answer is simple, the developer hasn't paid a PR firm, PR firms are in the same awful clique as game "journalists" so just like Rimworld the game is ignored and even sometimes smeared like Rimworld was. You have to either be in the clique or buy your way into the clique for your game to be reviewed and promoted by these hacks.

 

[ChoosableOne]

It's a shame that they didn't promote their stuff well enough then. But journalists should make articles about good or popular games even if they don't get digital code imho. I mean, i would do that if i have that job. Maybe their superiors doesn't allow it.

 

[Maybe It's Medicine?]

Game is one of the best I have ever played and is near perfect reviews from everyone who has bought and played it. Just more proof that main stream reviewers and sites are little more than triple a/console propaganda.

 

[RedVIper]

Usually, we receive an email saying "hey, do you want to review our game?" and if someone in the team is available and interested, we say yes, they give us a code for the game and we do the review. So the only price is one code for the game.

Sometimes, the publisher don't contact us, but we send it an email to ask a review code because we are really interested by the game (for example, we did it about Hades).

It also happens that we make a review of a game we have bought ourself, but it's really unusual.

So if a game only have a few reviews, it's probably because:

• The publisher (or indie developer) doesn't have a local PR who knows who contact to have a media coverage.
• The publisher (or indie developer) doesn't want to give review codes to the press.
• The editors aren't available and/or interested when the game launch.

They did give out codes, just not to the press. They sent out review copies to plenty of streamers/youtubers. Before release they asked the community on reddit/discord/forums to suggest people for them to contact.

 

[TintoConCasera]

I think "professional" reviews are more aimed at the wider audience, which migjt not be the target of this kind of game.

You can find lot's of reviews on Youtube though, specially from channels that specialize in niche games like Mandalore or SsethTzeentach.

 

[ChoosableOne]

When i think about niche games, Return of the obra dinn(35 reviews-metacritic)(20000 positive on Steam), Crypt of the necrodancer(45 reviews)(18000 positive on Steam), Slay of the spire(23 reviews)(78000 steam), Disco Elysium(64 reviews), Undertale(43 reviews)(130000 steam) comes to my mind. These games aren't targeting wider audience either. But these are review numbers for them.

And these two games(factorio, rimworld) got 70000 or so positive reviews each on Steam. Skyrim got 270000, sekiro got 100000 in comparison. So these are not hidden gem games.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

I think the simpler, more obvious answer is that Factorio and Rimworld are too complex for most reviewers to handle, and since it's not "new" there's no reason for sites to go back and revisit it from a profitability/clickthrough standpoint.

 

[ChoosableOne]

I think the simpler, more obvious answer is that Factorio and Rimworld are too complex for most reviewers to handle, and since it's not "new" there's no reason for sites to go back and revisit it from a profitability/clickthrough standpoint.

Good point But Factorio released in August.

 

[Kimahri]

Usually, we receive an email saying "hey, do you want to review our game?" and if someone in the team is available and interested, we say yes, they give us a code for the game and we do the review. So the only price is one code for the game.

Sometimes, the publisher don't contact us, but we send it an email to ask a review code because we are really interested by the game (for example, we did it about Hades).

It also happens that we make a review of a game we have bought ourself, but it's really unusual.

So if a game only have a few reviews, it's probably because:

• The publisher (or indie developer) doesn't have a local PR who knows who contact to have a media coverage.
• The publisher (or indie developer) doesn't want to give review codes to the press.
• The editors aren't available and/or interested when the game launch.

Yeah, basically this. I'd also like to add that I get maybe 10-20 mails per day which basically amounts to "I'm a small-ish indie dev, please look at my game". These fall in between all the other pr mails and press releases any given day bring. It's a lot, and not everyone is equally good at selling their games.

For me to take time to even read your mail carefully, some things need to be in place. First, a subjectline that makes me want to open the mail, then the mail need to contain screenshots, link to video, and informative text about the game, in that order.

Can’t tell you have many times I've thought something sounded good on paper only to see the screenshots and leave.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

Good point But Factorio released in August.

Well it exited Early Access or whatever. It has been around for several years.

I think there's a case to be made how Early Access dampens your chances of being noticed by review outlets, as an aside.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Reviewers ignoring a game that isn't a third person action game with bad cutscenes?

*Shocked*

 

[ChoosableOne]

Yeah, basically this. I'd also like to add that I get maybe 10-20 mails per day which basically amounts to "I'm a small-ish indie dev, please look at my game". These fall in between all the other pr mails and press releases any given day bring. It's a lot, and not everyone is equally good at selling their games.

For me to take time to even read your mail carefully, some things need to be in place. First, a subjectline that makes me want to open the mail, then the mail need to contain screenshots, link to video, and informative text about the game, in that order.

Can’t tell you have many times I've thought something sounded good on paper only to see the screenshots and leave.

This could be the case for all that shovelware Steam has, but it's Factorio we are talking about. It sold 2 million copies before 2019 December(8 months before leaving early access)(link to their own site about it).
Rimworld sold 1 million copies before January 2018(9 months before full release)(link).
There are 20.000 gamers play those games daily(according to steamcharts) and they have so many positive reviews on Steam.

 

[TrainedRage]

Critics don’t have the brain power to play Factorio.

 

[Kimahri]

This could be the case for all that shovelware Steam has, but it's Factorio we are talking about. It sold 2 million copies before 2019 December(8 months before leaving early access)(link to their own site about it).
Rimworld sold 1 million copies before January 2018(9 months before full release)(link).
There are 20.000 gamers play those games daily(according to steamcharts) and they have so many positive reviews on Steam.

There are plenty of both smaller and bigger early access stories that get written about, so that doesn't really make a difference.