Indie game Outbound released this week, and it had a few problems at launch. It's a small game from an independent studio - it happens. The trouble is, the studio behind it, Square Glade Games, replied to some of the negative reviews on Steam, asking users if they'd consider removing them. That ill-thought-out decision has just resulted in the game being hit with even more bad reviews.
Outbound's early reviews, at least the negative ones, pointed to problems with the game, along with critique noting that it was shorter than expected, and that the gameplay loop didn't go as deep as they hoped. Not ideal, but Square Glade replying to those reviews asking for users to alter them, and in some cases remove them entirely if they decide to refund the game, has made things go from bad to worse.
There's not much to Outbound.
So much so that the studio has issued a statement addressing the review replies tactic, sharing it in a thread where an upset potential Outbound player wrote that they'd no longer be buying the game after adding it to their wishlist. "We truly apologize for how our recent replies have come across. We...
