Players on Steam have started to review bomb Horizon Zero Dawn after reporting a number of technical issues with the PC port of the former PlayStation 4 exclusive. The highly acclaimed action role-playing game is widely considered to be one of the best PS4 games. The PC port has been eagerly anticipated since first being announced last year, while a sequel in the form of Horizon: Forbidden West is also in development for the PlayStation 5.
The title, which launched earlier today on Steam, was meant to have an array of technical improvements and enthronements. Developer Guerilla Games detailed the exclusive PC extras and content in July. According to the studio, the PC port for Horizon Zero Dawn should have a range of graphical upgrades along with support for better resolutions and higher framerates. The studio also added benchmarking tools and a raft of extra customization options for players to use.
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A quick glance at the Steam page for Horizon Zero Dawn reveals that players have started to review bomb the PC port. There are hundreds of negative reviews, some of which can be seen below, for the game. The overall rating is also now classed as mixed due to a large number of complaints. Among the most cited concerns are frequent crashing, stuttering framerates, and poor optimization so that players don't get a smooth experience. Many of the reviews also claim that customers will attempt to get a refund until patches are released to fix the worst problems.
Review bombing has become a widespread issue in the gaming industry in recent times. High profile games such as The Last of Us 2 have suffered similar fates in recent times, with fans organizing their efforts in order to flood sites like Metacritic with negative reviews. In many instances, this isn't a result of technical issues but controversial stances that developers have taken. In the case of Naughty Dog's sequel, it was because of story elements that affected the fates of fan-favorite characters.
Seeing any game be review bombed is an unpleasant sight, especially for the developers responsible for the game. But in the case of Horizon Zero Dawn, it does not seem to be an organized campaign by disgruntled fans. Instead, the game appears to have some genuine problems that are stopping users from being able to properly enjoy the game. Whether these are issues that can be quickly fixed via updates remains to be seen, although Guerilla Games and Sony will likely want to fix them so that negative publicity does not affect Horizon: Forbidden Forest.
Source: Steam