Valve have changed the user review system on Steam to show whether a game’s experience has changed months after being released. The system now uses the newest reviews to calculate a summary. The old reviews are still there, only now they are shown in the overall summary.
This new system identifies two problems that used to occur and deals with them by: displaying recent reviews more prominently and by including a ‘Recent review score’ summary. This allows Steam to display an accurate representation of the game in its current state.
The recent reviews will be taken from the last thirty days. An example we thought would display the usefulness of this new system is Batman: Arkham Knight. Originally released in an unfinished state, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment have been patching the game slowly throughout the last year. As a result, the Steam user reviews reflect these changes clearly. The overall rating of Batman: Arkham Knight has an overall score of ‘Mixed’ with 24,138 reviews, whereas the recent reviews has the overall score of ‘Very Positive’ at 993 reviews.
By changing the review system, Valve have given players a far more accurate picture of a game in its current state. Unlike reviews found on Metacritic/Opencritic, these reviews change as time goes on. If the developer decides to patch a game for the better (or worse), the reviews will let potential buyers know. Click here to read about any further changes to Steam’s user reviews.
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