How much do reviews matter when you're looking at games?

[Oh my]

This site matches people with content.
Like other methods like Tags, Descriptions, and such, Reviews are intended to serve that function even if it's imperfect.

 

[MarbleCrown]

I often search according to weighted rating within a certain timeframe, so yea reviews matter to me. Usually I care more about the overall score because it at least tells you that there are people who really like the game. And if the art style and the adult content in the game also appeal to me from the previews then I'll probably give it a try. If a game has a score lower than 3 I will usually just ignore it to be honest.

I also read individual reviews, but I also only read reviews that are more critical as 5 star reviews just sing the game's praises without addressing actual cons. On the other hand, one star reviews are also usually just needlessly bashing the game without addressing the pros. Even as a developer myself though, I think having update frequency as part of the reviewer's score does make sense. I generally tend to stay away from game's that look like they're gonna be finished in no less than 20 years. I'm not going to follow any game's development for that long and what I'm truly interested in is the final product, not the work in progress.

 

[Daede]

I consider reviews as essential, if I ever give a game a second glance that glance will always start with reading the reviews for the following reasons:

90% of the time reviews are the only way to find out whether a game actually has any content and how much content there is, given that most of the games are... well let's be really generous and say 'Early Access'.

75% of the time reviews are the only way to find out if and by how much a game has progressed in the years of milking because even if we are lucky enough to get any form of a changelog it is usually woefully uninformative.

50% of the time reviews are the only way to find out if a games 'Tags' bear any resemblance to the reality of the game itself. A prime example is the Male/Female Protagonist flag which is often used with wild abandon; Justified by 1 scene where for a split second the internal monologue of an opposite gendered character to the actual main character is displayed. Worse is the multiple protagonist flag which now I have just come to accept means there is no protagonist and whatever story there may be is more akin to a bunch of random disparate thoughts mashed together by a Ritalin deprived ADHD suffering child.

Having said all of the above, with made up percentages for emphasis, actual review scores are completely useless as a metric of anything except how hard people are Fan Boy/Girl/Helicoptering either for or against a particular developer (yes Developer not Game).

 

[Geralt_R]

Star ratings are maybe not as essential, but I find written reviews to be very helpful. They will give me a much better idea what the game really is about and how well certain things are executed. Tags or screenshots tell me nothing mostly, just as screenshots from a movie won't ever tell you if it's actually any good. I play these games for the story mostly, so to learn how well characters are written or what the story is really about is very helpful.

And I also like to learn if a game has made any actual progress, i.e. is it a slow burner with endless teasing, is it of the super fast variety, does it have a story to begin with or is it all just about fooling around with love interests? Are sandbox mechanics annoying and grindy? The info blurb by the dev won't ever tell you that.

 

[PochitaTheChainsaw]

i tend to rate games based off of a combination of the art, the mechanics, the grammar/translation quality, personal enjoyment, story (if there is one), and bugs. i dont like to review games based off of development or patreon related problems unless those problems affect the game and gameplay itself in an annoying way (constant locked paths, unfinished areas, discontinued plots, etc).

 

[sexypeanut]

I rather check for # of likes than ratings

 

[lemonfreak]

l
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V​

 

[Narfbat]

I tend to skim the forum threads more than reviews, but the goal is the same: Getting some detailed views on content/quality.

 

[Deleted member 440241]

People are so quick to give something 5 stars that you have to be truly terrible to get below 3 stars. Reviews can also be a quick way to check how mechanics and fetishes are handled, when mods aren't arbitrarily deleting them.

 

[BaasB]

I ignore reviews entirely

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[Deleted member 229118]

On steam i always read the negative reviews because i find those to be more honest.
Possitive reviews tent to ignore the flaws or bugs.

So if a negative review is mostly just unimportant stuff or a minnor anoyance the chance of me buying the game skyrocket.
I have been dispointed so many times that i am very skeptical on anything positive.
Always looking for that stuff there hiding behind there smile.

On f95zone i notice a lot of reviewers have very very very very very very low standerds.
Or meaby i just have high standerds.
To me great sex scene and a story(that doesnt make me want to stab my eyes out) is the bare minimun of what a game shoud do.
Most games would get a 3 star from me for doing the basic's.

Let take a simple example of a overhyped game:
Corruption.
It has uneccery gameplay that doesnt add to the game in anyway.
Has a corruption mechanic that give's you less control over your sluts.
And has the most unbelieveable story i ever read.
If the devil can so easly corrupt people it would already have done so.
Serious a demon able to take away free will is a bad story.
As it implies angels exist too and those are far stronger and far less likely to let you get away with violating free will.
There is a reason the devil uses deception.
Sorry about that rant.
Anyway the game is populair where i lost all interest early on.
It was just go here, feed potion, unluck sex scene.
2 stars.

Lab rats 2 on the other hand has a lot of gameplay, likeable characters and a good story.
It has its flaws but is a solid 4 stars.

The difference is that lab rats 2 is a game and not a visual novel walking simulator.

It is the same reason why free cities is still the best game.
The sheer size of the options you get is massive.

To me visual novels shoud never get more then 2 stars.
Simply because there not games and watching porn or reading porn tents to be better then the lower then fanfiction tier writting of visual novels.

 

[F4C430]

For the content i like, i need the reviews to tell me about the game because normally the game thread is just full of garbage and the overview almost never tells you what the game actually is. Screenshots and tags are the most important, but the reviews (if any) are my next step.

I don't pay much attention to the number of stars, but rather the person's justification for the score they gave. I'll give a review a "like" as long as it provided useful information even if i don't agree with the person at all. Overall average rating means nothing to me though.

 

[bazel]

My main thing I look at first is if it fulfills kinks I'm looking for. I will avoid games with overall low scores though don't look too much at individual reviews given people view stuff differently (like some people get extremely upset over a singular short delay).

 

[SirGoose]

I only look at them in very specific cases, when a game catches my attention, but the download is too heavy for example. Even so, if I like the images enough I will download it anyway.

 

[Ambir]

Depends. Honestly, it's not rare that reviews will prevent me from trying a game if they are too negative. However, if I find that the game previews look appealing enough, or if I generally just like what I see, I just don't bother with reviews. It's mostly if I am unsure about picking up the game that reviews or the comments will matter and might change my mind.

 

[fantasmic]

Reviews are pretty important to me since I tend to like more game in my porn games so screenshots + tags are usually not enough. The OP will give a general idea of whether a game could potentially be for me, but reviews often give a more concrete description of the story/mechanics/execution without having to dig through the main thread. I don't read all the reviews (in particular, short 1 or 5 star reviews are often just "worst/best game ever" in as many words), but reviews can let me know ahead of time if my in-game choices don't really matter or if the game is a VN dressed up as an RPG.

I don't give any thought for the weighted score or number of likes though, since those are just indicators of popularity.

 

[khumak]

I don't normally read the reviews unless it's a game I think I might like but that it might have some things that are deal breakers for me. For instance if it has NTR I'll check the reviews to see if it's avoidable or unavoidable. If it's avoidable I'm fine with it. If it's not then it's a deal breaker and I'll pass.

 

[Gellidus]

I only read specific reviews when someone whines about one in the game thread itself, ensures I only waste my time reading the entertaining ones

 

[DuniX]

Another thing to point out is Ratings in relation to Tags.
Most people I think search with various tags they are interested in so they are more likely to judge games in comparison to other games with those tags.
There might even be completely independent communities here based on those tags.
If I look for puzzle, combat, management, strategy I am more likely to judge things based on the gameplay and not just the porn.

 

[SecretSal]

Don't read reviews any more, I like to try out a game blind. My main filters are whether it has tags that are turn-offs for me, or ones with settings that I'm bored of at the moment. Obviously give priority to those with tags that I like.

Sometimes I search by weighted rating to see if there are any highly rated games that I missed and decide by the tags whether I want to give it a shot. Got into Our Red String and Pale Carnations that way, even though the content isn't something I'd normally search for, the quality of the games keeps it interesting.