Open-World Games With “Mostly Negative” Reviews On Steam

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Steam reviews can significantly affect a game’s success. Positive reviews attract players, while negative ones deter them. However, a low score on Steam doesn’t always mean a game is terrible. Many enjoyable games still exist that have enough good qualities to be worth playing, even if they have a poor overall rating.

Creating a truly engaging open-world game is a significant challenge. It’s difficult to build a world that feels alive and offers players enough to do for a long time. While many developers have attempted this in the popular open-world genre, many haven’t quite succeeded. Even those games that don’t receive the best reviews can still be enjoyable, despite some flaws.

Wild West Dynasty

Simulating The Cowboy Lifestyle

  • Release Date: 22 Aug, 2024
  • Developer: Moon Punch Studio
  • Platforms: PC

Wild West Dynasty is a captivating open-world game set in the harsh American Midwest. You’ll need to survive the dangerous landscape and its inhabitants while building and expanding your own settlement. Attract new residents by constructing buildings and fulfilling their needs to transform your outpost into a thriving town.

Players have mostly been frustrated by performance issues and bugs, which can be really disruptive. However, when the game runs well, the core gameplay – exploring, building, and customizing – is quite enjoyable, especially considering it was created by a small independent team and features a vast world.

Edge Of Space

Terraria Meets Intergalactic Exploration

Edge of Space is a 2D survival game where you start stranded on an alien planet with only your spacesuit. You’ll need to quickly gather resources and find equipment to explore the large, dangerous world and face its many challenges.

The game offers a lot of variety in items and ways to build, providing plenty for players to discover without being overly complicated. While some have criticized it as feeling incomplete or too similar to Terraria, the fundamental gameplay is unique enough to make it worth checking out.

Growtopia

Building A World Together

  • Release Date: 7 Mar, 2024
  • Developer: Ubisoft Abu Dhabi
  • Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC, macOS, iOS, Android

Growtopia is an online adventure game where players worldwide can build and create almost anything. You can start small, making simple games or houses, and eventually collaborate with others to build huge, bustling cities and share your ideas.

The game has received negative reviews mainly due to issues with server connections, bots, and player criticism of the developers at Ubisoft. However, many players still find the gameplay enjoyable, especially when playing with friends, and it can be a relaxing experience for those who like building games.

Life Is Feudal: MMO

Bringing The Middle Ages To The Modern Day

  • Release Date: 12 Jan, 2018
  • Developer: LTG
  • Platforms: PC

Life is Feudal: MMO is part of a series of medieval games focused on creating a realistic and immersive world. In this game, players can grow small villages into powerful empires, participate in massive player-versus-player battles, and take control of vast territories. The game offers incredible freedom, allowing players to achieve almost anything they can imagine.

The game initially received criticism because it switched from being free-to-play to a monthly subscription, which upset many long-time fans. The developers have since released a sequel, Life is Feudal: Arden, aiming to build on the original game’s vast world. However, for players seeking a truly immersive medieval experience, the first game is still quite fun.

X Rebirth

Venture Across The Universe

  • Release Date: 15 Nov, 2013
  • Developer: Egosoft
  • Platforms: PC, macOS, Linux

X Rebirth is a massive space simulator offering players everything they could want in the genre. It features exciting spaceship combat, a detailed economic system that drives trading, and a vast galaxy to explore. Players have complete freedom to forge their own path and build their empire among the stars.

Honestly, when this game first came out, it was pretty rough around the edges. There were a lot of bugs, and some things were just missing that really held it back from being great. It reminded me a lot of the launch of No Man’s Sky – a really cool idea with a lot of potential, but it just didn’t quite come together. The sequel, X4: Foundations, fixed a lot of those problems and delivered on what was promised. But if you’re like me and prefer a more classic space sim experience, X Rebirth still has that feel, even if it’s a little flawed.

Ancient The Dimensions

A Unique Isometric Survival Experience

  • Release Date: 7 Jan, 2025
  • Developer: HEADSTONE STUDIO
  • Platforms: PC

Ancient the Dimensions is a compelling survival crafting game with strong visuals and engaging gameplay. Its top-down view offers a unique twist on the genre, letting players survey a wider area to spot enemies and locate resources more easily, reducing the need for close-range scouting.

Even though the game is still being developed and subject to change, the main problems right now are bugs and gameplay that doesn’t feel fully complete. Despite this, Ancient the Dimensions shows a lot of promise as an open-world survival game, and with more development, it could really surprise people and prove its doubters wrong.

Greed Of Man

Creating An Underground Empire

  • Release Date: 10 Jul, 2023
  • Developer: NIK
  • Platforms: PC

In Greed of Man, you’re dropped into a city brimming with both legitimate and illicit opportunities. Starting with almost nothing, you’ll need to scavenge for resources and build a criminal enterprise. The goal is to rise from obscurity to become a powerful kingpin, overseeing everything from production to distribution.

Although the game has a good number of players, the developer has received a lot of criticism for how they’ve handled the game’s development and promotion. Despite this, the game itself is still fun to play. Even with some problems within the game and surrounding its creator, it’s free to play, making it worth checking out.

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2025-11-07 23:06