Valve recently overhauled Steam’s review system, putting a larger focus on recent perspectives. The move made sense. Games are no longer static works. They constantly evolve thanks to updates and programs like Early Access. The system is, by and large, very useful, providing percentages that give narrow and wide snapshots of games. But numbers only tell part of the story.
The other part of the story is what people are saying, the broader trends running through reviews inside and outside each game’s review “summary” section. Does this new system reflect them accurately? Is it actually useful, especially in cases where recent (posted within the past 30 days) and overall review scores are wildly different? I’ve been going over Steam with a fine-toothed comb, looking for games with big disparities between their recent and overall review percentages. Here are the most telling ones I’ve found.
