Highguard's rocky launch exposes Steam review flaws and hype risks

Highguard’s launch was marred by immediate Steam review bombing, with ratings turning from extremely negative to mixed as players finally could judge the game; the piece argues the incident reveals flaws in Steam’s review system—especially for free‑to‑play titles—while noting a higher approval rate among players who played longer. It calls for reforms to curb manipulation, such as hours‑based gating or decoupling reviews from discoverability, suggesting Valve may need to update its system in response to this controversy.