Stardew Valley-inspired life sim Starsand Island has been an instant hit on Steam, but its optics have been warped by an unclear number of reviews left by Steam bots, as a simple investigation thoroughly proves. Developer Seed Sparkle Lab addresses the wave of botted reviews boosting the game in a new statement, reiterating that it's not responsible for this publicity stunt and promising that it's working with Valve to remove the forged reviews.
"We are so grateful to everyone who is enjoying the simple life of Starsand Island, and we thank those who have left genuine reviews on Steam," Seed Sparkle says in an emailed message. "We are continuing to work hard to improve the game throughout Early Access so it surpasses everybody’s expectations when it fully launches later this summer.
"However, we are disheartened to see the obviously fake positive reviews as they sow doubt and mistrust. We want to reassure everyone that we are proactively working with Valve to ensure all fake reviews - positive and negative - are flagged and removed from Steam as swiftly as possible."
At the time of writing, Starsand Island, now two days into Steam Early Access, has 2,151 Steam user reviews averaging 88% positive. The botted reviews look to be a very small portion of this base, but similar fake accounts and sentiments have evidently spilled into the game's broader social media presence. By all accounts, the game is genuinely good – as our own Emma-Jane said – so it's a strange problem to have.
On Thursday, Seed Sparkle asked "whoever may be behind this" bot wave to "stop."
"Please let us focus on making our game in peace. We pose no threat to anyone," the devs said.
