June 2025 saw the Steam early access launch of Omelet You Cook, a "cozy chaotic cooking roguelike" about conveyor belt omelet assembly. Developers Dan Schumacher and Hjalte Tagmose were confident in the idea after a 2024 game jam run, but were still surprised to see the game rack up hundreds of perfect user reviews – not just the coveted "Overwhelmingly Positive" Steam rating, but true 100% perfection.
In an email, Schumacher says, "There was only 1 game on all of Steam with more reviews than us at 100%," in fact. But Omelet You Cook's streak ended when one Steam user posted a negative review which they themselves called fraudulent, writing: "Game is amazing. I just like to be different."
This ended the game's perfect record, but didn't seriously hurt its optics or sales prospects; Overwhelmingly Positive is Overwhelmingly Positive, perfect or not. It did, however, kick off some discussions of Steam's review system, with folks like Mike Rose of publisher No More Robots highlighting the potential consequences of unserious reviews like this.
In a reply to Rose's post, Schumacher says, "Honestly it's wild that we maintained 100% for this long and then the one that breaks it isn't actually negative."
In an email to GamesRadar+, he notes that "some are speculating whether this individual wants to farm Steam Points (did you know those little clown reactions give you currency on Steam? I didn't until today!) While we always knew the streak would come to an end eventually, we must admit it's disheartening to lose it to someone who admits the game is genuinely good."
That review has now accrued 54 "Jester" emojis, or Steam Awards, submitted by other Steam users to suggest the review is funny or to backhandedly imply that the reviewer is a clown. It was 51 yesterday, and the review has also received a smattering of other Steam Awards. The description for the Award reads: "An important part of any royal court. Award gives creators 200 Steam Points." Steam Points are also earned via purchases and can be spent on various cosmetics and nick-nacks for the store, like animated avatars or special badges.
I don't want to make a mountain out of this molehill. Again, no serious harm has been done; aggregates like SteamDB and Steam 250 show Omelet You Cook is still one of the top 100 highest-rated releases of the year. And besides, there's now a second negative review on Omelet You Cook making more measured criticisms – but corner cases like this are fascinating. I'll never say no to another promising roguelike, or to an excuse to drill into the systems of Steam.
Obviously, developers and publishers can't just go crying to Valve if their game gets a negative review. In fact, we've seen many studios, including Bethesda, respond to negative Steam reviews, sometimes sharing fixes to alleged issues or explaining authorial intent, seemingly in hopes of flipping reviews or just engendering a more positive community sentiment. This is far from unheard of and reflects how impactful review optics can be, especially on such an algorithmic store where those optics affect eligibility and rankings for invaluable discoverability tools.
"For the vast majority of negative reviews, there's nothing to be done," Schumacher explains over email. "Steam allows you to report reviews for being either Abusive or Off Topic. For this particular review I think one could argue it's Off Topic, but my understanding is that Steam only removes reviews if it clearly fits one of those categories, so I haven't reported it myself nor do I expect it to be taken down."
"Overall we couldn't be more thrilled with how the game has been received," he continues. "We've had a ton of fun throughout Early Access development working with our community to expand and refine the game. I never would've believed we'd be anywhere close to 100% positive. The game has plenty of flaws and design choices that make it a game not everyone will enjoy, so I'm grateful to everyone who's left a review and to our good fortune for maintaining 100% for as long as we did."
There is the matter of the Steam Point economy, however. I asked Schumacher if there was anything he'd change about Steam reviews. "Honestly, I think Steam has a very good review system," he replied. "Steam users (including myself) will often sort by negative reviews to understand the pain points in the game, and users are smart enough to evaluate for themselves and decide whether a review is relevant or not." In this case, users could still clearly see that the majority of people who've reviewed Omelet You Cook enjoyed it.
"That being said, if I could change one thing I'd make it so you can't earn Steam currency from those clown reactions in reviews," Schumacher concludes. "That creates a bad incentive where people are literally rewarded for ragebaiting or making jokes where users want to see honest opinions."
