But it is obviously not the same game. I mean, look at the profile picture, one has just a boat, the other has a boat with a sail and a not-photoshopped "4 PC" text that is not written in Comic Sans.
Not to mention that the store descriptions are utterly different.

No, but seriously, this really is a re-release. The old one was made on the RPGMaker engine, this new one is one some mobile game engine. Engine ports are traditionally handled as different games, even if the content is the same. Happened with Painkiller (remade it on the Unreal engine, and managed to somehow make a great game suck with it), Metro 2033 (the Redux versions were just engine updates, albeit they let the game finally be played on machines not powered by a nuclear power plant) and when Skyrium did it, the internet went crazy to get the exact same game, but now with god rays at some spots on the map.

Look at the trailer videos... basically the same videos, showing the same in game action and images, until the new graphics for the new game.

I do see that the original trailer videos from the Store page have now been removed, and only the one shwoing the mobile app version graphics is there. SteamDB does not show any changes, but I am not sure that it would show addition or removal of videos or text changes to the average person on the Web? My bad, life has been a bit hectic with my Mother passing away on the 9th, and I did not think to archive the Store Page that I saw just before the oroiginal post here.

Still not sure SotS can, or should, do anything here, unless this devs was already on the watch list. Hopefully someone archived the Store page, since I was too stressed to think of doing so at the time. Just seems odd that the dev is throwing so many keys around before the game is even released (he posted another 1000 keys or so in the GA thread I linked in the thread topic...), and seems to be expecting freebie hunters to give 100% positive reviews after the game is released, in exchange for a free key. I wonder if he knows that key reviews do not affect the game's rating, like Steam Store-bought reviews do?

I definitely think that this is not ok.

Since the "old" game only is 4 months old he should update it instead of re-releasing it to get new visibility.

But, if he does it once... probably not an issue.
There are far larger problems "out there" that actually do "harm".

This minigame will drown under all the other ones out there and thats the end of the story for it.

Well, let's just say that an engine switch-out is not always popular. One of the most popular twin-stick indie shooters ever, Crimsonland at one point switched from a 2D engine to a 3D engine, and they also rebalanced the game modes. Fans of the game are still regularly asking for installers of the last 2D version before the change, because they don't like the new engine (which indeed behaves differently).

Similar with Painkiller: Hell and Damnation, which is nothing more but putting the old game to an Unreal engine, while also keeping everything intact. It is… I guess the most diplomatic way to put it is that if you never played the original, HD is a decent game, but if you know how the vanilla Painkiller played, it is a very pale comparison, despite the mechanics really remaining the same.

Not saying that this random shovelware here will have rabid legions demanding the RPGMaker engine, just mentioning that an extensive change like that can result in something many would consider a different game altogether.

Originally posted by ¥aeko:

I definitely think that this is not ok.

Since the "old" game only is 4 months old he should update it instead of re-releasing it to get new visibility.

But, if he does it once... probably not an issue.
There are far larger problems "out there" that actually do "harm".

This minigame will drown under all the other ones out there and thats the end of the story for it.

Agreed with the above.
But I'm sure he will do it more than once, especially if the game sell.

I wrote a Negative review.
If you find it useful and have a desire to warn others, consider upvoting it.
I seem to only ask for upvote considerations on Negative Reviews... Hmm...
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561197996084333/recommended/840180

Lol @ https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/groups/freegamesfinders/discussions/0/3211505894145778239/#c3211505894145829183
dat key dump. Seems he doesn't know key-owners' reviews don't count for rating anymore.

Originally posted by Ryuu:

Lol @ https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/groups/freegamesfinders/discussions/0/3211505894145778239/#c3211505894145829183
dat key dump. Seems he doesn't know key-owners' reviews don't count for rating anymore.

That was only the latest huge key dump the dev has done. They are dumping into every GA group on Steam, starting from the largest groups, and working down to the smaller, less active GA groups. Haven't looked at Steamgifts, to see if they have started doing massive GA's there yet or not.

And I did ask the dev if they understood how Steam reviews and rating work or not... 9 hours before you posted here @Ryuu:
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/app/840180/discussions/0/3211505894145969548/

And no, they did not respond. They do not seem to respond to any direct inquiries. Except in GA threads. Tp try to convince people to post good reviews, lol!

@Selective... I haven't even installed from the key I got the first day the dev started dumping them (the day I made this thread). I am honestly concerned that my rig will hate me, and decide to burn it's mobo out, just to spite me.

I don't want to even grab dat key, even to farm cards if there are any.

Lol! I don't think there are, yet? Or if there may be? I grabbed the key from the FG!G! drop, redeemed it, then started looking into the game and the dev. And watched GA group after GA group have hundreds-thousands of keys dumped in them, all with the same thing- the dev asking for postitive reviews after you take a key. No signs that the dev is revoking any keys... yet. But I did get a ket activation email inquiry right after redeeeming my key. So... their bot may be tracking all keys? We'll see if Selective's key gets revoked after their negative review?

Originally posted by IFIYGD:

But I did get a ket activation email inquiry right after redeeeming my key. So... their bot may be tracking all keys?

Oh, that's interesting info and observation! Just recently i've been in a discussion on a topic where all those inquiries are coming from and what's the reason for them. So using that feature it's possible to track which keys are activated and which not? Can i do the same with my Humble Bundle keys?

Devs can track their keys that way. The ones they generate and give away. Not sure, but they can probably track keys sent to key selling or bindling sites like Humble or Fanatical, or any other.

Regular Steam users have no way to track who uses/redeems a key they drop. I get a key in a bundle on fanatical, I post it on Steam in a Key Drop thread, someone redeems it but does not say "Thanks!"? Nope. I can't check to see who redeemed the key. Only the dev/publisher who originally generated/issued the key could.

But that's how devs can revoke only certain batches of keys, or single keys, like ones that were stolen, or duped, and not revoking every single key ever generated by the dev/publisher. Honest devs/publishers use it as intended, shady ones or scammers don't.

But it seems those emails are generated by "i forgot my Steam account, send me an letter to its associated email, here's a Steam key that i used on that account"? So something like account recovery, except it does not allow gaining access. Or maybe we're talking about different emails.

If you run into a duplicate key, Steam offers you to send an email to the account that activated it. It is there because Valve knows very much that there are plenty of users with tons of alt accounts, and it is easy to forget where you activated what.

So someone was just trying the same key and pressed that button. It happens frequently with key drops, especially with newb/noob Steam users who don't know what this feature is and think Steam will send them a working key.

Originally posted by talgaby:

If you run into a duplicate key, Steam offers you to send an email to the account that activated it. It is there because Valve knows very much that there are plenty of users with tons of alt accounts, and it is easy to forget where you activated what.

So someone was just trying the same key and pressed that button. It happens frequently with key drops, especially with newb/noob Steam users who don't know what this feature is and think Steam will send them a working key.

Yeah, what i mean is CAN this be used to CHECK if the key has been activated yet or not?

Imagine you have 1 Steam account, 2 Humble Bundle keys for the same game and don't remember which have you used and want to give out one to a friend. Bad example of course, because you could just ask a friend to try both, but you get the idea.

If
- you don't have the game on current account; the key is unused - it gets activated (which is bad if you only wanted to check)
- you have the game; the key is unused & you have the game; the key is activated before - i think in those both cases you get the same system message about duplicate product, so no way to check?
- you don't have the game; the key is used - then like you described Steam offers to send an email.

So seems the answer is: no, right? :(