Blade Symphony goes free-to-play and some players really aren't happy about it
"How much you wana milk this ♥♥♥♥♥♥ game."
Blade Symphony has gone free-to-play and now its being review-bombed.
"After a year and a half, Blade Symphony is now free-to-play. We didn't want to do this for lowering complexity (although, it is much easier to develop for now)," explained Puny Human's representative, uh, "Urinal-Cake" on Steam. "We didn't want to do this for money (there's only 4 items for sale.) We didn't want to do this to manage overhead (even if we're now offloading all inventory stuff to Steam.).
"We wanted to do this, so that this game could be more accessible, and have a longer life. The game deserves to be tried out, even if it's approaching 5 years of age, and started development in 2007. So here it is, and thanks for playing."
The free-to-play update brings 48 new items to the multiplayer game, added to encourage trading and purchasing, and "10 exclusive items will be given out to owners of the premium game" and the developer hopes it "won't have to stop there".
Sadly, it's not quite enough to assuade the resentment brewing. As PC Gamer points out, while 70 per cent of users have posted favourable reviews in the game's five-year lifespan, the last 30 days have seen an inversion of this, with 70 per cent of users now leaving "mostly negative" feedback. The criticisms are coming from established players angered by the F2P switch, whilst newer players are critical of the game's controls and visuals.
"I regret spending actual money on this game. They dumbed it down over time, so its not even complex swordplay anymore," said one, while another lamented "it's a slap in the face for the people that payed [sic] money for it and now i see "Items" for real money ? Relly [sic] ? How much you wana milk this♥♥♥♥♥♥game."