100% free - The Leviathan's Fantasy (on Steam)
from PerfectDark@lemmy.world to games@lemmy.world on 20 Sep 00:10
https://lemmy.world/post/36175956

This is is totally free right now, but claiming it is in a morally grey area. It’s also not as simple as adding it to your library, I’ll explain how in a sec, though. Anyway, since I figured since it is being shared everywhere, I might as well share it here also.

[The Leviathan’s Fantasy] is a Simulation game. You will manage your cloud city, recruit adventurers all over the world, take them for exploration, obtain resources and blueprints. Construct buildings, make equipment, produce items, so to develop your city into greatness together with your adventurers.

I think they want to hide the option somewhat from new customers? Basically the drama with this game is their account got banned for I think steam review manipulation, and they had to re-list the game, which means a ton of people are pissed at them because they spend $30 on an early access game that’s been abandoned for an identical version that they then need to re-purchase.

So instead of trying to chase everyone up, I think they’re just making it free for anyone who still cares enough about the game to go digging in the community posts for instructions on how to redeem it?

Anyway, to claim it, all you have to do is

…is the game good? Doesn’t look like it, but I know a lot of you here enjoy claiming games regardless.

Reviews are ‘Mixed’ on Steam, with 113 reviews left so far.

Here is the Steam page

#games

threaded - newest

KoboldCoterie@pawb.social on 20 Sep 01:19 next collapse

Why does this work (and why is it a morally grey area)? I’m so confused by this. Did they post the instructions themselves?

Edit: Nevermind, I see you explain it in the post; the content after the screenshot wasn’t showing up until I refreshed.

PerfectDark@lemmy.world on 20 Sep 22:46 collapse

They made an announcement on their Steam event page, which goes into more detail as to why they did it this way.

Which you can find here

Previously, we offered free Key applications to replace game versions for existing players. However, as of this month, the number of supplementary Keys distributed has exceeded 30% of the total sales volume prior to this initiative—and we still receive numerous feedbacks from players stating they haven’t received their Keys, along with complaints about slow email response times.​

Dremor@lemmy.world on 20 Sep 02:11 next collapse

A really strange way to hide the free game, for sure 😅.

etchinghillside@reddthat.com on 20 Sep 03:04 next collapse

Thanks.

We’ve leveraged ChatGPT to make NPCs more lifelike, allowing them to engage in free-flowing conversations within the game.

Somewhat tempted to download and poke at that part to get some laughs.

FalseTautology@lemmy.zip on 20 Sep 17:19 collapse

How to convince me to never play your game with one comment.

radiouser@crazypeople.online on 20 Sep 06:25 next collapse

Cool. Thanks OP, it worked for me. Another game added to my library I’ll never play.

brsrklf@jlai.lu on 20 Sep 06:40 next collapse

Not sure I want that after the reviews, which is a shame because a good fantasy city builder is something I’d pay for. But I wouldn’t want to invest time in an unfinished game that’s turning to a mobile idle thing model.

But I am a bit curious about how they are doing this. I don’t think Steam allows different pricing from the wishlist, do they?

Did they just hide the free base game purchase leaving only paid options on the store page? It’s looking like that, technically you can’t buy “Leviathan’s fantasy” alone from the store, only paid bundles (with the new version? and weirdly, this makes Leviathan’s fantasy cost money inside that bundle making it more expensive? so confusing).

riot@fedia.io on 20 Sep 11:07 collapse

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3376080/The_Leviathans_fantasy/

Recently, we have been in continuous communication with Steam Support regarding the duration of our game's free promotion. The support team has also walked us through the potential drawbacks, advantages, and disadvantages of the free offering. Additionally, they assisted us in enabling the free access permission this past Monday morning; however, this free version remains hidden—as we still need to confirm the official launch time, it is currently not visible on the store page.
[...]
It seems even the Steam team was unaware that, with the hidden free version active and the paid version not yet fully removed, users could still claim the free version directly via their Steam Wishlist. I only discovered this issue today myself. Immediately after learning about it, I sent a follow-up email to Steam Support to inform them of this situation and requested that they process refunds for players who purchased the game recently (after the unintended free access became available).

To clarify: The original purpose of our free promotion is to ensure that players who have already purchased the game can continue to access the game’s ongoing updates. There are no hidden agendas or "conspiracy" behind this decision. We simply hope new players can enjoy the game, and existing players can benefit from sustained support.

brsrklf@jlai.lu on 20 Sep 11:52 collapse

Oh. So it’s an unintended quirk in Steam’s interface and basically nobody knew about it.

I guess they wanted that free version hidden and only accessible for people they knew had purchased the game before.

BenLeMan@lemmy.world on 20 Sep 08:51 next collapse

Or just wishlist/buy Airborne Empire. I’m still waiting for it to come out of Early Access but the demo I played half a year ago was excellent.

melroy@kbin.melroy.org on 20 Sep 12:30 next collapse

Thanks for the heads up! Added to liberty

smeg@feddit.uk on 20 Sep 15:01 next collapse

I’m seeing this slightly unusual arrangement:

<img alt="" src="https://feddit.uk/pictrs/image/169b481a-c9ed-4eb8-93d9-5b115bd338ea.webp">

but pressing Add to Library seemed to work with no further hoops to jump through!

PerfectDark@lemmy.world on 20 Sep 22:45 collapse

They made an announcement on their Steam event page, which goes into more detail as to why they did it this way.

Which you can find here

Previously, we offered free Key applications to replace game versions for existing players. However, as of this month, the number of supplementary Keys distributed has exceeded 30% of the total sales volume prior to this initiative—and we still receive numerous feedbacks from players stating they haven’t received their Keys, along with complaints about slow email response times.​

swelter_spark@reddthat.com on 20 Sep 16:40 collapse

Thanks! I grabbed it. It looks good, IMO.