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Does the 2 hour refund limit on Steam affect game design? (lemm.ee)

submitted 2 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

26 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I just picked up the highly hyped Blue Prince. On the other hand reviews have also called it a very niche game. I like puzzle games to a certain extent and roguelikes, but these are subjective experiences.

Anyways, I was hoping to get the gist of it and get into a groove and decide if I like it within the refund period.

The game mechanics are explained through notes in the game at it took me 80 minutes to reach a point where an important mechanic is explained.

This could have been done much earlier, I wonder why the developer delayed the explanation when it's just useful information

Other games also front load the prologue with long tutorials and cutscenes. So by the time you get into the meat of the game the refund window is out.

The other elephant in the room is if steam refunds are meant as a demo for everything or just to check technical issues like FPS and network connection issues

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (2 children)

So, do you think two hours is too short?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It can be for some games. For others it’s too long.

[–] [email protected] -5 points 2 days ago

Therefore, there is no perfect solution. Before Trump imposes additional tariffs on Steam, the best way is to maintain the status quo.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 days ago

It's too short for most games I play, because they backload their interest and gameplay excessively. The first two hours are generally the worst example of the actual game. Frustrates me that devs don't have the sense to make a demo that showcases the game instead of either nothing or just the beginning, but if a dev does the beginning and lets you carry your save into the full game, you can use the demo as intro and then buy with two more hours to put it through its paces (or already know you won't need to refund). Still not a smart way to sell your game when the early game is worse and a more focused demo would more effectively and efficiently engage potential players who don't want to sink time into every demo, but it's a compromise solution for people who will spend time with the demo and not wander away without buying into the game if they had a good time.

Also, anything with a character creator or other such lengthy setup to get playing just doesn't work with only two hours of running time as the window.