Review Deep Dives

Do Highly Recommended Steam Games Always Get Good Reviews? 10 Cases That Say No

BC2S · 2026-10-16 · updated 2026-10-30

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Short version: A Steam review says yes or no to recommending a game. It does not say how the reviewer feels about it. We put each game's Steam recommendation rate next to its review analysis score, which we calculate from the words of its reviews, both out of 100. Among well liked games, those with a recommendation rate of at least 80%, the recommendation rate usually runs about 6 points higher. In the ten games here the gap is about twice that or more. Players recommend Counter-Strike 2, Phasmophobia, Slime Rancher 2 and the rest, then spend their reviews on bans, updates, grinding and games that end too soon. Neither number is wrong. They measure different things.

The ten games

From the games with a Steam recommendation rate of at least 80% over the same period as the reviews we read, we picked ten where the gap between recommendation rate and review analysis score is large, and list them by gap, largest first. Against the usual −5.9 for those games, every gap here is about twice as large or more.

Why the gap, game by game

Each section starts with our reading of why the two numbers part, then the review counts behind it (the number is how many of the reviews we read made the point).

The NOexistenceN of Lilith

From the reviews, players seem to be recommending the character rather than the program around her. The praise is almost all about her: an excellent character (90) with lively, charming animation and art (64). The words that lower the score are about what the desktop pet cannot do yet: a collision box that traps the mouse or stops responding (50), voice lines and animations players hoped for (33), and few conversations and two outfits (26). Gameplay and Content Volume both score −1.6 on our −5 to +5 scale, while the recommendation rate is the highest of the ten at 98.1%.

Resident Evil 3

Here the reason looks simple: players think it is good, and think it is short. 84 call it a fantastic game where hours pass like nothing, which is enough for a recommendation. But 219 of the 453 reviews we read say it is too short at three to four hours, and that one complaint is in so many reviews that Content Volume scores −2.3 and comes up in 75% of them.

Banana

The most common review (89) is a mock complaint that the game ruined the reviewer's life, signed off with a perfect score, which we read as praise. The gap seems to come from real objections: a payout that some say does not cover the electricity (30), a clicker loop that wears off quickly (24) and progress that later demands enormous numbers of clicks (20). Content Volume scores −1.3.

The Legend of Fancy Realm Remake

This looks like a nostalgia recommendation for a remake whose execution reviewers question. 104 reviews say they cannot stop playing, and 22 say enemy reinforcements bring back the tension they remember. The score is pulled down by art they believe was made with AI, with visible flaws (43), and by balance: enemy scaling that one overleveled unit can break (35). Visuals & Sound scores 0.4.

Phasmophobia

Players seem to recommend the game they remember and review the game as it is now. Multiplayer scores 3.2: ghost hunts with friends (75) are what they recommend. The words that lower the score are about a recent update they say is full of bugs and glitchy animations (72) and the frame rate drops after it (35). Tech & Support scores −0.9 and comes up in 46% of the reviews we read.

Subnautica: Below Zero

Reviews suggest players enjoyed it on its own and marked it down next to the first game. 82 enjoyed it and hope for a sequel. The complaints are comparisons: a map about a third the size with fewer leviathans and no Cyclops (45), and a plot they find scattered and out of order (51). Content Volume scores −1.1 and comes up in 47% of the reviews we read, and Story & World, which comes up in 70%, scores 1.1.

Counter-Strike 2

Players keep playing and recommending it, and the reviews suggest the score falls on what surrounds the matches. 80 praise smooth play and a competitive feel that has lasted decades. But 139 of the 286 reviews we read say they keep meeting cheaters that the anti cheat system does not stop, and 14 describe a cosmetics collecting habit they regret. Pricing & Fairness scores −2.0 and comes up in 59% of the reviews we read.

Lobotomy Corporation

The most common review (158) jokes about the staff it keeps losing while giving it a perfect score, and we read those as praise. The gap seems to come from the rest: players recommend the story and the monsters, and Story & World scores 3.6, but 118 reviews describe sudden deaths with no counterplay that reward memorizing over strategy, and 29 report memory leaks that crash it. Gameplay, which comes up in 71% of the reviews we read, scores −0.3.

Slime Rancher 2

Reviews suggest players recommend the time they had, then judge what is left after it. 140 say it was fun to play to the end and 116 enjoy the graphics and new slimes; Visuals & Sound scores 3.8. The score comes down on what follows: endgame upgrades too grindy for what they cost (72) and a large world with repetitive exploration (58). Content Volume scores −0.4.

Once Human

The reviews read like players who are attached to the game and unhappy with how it is run. 86 describe a game they treasure and that keeps changing, and 23 tell of relationships that began or grew while building together in it. The same reviews spend their words on loot boxes they call predatory (46) and a recent update that brought griefing and weakened core mechanics (41). Pricing & Fairness comes up in 43% of the reviews we read.

Reading the two numbers together

The Steam recommendation rate answers one question: would you recommend it? The review analysis score answers another: how did it feel, in the reviewer's own words? Across these ten, the reviews suggest three kinds of gap. Some are games players like but find short or thin (The NOexistenceN of Lilith, Resident Evil 3, Banana, Slime Rancher 2). Some are games players stay with while criticizing updates, bans, money or a system that punishes them (Phasmophobia, Counter-Strike 2, Lobotomy Corporation, Once Human). And some are measured against something players remember, a first game or an original (The Legend of Fancy Realm Remake, Subnautica: Below Zero). For a game you are considering, both numbers are worth a look: the recommendation rate tells you how many people would play it again, and the reviews tell you what that will be like.

Limits

1) The recommendation rates are Steam's, for the same period as the reviews we read, not each game's all time rating.

2) The NOexistenceN of Lilith and The Legend of Fancy Realm Remake have fewer than 3,000 Steam reviews, so their recommendation rate comes from a smaller group of players.

3) This measures what reviewers wrote, not the games themselves. Figures are among 847 games, 606 of them with a recommendation rate of at least 80%, as of October 16, 2026.

How we score games

BC2S. Better Creative, Better Society. We read hundreds of thousands of reviews so you can see what people really think.

Game pages: Slime Rancher 2 · The NOexistenceN of Lilith · Lobotomy Corporation | Monster Management Simulation · Resident Evil 3 · Once Human · The Legend of Fancy Realm Remake · Subnautica: Below Zero · Phasmophobia · Counter-Strike 2 · Banana · How we score games