‘Shadow of the Tomb Raider’ Hit With Review Bombing For Going on Sale

Each year, a few games suffer a review bombing that plummets its average user review score on Steam. And each year, the trigger for said review bombings seemingly get sillier and sillier. The latest target: Square Enix and Eidos Montreal’s Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Why? Because it went on sale.

For those that don’t know: review bombing is a calculated effort by purchasers of a game to all negatively review a single game on Steam at the same time in order to lower its “All Reviews” score, which takes every user review and awards a ranking anywhere from overwhelmingly positive to overwhelmingly negative.

Until recently, Shadow of the Tomb Raider came in at a “Very Positive” review rating, but now in the matter of a couple of days, it has fallen to “Mixed.” Why? Because the game had the audacity to go on sale a month after release.

In other words, players who paid full price for a game over a month ago, are now irate that it is 34 percent off. That’s literally the reason. They are mad that people are getting the game cheaper than them a month after launch. Mind you, it was their choice to pay for the game at full price at launch, and not wait for a sale, but that doesn’t matter of course. They feel cheated.

Now, it’s important to note that not every negative review explicitly says their negative review is because of the discount — and some undoubtedly have no connection to the review bombing — but many reviews come out and reveal that they are simply leaving a negative review because they feel burnt.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is available for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. For more news and coverage on the game, click here. For more information on what the game is about, here’s an official pitch:

“Experience Lara Croft’s defining moment as she becomes the Tomb Raider. In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Lara must master a deadly jungle, overcome terrifying tombs, and persevere through her darkest hour. As she races to save the world from a Maya apocalypse, Lara will ultimately be forged into the Tomb Raider she is destined to be.”