Silksong: a missed opportunity?

[JimmyFantasy]

mZuzek said:

JimmyFantasy said:

I'm not criticizing those who enjoyed the game, mind you. I was trying to raise an issue I think is important: that a game like Silksong can receive a 10/10 review so blindly, when in fact it has serious design issues that make the experience generally frustrating, sometimes at very high levels. And I haven't yet found anyone who says the game isn't.

And all this to say that when a title tends to be frustrating, it should be penalized, because this has always been a critical point, the antithesis of playability, since the dawn of the gaming medium. Otherwise, what's the point of criticism? A review should serve to reassure the consumer, guiding them towards a proper purchase. It should be done to protect the consumer, not the development team or the publisher.

A 10/10 game should basically be perfect in every way, which Silksong isn't, despite the beautiful and rich package they've put together.

A review isn't supposed to "protect the consumer", it's just the opinion of a guy who played it. Maybe the guy who played it enjoyed every single aspect of it and gave it a 10/10 because they thought it was an incredible experience. I personally thought it was a masterpiece and absolutely worth my time even if it was a little too frustrating here and there, mostly toward the first half of the game. I think the game's major "design issue" is how poorly communicated the path to Act 3 is.

What you fail to understand is: the things that stand out as obvious design issues to you may have not been issues to someone else. There is no such thing as objectivity when it comes to videogame opinions. It's all just opinions.

If you look at Opencritic, the game is recommended by 97% of critics. That means 97% of reviewers liked it, and 3% didn't. In other words, not everyone will like the game. No game is loved by everyone. In other words, no game is "perfect", thus by your logic, no game should ever get a 10/10. So basically, your logic sucks.

I understand your point of view, but if criticism is pointless because it's just a matter of opinion, why bother writing a 'review'? Let's call them opinions from now on, not reviews. Let's objectively evaluate games only by frame rate, resolution, and maybe the occasional hiccup. Let's also throw in price and microtransactions, and nothing else.

To clarify the difference between a review and an opinion, I refer you to their definition (not written by me):

"A review is a more in-depth and reasoned evaluation of a product, service, or work, balancing subjective elements with a critical analysis aimed at informing the reader. An opinion, on the other hand, is a more concise, subjective, and often immediate judgment, expressing a personal belief without necessarily providing detailed explanations. Essentially, a review aims to guide the reader with a reasoned interpretation, while an opinion simply communicates an opinion."