Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful Want to add more newsletters? Every Friday Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them. Every Thursday GTA 6 O'clock Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts. Every Friday Knowledge From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon. Every Thursday The Setup Every Wednesday Switch 2 Spotlight Every Saturday The Watchlist Once a month SFX Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month! Stardew Valley-inspired life sim Starsand Island has been an instant hit on Steam, but its optics have been warped by an unclear number of reviews left by Steam bots, as a simple investigation thoroughly proves. Developer Seed Sparkle Lab addresses the wave of botted reviews boosting the game in a new statement, reiterating that it's not responsible for this publicity stunt and promising that it's working with Valve to remove the forged reviews. "We are so grateful to everyone who is enjoying the simple life of Starsand Island, and we thank those who have left genuine reviews on Steam," Seed Sparkle says in an emailed message. "We are continuing to work hard to improve the game throughout Early Access so it surpasses everybody’s expectations when it fully launches later this summer. "However, we are disheartened to see the obviously fake positive reviews as they sow doubt and mistrust. We want to reassure everyone that we are proactively working with Valve to ensure all fake reviews - positive and negative - are flagged and removed from Steam as swiftly as possible." Accused of forging Steam reviews to boost their hit anime life sim, devs claim they're innocent and confused My biggest problem with Stardew Valley is fixed in the hottest new life sim RPG on Steam "There was only 1 game on all of Steam with more reviews than us at 100%," roguelike dev says, and now 54 clown emojis adorn the troll who broke the streak: "Game is amazing. I just like to be different" At the time of writing, Starsand Island, now two days into Steam Early Access, has 2,151 Steam user reviews averaging 88% positive. The botted reviews look to be a very small portion of this base, but similar fake accounts and sentiments have evidently spilled into the game's broader social media presence. By all accounts, the game is genuinely good – as our own Emma-Jane said – so it's a strange problem to have. On Thursday, Seed Sparkle asked "whoever may be behind this" bot wave to "stop." "Please let us focus on making our game in peace. We pose no threat to anyone," the devs said. Anna writes: My biggest problem with Stardew Valley is fixed in the hottest new life sim RPG on Steam, which has 1,700 reviews at 91% positive after 1 day in Early Access.