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ResetEra member single-handedly review bombs AI: The Somnium Files on Metacritic, says he “hated” the game

The lone ResetEra member was able to sink the game’s score from 8.2 to 1.9 in a single day.

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A member of the video game discussion forum ResetEra review bombed AI: The Somnium Files and single-handedly crashed the game’s User Score from 8.2 to 1.9 in a day after taking issue with the way the game had treated his favorite female character.

The now-banned ResetEra member, Krvavi Abadas, didn’t own up to being behind the review bombing right away and initially claimed that “someone” was “deliberately demonstrating how utterly busted the site [Metacritic] is.”

He then documented how the User Score for AI: The Somnium Files had dropped from a green “generally favorable” score to a red “generally unfavorable” score in a matter of hours.

The ResetEra member showed the green User Score before AI: The Somnium Files was review bombed
The ResetEra member showed the green User Score before AI: The Somnium Files was review bombed
The ResetEra member showed the User Score for AI: The Somnium Files dropping to yellow in just over an hour
The ResetEra member showed the User Score for AI: The Somnium Files dropping to yellow in just over an hour
The ResetEra member showed the User Score for AI: The Somnium Files dropping to red in just over under three hours
The ResetEra member showed the User Score for AI: The Somnium Files dropping to red in just over under three hours

An archive of the Metacritic User Score for AI: The Somnium Files also showed that it dropped to a low of 1.9 as a result of the review bombing campaign.

The User Score for AI: The Somnium Files dropped to 1.9 at the height of the review bombing (Wayback Machine - Metacritic - AI: The Somnium Files)
The User Score for AI: The Somnium Files dropped to 1.9 at the height of the review bombing (Wayback Machine – Metacritic – AI: The Somnium Files)

After posting about AI: The Somnium Files’ User Score, Abadas added that “other games have had their reviews screwed up, in a way that explicitly ties them to this incident.”

He then went on to describe how one of the reviews for the game Crystar was critical of AI: The Somnium Files and how some of the reviews for Metal Torrent referenced AI: The Somnium Files.

The ResetEra member described how the User Score for Crystar had been boosted and that the top review is critical of how AI: The Somnium Files treats the A-set character in-game
The ResetEra member described how the User Score for Crystar had been boosted and that the top review is critical of how AI: The Somnium Files treats the A-set character in-game
The ResetEra member described how the User Score for Metal Torrent had been boosted and that the reviews contained a reference to AI: The Somnium Files
The ResetEra member described how the User Score for Metal Torrent had been boosted and that the reviews contained a reference to AI: The Somnium Files

Next Abadas wrote that there’s “no clear hint that it’s the same person” review bombing these games and documented “how absurdly easy it is for one person to screw everything up so easily” by using temporary emails and email aliases.

The ResetEra member documented “how absurdly easy it is” for one person to review bomb games on Metacritic
The ResetEra member documented “how absurdly easy it is” for one person to review bomb games on Metacritic

Abadas, who at this time still hadn’t admitted that he was behind the review bombings, then wrote that: “The main lesson is that Metacritic is utterly worthless when it comes to user reviews.”

The ResetEra member claimed that the “main lesson” was Metacritic’s reviews being “utterly worthless”
The ResetEra member claimed that the “main lesson” was Metacritic’s reviews being “utterly worthless”

On Wednesday, the creator and director of the game, Kotaro Uchikoshi, then linked to this ResetEra thread on Twitter and asked for help – unaware that one of the people in the thread was responsible for review bombing his game.

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After Uchikoshi linked to the thread, Abadas came clean and posted an edit where he admitted to review bombing AI: The Somnium Files.

Abadas wrote that he “loved” most of the videos featuring a character called A-set but “hated the actual game for how it basically ignores everything said videos were trying to build up” and for the way it treats the A-set character.

The ResetEra member admitted he was behind the review bombing campaign after the game’s creator and director linked to the thread
The ResetEra member admitted he was behind the review bombing campaign after the game’s creator and director linked to the thread

Abadas also claimed that his review bombing campaign was not related to their hatred of the game but a “response to the recent discourse of Warcraft 3 Reforged” and it becoming the worst reviewed game on Metacritic.

Once Abadas had owned up to what he had done, the ResetEra mods locked down the thread and banned him from the forum.

Now that the review bombing campaign against AI: The Somnium Files is out in the open, its Metacritic User Score is finally starting to recover with it rising from the low of 1.9 to 4.5 (archive link).

The User Score for AI: The Somnium Files has risen to 4.5 in the wake of the ResetEra member admitting to review bombing the title
The User Score for AI: The Somnium Files has risen to 4.5 in the wake of the ResetEra member admitting to review bombing the title

The User Score for the game still has a way to go until it returns to its original generally favorable score and the incident provides some shocking insight into just how much damage one bad actor can cause to a game’s reputation on Metacritic.

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