Blood Bowl 3 is getting battered by Steam players
Not so bowled over.
Blood Bowl 3 may have only just been released, but it's already getting a kicking on Steam.
Cyanide Studio's latest instalment comes eight years after Blood Bowl 2, but it seems as though some players don't think it's been worth the wait. Right now, the self-proclaimed "iconic death sport" boasts a "Mostly Negative" aggregate rating on Steam – that's a 73 per cent disapproval rate – amassed from almost 800 players.
"I love Blood Bowl, but this game is a mess," said one unhappy player.
"Currently a day after release it's buggy as hell - I would not buy until patched, and if previous games are to go by then it's going to be a while before it's patched enough," added another. "Pick up in a few months when it's 20% off and it's been patched. The UI isn't great either, but it's more that it's poor than "cannot use" so that's not the main reason for the non-recommendation."
"I mean, it's Cyanide. I knew it was going to be bad, but I'm a loser and I love me some Blood Bowl," opined a third. "So I got in with extremely low expectations, figuring the game was going to be ugly, janky and lacking in features, and hope with time it'd become decent or good. But dang, yeah, it was so much worse than I expected.
"Blood Bowl 3 is lazy and greedy. They don't care. I truly believe that," they added. "Do NOT buy this game. I encourage those who did to refund it if it's not too late. Maybe if BB3 dies, we can see an actually passionate company get their hands on the license."
It's not all bad, though – 27 per cent of players have given it a thumbs up, but even then, the positive reviews often come with caveats, like this one:
"Compared to Blood bowl 2, which I have 600 hours on, game is honestly fine. Usual BB gameplay with updated rulesets, improved models and animations," they said. "The UI still feels slow and clunky compared to BB2 but that's an easy fix down the road. Should have been released as early access but hey what can you do.
"I think the complaints is mostly due to the current consumer perception of predatory MTX monetisation," they added. "I understand the negative reviews, because you have to be a blood bowl fan who also sees the potential in a solid core set of features and also be optimistic that they won't be too predatory with their DLC pricing after releasing an arguably unfinished game."
For those wondering, it's not clear yet how the game is faring with console players – Metacritic has yet to open up votes for users – but it's sitting at just 3.4 out of 10 for PC there, too.
For the uninitiated, Blood Bowl is a mix of fantasy and American football, blending Warhammer and sports in a mess of touchdowns and turn-based combat. Whilst originally due out in February 2022, then November 2022, publisher Nacon eventually pushed the launch back to February 2023.
Blood Bowl 3 is out now on Nintendo Switch, PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and last-gen consoles.