Having launched to a massively negative response which has since climbed up somewhat, Pax Dei has already found itself in a strange situation. Now, it’s facing accusations that it’s a mere Unreal Engine asset flip—accusations to which the developers have responded.
A negative Steam review posted on June 18, the day of the game’s launch, was a satirical text implying the executives of the studio behind Pax Dei planned for the game to be nothing more than an asset flip built from pre-fabricated Unreal Engine store files. It found the support of thousands of disgruntled players and has led the developers to respond today, on June 19, and claim that the game is in the alpha stage of development and thus lacks a ton of content it will have once the dev cycle is completed.
“We’re a passionate indie studio and quite proud of what we’ve made in the last five years,” the developers wrote in the response, adding that Pax Dei also seems devoid of certain features because it never intended to launch with them in the first place. These features include traditional quests, NPCs, and dialogues, whose absence the review called out.
As for the alleged abandoning of the game as soon as the studio makes enough money, the developers said that they aim to work on the game “for the following decades” and that abandoning the project isn’t part of their agenda. They also added that the game might appear lacking in content and scope but that this isn’t related to any malicious scheme or plot. “We know the game is still in an early stage, an alpha state, and that many players will not like it,” they wrote.
The Early Access stage of development, the devs argue, “is instrumental in shaping the game’s long-term future.”
Pax Dei launched for a $40 price on June 18 to “Mostly Negative” reviews on Steam. It has since climbed up to “Mixed,” with 47 percent of players willing to recommend the game.
