Why Party Animals Is Getting Negative Reviews Despite Peaking at Over 100K Concurrent Players on Steam?

With Party Animals new release racking up 100k peak concurrent players, one would assume the game is a great hit. However, the reviews tell a different story. Sitting at a “Mixed” rating with over 13 thousand reviews, the game had its fair share of criticism and negativity. This begs a crucial question: Why is Party Animals attracting unfavourable feedback despite its soaring player base? Continue reading, as we’ll answer just that. 

Related: Is Party Animals Cross-Platform and Cross-Play?

Reasons for Party Animal’s Negative Reviews

Before Party Animals release on September 20, the game was Steam’s most wish-listed game. Clearly, many fans were looking forward to the release, but many were left disappointed, resulting in a slew of negative reviews. The main reasons behind this letdown were the game’s server issues, in-app purchases, and its lack of an offline mode.

Server Issues

One of the main problems players faced was not being able to launch the game at all. Many suspect this problem is due to the lack of dedicated servers for the game, which is causing the game to not load properly. Fans have reported that they can’t even load enough into the game to move a single step in the tutorial. Some reviews even pointed to waiting between 10 minutes and over an hour to get into the game. 

Also Read: Is Party Animals on Game Pass? 

In-App Purchases

Apart from the server issues, another point of contention in the Party Animals community is the premium pricing for the in-game cosmetics and add-ons. While players can unlock new animals, outfits, and other stuff by grinding the season pass and other in-game challenges, players are not amused by the high prices for skins after paying a premium price to buy the game in the first place. Some reviews have even pointed out that most cosmetics are locked behind loot box eggs and microtransactions, which has not set well within the fan base. 

Lack of an Offline Mode

Before its release, Party Animals was advertised as having both an offline and online. This was mentioned in the game’s description, initially reading, “Paw it out with your friends both online and offline.” However, when the game was released, players saw the lack of offline mode support, which left many feeling deceived and disappointed. The developers, Recreate Games, did come out and apologise for the confusion, but the damage was done. Many people still feel that the game should have an offline mode, and the only reason it is not there is because of the inclusion of microtransactions.

Related: How to Easily Pickpocket in Starfield? 

Conclusion

Sitting at a “Mixed” rating with over 13 thousand reviews, 36% of the reviews have been negative, mostly citing the above-mentioned issues. While Party Animals has been praised for having decent gameplay, cute characters, and great graphics, the developers behind the game, Recreate Games, can improve their reviews by ironing out the server issues and listening to player feedback regarding the offline mode and in-game purchases. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Party Animals Is Available on Which Platforms?

Party Animals, the multiplayer party video game developed by Recreate Games, was released on Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, and PC via Steam on 20 September 2023. At the time of writing, there has been no official announcement or plans to release the game on PlayStation.

Is Party Animals Crossplay?

Regardless of what platform you or your friends play the game on, you can easily connect and play co-op with your friends. This is because Party Animals supports full crossplay between PC and Xbox versions of the game. That said, with the game’s release on PlayStation still not announced, little can be said regarding whether the crossplay feature will be extended to the PlayStation platform in the future.

What Are the Modes in Party Animals?

At the time of writing, Party Animals has three modes: Last Stand, Team Score, and Arcade. In Last Stand, the last team of dog, cat, or bunny left standing wins the game.  In Team Score, players have to score more points than the other teams in various games to win. Lasting in Arcade, players have the option to play a mix of modes across different maps with different rules.