Steam's latest free game has some seriously divisive reviews

As the old saying goes “don’t look a gift horse in the mouth”, especially when it comes to free video games.

There are plenty of free video games on the PC Steam platform with some being much better or worse than others. However, just because something is free, doesn't mean that it’s always a good thing, gift horse or not. For example, if someone were to offer me The Lord of the Rings: Gollum for free, I’d still be wondering why they hate me.

In today’s era, it’s a common practice that battle royale games are free with the cost of entry often being balanced by a flurry of in-game purchases. Games such as Fortnite and Call of Duty: Warzone are amongst the most successful video games of all time, both of which are free-to-play. There was once a time when even PUBG required an entry fee before jumping on the free-to-play bandwagon.

Yet, a recent free game on Steam has seriously divisive reviews, despite at the time of writing being rated as ‘Mostly Positive’ and the game in question is Cygnus Racing League from developers, Cygnus Studios LLC.

Cygnus Racing League is an indie action racing game that is currently in its early access phase. Judging from the gameplay trailer alone, it kind of looks like a cross between Twisted Metal and F-Zero with its visuals inspired by the original PlayStation era.

“In the distant galaxy of Cygnus, the greatest racing spectacle in the known universe is underway! The Cygnus Racing League (CRL) is one of the galaxy’s first great sporting competitions, dating back to the beginning of the Federation of United Planets,” reads the game's description. “The best pilots from all corners of the galaxy are gathering to race for a single title, Galactic Champion.”

So, why is the game being considered as divisive? Well, it seems that not all the user reviews are positively contributing to the ‘Mostly Positive’ accolade.

“Cygnus Racing League is another attempt at a vehicle-based battle royale game. The best one was probably 'Not my Car Battle Royale', even though the less traditional 'Eliminator Mode' from the Forza Horizon games could be mentioned as well,” exclaimed Steam user jojoman32.

They continued: “Cygnus Racing League has a very cool concept of racing in spaceships and battling each other in a big battle royale race. In reality, however, Cygnus fails in execution. Movement and aiming feel awful and the game looks pretty hideous. Not every cool concept turns into a cool game. When looking at videos, I thought the gameplay might be fun, but in reality, it was not.”

Even some of the positive scores have negative feedback, as explained by Steam user Bauble. “Nice gravity racing with guns but unfortunately half of the maps crash the game,” they said. What’s more, I have a feeling that the following ‘Positive’ review may have a hint of sarcasm. “Before I played Cygnus Racing League, I had a small p****, no friends, no girlfriend, depression, and no life. These things haven't changed, but the game is pretty good,” said Sony.

There is no date as to when Cygnus Racing League will leave Steam Early Access, but when it does, it will not be free. So if you wanted to sample this ‘divisive’ game, now might be the time.