Gaming Reviews, News, Tips and More.
We may earn a commission from links on this page

Valve Offers Unconditional Refunds On Sketchy Steam Game

We may earn a commission from links on this page.

Journey of the Light was billed as “one of the hardest games on Steam.” Turns out, its first level was unbeatable and the rest were nowhere to be found.

The purposefully obtuse puzzler has been available for purchase on Steam since May. Players—lured in by the promise of a challenge that’d leave their brains looking like sweaty lumps of chewing gum—collaborated in an effort to solve a game with almost no clear hints or cues. It’s actually a pretty cool instance of incomprehensible game design resulting in something fun thanks to the dogged dedication of modern gaming communities. Or at least, it would’ve been.

Earlier this week one enterprising player went spelunking in the game’s code and discovered that a few things were missing—namely, all of the game’s seven levels except the first. Oh, and that first level? Seemingly unsolvable. If anyone’s beaten it, they’ve stayed awfully quiet about it.

Advertisement

Journey of the Light’s creator, who goes by the handle “Lord Kres,” claimed that a recent update gone awry turned his game into a conspicuously nefarious labyrinth. However, multiple players have pressed him for proof that the other six levels—still advertised on the game’s Steam page—exist, and he’s provided nothing. Not even a screenshot or video. He did, however, say on Steam that he’s now in the process of “testing” the levels and putting them back into the game.

Advertisement

I’ve reached out to Lord Kres twice and given him multiple days to reply, but I’ve yet to hear back. Recently, he tweeted out that he was too sick to do anything, but he continues to engage with people on Twitter. Many players think it all looks awfully sketchy, and they’ve taken to calling the whole thing a scam.

Advertisement

So, all’s well that ends, er, poorly? Not exactly. In an uncommonly proactive move, Valve decided to sweep up the mess on their store’s front porch, offering unconditional refunds to anybody who purchased the game—even if they’d played for more than two hours or owned it for more than two weeks (the typical terms of Steam’s refund policy). Given that Valve usually takes their hands-off approach so seriously that Gabe Newell’s meaty mitts are kept in carbonite stasis except in the event of a race car emergency on Reddit, this is a fairly exceptional use of their power.

The game has since been yanked from sale on Steam. The store page is still up, but you can’t buy it.

Advertisement

All that’s left now is to wait and see what happens next. It’s entirely possible that Lord Kres made an honest (albeit highly improbable and specific) mistake, only to get sick in the immediate aftermath. If that’s the case, perhaps he’ll, er, un-misplace most of his game soon. Or maybe he’s furiously cobbling together levels that never existed in the first place, a much more damning state of affairs. Here’s hoping this isn’t as bad as it looks.

You’re reading Steamed, Kotaku’s page dedicated to all things in and around Valve’s stupidly popular PC gaming service. Games, culture, community creations, criticism, guides, videos—everything. If you’ve found anything cool/awful on Steam, send us an email to let us know.

Advertisement

To contact the author of this post, write to nathan.grayson@kotaku.com or find him on Twitter @vahn16.