Klondike Solitaire Kings

Warning: Asset Flip!

"Klondike Solitaire Kings" is an asset flip, or what Valve calls a "Fake Game". The "developer" paid for/pirated someone else's template/tutorial for a Klondike/Solitaire card matching game, stole some images off the internet for backgrounds, changed the name/reskinned a couple of things, and submitted it to Valve as if it was their own game.

Myarcadegames Studios have shown a repeat pattern of unethically dumping other people's work onto Steam as a cheap, nasty cash grab, through this account or through closely linked/alt accounts. Here's some examples so you can see for yourself:

• "Rainbow Duck" = Switch The Gravity developed by App Advisory (as BoogyGames Studios)
• "Case Simulator Weapons and Armors" = Yet Another Case Opener developed by NeraQuam (as BoogyGames Studios)
• "Hidden Object - Food" = Hidden Object Game Template developed by Puppeteer (as BoogyGames Studios)
• "Hidden Object - Tools" = Hidden Object Game Template developed by Puppeteer (as BoogyGames Studios)
• "Color By Number - Pixel Draw" = Pixel Art: Color By Number developed by Moana Studio (as BoogyGames Studios)
• "Pixel Art Monster - Color By Number" = Pixel Art: Color By Number developed by Moana Studio (as BoogyGames Studios)
• "Solitaire - Cat Pirate Portrait" = Klondike Solitaire Complete Game Tutorial developed by University of Games (as BoogyGames Studios)
• "Food Mahjong" = Mahjong Game Engine developed by SmallBigSquare (as BoogyGames Studios)
• "Loot Collection: Mahjong" = Mahjong Game Engine developed by SmallBigSquare (as BoogyGames Studios)
• "MahJong - Medieval Fantasy" = Mahjong Game Engine developed by SmallBigSquare (as BoogyGames Studios)
• "Weapon and Armor: Mahjong" = Mahjong Game Engine developed by SmallBigSquare (as BoogyGames Studios)
• "Sniper Hunter Adventure 3D" = Advanced Sniper Starter Kit developed by Hardworker Studio

Taking this shovelware seriously as if it was a genuine attempt to make a game, it doesn't meet basic minimum requirements that most PC gamers expect as standard.

While there are options to change the resolution for the game, all this does is scale up the simplistic 2D art assets used to make the game, which makes little or no difference to the graphics quality. Without any other substantial graphics tweaks, it's not possible for gamers to improve the lacklustre 2D visuals.

The controls can't be customised because the game has such a dumbed down, simplified interface that it's just iPhone screen tapping stuff. The fact that the interface is this dumbed down might be seen as a problem in itself, however... this is a fairly shallow experience if you're the kind of gamer that likes to play games with deep, rich control schemes and interaction. You'll get none of that here.

This looks and feels like a mobile app, but I wasn't able to find it on the app stores. Maybe it was removed, maybe it was rejected by Apple and Google (they do have more rigorous quality standards than Valve does for Steam, after all).

Regardless, for all intents and purposes "Klondike Solitaire Kings" might as well be a mobile app, it has the same limitations and dumbed down qualities. It's impossible to recommend such a game to PC gamers. We don't spend all this money building gaming rigs so we can pretend they're iPhones and play games that might as well be mobile apps.

These technical defects push this game below acceptable standards for any modern PC game.

The poor quality of this game is reflected by how many people spent time with it. At the time of this review, SteamDB shows the all-time peak player number was only 6 players. This is a remarkably low number, and now, the only player activity occurs once or twice a month, presumably someone loading it up to see what it is then quickly uninstalling it. Considering there's over 120 million gamers on Steam and well over 50,000 games for gamers to choose from, the overwhelming lack of interest in this low quality game is to be expected.

"Klondike Solitaire Kings" has the preposterous price of around $5 USD, it's not worth it given the defects and shortcomings with the product, especially considering the unethical nature of the developer. Remember that if you buy a game from an unethical developer, you're putting your money at risk.

The game plays as expected. However, the background is extremely busy, colorful, and ugly. The background actually makes it difficult to concentrate on the cards, but there's no way to change it or turn it off.

No option for changing the background which is unfortunate because the default really sucks. It's so busy that I have problems seeing the cards easily. The choice of card backgrounds is very limited all of which are the same type artwork.