A brand new sport referred to as TBH: Task Bar Hero has emerged out of nowhere as certainly one of Steam’s most performed video games, however there’s additionally plenty of drama surrounding it.
The brand new sport was launched on Steam final month at no cost, and it at the moment has over half 1,000,000 concurrent gamers, making it the third most-played sport on Steam behind Counter-Strike 2 and Dota 2. The brand new sport is exclusive in that you do not even have to play it. As the title implies, Task Bar Hero embeds itself into your PC’s taskbar, and little pixel characters go on adventures, battle foes, and accumulate loot all whilst you work, browse the net, or go away your PC operating. In fact, you may take management your self if you’d like to, but it surely’s an RPG that’s continuously lively as long as you open the sport.
The loot may even be bought on the Steam market for actual cash, which may then be used to purchase different issues on Steam. Nevertheless, there’s plenty of controversy surrounding this new viral sport. Customers are reporting false bans in opposition to their Steam accounts, that are reportedly being triggered by the sport’s anti-cheat. Though it is a single-player sport, it makes use of anti-cheat to forestall folks from illegally acquiring objects that may then be bought for revenue on the Steam market. The anti-cheat has allegedly flagged numerous innocent applications operating on folks’s PCs, main to bans.
Not solely is getting a ban annoying, but it surely additionally tarnishes the status of your Steam account. Valve labels bans on folks’s public profiles, which means folks can see for those who’ve been banned earlier than.
This sport has a few of the most aggressive anti-cheat and monitoring programs I’ve ever seen,” reads one negative Steam review. “The second you launch it, it begins watching every little thing you do. If it detects something even barely suspicious, it will possibly log and report you with none warning. Hit that threshold greater than twice and also you’re achieved — everlasting ban from the market, plus an enormous crimson “Cheater” label completely stamped in your profile for everybody to see.”
Regardless of its excessive participant depend, Task Bar Hero has a combined score on Steam due to its points. Gamers have additionally acknowledged that their objects have randomly disappeared, creating frustrations for individuals who have spent dozens or a whole lot of hours farming for loot.
As for the sport’s impact on the Steam market, gamers are itemizing some objects for a whole lot and even hundreds of {dollars}. For extra widespread objects, gamers are promoting them for pennies or a couple of dollars. Nonetheless, it is clear that there’s discourse round this sport.
Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN’s information crew. He covers all issues leisure, together with gaming, movie, and extra. You could find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.