This past week finally saw a miracle take place (okay, two miracles) with the debut of the long-awaited open-world project Shenmue III. Fans have been waiting for the mini-game-filled threequel to hit release for upwards of a decade at this point, but reviews haven’t been entirely positive for the martial arts-themed adventure. Critics have generally recommended the game for diehard fans, though, warn that mainstream players may not take to its old-school sensibilities.

While professional reviews have given a mixed response to the new Shenmue title, the public consensus is another story, with Metacritic currently placing the game considerably higher in the ‘User Review’ section. With the game currently boasting 7.1 and 8.2 for respective PC and PlayStation 4 scores, fans seem to be enjoying Shenmue III much more than the critics. However, it appears there may be way too many positive reviews listed on the site, according to some recent findings posted on Reddit.

Shenmue III metacritic’s user score got bumped by tons of fake accounts
byu/Nogebator18 inpcgaming

Findings collected by user ‘Nogebator18’ on Reddit appear to point out numerous accounts of positive review-bombing on Metacritic, each with the seeming goal of improving the mixed aggregate score of Shenmue III. Several example images were used to back-up the notion, depicting several newly-created accounts giving 9/10 and 10/10 scores to both PC and PS4 versions of Shenmue III. Taking a look at Metacritic’s user scores for either platform would appear to line-up with this theory, especially as “green” positive reviews far outperform the “yellow” mixed or “red” negative reviews.

As noted in the comments of said Reddit post, it’s possible that many of these “perfect” reviews could still be from legitimate Shenmue III owners, as the threequel’s miraculous release could conceivably receive a massive review turnout. However, with mixed and negative reviews only growing by the day–several inevitably protesting the game’s Epic Games Store exclusivity on PC–it’s looking likely that this new wave of positivity might not be 100% genuine, whether it’s the work of over-eager Shenmue fans or those hoping to combat emerging 0/10 scores.

Shenmue III is out now for PC and PlayStation 4.

What do you think? Is Shenmue III getting positive review-bombed on Metacritic, or do you believe this sharply-increased user score is entirely legitimate? What’s your opinion of the game? Let us know in the comments below and be sure to follow Don’t Feed the Gamers on Twitter and Facebook to be informed of the latest gaming and entertainment news 24 hours a day! For more headlines recently featured on DFTG, check out these next few news stories:

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