Steam users are attacking Dota 2 because there’s no more Half-Life

As Half-Life 2: Episode Two approaches its 10-year anniversary, fed up Half-Life fans are taking their long-simmering aggression out on one of Valve’s other games, Dota 2. As spotted by PCGamesN, Steam users are bombing the game with negative reviews, many of them laying blame on Valve’s popular MOBA for the lack of a new Half-Life game.

The rush to trash Dota 2 in Steam user reviews appears to be related to two recent developments: Valve’s announcement of Artifact, the Dota card game, at this year’s International tournament, and Half-Life writer Marc Laidlaw publishing what is widely interpreted to be the proposed plot to Half-Life 2: Episode Three.

There are a few common sentiments in recent negative user reviews of Dota 2. Players, some with thousands of hours logged in Dota 2, lament that the MOBA “murdered” the Half-Life series and that Valve seems more interested in profiting from Dota 2 than making single-player narrative games. Many user reviews are just drive-by mentions of Half-Life 3 — with a few hoping for Left 4 Dead 3 — or snarky comments about Artifact.

Some longtime Dota 2 players have come to the game’s defense on Steam, posting the occasional positive review in defiance of the tide of negativity.

Dota 2 still maintains a “very positive” user review rating, however, thanks to more than 775,000 reviews. Recent reviews, according to Steam, are still “mostly positive.” Dota 2 is still the most popular game on Steam, despite being temporarily dethroned by Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds this weekend in concurrent player count.

For our take, read Polygon’s review of Dota 2.