The AI review mess: what actually happened
Metacritic quietly removed a 9/10 review for Resident Evil Requiem after questions surfaced about who — or what — wrote it. The review appeared on long-running UK site Videogamer.com and carried the byline of a supposed betting analyst who, investigators say, doesn’t seem to exist. The author’s avatar and social profile gave off textbook AI-generated vibes, and the writeup itself raised eyebrows after Videogamer underwent staff cuts and a change of ownership.
According to reports, the new owners have been running articles under a handful of invented personas in recent months. When those same names started showing up on game coverage after human writers were let go, Metacritic stepped in and delisted that Requiem score — along with a few other recent entries — while it looks deeper.
Why this matters to players
First off: review scores still shape whether people buy games, pre-order hindsight, or decide to brave a horror marathon. If scores can be faked by AI or ghost accounts, that skews the whole conversation. Metacritic says it won’t host AI-generated critic reviews and will cut ties with publications that slip them through, which should give some comfort — but also suggests more attempts could be headed our way.
This is big for two reasons: it’s a trust problem and it’s a gameplay-affecting problem. Trust, because players rely on aggregator scores to filter the flood of releases. Gameplay-affecting, because a bogus, glowing review can push players into a game expecting one experience while the reality is different — or cause smaller developers to lose fair attention to titles that deserved it.
If you’re diving into Requiem, note that legitimate outlets with human writers are still handing out high marks — some outlets gave it a 9/10 based on hands-on play — but double-check where a score came from. Treat outlier reviews with suspicion and look for full, human-authored writeups that explain why the game earns its praise or criticism.
Bottom line: the rise of easy AI copy-and-paste means you’ll want to be pickier about your news sources. Metacritic removing the review is a reminder to check bylines, look for real author history, and trust the writeups that show clear first‑hand playtime and specific details rather than vague praise.
