This year’s biggest RTS hit has ended its honeymoon. Broken Arrow is plagued by Chinese cheaters, and ratings are going down

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One significant real-time strategy (RTS) game that stood out this year was Broken Arrow, demonstrated by its high-energy pre-release activities. Upon release, it garnered positive feedback. Nevertheless, a month post-launch, the game seems to have lost some of its initial charm and enthusiasm.

Negative reviews from China and a plague of cheaters

The Steam community has evaluated Steel Balalaika studio’s latest game, Broken Arrow, with over 16,000 reviews, and currently, about 65% of these reviews are positive, leading to “mixed” ratings overall. This is a slight drop compared to the 72% positive reviews during its paid early access period. Although the difference isn’t massive, it’s worth noting that some players on Reddit have mentioned this decline in feedback.

In recent times, there’s been a significant surge in unfavorable feedback, with a notable proportion coming from China. This seems to be due to a local streamer and his companions being suspended, reportedly for suspected cheating within the game. Chinese gamers have expressed concerns that developers are permissive towards Western users who are said to exploit the reporting system for harassment.

No matter if the ban was fair or not, it’s undeniable that some individuals display dislike for Chinese players, often leveling accusations of harmful playstyles and excessive cheating.

Independent of whether the ban was warranted or not, it is clear that certain individuals exhibit a distaste towards Chinese players, frequently labeling them as aggressive and suspecting them of cheating.

It appears that Broken Arrow has its fair share of troubles, and among them, the most frequently cited issue in critical feedback is an inefficient anti-cheat mechanism. Gamers often express their frustration, particularly during ranked matches at higher levels, as cheaters can effortlessly eliminate all units with a single strike using this system.

The game Steel Balalaika recognizes this issue, as shown in a blog post from June on Steam. Here’s to hoping that the creators will swiftly address this matter, or at least minimize it so that cheating becomes uncommon within the game Broken Arrow.

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2025-07-10 18:02