Look, let's be honest, WARDOGS was hammered with brutal reviews at launch due to server meltdowns, but the developer has sorted the mess out and things are climbing fast. Peak Concurrent Players have smashed past the 420,000 mark, and user reviews have bounced back to Very Positive.

WARDOGS faced catastrophic server instability right out of the gate. A jaw-dropping queue of 300,000 players formed, and even after waiting for hours, players were repeatedly disconnected with Access Denied messages. To make matters worse, ordinary players spent more than Steam's two-hour refund window just staring at loading screens, while allegations exploded that certain streamers were handed queue-skipping privileges, tanking the initial user reviews down to Mixed.

Once the developer rolled out emergency server expansions and stability patches, the bleeding stopped and player counts swung right back up. The stalled Concurrent Players surged past 340,000, peaking at a staggering 428,666 over the weekend.

Alongside this, Steam user reviews climbed to Very Positive (with 45,165 players chiming in and 80% giving it the thumbs up). Players are genuinely praising the freedom to earn rewards for non-combat contributions like supplying, transporting, and building fortifications. The white-knuckle tension of trying not to lose hard-earned gear is a massive hit, and the rock-solid optimization gets a hearty nod as well. That said, as time ticks on, the steep grind required to unlock gear is being flagged as a potential barrier to entry. Complaints are also bubbling up about long treks to combat zones and overtuned mortars and snipers.

Elsewhere, Diablo IV climbed to second place, largely fueled by its first-ever 75% discount. However, criticism is mounting following the sequel announcement at BlizzCon, with fans questioning why the series is jumping straight to a fifth installment when Diablo didn't even show up as a boss.

Over in the top 20 daily peak Concurrent Players chart, Valheim charged up to fifth place with 308,477 players, marking its second-highest record ever since launch. Overwatch landed in 15th place with 109,223 players, a massive jump likely driven by the chance to test out the new hero Doctrine unveiled at BlizzCon.