Slash-em-up Blade Symphony goes free-to-play but players are review-bombing it

Sword-fighting game Blade Symphony just saw its business model switch to free-to-play. This change is long overdue, as developer Puny Human mentioned the plan in April 2018, for a game that was originally released in… 2014. Not quite a spring chicken anymore.

Blade Symphony's player base was worrisome as well for years, so the move to free-to-play wasn't unexpected. However, and apparently it's related to the latest patch, the game is being review-bombed on Steam, while still keeping its overall rating on a respectable ‘Mixed' (68%). 

The negative reviews are mostly coming from players who had purchased the game and are angered by this move – although they are getting 10 exclusive items as compensation. But maybe, just maybe, the official announcement didn't sit well with everyone:

“After a year and a half, Blade Symphony is now free-to-play. We didn’t want to do this for lowering complexity (although, it is much easier to develop for now.) We didn’t want to do this for money (there’s only 4 items for sale.) We didn’t want to do this to manage overhead (even if we’re now offloading all inventory stuff to Steam.) We wanted to do this, so that this game could be more accessible, and have a longer life. The game deserves to be tried out, even if it’s approaching 5 years of age, and started development in 2007. So here it is, and thanks for playing.”

Is this really a bad thing? Perhaps it's a storm in a teacup, but let us know if you have tried Blade Symphony or are planning to.