AI Slop Tanks Garry's Mod Sequel's Steam Reviews

Ninety percent AI-generated slop. That's the claim from frustrated players reviewing s&box, Facepunch Studios' long-awaited successor to Garry's Mod, which launched today on Steam to decidedly mixed reception. The platform, built on Source 2 and pitched as a game creation tool in the vein of Roblox, is being buried under low-effort content that players say was clearly assembled using generative AI.

The negative reviews paint a consistent picture. "Filled with AI slop and low-effort gambling simulators," one reads. "It's an unoptimized mess with a 'game hub' filled with 'vibe coded' AI slop," says another. Multiple reviewers accuse Facepunch of silently accepting the flood of AI-made games, with some alleging the studio even supports AI use in its official Discord. The game's own Steam page acknowledges that while Facepunch themselves "don't AI generate anything," user-generated content "may contain AI generated stuff." That disclaimer is doing a lot of heavy lifting right now.

Facepunch founder Garry Newman addressed the backlash directly. "Low quality, obvious AI-created slop is going to be a growing problem in every creative outlet," Newman told Rock Paper Shotgun. "We don't encourage using AI to be creative. We don't encourage using AI to create games for you. But we do acknowledge that it's a good learning tool and it's a good productivity tool. We'll be taking action to promote human creativity and push obviously AI-created slop off the main page." In a Steam post marking launch day, Newman admitted the platform "isn't perfect" and committed to weekly updates shaped by player feedback.

Newman's honesty is refreshing, but launching a user-generated content platform in 2026 without moderation tools ready to handle AI spam feels like opening a restaurant without a kitchen. He told PC Gamer at GDC that his philosophy is to wait for people to break the rules before building systems to enforce them. I understand the logic, but the result is a first impression dominated by junk, and on Steam, first impressions stick. Mixed reviews on day one are hard to claw back from, no matter how good the underlying toolkit is.

Performance issues are compounding the problem. Players on the Steam forums and elsewhere report struggling to hit 30 FPS even in visually simple games. Meanwhile, the original Garry's Mod is getting an update tomorrow that adds mounting support for Black Mesa, Crowbar Collective's Half-Life remake. The old guard isn't going anywhere just yet.