Games › Souls-like › Souls-like + Aliens
Should I ship an Alien Souls-like?
Souls-like + Aliens
Only 9 developers shipped an Alien Souls-like in the last 2 years, too few for firm odds: the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.; the top game by est. revenue, ENTITY: THE BLACK DAY, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 15 more are announced, ×2.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: dead, for a 7 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $90 in the last 2 years and $270 over 4, against a market of $1.5k for a 7 / 10 build. 7 developers shipped in the last year and 15 games are announced.
| Bottom 30% | $0 (exactly $0) |
|---|---|
| Median | $90 (exactly $90) |
| Top 25% | $270 (exactly $270) |
| Top 5% | $267k (exactly $266,612) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 9 |
| Released games | 25 |
| Announced | 15 |
| Effort | 7 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| Typical price | $4.99 |
momentum: how a niche's revenue percentiles and developer count moved between two equal, adjacent periods, divided by the market's own move. See method., 12 months: revenue too few recent games to read momentum, supply 250% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 12%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Souls-like
- effort 7 / 10 · low · effort 7 sits in the low band
- Aliens
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 7 / 10 · big single-player or serious online
- Systems
- Souls-like
- Price point
- $4.99 typical
Why players buy here
Fewer than 10 games in the last 2 years; sentiment and price figures use the all window.
The top 25% priced at $17.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 78% positive over 3,486 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $50. 15 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.1 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Souls-like with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Dating SimStrong odds
- + Visual NovelFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + JRPGFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + PsychologicalFair
- + Walking SimulatorFair
- + Precision PlatformerLong shot
- + Score AttackLong shot
- + WarPoor odds
- + Turn-Based TacticsPoor odds
- + RomancePoor odds
Comparable games
Scars Above 2023 · $2.5M 
ENTITY: THE BLACK DAY 2026 · $267k 
Zapling Bygone 2022 · $53k 
GINSHA 2023 · $10k 
Toxic place 2024 · EA · $2.7k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Scars Above | older | $29.99 | 2,775 77% | 83k | $2.5M (exactly $2,496,668) | Mad Head Games |
| | ENTITY: THE BLACK DAY | $17.99 | 494 79% | 15k | $267k (exactly $266,612) | ASD Games Studio | |
| | Zapling Bygone | older | $15.99 | 110 82% | 3.3k | $53k (exactly $52,767) | 9FingerGames |
| | GINSHA | older | $15.99 | 21 90% | 630 | $10k (exactly $10,074) | PolarityFlow, Adrian Zingg |
| | Toxic place | · EA older | $12.99 | 7 42% | 210 | $2.7k (exactly $2,728) | PrimoSalmon |
 | Mrs.Cat In Mars | older | $0.99 | 57 98% | 1.7k | $1.7k (exactly $1,693) | EVEV01 |
 | POWERNAUT DECAY | older | $2.99 | 13 84% | 390 | $1.2k (exactly $1,166) | ConfoundGreatJob |
 | Tankiro | $4.99 | 7 100% | 210 | $1.0k (exactly $1,048) | Rmonak | |
 | Exovoid | · EA older | $9.99 | 1 0% | 30 | $300 (exactly $300) | Man Up Time |
 | PROTECT GLOOBI | $8.99 | 1 100% | 30 | $270 (exactly $270) | Daniel the solo dev | |
 | Lakeside Has No Lake!! | $0.99 | 9 88% | 270 | $267 (exactly $267) | FzzyBzzy | |
 | No Friends Space | $2.99 | 1 0% | 30 | $90 (exactly $90) | Scalions Studios | |
 | Visitors | $2.99 | 1 100% | 30 | $90 (exactly $90) | W&R Studios | |
 | TalesOfVengeance | $19.99 | 0 0% | 0 | $0 (exactly $0) | MasterBun | |
 | Christmas Soul | $6.99 | 0 0% | 0 | $0 (exactly $0) | Mediakomp | |
 | What A World | $4.99 | 0 0% | 0 | $0 (exactly $0) | Jesse Bensen |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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