Games › Bullet Hell › Bullet Hell + Dystopian
Should I ship a Dystopian Bullet Hell?
Bullet Hell + Dystopian
Of 53 developers who shipped a Dystopian Bullet Hell in the last 2 years: 3 in 10 made under est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method., the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method., 1 in 4 cleared est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method., 1 in 20 cleared est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 95 more are announced, ×3.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $360, ×0.8 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $180; 1 in 20 cleared $270k, ×578 the market median. Revenue is down 50% on the market; 95 games are announced against 27 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $179 (exactly $179) |
|---|---|
| Median | $360 (exactly $360) |
| Top 25% | $5.7k (exactly $5,689) |
| Top 5% | $275k (exactly $274,767) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 53 |
| Released games | 128 |
| Announced | 95 |
| Effort | 4 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| 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 down 50% on the market, supply as many developers as the period before.
Free games: 16%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Bullet Hell
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
- Dystopian
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Bullet Hell; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Action Roguelike, Roguelite
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Pixel Graphics, Top-Down, 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 88% positive over 2,323 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $180. 9 in 10 of the 32 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 95 games are announced against 27 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.5 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Bullet Hell with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + SuperheroStrong odds
- + FaithFair
- + VampiresFair
- + Creature CollectorFair
- + Strategy RPGFair
- + PiratesFair
- + CatsFair
- + HackingFair
- + Time ManagementFair
- + Card BattlerFair
- + DemonsFair
- + Naval CombatFair
Comparable games
Angel at Dusk 2024 · $754k 
Marfusha:Sentinel Girls 2021 · $747k 
Snezhinka:Sentinel Girls2 2024 · $583k 
QUICKERFLAK 2022 · $422k 
LIBERATED 2020 · $407k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Angel at Dusk | older | $14.99 | 1,676 98% | 50k | $754k (exactly $753,697) | Akiragoya |
| | Marfusha:Sentinel Girls | older | $7.99 | 3,116 93% | 93k | $747k (exactly $746,905) | hinyari9 |
| | Snezhinka:Sentinel Girls2 | older | $7.99 | 2,433 96% | 73k | $583k (exactly $583,190) | hinyari9 |
| | QUICKERFLAK | older | $4.99 | 2,819 87% | 85k | $422k (exactly $422,004) | Walter Machado |
| | LIBERATED | older | $19.99 | 679 77% | 20k | $407k (exactly $407,196) | Atomic Wolf, L.INC |
 | Ascend to ZERO | $11.99 | 867 82% | 26k | $312k (exactly $311,860) | Flyway Games, Inc. | |
 | Kvark | $19.99 | 461 86% | 14k | $276k (exactly $276,462) | Latest Past, Perun Creative | |
 | RAM: Random Access Mayhem | $14.99 | 611 97% | 18k | $275k (exactly $274,767) | Xylem Studios | |
 | The Great Rebellion | older | $15.99 | 546 96% | 16k | $262k (exactly $261,916) | Kvltgames |
 | Mega City Force | older | $14.99 | 289 76% | 8.7k | $130k (exactly $129,963) | Undreamed Games |
 | Flying Tank | $14.99 | 97 86% | 2.9k | $44k (exactly $43,621) | Hexage | |
 | Beatdown City Survivors | $9.99 | 80 98% | 2.4k | $24k (exactly $23,976) | NuChallenger | |
 | Terralysia | · EA | $11.99 | 52 69% | 1.6k | $19k (exactly $18,704) | Tiny Game Dev |
 | Disaster Arms - Impact Project B.A.H.N. | $9.99 | 57 100% | 1.7k | $17k (exactly $17,083) | PD_CGT | |
 | HoverGrease 2 | $19.99 | 24 83% | 720 | $14k (exactly $14,393) | Altergaze | |
 | Nuclear Gladiators 3000 | $6.99 | 56 94% | 1.7k | $12k (exactly $11,743) | Turbo Napalm | |
 | NBB.EXE | $19.99 | 18 100% | 540 | $11k (exactly $10,795) | Raptus Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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