Do I ship it?

Games › Hack and Slash › Hack and Slash + Cooking

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Cooking Hack and Slash game?

Hack and Slash + Cooking

Only 10 developers shipped a Cooking Hack and Slash game 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, Never Grave: The Witch and The Curse, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 32 more are announced, ×3.6 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $4.2k, ×6.7 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $1.8k; 1 in 20 cleared $270k, ×441 the market median. Momentum is unreadable here, too few recent games; 32 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 6.7 times the market baseline, revenue too few recent games to read momentum, 32 announced, ×3.6 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Hack and Slash + Cooking
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 10

not enough cohorts to draw

Outcomes for Hack and Slash + Cooking: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 10
Bottom 30% $1.8k (exactly $1,799)
Median $4.2k (exactly $4,196)
Top 25% $7.6k (exactly $7,645)
Top 5% $277k (exactly $276,767)
Developers, 2 yr 10
Released games 28
Announced 32
Effort 5 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $14.99

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 800% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 21%, excluded from money figures.

See every window in the explorer →

Plate 2 · systems and tooling

Can AI deliver it?

AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.

Hack and Slash
effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
Cooking
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
Systems
Hack and Slash, Cooking
Price point
$14.99 typical
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 9 games average 72% positive over 1,123 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $1.8k, median $4.2k, 1 in 4 over $7.6k, 1 in 20 over $270k.

3 in 10 developers made under $1.8k. 32 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.6 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Hack and Slash with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + Turn-BasedStrong odds8 devs · median $14k · 1 announced
  2. + Turn-Based CombatStrong odds28 devs · median $3.7k · 27 announced
  3. + VampiresFair32 devs · median $7.2k · 37 announced
  4. + ModernFair13 devs · median $7.2k · 20 announced
  5. + IdlerFair32 devs · median $6.4k · 50 announced
  6. + IncrementalFair40 devs · median $1.7k · 57 announced
  7. + RomancePoor odds11 devs · median $119k · 25 announced
  8. + Visual NovelPoor odds11 devs · median $85k · 22 announced
  9. + Character Action GamePoor odds27 devs · median $58k · 80 announced
  10. + DestructionPoor odds19 devs · median $43k · 57 announced
  11. + LGBTQ+Poor odds17 devs · median $33k · 20 announced
  12. + AutomationPoor odds12 devs · median $21k · 26 announced

All 175 pairs on the Hack and Slash page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Cuisineer 2023 · $1.4M Never Grave: The Witch and The Curse 2026 · $277k SEDAP! A Culinary Adventure 2025 · $232k Grindstone 2022 · $146k Cannibal Cuisine 2020 · $63k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Cuisineer older $24.99 1,820 76% 55k $1.4M (exactly $1,364,454) BattleBrew Productions
Never Grave: The Witch and The Curse $16.99 543 72% 16k $277k (exactly $276,767) Frontside 180
SEDAP! A Culinary Adventure $14.99 517 70% 16k $232k (exactly $232,495) kopiforge
Grindstone older $19.99 244 93% 7.3k $146k (exactly $146,327) Capybara Games
Cannibal Cuisine older $12.99 162 85% 4.9k $63k (exactly $63,131) Rocket Vulture
DEADCRAFT older $14.99 126 68% 3.8k $57k (exactly $56,662) Marvelous Inc.
RFVR · EA older $29.99 49 81% 1.5k $44k (exactly $44,085) OMFGames
Lorne · EA $14.99 17 88% 510 $7.6k (exactly $7,645) Lorne Studios
Chop Shop $17.99 8 100% 240 $4.3k (exactly $4,318) Hermit Gamesmiths
Surviving Skeleton Island $9.99 14 64% 420 $4.2k (exactly $4,196) Bert Games
Dough or Die · EA $7.99 16 100% 480 $3.8k (exactly $3,835) Soundbyte Interactive
HANGRY™ · EA $14.99 4 25% 120 $1.8k (exactly $1,799) Game Pill
OneShot Challenge · EA $6.99 2 100% 60 $419 (exactly $419) Artron
Cakey & Tanaka : CandyLand Adventure $4.00 2 100% 60 $240 (exactly $240) MemangStudio
Survival Quest Dungeons and the Beasts $19.99 0 0% 0 $0 (exactly $0) David Lewis Bell

Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.