Games › Dungeon Crawler › Dungeon Crawler + Exploration
Should I ship an Exploration Dungeon Crawler?
Dungeon Crawler + Exploration
Of 589 developers who shipped an Exploration Dungeon Crawler 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.. 1,216 more are announced, ×3.8 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.4k, ×3.0 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $560k, ×1196 the market median. Revenue is up 20% on the market; 1,216 games are announced against 323 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $299 (exactly $299) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.4k (exactly $1,436) |
| Top 25% | $15k (exactly $15,198) |
| Top 5% | $568k (exactly $568,273) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 589 |
| Released games | 1,483 |
| Announced | 1,216 |
| Effort | 4 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $7.99 |
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 up 20% on the market, supply 20% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 11%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Dungeon Crawler
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
- Exploration
- 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
- Dungeon Crawler, Exploration; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry RPG, Adventure, Action
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 84% positive over 207,979 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. 8 in 10 of the 302 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 1,216 games are announced against 323 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.8 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Dungeon Crawler with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Time ManagementFair
- + GamblingFair
- + DiceFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + Local Co-OpFair
- + ZombiesFair
- + Word GameFair
- + ThrillerFair
- + Walking SimulatorFair
- + Score AttackFair
- + MMORPGPoor odds
- + DwarvesPoor odds
Comparable games
Lethal Company 2023 · EA · $123M 
Diablo® IV 2023 · $88M 
Escape the Backrooms 2025 · $41M 
Wayfinder 2024 · $19M 
Ni no Kuni™ II: Revenant Kingdom 2018 · $15M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Lethal Company | · EA older | $9.99 | 411,550 97% | 12M | $123M (exactly $123,341,535) | Zeekerss |
| | Diablo® IV | older | $49.99 | 58,668 69% | 1.8M | $88M (exactly $87,984,400) | Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. |
| | Escape the Backrooms | $9.99 | 137,315 90% | 4.1M | $41M (exactly $41,153,306) | Fancy Games, Blackbird Interactive | |
| | Wayfinder | $24.99 | 25,104 60% | 753k | $19M (exactly $18,820,469) | Airship Syndicate | |
| | Ni no Kuni™ II: Revenant Kingdom | older | $59.99 | 8,100 82% | 243k | $15M (exactly $14,577,570) | LEVEL5 Inc. |
 | Death's Door | older | $19.99 | 19,330 93% | 580k | $12M (exactly $11,592,201) | Acid Nerve |
 | Minecraft Dungeons | older | $19.99 | 17,941 90% | 538k | $11M (exactly $10,759,218) | Mojang Studios, Double Eleven |
 | Moonlighter | older | $19.99 | 17,286 82% | 519k | $10M (exactly $10,366,414) | Digital Sun |
 | Portal Knights | older | $19.99 | 16,885 83% | 507k | $10M (exactly $10,125,934) | Keen Games GmbH |
 | Pax Dei | $29.99 | 7,163 56% | 215k | $6.4M (exactly $6,444,551) | Mainframe Industries | |
 | Elin | · EA | $19.99 | 8,406 93% | 252k | $5.0M (exactly $5,041,078) | Lafrontier |
 | Len's Island | $24.99 | 5,935 82% | 178k | $4.4M (exactly $4,449,470) | Flow Studio | |
 | Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion | $69.99 | 1,838 63% | 55k | $3.9M (exactly $3,859,249) | Marvelous Inc. | |
 | Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault | $29.99 | 3,146 80% | 94k | $2.8M (exactly $2,830,456) | Digital Sun | |
 | MIMESIS | · EA | $9.99 | 8,396 84% | 252k | $2.5M (exactly $2,516,281) | ReLU Games, Inc. |
 | YAPYAP | $9.99 | 8,385 83% | 252k | $2.5M (exactly $2,512,984) | Maison Bap | |
 | Age of Reforging: The Freelands | $29.99 | 2,291 71% | 69k | $2.1M (exactly $2,061,213) | PersonaeGame Studio |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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