Games › Dungeon Crawler › Dungeon Crawler + Perma Death
Should I ship a Perma Death Dungeon Crawler?
Dungeon Crawler + Perma Death
Of 184 developers who shipped a Perma Death 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.. 322 more are announced, ×2.7 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $3.9k, ×8.2 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $1.1k; 1 in 20 cleared $580k, ×1222 the market median. Revenue is up 135% on the market; 322 games are announced against 121 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $1.1k (exactly $1,077) |
|---|---|
| Median | $3.9k (exactly $3,897) |
| Top 25% | $23k (exactly $23,382) |
| Top 5% | $580k (exactly $580,268) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 184 |
| Released games | 486 |
| Announced | 322 |
| Effort | 4 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $9.99 |
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 135% on the market, supply 90% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 8%, 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
- Perma Death
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Dungeon Crawler, Perma Death; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Roguelike, RPG, Action
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Pixel Graphics, Difficult
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 93% positive over 142,117 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $1.1k. 7 in 10 of the 68 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 322 games are announced against 121 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.7 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
Hades 2020 · $214M 
Lethal Company 2023 · EA · $123M 
Darkest Dungeon® 2016 · $106M 
Hades II 2025 · $103M 
Noita 2020 · $49M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Hades | older | $24.99 | 285,748 97% | 8.6M | $214M (exactly $214,225,276) | Supergiant Games |
| | Lethal Company | · EA older | $9.99 | 411,550 97% | 12M | $123M (exactly $123,341,535) | Zeekerss |
| | Darkest Dungeon® | older | $24.99 | 140,790 91% | 4.2M | $106M (exactly $105,550,263) | Red Hook Studios |
| | Hades II | $29.99 | 114,419 95% | 3.4M | $103M (exactly $102,942,774) | Supergiant Games | |
| | Noita | older | $19.99 | 81,149 95% | 2.4M | $49M (exactly $48,665,055) | Nolla Games |
 | Darkest Dungeon® II | older | $39.99 | 24,249 74% | 727k | $29M (exactly $29,091,525) | Red Hook Studios |
 | The Binding of Isaac | older | $4.99 | 49,208 94% | 1.5M | $7.4M (exactly $7,366,438) | Edmund McMillen, Florian Himsl |
 | Elin | · EA | $19.99 | 8,406 93% | 252k | $5.0M (exactly $5,041,078) | Lafrontier |
 | Dungeon of the ENDLESS™ | older | $11.99 | 9,419 87% | 283k | $3.4M (exactly $3,388,014) | AMPLITUDE Studios |
 | NECROPOLIS: BRUTAL EDITION | older | $29.99 | 3,696 63% | 111k | $3.3M (exactly $3,325,291) | Harebrained Schemes |
 | SWORN | $24.99 | 3,779 80% | 113k | $2.8M (exactly $2,833,116) | Windwalk Games | |
 | Hell Clock | $19.99 | 3,535 82% | 106k | $2.1M (exactly $2,119,940) | Rogue Snail | |
 | Aethermancer | · EA | $25.99 | 2,585 91% | 78k | $2.0M (exactly $2,015,524) | moi rai games |
 | Pathogenic | $9.99 | 4,145 92% | 124k | $1.2M (exactly $1,242,256) | Aberrant Labs | |
 | LONESTAR | $12.99 | 2,183 90% | 65k | $851k (exactly $850,715) | Math Tide | |
 | Dungeon Settlers | · EA | $24.99 | 1,117 79% | 34k | $837k (exactly $837,415) | CanOpener |
 | Spark in the Dark | · EA | $16.99 | 1,174 87% | 35k | $598k (exactly $598,388) | Stellar Fish |
 | LET IT DIE: INFERNO | $24.99 | 774 52% | 23k | $580k (exactly $580,268) | SUPERTRICK GAMES, Inc. |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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