Games › Souls-like › Souls-like + Dungeon Crawler
Should I ship a Dungeon Crawler Souls-like?
Souls-like + Dungeon Crawler
Of 93 developers who shipped a Dungeon Crawler Souls-like 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.. 210 more are announced, ×4.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 7 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $7.0k, ×4.7 the market's $1.5k for a 7 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $1.5k; 1 in 20 cleared $8.6M, ×5758 the market median. Revenue is up 75% on the market; 210 games are announced against 52 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $1.5k (exactly $1,498) |
|---|---|
| Median | $7.0k (exactly $7,008) |
| Top 25% | $55k (exactly $55,313) |
| Top 5% | $8.6M (exactly $8,625,568) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 93 |
| Released games | 249 |
| Announced | 210 |
| Effort | 7 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| 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 75% on the market, supply 25% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 8%, 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
- Dungeon Crawler
- 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, Dungeon Crawler; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry RPG, Action, Action RPG
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 83% positive over 351,765 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $1.5k. 7 in 10 of the 46 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 210 games are announced against 52 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.0 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Souls-like with a different second tag, 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
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Path of Exile 2 | · EA | $29.99 | 167,730 76% | 5.0M | $151M (exactly $150,906,681) | Grinding Gear Games |
| | Hades II | $29.99 | 114,419 95% | 3.4M | $103M (exactly $102,942,774) | Supergiant Games | |
| | AI LIMIT | $34.99 | 22,833 92% | 685k | $24M (exactly $23,967,800) | Sense Games | |
| | Mistfall Hunter | $24.99 | 16,045 53% | 481k | $12M (exactly $12,028,936) | Bellring Games | |
| | Death's Door | older | $19.99 | 19,330 93% | 580k | $12M (exactly $11,592,201) | Acid Nerve |
| | Xuan-Yuan Sword VII | older | $34.99 | 8,490 62% | 255k | $8.9M (exactly $8,911,953) | SOFTSTAR, DOMO Studio |
| | Echoes of Aincrad | $69.99 | 4,108 47% | 123k | $8.6M (exactly $8,625,568) | Game Studio Inc. | |
| | Exanima | · EA older | $14.99 | 12,684 80% | 381k | $5.7M (exactly $5,703,995) | Bare Mettle Entertainment |
| | Fear & Hunger 2: Termina | older | $11.99 | 14,232 97% | 427k | $5.1M (exactly $5,119,250) | Miro Haverinen |
| | Curse of the Dead Gods | older | $19.99 | 7,807 84% | 234k | $4.7M (exactly $4,681,858) | Passtech Games |
| | Mortal Sin | $24.99 | 5,583 94% | 167k | $4.2M (exactly $4,185,575) | Nikola Todorovic | |
| | SWORN | $24.99 | 3,779 80% | 113k | $2.8M (exactly $2,833,116) | Windwalk Games | |
| | BLACK SOULS II | $13.99 | 5,277 97% | 158k | $2.2M (exactly $2,214,757) | Eeny, meeny, miny, moe? | |
| | FlyKnight | $5.99 | 10,432 96% | 313k | $1.9M (exactly $1,874,630) | Wabbaboy | |
| | Alaloth: Champions of The Four Kingdoms | $34.99 | 1,559 72% | 47k | $1.6M (exactly $1,636,482) | Gamera Interactive |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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