Games › Exploration › Exploration + Traditional Roguelike
Should I ship an Exploration Traditional Roguelike?
Exploration + Traditional Roguelike
Of 31 developers who shipped an Exploration Traditional Roguelike 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.. 52 more are announced, ×2.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $720, ×1.5 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $240; 1 in 20 cleared $390k, ×821 the market median. Revenue is up 20% on the market; 52 games are announced against 23 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $239 (exactly $239) |
|---|---|
| Median | $719 (exactly $719) |
| Top 25% | $7.7k (exactly $7,670) |
| Top 5% | $390k (exactly $390,203) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 31 |
| Released games | 72 |
| Announced | 52 |
| 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 190% 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.
- Exploration
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
- Traditional Roguelike
- 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
- Exploration, Traditional Roguelike; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Roguelike, RPG, Dungeon Crawler
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Pixel Graphics, 2D, Retro
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 92% positive over 9,502 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $240. 7 in 10 of the 11 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 52 games are announced against 23 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.3 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Exploration with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Roguelike DeckbuilderFair
- + MinigamesFair
- + SpaceshipsFair
- + Escape RoomFair
- + Real-Time with PausePoor odds
- + WuxiaPoor odds
- + Extraction ShooterPoor odds
- + Martial ArtsPoor odds
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + MMORPGPoor odds
- + FMVPoor odds
- + FarmingPoor odds
Comparable games
Elin 2024 · EA · $5.0M 
Soulash 2 2023 · EA · $1.4M 
Approaching Infinity 2025 · $390k 
Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead 2023 · $322k 
Ultimate ADOM - Caverns of Chaos 2021 · $257k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Elin | · EA | $19.99 | 8,406 93% | 252k | $5.0M (exactly $5,041,078) | Lafrontier |
| | Soulash 2 | · EA older | $18.99 | 2,382 85% | 71k | $1.4M (exactly $1,357,025) | Artur Smiarowski |
| | Approaching Infinity | $17.99 | 723 95% | 22k | $390k (exactly $390,203) | IBOL | |
| | Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead | older | $19.99 | 537 86% | 16k | $322k (exactly $322,039) | CleverRaven |
| | Ultimate ADOM - Caverns of Chaos | older | $19.99 | 429 47% | 13k | $257k (exactly $257,271) | Thomas Biskup, Jochen Terstiege, Krzysz… (Thomas Biskup, Jochen Terstiege, Krzysztof Dycha, Lucas Dieguez, Bastian von Gostomski, Carola Sochiera, Björn Loesing) |
 | Shattered Planet | older | $14.99 | 406 68% | 12k | $183k (exactly $182,578) | Kitfox Games |
 | Mainframe Defenders | older | $5.99 | 724 87% | 22k | $130k (exactly $130,103) | Synthetic Domain |
 | HyperRogue | older | $9.99 | 404 97% | 12k | $121k (exactly $121,079) | Zeno Rogue |
 | Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko's Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD- | $24.99 | 160 49% | 4.8k | $120k (exactly $119,952) | Square Enix | |
 | Quest of Dungeons | older | $4.99 | 478 78% | 14k | $72k (exactly $71,557) | David Amador |
 | Rangedrifter | · EA | $14.99 | 27 100% | 810 | $12k (exactly $12,142) | Max Schmidt |
 | Deadzoned | · EA | $4.99 | 66 98% | 2.0k | $9.9k (exactly $9,880) | caiys |
 | 鸭鸭大冒险 (Duck Duck Adventure) | $8.99 | 29 93% | 870 | $7.8k (exactly $7,821) | 清友工作室 | |
 | DeAnima | $9.99 | 26 84% | 780 | $7.8k (exactly $7,792) | Steelgaze Studio | |
 | Alchemist's Alcove | $7.99 | 32 96% | 960 | $7.7k (exactly $7,670) | Nefarious Brew Games | |
 | A Tale of Silent Depths | $9.99 | 21 80% | 630 | $6.3k (exactly $6,294) | Crit42 Studio | |
 | Ricave | $14.99 | 12 100% | 360 | $5.4k (exactly $5,396) | Rogueatic Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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