Games › Mystery Dungeon › Mystery Dungeon + Interactive Fiction
Should I ship an Interactive Fiction Mystery Dungeon?
Mystery Dungeon + Interactive Fiction
Of 23 developers who shipped an Interactive Fiction Mystery Dungeon 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.. 34 more are announced, ×2.8 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: dead, for a 3 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $360 in the last 2 years and $450 over 4, against a market of $480 for a 3 / 10 build. 12 developers shipped in the last year and 34 games are announced.
| Bottom 30% | $0 (exactly $0) |
|---|---|
| Median | $358 (exactly $358) |
| Top 25% | $1.5k (exactly $1,468) |
| Top 5% | $21k (exactly $20,509) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 23 |
| Released games | 68 |
| Announced | 34 |
| Effort | 3 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| 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 80% on the market, supply 10% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 12%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is high: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Mystery Dungeon
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
- Interactive Fiction
- effort 1 / 10 · high · prose plus a state machine
What it takes
- Effort
- 3 / 10 · small 2D action, light systems
- Systems
- Mystery Dungeon, Interactive Fiction; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Action-Adventure, Exploration
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $12.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person, 2D, Anime
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $12.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 70% positive over 1,102 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $50. 9 in 10 of the 15 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 34 games are announced against 12 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.8 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Mystery Dungeon with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + JRPGStrong odds
- + TacticalStrong odds
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + RomanceFair
- + Perma DeathFair
- + Tactical RPGFair
- + Walking SimulatorFair
- + SimulationFair
- + Bullet HellFair
- + Time ManagementFair
- + HistoricalFair
- + PhysicsFair
Comparable games
Chained in the Backrooms 2025 · EA · $84k 
[Chilla's Art] The Caregiver | 終焉介護 2021 · $65k 
Spooky Station 2019 · $52k 
Slave Princess Finne, why did she sell out her own kingdom? 2023 · $44k 
Jung's Labyrinth 2020 · $29k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Chained in the Backrooms | · EA | $2.99 | 933 68% | 28k | $84k (exactly $83,690) | Task+ Studios |
| | [Chilla's Art] The Caregiver | 終焉介護 | older | $4.99 | 431 80% | 13k | $65k (exactly $64,521) | Chilla's Art |
| | Spooky Station | older | $4.99 | 345 88% | 10k | $52k (exactly $51,646) | Coletivo Vaca Roxa, Vee, JoyMasher, PKO… (Coletivo Vaca Roxa, Vee, JoyMasher, PKO Game Studio, Spookids Team, Calangames, Expresso Studios, Pastel Studios, Heavy Sheep, LASTONE, Asteristic Game Studio) |
| | Slave Princess Finne, why did she sell out her own kingdom? | older | $17.99 | 82 87% | 2.5k | $44k (exactly $44,255) | Circle Fairy Flower |
| | Jung's Labyrinth | older | $14.99 | 65 70% | 2.0k | $29k (exactly $29,230) | Jan Jileček |
 | Sword Mistress of the Dungeon Town | $17.99 | 38 65% | 1.1k | $21k (exactly $20,509) | ラブリープリチー超愛してる, Lovely Pretty Ultra Lov… (ラブリープリチー超愛してる, Lovely Pretty Ultra Loving You) | |
 | ACCIDENTALLY | $12.99 | 30 60% | 900 | $12k (exactly $11,691) | M&K WORKS | |
 | DreamBreak | older | $6.99 | 48 56% | 1.4k | $10k (exactly $10,066) | Fortell Games |
 | Damsels in Distress | $8.99 | 36 83% | 1.1k | $9.7k (exactly $9,709) | Anime Mania | |
 | Pyramid Curse | older | $3.99 | 78 83% | 2.3k | $9.3k (exactly $9,337) | SpoocleMacBoogle |
 | Confronted | · EA | $7.99 | 31 100% | 930 | $7.4k (exactly $7,431) | Grumpy Rock Studios |
 | Hello Anxiety | $6.99 | 7 100% | 210 | $1.5k (exactly $1,468) | Aleph Echo | |
 | The Broken Ceiling | $2.99 | 16 100% | 480 | $1.4k (exactly $1,435) | Iron Octopus Productions Inc. | |
 | N/A Museum | $9.00 | 4 50% | 120 | $1.1k (exactly $1,080) | TheObserverStudio | |
 | Roxanne The Forgotten Path | $11.99 | 2 50% | 60 | $719 (exactly $719) | Steven Meza, MarosGraphic 7 | |
 | Moonless Night | $2.99 | 5 100% | 150 | $449 (exactly $449) | Tzompixel Studio |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
Your address goes to Buttondown, which sends the letter, and nowhere else. Every issue has an unsubscribe link. No tracking beyond the open count Buttondown keeps.