Games › Souls-like › Souls-like + Interactive Fiction
Should I ship an Interactive Fiction Souls-like?
Souls-like + Interactive Fiction
Only 16 developers shipped an Interactive Fiction Souls-like in the last 2 years, too few for firm odds: the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.; the top game by est. revenue, VR-Kanojo, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 18 more are announced, ×3.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 7 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.2k, ×0.8 the market's $1.5k for a 7 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $180; 1 in 20 cleared $290k, ×194 the market median. Revenue is up 17055% on the market; 18 games are announced against 6 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $179 (exactly $179) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.2k (exactly $1,198) |
| Top 25% | $46k (exactly $45,783) |
| Top 5% | $290k (exactly $290,347) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 16 |
| Released games | 29 |
| Announced | 18 |
| Effort | 7 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| 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 17055% on the market, supply 40% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 21%, 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
- Interactive Fiction
- effort 1 / 10 · high · prose plus a state machine
What it takes
- Effort
- 7 / 10 · big single-player or serious online
- Systems
- Souls-like, Interactive Fiction
- Price point
- $7.99 typical
Why players buy here
The top 10 games average 80% positive over 1,708 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $180. 8 in 10 of the 12 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 18 games are announced against 6 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.0 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
SCARLET NEXUS 2021 · $25M 
Yusetsu 2022 · $643k 
VR-Kanojo 2025 · $290k 
The Married Woman Nextdoor - Creampie SEX Beside Her Husband 2026 · $280k 
Kromlech 2026 · EA · $122k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | SCARLET NEXUS | older | $59.99 | 13,749 81% | 412k | $25M (exactly $24,744,075) | BANDAI NAMCO Studios Inc. |
| | Yusetsu | older | $16.99 | 1,262 88% | 38k | $643k (exactly $643,241) | DSGame |
| | VR-Kanojo | $54.99 | 176 63% | 5.3k | $290k (exactly $290,347) | ILLUMINATION | |
| | The Married Woman Nextdoor - Creampie SEX Beside Her Husband | $9.99 | 933 86% | 28k | $280k (exactly $279,620) | AibanWork | |
| | Kromlech | · EA | $29.99 | 136 65% | 4.1k | $122k (exactly $122,359) | Perun Creative |
 | 中国式地雷女 | $7.99 | 191 73% | 5.7k | $46k (exactly $45,783) | 钟夏游戏（ZHONGXIA GAMES） | |
 | Beauty’s Target | $8.99 | 126 69% | 3.8k | $34k (exactly $33,982) | Beauty’s Target | |
 | Reimu Needs Help!? Aunn-chan to the Rescue! | older | $6.99 | 157 96% | 4.7k | $33k (exactly $32,923) | ISY |
 | Three Wishes | $11.99 | 75 98% | 2.3k | $27k (exactly $26,978) | Kyuppin | |
 | Death Frame | $14.99 | 57 98% | 1.7k | $26k (exactly $25,633) | EpiXR Games UG | |
 | Find Me | $4.99 | 8 50% | 240 | $1.2k (exactly $1,198) | Ludmila Pislova, Hana Bauerova | |
 | Misery Avenue | $3.99 | 4 100% | 120 | $479 (exactly $479) | Miseryous Games | |
 | Aeonic | $4.99 | 2 50% | 60 | $299 (exactly $299) | dev |
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.