Games › Loot › Loot + Psychological Horror
Should I ship a Psychological-Horror Loot game?
Loot + Psychological Horror
Of 28 developers who shipped a Psychological-Horror Loot game 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.. 27 more are announced.
Verdict: fair, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $720, ×1.1 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $150. Revenue is up 200% on the market; 27 games are announced against 16 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $150 (exactly $150) |
|---|---|
| Median | $718 (exactly $718) |
| Top 25% | $21k (exactly $20,979) |
| Top 5% | $1.1M (exactly $1,073,676) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 28 |
| Released games | 60 |
| Announced | 27 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $6.99 |
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 200% on the market, supply 35% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 7%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Loot
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Psychological Horror
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Loot; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Adventure, Exploration
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 6 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Atmospheric, First-Person, Dark
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 84% positive over 8,401 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $150. 8 in 10 of the 13 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 27 games are announced against 16 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Loot with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Artificial IntelligenceStrong odds
- + Local Co-OpStrong odds
- + SteampunkStrong odds
- + CapitalismFair
- + Turn-Based StrategyFair
- + JRPGFair
- + EconomyFair
- + IdlerFair
- + CatsFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + Creature CollectorFair
- + CollectathonFair
Comparable games
Nightmare Reaper 2022 · $2.5M 
Total Chaos 2025 · $1.2M 
Murky Divers 2024 · $1.1M 
Witch Hunt 2018 · $687k 
Granny: Escape Together 2024 · $498k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Nightmare Reaper | older | $24.99 | 3,394 93% | 102k | $2.5M (exactly $2,544,482) | Blazing Bit Games |
| | Total Chaos | $24.99 | 1,561 86% | 47k | $1.2M (exactly $1,170,282) | Trigger Happy Interactive | |
| | Murky Divers | $8.99 | 3,981 87% | 119k | $1.1M (exactly $1,073,676) | Embers | |
| | Witch Hunt | older | $9.99 | 2,291 88% | 69k | $687k (exactly $686,613) | Gua |
| | Granny: Escape Together | $9.99 | 1,661 79% | 50k | $498k (exactly $497,802) | CreepyToad | |
 | Granny Remake | older | $6.99 | 2,154 82% | 65k | $452k (exactly $451,694) | FerriteLabs |
 | Forsaken Frontiers | $14.99 | 400 82% | 12k | $180k (exactly $179,880) | made in fairyland | |
 | Dishwashing Simulator | older | $9.99 | 507 86% | 15k | $152k (exactly $151,948) | Frinky, Frosty |
 | Nightmare Frontier | $24.99 | 187 69% | 5.6k | $140k (exactly $140,194) | Ice Code Games | |
 | Backrooms Society | · EA older | $6.99 | 588 79% | 18k | $123k (exactly $123,304) | Mikael Bihl |
 | Midnight Heist | $9.99 | 389 92% | 12k | $117k (exactly $116,583) | MediaTale | |
 | Still It Runs | $9.99 | 70 48% | 2.1k | $21k (exactly $20,979) | NAYUG, KADOKAWA | |
 | Containment Corp, Inc. | · EA | $6.99 | 89 89% | 2.7k | $19k (exactly $18,663) | Lich & Lily |
 | Backrooms Lost Unit | · EA | $6.99 | 45 84% | 1.4k | $9.4k (exactly $9,436) | JD Archives |
 | Whistling Waters | $9.99 | 18 83% | 540 | $5.4k (exactly $5,395) | Luna Apps |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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