Games › Tactical RPG › Tactical RPG + Mystery Dungeon
Should I ship a Mystery Dungeon Tactical RPG?
Tactical RPG + Mystery Dungeon
Of 30 developers who shipped a Mystery Dungeon Tactical RPG 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.. 24 more are announced.
Verdict: fair, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.4k, ×3.8 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $300. Revenue is up 160% on the market; 24 games are announced against 17 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $298 (exactly $298) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.4k (exactly $2,399) |
| Top 25% | $42k (exactly $41,822) |
| Top 5% | $354k (exactly $354,423) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 30 |
| Released games | 67 |
| Announced | 24 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| 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 160% on the market, supply 30% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 13%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Tactical RPG
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Mystery Dungeon
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Tactical RPG, Mystery Dungeon; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Dungeon Crawler, RPG, Roguelike
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $39.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Cute, Pixel Graphics
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $39.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 81% positive over 1,982 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. 7 in 10 of the 14 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 24 games are announced against 17 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Tactical RPG with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Roguelike DeckbuilderFair
- + Space SimFair
- + Point & ClickFair
- + 2D PlatformerFair
- + Asynchronous MultiplayerPoor odds
- + Colony SimPoor odds
- + SandboxPoor odds
- + Turn-BasedPoor odds
- + RobotsPoor odds
- + RomancePoor odds
- + WarPoor odds
- + Life SimPoor odds
Comparable games
ENDLESS Dungeon™ - Definitive Edition 2023 · $1.3M 
Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island 2024 · $564k 
Dungeon Drafters 2023 · $422k 
Vivid World 2025 · $354k 
Caves of Lore 2023 · $122k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | ENDLESS Dungeon™ - Definitive Edition | older | $14.99 | 2,953 64% | 89k | $1.3M (exactly $1,327,964) | AMPLITUDE Studios |
| | Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island | $39.99 | 470 85% | 14k | $564k (exactly $563,859) | Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd. | |
| | Dungeon Drafters | older | $24.99 | 563 76% | 17k | $422k (exactly $422,081) | Manalith Studios |
| | Vivid World | $19.99 | 591 88% | 18k | $354k (exactly $354,423) | Asobism.Co.,Ltd | |
| | Caves of Lore | older | $9.99 | 408 93% | 12k | $122k (exactly $122,278) | by Mike Robins |
 | Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko's Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD- | $24.99 | 160 49% | 4.8k | $120k (exactly $119,952) | Square Enix | |
 | Death end re;Quest: Code Z | $39.99 | 58 72% | 1.7k | $70k (exactly $69,583) | Idea Factory, Compile Heart | |
 | Paper Animal Adventure | · EA | $14.99 | 139 95% | 4.2k | $63k (exactly $62,508) | Cuddling Raccoons Studio |
 | Lord Ambermaze | $14.99 | 131 91% | 3.9k | $59k (exactly $58,911) | Potata Company | |
 | Shana - Priestess of Tona | $9.99 | 190 74% | 5.7k | $57k (exactly $56,943) | Lustration Team | |
 | Elmarion: the Lost Temple | $14.99 | 93 67% | 2.8k | $42k (exactly $41,822) | Fleon Games | |
 | Aquilon's Sex Quest | $6.99 | 112 70% | 3.4k | $23k (exactly $23,486) | Aquilon | |
 | 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) |
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.