Games › Roguelike › Roguelike + Time Travel
Should I ship a Time-Travel Roguelike?
Roguelike + Time Travel
Only 18 developers shipped a Time-Travel Roguelike 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, Million Depth, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 28 more are announced, ×3.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $4.7k, ×9.9 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $360; 1 in 20 cleared $340k, ×722 the market median. Revenue is down 35% on the market; 28 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $359 (exactly $359) |
|---|---|
| Median | $4.7k (exactly $4,716) |
| Top 25% | $63k (exactly $63,145) |
| Top 5% | $343k (exactly $343,028) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 18 |
| Released games | 41 |
| Announced | 28 |
| Effort | 4 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $8.99 |
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 down 35% on the market, supply as many developers as the period before.
Free games: 12%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Roguelike
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
- Time Travel
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Roguelike; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Action Roguelike, Roguelite
- Price point
- $8.99 typical · top 25% priced $16.99 or above
- Art
- 8 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Pixel Graphics, 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $16.99 or above; the middle game at $8.99.
The top 10 games average 86% positive over 3,308 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $360. 7 in 10 of the 9 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 28 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.1 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Roguelike with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + JRPGFair
- + 6DOFFair
- + Grand StrategyFair
- + VampiresFair
- + DogsFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + SuperheroFair
- + IdlerFair
- + ArcadeFair
- + Walking SimulatorFair
- + 2D PlatformerFair
- + Traditional RoguelikeFair
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Depersonalization | older | $19.99 | 6,041 92% | 181k | $3.6M (exactly $3,622,788) | MeowNature |
| | Loop Queen-Escape Dungeon 3 | older | $19.99 | 611 84% | 18k | $366k (exactly $366,417) | Hide Games |
| | Million Depth | $16.99 | 673 93% | 20k | $343k (exactly $343,028) | Cyber Space Biotope | |
| | Ascend to ZERO | $11.99 | 867 82% | 26k | $312k (exactly $311,860) | Flyway Games, Inc. | |
| | Villages & Dungeons | $6.99 | 1,036 91% | 31k | $217k (exactly $217,249) | CaCaFrog Studio | |
| | Time Break Chronicles | · EA older | $14.99 | 298 88% | 8.9k | $134k (exactly $134,011) | Warrior General Games, LLC |
| | Time Treker | $6.99 | 399 65% | 12k | $84k (exactly $83,670) | Fuse Game | |
| | Mist Slayer | older | $7.99 | 305 64% | 9.2k | $73k (exactly $73,108) | Moju Games |
| | PROJECT TACHYON | $17.99 | 117 83% | 3.5k | $63k (exactly $63,145) | STUDIO N9 | |
| | Time Survivors | older | $4.99 | 272 61% | 8.2k | $41k (exactly $40,718) | Lunar Chili |
| | Time Snatcher Handy | $9.99 | 88 96% | 2.6k | $26k (exactly $26,374) | PulleyBun, ClockworkCats | |
| | BARD'S FAULT | $9.99 | 21 80% | 630 | $6.3k (exactly $6,294) | Sunabi Studios | |
| | Panta Rhei - Guardian of Time | $9.99 | 18 94% | 540 | $5.4k (exactly $5,395) | Sappalot Studio, Omme Animation, Nordic… (Sappalot Studio, Omme Animation, Nordic Scoring) | |
| | Miracle Heroes: Temporal Bounty Hunter | $1.99 | 79 92% | 2.4k | $4.7k (exactly $4,716) | Cat Play Studio | |
| | Collateral Dungeon | $9.99 | 10 100% | 300 | $3.0k (exactly $2,997) | Techosaurus Studios |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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