The niche at a glance

Mystery on Steam: 11,097 released games, 2,726 in the last 12 months, 7,022 announced and still unreleased. Of the 5,559 released between three years and 90 days ago, the median has 13 lifetime reviews. 44% of them never reached 10 reviews. Free to play: 10%. Mystery is a Steam store tag, applied by the developer and refined by players; a game carries several tags at once, so niche counts overlap and do not add up to the size of the Steam catalogue. Data as of .

What releases end up with

lifetime reviews · released 3 years ago to 90 days ago · failures included5,559 releases
p101
p253
median13
p7557
p90284
44% of them never reached 10 reviewsMedian price $5.00 · 10% free-to-play

Releases per year

outcomes count only games released more than 90 days ago, anything newer has not had time to gather reviews
2019
272median 120 · 14% under 10 reviews
2020
591median 41 · 22% under 10 reviews
2021
924median 26 · 29% under 10 reviews
2022
984median 29 · 28% under 10 reviews
2023
1,232median 20 · 36% under 10 reviews
2024
1,775median 17 · 38% under 10 reviews
2025
2,155median 12 · 45% under 10 reviews
2026
2,280median 9 · 50% under 10 reviews · 865 too fresh

Mystery × mechanics: what the pairings end up with

every mechanics tag shipped with Mystery at least 5 times · same window× mechanics× presentation
share reaching 500 reviews, shrunk towards the catalogue · click a row to open the concept
Mystery ×3 y12 mmedian≥500adjusted vs chancelast hitwho made it
Turn-Based12572under 2016.6%
avoided ×0.23201 d
Tactical Breach Wizards
Morimens
Sol Cesto
Tactical Breach Wizards · Morimens · Sol Cesto
Mining28111721.4% 10%–40%15.3%
ordinary ×0.59180 d
A Game About Digging A Hole™
The Spotter: Dig or Die
Meltopia
A Game About Digging A Hole™ · The Spotter: Dig or Die · Meltopia
Strategy RPG84281316.7% 10%–26%14.7%
ordinary ×0.52238 d
Revenge on gold diggers
Persona 3 Reload
Tactical Breach Wizards
Revenge on gold diggers · Persona 3 Reload · Tactical Breach Wizards
Farming Sim173101under 2014.4%
ordinary ×0.35153 d
Palia
Grunn
欺神弄鬼
Palia · Grunn · 欺神弄鬼
Sailing17445under 2014.4%
ordinary ×0.83174 d
Caribbean Legend
Caribbean Legend: Age of Pirates
Caribbean Legend: Sandbox
Caribbean Legend · Caribbean Legend: Age of Pirates · Caribbean Legend: Sandbox
Dating Sim260724914.6% 11%–19%14.0%
ordinary ×1.13166 d
Banana
The Hungry Lamb: Traveling in the Late Ming Dynasty
Revenge on gold diggers
Banana · The Hungry Lamb: Traveling in the Late Ming Dynasty · Revenge on gold diggers
MMORPG11489under 2014.0%
avoided ×0.27181 d
Palia
Equinox: Homecoming
Aero Tales Online: The World - Anime MMORPG
Palia · Equinox: Homecoming · Aero Tales Online: The World - Anime MMORPG
Martial Arts11356under 2014.0%
avoided ×0.30582 d
再见断刀
BLADECHIMERA
欺神弄鬼
再见断刀 · BLADECHIMERA · 欺神弄鬼
Naval1158under 2014.0%
ordinary ×0.50229 d
Caribbean Legend
Caribbean Legend: Age of Pirates
Caribbean Legend: Sandbox
Caribbean Legend · Caribbean Legend: Age of Pirates · Caribbean Legend: Sandbox
Procedural Generation12850814.8% 10%–22%13.7%
ordinary ×0.46133 d
PEAK
Content Warning
A Game About Digging A Hole™
PEAK · Content Warning · A Game About Digging A Hole™
Farming6034under 2012.8%
ordinary ×0.44456 d
Len's Island
Backroom Company
Len's Island · Backroom Company
City Builder14212under 2012.7%
avoided ×0.15238 d
Techtonica
Surviving the Abyss
The Succession of Changing Kings
Techtonica · Surviving the Abyss · The Succession of Changing Kings
Base Building3081316.7% 7%–34%12.7%
avoided ×0.22204 d
Len's Island
Techtonica
The Spotter: Dig or Die
Len's Island · Techtonica · The Spotter: Dig or Die
Economy30141516.7% 7%–34%12.7%
avoided ×0.18180 d
A Game About Digging A Hole™
The Spotter: Dig or Die
Meltopia
A Game About Digging A Hole™ · The Spotter: Dig or Die · Meltopia
Souls-like57121214.0% 7%–25%12.1%
ordinary ×0.71111 d
Drova - Forsaken Kin
MIO: Memories in Orbit
Echoes of Aincrad
Drova - Forsaken Kin · MIO: Memories in Orbit · Echoes of Aincrad
118 pairings cleared 20 releases; 52 more never reached 5 and are not listed. Compared against 6.6% for games that carry any tags at all.

About these numbers

“Adjusted” is the share pulled towards the catalogue with the weight of twenty releases: the top of any ranked list is optimistic (out of a hundred pairings one will show 35 % on 23 releases by luck alone), and the adjustment is what stops a small lucky group from leading. The band next to the raw share is the 95 % interval. This list is the same for everyone today; the second opinion is the description-based one on Pitch comps.