The niche at a glance

Steampunk on Steam: 897 released games, 256 in the last 12 months, 472 announced and still unreleased. Median lifetime reviews: 11. 46% of them never reached 10 reviews. Free to play: 10%. Steampunk 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 included306 releases
p100
p252
median11
p7553
p90290
46% of them never reached 10 reviewsMedian price $9.99 · 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
34med 33 · 32% unseen
2020
41med 53 · 17% unseen
2021
55med 31 · 22% unseen
2022
52med 39 · 23% unseen
2023
77med 52 · 25% unseen
2024
95med 13 · 40% unseen
2025
116med 18 · 41% unseen
2026
135med 3 · 64% unseen · 54 too fresh

Steampunk × mechanics: what the pairings end up with

every mechanics tag shipped with Steampunk at least 5 times · same window× mechanics× presentation
share reaching 500 reviews, shrunk towards the catalogue · click a row to open the concept
Steampunk ×3 y12 mmedian≥500adjusted vs chancelast hitwho made it
Character Customization27105329.6% 16%–48%19.9%
ordinary ×1.41173 d
Abyssus
Crystalfall
Super Mining Mechs
Abyssus · Crystalfall · Super Mining Mechs
Open World19813under 2018.8%
cliché ×1.57113 d
SAND: Raiders of Sophie
Railroader
Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles
SAND: Raiders of Sophie · Railroader · Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles
Loot10637under 2017.8%
cliché ×1.68113 d
SAND: Raiders of Sophie
Crystalfall
Thick As Thieves
SAND: Raiders of Sophie · Crystalfall · Thick As Thieves
Action RPG2373826.1% 13%–46%17.1%
cliché ×1.81173 d
Crystalfall
Swarm Grinder
Dark Envoy
Crystalfall · Swarm Grinder · Dark Envoy
CRPG63174under 2016.7%
cliché ×1.75686 d
Dark Envoy
New Arc Line
Sovereign Syndicate
Dark Envoy · New Arc Line · Sovereign Syndicate
Mining61440under 2016.7%
cliché ×2.58718 d
Swarm Grinder
Super Mining Mechs
BORE BLASTERS
Swarm Grinder · Super Mining Mechs · BORE BLASTERS
City Builder13433under 2016.2%
cliché ×1.86753 d
Frostpunk 2
SteamWorld Build
Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles
Frostpunk 2 · SteamWorld Build · Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles
Sandbox2064525.0% 11%–47%15.8%
ordinary ×1.32718 d
Railroader
SteamWorld Build
Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles
Railroader · SteamWorld Build · Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles
RPG65173116.9% 10%–28%14.5%
ordinary ×1.48173 d
Crystalfall
Gestalt: Steam & Cinder
Storm Striker
Crystalfall · Gestalt: Steam & Cinder · Storm Striker
Economy103184under 2014.4%
ordinary ×1.06887 d
Railroader
SteamWorld Build
Dream Engines: Nomad Cities
Railroader · SteamWorld Build · Dream Engines: Nomad Cities
Dungeon Crawler11219under 2014.0%
ordinary ×1.48186 d
Abyssus
Crystalfall
Dark Envoy
Abyssus · Crystalfall · Dark Envoy
Procedural Generation2651019.2% 9%–38%13.8%
cliché ×1.84718 d
Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles
Swarm Grinder
Super Mining Mechs
Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles · Swarm Grinder · Super Mining Mechs
Inventory Management5415under 2013.3%
ordinary ×0.94186 d
Crystalfall
Ratten Reich
Crystalfall · Ratten Reich
Transportation5210under 2013.3%
ordinary ×1.20113 d
SAND: Raiders of Sophie
Railroader
SAND: Raiders of Sophie · Railroader
Exploration67212014.9% 8%–25%13.0%
cliché ×1.52113 d
SAND: Raiders of Sophie
TEVI
Gestalt: Steam & Cinder
SAND: Raiders of Sophie · TEVI · Gestalt: Steam & Cinder
37 pairings cleared 20 releases; 112 more never reached 5 and are not listed. Compared against 6.7% 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.