Niklas Notes

New feature available over at Niklas Notes! Playtime Distribution showing player rating depending on how much they've played.

Great for seeing how well a game managed expectations and how long they play the game: www.patreon.com/posts/142165...

#gamedev #indiedev #steam

Weekly Notes (Oct 13 – 19): Steam Next Fest Brings Demos and Duck-Based Extraction Shooter - Niklas Notes Escape From Duckov is the winner this week with its extraction shooter. BALL x PIT follows Megabonk's success. Fellowship launches in Early Access. Plus: 30+ Steam Next Fest demos analyzed.

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Weekly Steam analysis for Oct 13-19 is up on Niklas Notes!
- Escape From Duckov (extraction shooter with ducks) hits Overwhelmingly Positive.
- BALL x PIT at 95% positive.
- Plus 30+ demos from Next Fest analyzed.

#SteamNextFest #gamedev #indiedev #steam

Weekly Notes (Oct 06 – Oct 12): Battlefield 6 Hits 700k Players, Little Nightmares III Disappoints - Niklas Notes Battlefield 6 launches to 700k concurrent players and positive reviews. Little Nightmares III stumbles with Mixed reviews. Plus: HoMM Olden Era demo, narrative indie CARIMARA, and Early Access graduat...

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Weekly analysis at Niklas Notes (Oct 06-12): Battlefield 6 hit 700k concurrent players at launch.

Little Nightmares III disappointed at 45% Mixed after going co-op.

Also: HoMM Olden Era demo, narrative indie CARIMARA, and 4 Early Access graduates.

#gamedev #indiedev #steam

Weekly Notes (Sep 22 – 28): Gods and Karts - Hades II and Sonic Racing Lead the Week - Niklas Notes Hades II exits Early Access alongside Slime Rancher 2. Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds hits 96% positive as a real Mario Kart PC competitor. Silent Hill f divides fans. Plus: EA FC 26 struggles and a gambli...

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Weekly Niklas Notes (Sep 22-28)
- Hades II graduates from Early Access.
- Sonic Racing hits 96% positive (finally a Mario Kart alternative for PC?).
-Silent Hill f divides horror fans.
- Plus 4 more Early Access grads

Link below!
#gamedev #indiedev #steam

Weekly Notes (Sep 15 – 21): From Zombie Parkour to Brewery Management - Niklas Notes Dying Light: The Beast brings Kyle Crane back for revenge. Eight games graduate from Early Access in a single week. Plus: psychological horror, free-to-play skating, and cozy city building.

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Top Steam Releases (Sep 15-21):

- Dying Light: The Beast brings Kyle Crane back.
- Eight games graduate from Early Access.
- Jump Space launches to very positive reviews.

From zombie parkour to monastery breweries - quite the variety this week.

#gamedev #indiedev #steam

Weekly Notes (Sep 08 – 14): Borderlands 4 Tests the Limits of Recommended Specs - Niklas Notes Borderlands 4 launches at 64% positive despite high system requirements. Plus: A full motion interactive fiction for the chinese audience climbs the toplist, and someone made another game about diggin...

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Weekly Steam analysis on Niklas Notes (Sep 08-14):

Borderlands 4 launches at 64% positive amid performance complaints. Plus: Chinese FMV games continue rising, and there's another game about digging holes.

#gamedev #indiedev #steam

Weekly Notes (Sep 01 – 07): Silksong Finally Arrives (and Crashes Steam) - Niklas Notes Hollow Knight: Silksong dominates the week but faces Chinese localization controversy. Plus: survival horror from Bloober Team, NBA 2K26's monetization woes, and two Early Access graduates.

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This week on Steam: Hollow Knight Silksong finally launched after years of waiting. Crashed multiple storefronts from demand.

Chinese reviews sit at 38% due to localization issues, while other regions rate it highly.

This and more in the latest notes!

#gamedev #indiedev #steam

Weekly Notes (Aug 25 – Aug 31): Naked Snake, Missing Split-screen co-op and Regional Opinions about Jumping - Niklas Notes Metal Gear Solid Δ and Gears of War remasters headline the week, while Shinobi reveals stark regional divides. Plus - Story of Seasons (formerly Harvest Moon) returns

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Last week on Steam: Metal Gear Solid Δ succeeds while Gears of War stumbles at 54% (missing split-screen co-op).

Meanwhile, Shinobi somehow gets 92% from English players but only 65% from Chinese players. Same game, completely different reception.

#gamedev #indiedev #steam

Weekly Notes (Aug 18 – Aug 24): The Gamescom Effect and Corporate Satire - Niklas Notes The Gamescom Effect kept releases light, though Stick It to the Stickman's workplace humor and Chinese narrative games proved there's always room for the right content.

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The "Gamescom Effect" kept releases light this week. Developers likely waited for Cologne's spotlight to fade.

Career climbing combat and Chinese narrative games still found their audiences though. Sometimes timing can tell you a lot of the market.

Link to this weeks' notes below!

#gamedev #steam

Weekly Notes (Aug 11 – Aug 17): The Bazaar's Growing Pains and OFF's Long-Awaited Return - Niklas Notes The Bazaar faces monetization backlash while OFF makes its official Steam debut after 17 years. Plus Dawn of War gets the definitive treatment

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The Bazaar launched with monetization controversy while OFF made its official Steam debut after 17 years as a cult classic.

Dawn of War got the "definitive" treatment, and Swedish studio DoubleMoose launched their shooter Abyssus.

Link in thread below!
#gamedev #indiedev #steam

Link to the search: niklasnotes.com/dashboard/vi...

I analyzed over 80,000 Steam games so you can search by vibe instead of genre.

Want 'noir pixel art'? ✓
Need 'nordic dark fantasy'? ✓
Craving 'neon cyberpunk aesthetic'? ✓

Maybe sometimes you just want games that FEEL a certain way.

#gamedev #indiedev #gaming #indiegames #steam

Weekly Notes (Aug 04 – Aug 10): Mafia Returns to the Old Country and Puzzle Perfection by Managing Expectations - Niklas Notes Mafia returns with familiar issues, while smaller games like Is This Seat Taken? show how to nail expectations. Plus performance problems continue to plague major releases.

Full weekly breakdown: niklasnotes.com/dashboard/bl...

Mafia: The Old Country returned this week with signature storytelling and familiar performance problems.

Meanwhile, Is This Seat Taken? hit 98% positive by managing expectations perfectly - players knew exactly what they were getting and loved it.

#gamedev #indiedev #steam

No I haven't, I just purchased Balatro at the summer sale - so I'm currently playing that 😄 How about you? Have you tried Titan Quest 2?

Weekly Notes (July 28 – Aug 03): Sequels, Nostalgia & Second Breakfast in the Shire - Niklas Notes Big names, small stumbles. This week saw Grounded 2, Titan Quest II, and Tales of the Shire return to familiar worlds - sometimes with performance issues in tow

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Grounded 2, Titan Quest II, NINJA GAIDEN. Last week was sequel- and nostalgia-heavy.

Performance issues hit the first two hard, while NINJA GAIDEN: Ragebound nailed it with 93% positive reviews.

Link in post below to the weekly notes!
#gamedev #indiedev #steam

Weekly Notes (July 21 – 27): When Performance Kills the Hype - Niklas Notes This week's biggest releases struggled with technical issues while smaller games found success through solid execution and unique mechanics

Full breakdown of the week's releases: niklasnotes.com/dashboard/bl...

Last week's Steam releases: WUCHANG had a 75% Metacritic score but only 36% positive on Steam. Killing Floor 3 had similar issues. Both stunted by performance problems.

Meanwhile, smaller games like The King is Watching won players over with solid execution.
#gamedev #indiedev

Weekly Notes (July 14 – 20): Destiny Stumbles, Indies Shine, Nostalgia Returns - Niklas Notes This week brought a mix of the old and the new - Destiny's latest expansion got a rocky reception, while games like Eriksholm and Word Play charmed their audiences.

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This week on Steam (July 14–20):

- Destiny 2 struggles (~44%)
- NWN2 Enhanced stumbles at launch
- Eriksholm (made here in Gothenburg) shines with 93%
- Stronghold Crusader gets the AoE treatment
+ stealth indies, word games, and pixel noir

Link below!
#steam #gamedev #indiedev