Niklas Notes

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

Link to the post: niklasnotes.com/dashboard/bl...

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.

Link to the post: niklasnotes.com/dashboard/bl...

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

Q2 2025: What Grabbed Player Attention (and Where) - Niklas Notes This quarterly breakdown looks at Q2 2025’s most talked-about games on Steam—by language, region, and review trends. From global hits like Clair Obscur to region-locked remasters, here’s what got play...

Full breakdown here: niklasnotes.com/dashboard/bl...
#gamedev #indiedev #steam #gaming #steamstats

I built "Attention Lists" for Steam's Q2 instead of global charts.
Global winners completely missing from key markets.

PEAK was everywhere except China (no localization)
Oblivion same (poor translation)
Stellar Blade missing from Russia (region locked).

Regional data > global charts 🧵

#gamedev

Q2 2025: What Grabbed Player Attention (and Where) - Niklas Notes This quarterly breakdown looks at Q2 2025’s most talked-about games on Steam—by language, region, and review trends. From global hits like Clair Obscur to region-locked remasters, here’s what got play...

Link to the post: niklasnotes.com/dashboard/bl...

Just published my breakdown of Q2 Releases. I built regional Attention Lists to track what actually got players talking on Steam.

Clair Obscur? On top everywhere.
DELTARUNE, PEAK, DOOM, Stellar Blade? Depends on where you look.

Link in the post below!

#gamedev #indiedev #steam

Ever needed to find a short FPS that runs great on Steam Deck?

I did - and couldn’t.
So I built my own search system inside Niklas Notes.

Now I can ask:

FPS
100+ reviews
Under 8 hours
Steam Deck strong audience

…and get instant results.

Still testing, but coming soon.

#gamedev #indiedev #steam

Weekly Notes (July 07 – 13): RimWorld Soars, Patapon Returns, Mycopunk Delivers Co-op Chaos - Niklas Notes The Steam Summer Sale is over, but launches didn’t slow down. This week’s breakdown covers RimWorld’s new DLC, a co-op surprise in Mycopunk, rhythm nostalgia with Patapon, and more.

Link to the post: niklasnotes.com/dashboard/bl...

The Steam Summer Sale ended - and releases picked up immediately.

This week’s Niklas Notes covers RimWorld: Odyssey, Mycopunk, PATAPON 1+2 Replay, Brickadia, Tony Hawk 3+4, and a short horror surprise called Last Report.

Link in post below!

#gamedev #steam #indiedev

Weekly Notes (Jun 30 – Jul 06): Summer Lulls and Niklas Notes Updates - Niklas Notes The Steam Summer Sale quieted releases this week, so I’m sharing what I’ve been building behind the scenes on Niklas Notes, from genre tagging improvements to advanced search, PDF reports, and what’s ...

Steam was quiet last week (Summer Sale). I used the time to share what I’ve been building for Niklas Notes:

- Better genre tagging
- Traffic cleanup
- Advanced search + PDF reports WIP and more!

Full notes: niklasnotes.com/dashboard/bl...

#gamedev #indiedev #steam

Steam was quiet last week, but a few interesting drops:

- Tiny Aquarium (cozy idle)
- Persona 5: The Phantom X (F2P, mixed)
- System Shock 2 Remaster (still holds up)
- Ship, Inc. (wholesome shipping sim)

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

#Steam #GameDev #indiedev #systemshock

Even if you fix it, that global score is hard to come back from.

What do you think?

I keep seeing big releases getting hit hard for performance issues.
Crashes, stutter, bad optimization.

Are studios neglecting it?
Are they unaware of what hardware their players are actually using?
Or are they just way over budget and need to release, hoping to patch it later?

Dragon's Dogma 2 Analysis on Niklas Notes Overall, while 'Dragon's Dogma 2' has been praised for its exploration, combat mechanics, graphics, and character customization, it faces significant criticism regarding performance issues, repetitive...

Dragon's Dogma II: 52% positive, 106k reviews
niklasnotes.com/dashboard/ga...

Cities: Skylines II Analysis on Niklas Notes The reviews for Cities: Skylines II reveal a polarized sentiment among players, with significant concerns about frequent crashes, poor optimization, and missing features compared to its predecessor. H...

Cities: Skylines II: 52% positive, 73k reviews
niklasnotes.com/dashboard/ga...

Starfield Analysis on Niklas Notes The reviews for Starfield reveal a polarized reception, with significant criticism directed at its optimization, story, and repetitive gameplay. Many players express frustration over loading issues an...

Starfield: 56% positive, 165k reviews
niklasnotes.com/dashboard/ga...

These games sold millions of copies, but they’re all sitting around 50% positive on Steam.

The most common complaint in all of them? Performance.

A thread 🧵

#gamedev #indiedev #steam

This week on Niklas Notes (Jun 16-22):

– Roots DLC for Songs of Conquest
– PEAK sells 1M in 6 days
– 捞女游戏 tops charts with 97%
– Remedy’s Firebreak lands mixed

EA grads, demos, and weird gems

Full notes: niklasnotes.com/dashboard/bl...

#gamedev #indiedev #steamgames

Last week's Niklas Notes on Steam:

– Stellar Blade hits PC
– FNAF splits players
– The Alters = survival + clones
– MindsEye launches rough
– Heroes of Valor channels BF:Heroes

Full notes: niklasnotes.com/dashboard/bl...

#gamedev #indiedev #steamgames

Last week on Steam:

• Dune: Awakening (12k reviews before launch)
• DELTARUNE lands at 98% 🌟
• Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma
• Lies of P: Overture

Last week's breakdown on Niklas Notes is out!
niklasnotes.com/dashboard/bl...

#gamedev #indiedev #steam #dune

Last week on Steam:

• Dune: Awakening (12k reviews before launch)
• DELTARUNE lands at 98% 🌟
• Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma
• Lies of P: Overture

Last week's breakdown on Niklas Notes is out!
niklasnotes.com/dashboard/bl...

#gamedev #indiedev #steam #dune

Elden Ring: Nightreign launched to mixed reviews - 70% positive overall, but just 27% with Chinese players.

- Kabuto Park launched with nearly perfect score.
- F1® 25 improved from 24.
- PaperKlay launched.
and more!

Full post:
niklasnotes.com/dashboard/bl...

#gamedev #indiedev #eldenring

Elden Ring: Nightreign launched to mixed reviews - 70% positive overall, but just 27% with Chinese players.

- Kabuto Park launched with nearly perfect score.
- F1® 25 improved from 24.
- PaperKlay launched.
and more!

Full post:
niklasnotes.com/dashboard/bl...

#gamedev #indiedev #eldenring

Monster Train 2 nailed the sequel.
A cozy “Slow-Life RPG” from LEVEL5.
And 9 Kings? A surprise hit in Brazil - only 3 negative reviews in Portuguese.

Here’s what actually resonated on Steam last week 👇
🔗 niklasnotes.com/dashboard/bl...

#gamedev #indiedev #steam

DOOM dominated. Slormancer hit a wall — at least in Asia.

Last week’s Steam reviews show how fragile regional reception can be when expectations and localization don’t line up.

📊 Full Weekly Notes (May 12–18):
niklasnotes.com/dashboard/bl...

#GameDev #Steam #Localization #WeeklyNotes