Niche report · September 2026 · Roguelikes

Bullet Heaven games on Steam, measured

Auto-attacking survival against ever-larger swarms, in the mould of Vampire Survivors.

103 games tagged Bullet Heaven came out on Steam in 2025 (69 in 2024), and 329 have come out so far in 2026, +406% on the same weeks of 2025.

Of the 107 released between Jan 1, 2024 and Jun 30, 2025, 13.1% reached 1,000 reviews, against 4.2% across all of Steam (3.1× the Steam rate).

Most of the niche prices itself under $5 (8.7% reached 1,000 reviews there); $5 to $9.99 did best at 14.3%.

753 more Bullet Heaven pages are on Steam but not released yet, 102 of them dated within 90 days.

Counted game by game from Steam's store on Sep 27, 2026. How we counted, and what the numbers can't tell you.

Released in 2025
103
69 in 2024
2026 so far
329
+406% on the same weeks of 2025
Reached 1,000 reviews
13.1%
3.1× the Steam rate (4.2%)
Unreleased pages
753
102 dated within 90 days

Read the growth numbers with this in mind. Steam added this tag in its May 2026 tag overhaul, so part of its growth is developers adopting the new label, not only new games.

How fast the niche is filling

Games tagged Bullet Heaven released each year. 2026 is counted to Sep 27, 2026; the same weeks of 2025 saw 65.

Bullet Heaven releases per year
20201
20212
202217
202337
202469
2025103
2026 so farto Sep 27, 2026329

Source: Steam store search, 1,318 games tagged Bullet Heaven, captured Sep 27, 2026

How its games did

Games released Jan 1, 2024 to Jun 30, 2025, so every one has been on sale at least 14 months, against every Steam game released in the same window. Reaching 1,000 reviews is the usual rule of thumb for roughly $150,000 in gross revenue; 100 reviews is real traction.

Bullet HeavenAll of Steam
Games released10724,918
Reached 10 reviews88.8%53.2%
Reached 100 reviews41.1%17.3%
Reached 1,000 reviews13.1%95% range 8% to 20.8%4.2%
Median reviews7511
Median list price (paid games)$5.99$4.99
Free to play1.9%17.7%

Price and outcome

The same cohort by undiscounted US list price on the day we counted. Higher prices go with bigger teams and more content, and a game that cut its price after a weak launch now sits in a cheaper band, so read this as what games priced like yours did, not as proof that raising a price lifts sales.

PriceGames100+ reviews1,000+ reviewsMedian reviews
Under $54623.9%8.7%3.4% to 20.3%37
$5 to $9.994252.4%14.3%6.7% to 27.8%141
$10 to $14.9912———
$15 to $19.992———
$20 and up3———

— fewer than 20 games, too few to compare.

Sub-niches: where the odds and the crowding differ

Other tags that appear in the top seven tags of Bullet Heaven games. Tags that describe a look or a platform (Pixel Graphics, Singleplayer) are left out. Players add tags to games that are already popular, so narrow tags flatter their hit rates: compare sub-niches with each other, not with Steam.

Best odds

  • Roguelike: 19.4% reached 1,000 reviews (36 games)
  • Bullet Hell: 17.5% reached 1,000 reviews (80 games)
  • Roguelite: 14.3% reached 1,000 reviews (77 games)

Filling fastest in 2026

  • PvE: 31 so far vs 5 (+520%)
  • Arcade: 56 so far vs 10 (+460%)
  • Hack and Slash: 31 so far vs 6 (+417%)
TagGames (2024–2025 cohort)1,000+ reviews100+ reviews2026 so far vs 2025Unreleased
Action Roguelike8913.5%7.9% to 22.1%39.3%223 vs 44+407%531
Roguelite7714.3%8.2% to 23.8%46.8%172 vs 40+330%405
Bullet Hell8017.5%10.7% to 27.3%42.5%162 vs 44+268%312
Roguelike3619.4%9.8% to 35%44.4%98 vs 22+346%211
Top-Down Shooter210%0% to 15.5%23.8%62 vs 13+377%140
Arcade13——56 vs 10+460%129
Shoot 'Em Up205%0.9% to 23.6%35%36 vs 10+260%75
Arena Shooter16——39 vs 11+255%77
Shooter8——31 vs 7+343%83
Survival11——28 vs 7+300%59
Action RPG18——21 vs 11+91%48
PvE8——31 vs 5+520%69
Hack and Slash5——31 vs 6+417%61
Twin Stick Shooter13——22 vs 9+144%33
Incremental2——29 vs 6+383%91
Idler2——22 vs 430

— fewer than 20 games in the cohort. Ranges are 95% intervals.

What broke through in the last 12 months

The most-reviewed Bullet Heaven games released since Sep 27, 2025. Still young, so these counts are still climbing.

  1. BALL x PIT15,516 reviews, 95% positive · $14.99 · Oct 15, 2025
  2. Yet Another Zombie Survivors5,598 reviews, 94% positive · $14.99 · Aug 20, 2026
  3. The Spell Brigade5,030 reviews, 86% positive · $12.99 · Apr 29, 2026
  4. Pathogenic2,904 reviews, 95% positive · $9.99 · Jul 16, 2026
  5. Arms of God1,901 reviews, 88% positive · $11.50 · Jun 8, 2026
  6. Hell Maiden1,879 reviews, 90% positive · $9.99 · Jul 16, 2026
  7. Vital Shell1,768 reviews, 96% positive · $5.99 · Jan 7, 2026
  8. Tower of Babel: Survivors of Chaos1,452 reviews, 78% positive · $12.99 · May 26, 2026

What's coming

753 Bullet Heaven pages are live on Steam but not released: 102 with a date in the next 90 days, 273 with a later date, month or quarter, and 378 saying "Coming soon" or "To be announced". For comparison, 103 came out in all of 2025.

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How we counted, and what the numbers can't tell you

  • Every game carrying Steam's Bullet Heaven tag (tag id 723991), read page by page from Steam's public store search on Sep 27, 2026: 1,318 games, 565 of them released (Steam's own released count: 565). Games only: no DLC, soundtracks or software.
  • Success rates use one fixed cohort, games released Jan 1, 2024 to Jun 30, 2025, because review counts grow with age: a game from last month has not had time to reach 1,000 reviews, and comparing it with a 2024 game would measure age, not success.
  • Review counts are the totals Steam's search shows a US visitor, which may count English-language reviews only. Steam prints no count under 10 reviews, so "under 10" is as precise as the data gets. Prices are the undiscounted US list price on the day we counted, not the launch price: a game that cut its price after launch counts at the new price.
  • Tags are community tags. Players add them to games that are already popular, which flatters the hit rates of narrow tags. Delisted games and age-restricted games are not in Steam's default search, so they are not here either.
  • "Reached 1,000 reviews" is a proxy for commercial success (roughly $150,000 gross by the common rule of thumb), not a revenue figure. We publish no revenue estimates.
  • The full aggregate is public: /api/niches/data. Cite it as "Steam Niche Index, Steam Page Analyzer, September 2026".