Metroidvania games on Steam, measured
One interconnected 2D map that opens up as the player earns new abilities.
291 games tagged Metroidvania came out on Steam in 2025 (263 in 2024), and 223 have come out so far in 2026, +9% on the same weeks of 2025.
Of the 402 released between Jan 1, 2024 and Jun 30, 2025, 6.2% reached 1,000 reviews, against 4.2% across all of Steam (1.5× the Steam rate).
Most of the niche prices itself under $5 (0% reached 1,000 reviews there); $20 and up did best at 35%.
1,565 more Metroidvania pages are on Steam but not released yet, 35 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.
How fast the niche is filling
Games tagged Metroidvania released each year. 2026 is counted to Sep 27, 2026; the same weeks of 2025 saw 205.
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.
| Metroidvania | All of Steam | |
|---|---|---|
| Games released | 402 | 24,918 |
| Reached 10 reviews | 69.4% | 53.2% |
| Reached 100 reviews | 26.6% | 17.3% |
| Reached 1,000 reviews | 6.2%95% range 4.2% to 9% | 4.2% |
| Median reviews | 22 | 11 |
| Median list price (paid games) | $9.99 | $4.99 |
| Free to play | 14.4% | 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.
| Price | Games | 100+ reviews | 1,000+ reviews | Median reviews |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under $5 | 96 | 2.1% | 0%0% to 3.8% | under 10 |
| $5 to $9.99 | 92 | 14.1% | 0%0% to 4% | 12 |
| $10 to $14.99 | 60 | 36.7% | 3.3%0.9% to 11.4% | 69 |
| $15 to $19.99 | 56 | 55.4% | 14.3%7.4% to 25.7% | 174 |
| $20 and up | 40 | 70% | 35%22.1% to 50.5% | 322 |
— 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 Metroidvania 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
- Souls-like: 13.3% reached 1,000 reviews (45 games)
- Action RPG: 8.3% reached 1,000 reviews (48 games)
- Precision Platformer: 6.9% reached 1,000 reviews (29 games)
Filling fastest in 2026
- Arcade: 12 so far vs 7 (+71%)
- Action RPG: 33 so far vs 24 (+38%)
- Shooter: 11 so far vs 8 (+38%)
| Tag | Games (2024–2025 cohort) | 1,000+ reviews | 100+ reviews | 2026 so far vs 2025 | Unreleased |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Platformer | 169 | 3.6%1.6% to 7.5% | 23.7% | 79 vs 70+13% | 588 |
| 2D Platformer | 158 | 3.8%1.8% to 8% | 22.2% | 83 vs 80+4% | 522 |
| Action-Adventure | 137 | 2.9%1.1% to 7.3% | 19.7% | 70 vs 68+3% | 593 |
| Puzzle | 54 | 5.6%1.9% to 15.1% | 24.1% | 33 vs 32+3% | 185 |
| Action RPG | 48 | 8.3%3.3% to 19.6% | 20.8% | 33 vs 24+38% | 207 |
| Souls-like | 45 | 13.3%6.3% to 26.2% | 33.3% | 31 vs 25+24% | 217 |
| Puzzle Platformer | 43 | 2.3%0.4% to 12.1% | 30.2% | 19 vs 20−5% | 155 |
| Hack and Slash | 25 | 4%0.7% to 19.5% | 28% | 19 vs 15+27% | 126 |
| Precision Platformer | 29 | 6.9%1.9% to 22% | 17.2% | 12 vs 9+33% | 72 |
| Shooter | 27 | 0%0% to 12.5% | 11.1% | 11 vs 8+38% | 60 |
| Arcade | 25 | 0%0% to 13.3% | 4% | 12 vs 7+71% | 47 |
| Action Roguelike | 20 | 5%0.9% to 23.6% | 20% | 9 vs 10−10% | 57 |
— fewer than 20 games in the cohort. Ranges are 95% intervals.
What broke through in the last 12 months
The most-reviewed Metroidvania games released since Sep 27, 2025. Still young, so these counts are still climbing.
- MIO: Memories in Orbit1,950 reviews, 86% positive · $19.99 · Jan 20, 2026
- GRIME II1,912 reviews, 86% positive · $27.99 · Mar 31, 2026
- Goblin Vyke: The Thief Tycoon1,407 reviews, 70% positive · $14.99 · Apr 30, 2026
- Verho - Curse of Faces1,226 reviews, 91% positive · $19.99 · Nov 10, 2025
- Constance1,223 reviews, 84% positive · $19.99 · Nov 24, 2025
- JUMP KING QUEST1,216 reviews, 88% positive · $14.99 · May 25, 2026
- Well Dweller1,121 reviews, 97% positive · $19.99 · Sep 22, 2026
- Shattered Divinities923 reviews, 94% positive · $9.99 · May 14, 2026
What's coming
1,565 Metroidvania pages are live on Steam but not released: 35 with a date in the next 90 days, 262 with a later date, month or quarter, and 1,268 saying "Coming soon" or "To be announced". For comparison, 291 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 Metroidvania tag (tag id 1628), read page by page from Steam's public store search on Sep 27, 2026: 3,382 games, 1,817 of them released (Steam's own released count: 1,819). 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".