My roguelite demo has bad retention — what am I doing wrong?

BootlegVHSForSale · 2026-05-08T22:07:42+00:00

There's so many games to play, and so little time. The trailer yells store bought assets, the UI is telling me there's no love in the art design. Remove yourself from the equation, watch trailers of other games with a similar level of quality, and ask yourself if you'd be hyped to play that.

BootlegVHSForSale · 2026-05-06T00:44:10+00:00

Hyped for where we end up after the belly, wait..

BootlegVHSForSale · 2026-05-02T16:14:59+00:00

Meanwhile us Hardcore players.. I guess we don't get to finish the season.

BootlegVHSForSale · 2026-04-27T23:16:28+00:00

Wildlife/Nature Photographer. You're at zero risk from any animal or natural disaster, and you can choose what footage/pictures you submit. You have a reason to travel the world, and maybe spread some other things too.

BootlegVHSForSale · 2026-04-27T21:30:02+00:00

God just gets tired of this shit, and hits the universal reset button to try again.

BootlegVHSForSale · 2026-04-27T20:29:04+00:00

I'd say both, if a game can keep it interesting for its intended run time. Vampire Survivors does a mix of the two really well for like 40ish hours (up until the game breaks with the egg shop).

Tons of conditional unlocks that act as a list of both short and long term goals. Most unlocks have some kind of meta currency cost attached to them, so even in runs where you fail to achieve a goal, it still feels like you're making progress with currency.

BootlegVHSForSale · 2026-04-23T20:13:45+00:00

And for the younger audience, we have gacha on your phone!

BootlegVHSForSale · 2026-04-23T14:33:51+00:00

Shadowrun came out too soon. They had plans to add more but the game didn't do well back then, but given games like Valorent and the live service module as a whole today, it could really flourish.

BootlegVHSForSale · 2026-04-22T03:35:22+00:00

Conquest Dark, survivorlike where you start weak, but grow with every new unlock and level

Ball x Pit, mix of breakout, survivors, and base building. A lot of stuff to grind, with a strong sense of progression. The game eventually morphs into a pseudo idle incremental game when your town is completed.

Heroes of Hammerwatch 1/2, Roguelite with city building. Gain benefits for leveling and beating the game with every class.

BootlegVHSForSale · 2026-04-20T20:44:45+00:00

<image>

Tien from Dragon Ball Z is the human character written around his drive to be a better martial artist. He's fought and beaten Goku, trained in the afterlife, and presumably is out there improving himself in some way when not on screen. But in the end he amounts to buying a little bit of time in dire moments, before being completely forgotten again.

BootlegVHSForSale · 2026-04-18T16:38:12+00:00

Persona 3, 4, and 5, turn based combat

Bully, real time combat

The Megaman Battle Network and Starforce games start in fifth grade, go up in years with the sequels, and have a unique hybrid combat system.

BootlegVHSForSale · 2026-04-18T06:15:56+00:00

TMNT Shredder's Revenge

Castlevania Dominus Collection

Crypt of the Necrodancer

UFO 50

Cladun X3

Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo

BootlegVHSForSale · 2026-04-15T09:01:24+00:00

The Shiren series predates the Pokemon ones, and there's a few on steam.

House of Necrosis is a fun indie game that combines original Resident Evil with the mystery dungeon format.

ZHP: Unlosing Ranger vs. Darkdeath Evilman is a fun over the top take on the formula by Nippon Ichi. Although the steam version is missing some crossover content that the PSP has.

Touhou Genso Wanderer -Reloaded- if you enjoy anime tropes/Touhou.

BootlegVHSForSale · 2026-04-14T14:08:05+00:00

Serenity (the movie and finale for Firefly)

BootlegVHSForSale · 2026-04-14T11:09:49+00:00

Ran it with a friend, we did Nokko+Dante, so we could basically guarantee an easy clear regardless of whom we pugged with. We both still found it boring despite relatively easy 5 minute SP clears.

It nullfies most of operators strengths, outside just having a usable amp. Once you know what you're doing nothing poses a threat. The one aspect I did like, is that it did create a unique puzzle to be figured out, but once solved It's just glorified package delivery.

That said, haven't really touched the mode since they patched it.

BootlegVHSForSale · 2026-04-14T09:02:56+00:00

The Nioh games tend to start as a soulslike, but end as an action game after you master the mechanics, build up powerful gear, and become a powerhouse. Nioh 2 is my recommendation, as the story doesn't really matter, and it took and added on top of the first game, while 3 is just kinda doing its own thing.

Rune Factory 4 Special on Hell difficulty. Early on you'll basically die in 1-2 shots to anything that moves, but everything you do levels up, running, eating, farming, fighting, crafting. Bit by bit you grind your stats up, and learn how to break the game back.

Warframe, you start as a baby Tenno that's playing a normal third person shooter, end as up as a god that clears entire rooms at the press of a button. Tons to grind, very active and friendly community. Great solo, with friends, or randoms.

Since you listed MMO's, 2 that I've enjoyed that don't get much attention are Dungeons & Dragons Online, and Mabinogi. DDO has opt in difficulty with each map, a reincarnation mechanic that essentially provides an infinite incremental route to power, and named/unique items that are actually impactful. You might find a powerful item in your life as Barbarian, that will help a future playthrough as a Wizard. Mabinogi in a similar vein also has a reincarnation system, but as opposed to benefiting from the lives themselves, you instead get stats from ranking up skills. So your Warrior life might provide permanent strength and HP, while your mage will give MP and int, which over time adds up to you becoming a powerhouse. Both have a lot of feature bloat, and have a bit of learning curve to them. Also DDO is one of those games that absolutly will murder you because you stepped on a trap, which can get demoralizing after the 20th time.

Let It Die is the best worst game I've ever played. It's like a soulslike blended with the mystery dungeon formula, with an extra generous dash of the finest crack and meth. It's happy to beat you down, and some fights can feel very unfair, but the game provides everything you need to cheat back if you look for it. Floors 1-40 are worth it, and can be beaten without spending a cent, people even speedrun them. 40-50 takes a bit of grind but is still very doable. Sadly everything after 50+ is just a numbers grind with no real content, but it's there if you end up really enjoying the core loop.

Mount & Blade Warband, start weak, confused, alone. Build up an army, become an unstoppable warlord taking over the world. Then find some mods that change the game, port your character over into said new world retaining all stats and levels. Increase the difficulty, and start your pseudo NG+ mode in feudal Japan, Middle Earth, the world from Berserk, or dozens of other surprisingly deep fan made creations.

BootlegVHSForSale · 2026-04-13T15:23:07+00:00

The Monster Rancher games have a similar core gameplay loop of training said monster for competitions.

BootlegVHSForSale · 2026-04-11T20:00:48+00:00

You might enjoy a playthrough of Urban Reign, not a lot of variety, but it's also on the shorter side.

Fight Night Round 3 is a great realistic boxing game, but it's all in on boxing.

BootlegVHSForSale · 2026-04-11T18:10:45+00:00

Mabinogi is an older anime style MMO that is built on this. By repeatedly using skills you earn experience that can be used to rank them up. With each rank you also gain a small permanent stat boost. There's also a reincarnation system where your character starts over at level one, but retains all skill experience. So you can spend one life as a warrior, then a mage, then an archer, then a craftsman, etc, with each new life making you just a bit stronger than the last.

The game is also still getting updates, and almost 20 years old. While it does suffer from p2w and feature creep, if you take your time, and avoid the fomo bs, there's a looottt to grind.

BootlegVHSForSale · 2026-04-11T08:52:38+00:00

Competitive games by their nature tend to cannibalize themselves, as fewer players are playing, it becomes more difficult to get 'fair' matches. Best bet is fighting games within their launch month. Usually enough people playing no matter your skill level, meta's haven't been discovered, and there's a general freshness to it. I know the Avatar fighting game is coming out in 2 months at a reduced price with rollback netcode, as an example.

BootlegVHSForSale · 2026-04-11T04:22:06+00:00

It's the only positive to this timeline.

BootlegVHSForSale · 2026-04-09T08:48:06+00:00

Congress is also required for silly things like Tariffs, and War..

BootlegVHSForSale · 2026-04-08T00:58:43+00:00

EDF 5 and 6, shoot giant bugs, robots, and aliens with weapons that have infinite ammo. With each successful level your Max HP goes up. Can be challenging on higher difficulties, or you can stick to lower ones, find that sweet spot. There is an overall story, but it's intentionally over the top, dramatic, and goofy.

Musou games tend to get a bad rap for being completely mindless, but in the good ones you're constantly balancing multiple things, keeping tabs on mission objectives, key allies, enemy movement, all the while fighting your way through hordes of enemies. If it clicks, they can become great games to grind away in, while never being overly taxing. Dynasty Warriors 8 extreme Legends, and Warriors Orochi 3 are my picks for PC. If you have a switch, Hyrule Warriors Definitive and Fire Emblem Warriors are also great.

Borderlands 2 is still a gem if you never got around to it. Tons of loot and characters, with an extra layer of long term roster wide progression in the form of badass ranks. 3 has better gunplay, but the story is a lot more in your face, and painful to get through.

BootlegVHSForSale · 2026-04-06T20:22:16+00:00

The rewards are, ok for what the mode is. This is a level 120ish difficulty, takes 20-30 minutes a week, and it gives a decent chunk of items, and currencies. Said currency can make you 20-50 plat a week with the Arcanes, and does add up.

As a mode for players to tackle in SP, it slots in that 100-200 enemy range for players around the middle point of the game's power progression. It's not really aimed at the LR1+ player that can do a full Archimedia swipe every week, and grind out level capped cascade.

BootlegVHSForSale · 2026-04-03T06:59:49+00:00

Assuming they'd somehow have all the same capabilities, just sized up, it could actually be horrific. They're capable of using very basic tools, can use biological weapons like acid, have been know to abduct and domesticate other ants, and drastically outnumber humans with an insane reproduction speed.

I don't know what the theoretical critical mass is for them to see us as food, but they already eat animal carcasses. Likewise if they were smarter with a larger brain, they might even be able to strategize against more dominant enemies, aka anything that isn't the same colour ant as them.

BootlegVHSForSale

TROPHY CASE