Game development has never once been easy, but it isn't always as karmically vicious as the story of Katanaut, a cosmic horror-flavored action game with a Roguevania pitch similar to Dead Cells. Released by solo developer Eugene of studio Voidmaw after more than three years of work, the "Metroidvania-inspired action roguelite" launched on Steam on September 10, on the heels of Metroidvania giant Hollow Knight: Silksong and ahead of the 1.0 release of roguelike hotness Hades 2. This, you may struggle to believe, was hard going.
Eugene says Katanaut averaged 11 peak players at launch despite 52,000 Steam wishlists indicating solid interest in the game. He describes the game as "a little mixture of Katana Zero and Dead Cells," so it's not hard to see the appeal. Steam user reviews have been strong, too, at 91% positive so far. But – not unusually, as wishlists typically convert at a very low ratio – far fewer than 52,000 people turned up.
