Lost in Play
Hooks you almost right away
What the data shows
- In the first 2 hours 1 in 8 reviews are negative (12%); after 5h it's 1 in 90 (1%).
- Fully opens up by hour 4.
- The opening is criticised less than in 87% of games we track.
- 60% of players who start reach the ending.
- The biggest drop-off is between “Becoming a Monster” and “Reality Check” (You snapped back into reality, or did you?): from 93% to 84% of starters.
- 94% of owners got the first achievement.
When it gets good
Share of positive reviews by how many hours the reviewer had played when writing the review.
before it gets good opening up fully opened up
Based on all 9,640 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 299 reviews: 5.4h for positive, 2.2h for negative. Almost every game is rated lower in the first 2–3 hours: that window includes refunds and quick first impressions. What matters is how deep the dip is and how fast the game recovers.
Where players quit
Share of players who started the game and reached each story milestone. 100% is the most common achievement (94% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.
- Started playing 100%
- Dreamer But you're not the only one 100%
- Becoming a Monster When you become a monster, be careful not to fight one 93% −7
- Reality Check You snapped back into reality, or did you? Most players quit here 84% −10
- Sail Away Survived the ocean and sailed away 78% −5
- Smarter than a Forest Critter You won a game of fox and hounds against a forest critter and lived to tell the tale 73% −6
- Brain Jello Complete the Jellyfish puzzle 72%
- Enter the Dragon You entered the dragon cave (not a reference to the Bruce Lee movie) 68% −4
- Inception A dream within a dream 66% −2
- Exit the Dragon You exited the dragon cave (see, there is no Bruce Lee movie by that name) 66%
- Smarter Than a Bird You won a game of crab-checkers against the Seagul 63% −3
- Usurper That was a nice usurpation! 62% −1
- Chicken Run You broke out of prison thanks to a chicken 61% −1
- Dream Job You entered a dream and retrieved the crown while falling through space merged to your sibling, good job! 60% −1
- Homecoming You made it home! 60%
story milestone ending biggest drop-off
Story milestones were labeled by AI from achievement names and descriptions; mistakes are possible.
All achievements (19)
story milestone ending side
- Dreamer But you're not the only one 100%
- Becoming a Monster When you become a monster, be careful not to fight one 93%
- Reality Check You snapped back into reality, or did you? 84%
- Sail Away Survived the ocean and sailed away 78%
- Smarter than a Forest Critter You won a game of fox and hounds against a forest critter and lived to tell the tale 73%
- Brain Jello Complete the Jellyfish puzzle 72%
- Enter the Dragon You entered the dragon cave (not a reference to the Bruce Lee movie) 68%
- Inception A dream within a dream 66%
- Exit the Dragon You exited the dragon cave (see, there is no Bruce Lee movie by that name) 66%
- Smarter Than a Bird You won a game of crab-checkers against the Seagul 63%
- Usurper That was a nice usurpation! 62%
- Crybaby You just made a baby cry, I hope you are proud of yourself 61%
- Chicken Run You broke out of prison thanks to a chicken 61%
- That's Gross! You licked the night pot at the prison 60%
- Dream Job You entered a dream and retrieved the crown while falling through space merged to your sibling, good job! 60%
- Homecoming You made it home! 60%
- Giant Cat That's the second biggest cat I've ever seen 55%
- Frequency Modulator You really like changing radio stations 20%
- Lonesome George You made a bone rubble out of the giant turtle, if only we could turn back time 20%