PULSAR: Lost Colony
The first 3 hours are a test
What the data shows
- In the first 2 hours 1 in 2 reviews are negative (49%); after 10h it's 1 in 18 (6%).
- Fully opens up by hour 7.
- The opening is criticised more than in 76% of games we track.
- At least 14% of players who start reach the ending.
- Only 22% of owners have even the first achievement — the rest barely played.
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 5,767 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 294 reviews: 21h for positive, 8h 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 (22.2% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.
- Started playing 100%
- Intergalactic Overlords ≥14% −86
story milestone ending (most common ending) biggest drop-off
Story milestones were labeled by AI from achievement names and descriptions; mistakes are possible.
All achievements (41)
story milestone ending side
- Galaxy In Chaos Reach Chaos level 6 100%
- Dice Champion Win a game of Liar’s Dice 80%
- Big Spender Spend 100,000 credits in a single game 73%
- Explorer Make 150 jumps 70%
- Seeking Death Defeat a Deathseeker 66%
- Sandscarred Win the Sandscar Arena 40%
- The Wasted Wing Complete the Colonial Union faction mission line 35%
- Leap of Faith Blind jump 5 times in a single game 33%
- Unexpected Guest 31%
- No Questions Asked Complete Rumibard Warger's artifact collection missions 26%
- Veteran Crew Reach Crew Level 25 26%
- First Place Win the Ion Races 26%
- The Caustic Corsair Defeat the Caustic Corsair 25%
- The Swarm Defeat the Swarm 25%
- Researcher Research 10 talents 25%
- The Ancient Sentry Defeat the Ancient Sentry 24%
- The Grim Cutlass Defeat the Grim Cutlass 24%
- Colony Found 20%
- Cypher Master 18%
- Hold Still Heal 5,000 hit points on your allies 15%
- Intergalactic Overlords 14%
- Call Of The Void Defeat the V’uurog 12%
- The Forsaken Flagship Complete the W.D. Corporation faction mission line 11%
- The Great Biscuit Race Win the Fluffy Biscuit Company sales competition 8.6%
- Biscuit Madness 6.8%
- The Madman's Mansion Complete the Alliance of Gentlemen faction mission line 6.8%
- Master Chef Perfectly cook 5 biscuits in a row 6.3%
- Take No Chances 5.4%
- Together We Survive Complete the C.U. ending at the Lost Colony 3.6%
- Depths of Umbra-K54 3.6%
- Diplomat As captain, pacify 25 hostile ships 2.7%
- Free For All 2.7%
- The Unseen Threat 2.7%
- Progress Above All Complete the W.D. ending at the Lost Colony 2.3%
- Extortionist As captain, extort 25 ships 1.8%
- Never Trust A Gentlemen Complete the A.O.G. ending at the Lost Colony 1.8%
- Pacifist Reach crew level 10 without dealing any damage 1.8%
- Eat Biscuits, Feel Butter Complete the F.B. ending at the Lost Colony 1.4%
- All Umbra Logs 0.9%
- Lost Colony Completionist Complete all Lost Colony endings 0.5%
- True Mettle 0.5%