Developer of ‘Overwhelmingly Positive’ Steam city-builder hopes for Metacritic representation: “Players love it, streamers love it, sales are great”

One indie developer is clamouring to get recognition on review aggregate sites like Metacritic because their roguelike city-builder is beloved by pretty much everyone. 

DotAGE is the “merciless survival roguelite turn-based city builder” where you, as the appointed village elder, need to guide townsfolk to do your settlement construction, foraging, and usual chores right in the middle of an ongoing apocalypse. The looming threat will take on a new form each time, ranging from rampant diseases and natural disasters to hordes of kittens – the horror! 

Featuring over 200 building types, 30 professions, and modable difficulty that means you can treat dotAGE like a chill town management game or an ultra tough fight against certain catastrophe – the game has been met with an ‘Overwhelmingly Positive’ reception based on over 1,750 Steam user reviews, but it’s still been ignored from major review aggregate sites.

“Ok. Players love it, streamers love it, sales are great,” solo developer Michele Pirovano recently tweeted, alongside images of the game’s glowing user reviews, viral YouTube Let’s Plays, and money-making stats. “Only… can I get my Metacritic score now thank you very much.”

DotAGE currently has two reviews displayed on its Metacritic listing, and per the site’s requirements, game’s need at least four scored reviews before they can get an aggregate score. Some sites that have reviewed and scored the game might also not be on Metacritic’s list of approved sites, but maybe there should be a better way to gauge common sentiment. 

Either way, it doesn’t make much difference to the people playing and enjoying the game right now. According to the stats above, dotAGE is in the top six percent of lifetime units sold and it’s frequently updated. After nine years in development, Pirovano’s hard worked seems to have paid off.

DotAGE’s developer thought “it will maybe sell some 100 copies” – 20,000 copies later, it’s one of the biggest surprise hits of the year.