Non-AAA RPGs Are Selling and Making Noise at the Same Time

While the new co-op dark fantasy RPG Mistfall Hunter was in open beta, Kenshi crossed the 3 million sales mark, and Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era reached 1 million sales. These three games, each standing in a different genre space, made it visible in the same week that RPG projects outside the AAA bracket can attract both player attention and commercial success.

Mistfall Hunter brings familiar genres together under one roof

At first glance, Mistfall Hunter arrives with familiar markers: Soulslike combat, co-op RPG progression, PvPvE encounters, and extraction gameplay. What makes the game interesting, though, is that it does more than just place these pieces side by side. Its structure leans especially hard into third-person melee combat, character building, and cooperation.

In the game, players head into dangerous zones, fight grotesque monsters and tough bosses, collect valuable loot, and try to get out before losing everything. The risk does not come only from the environment. Rival players are part of the same threat chain as well. That raises the same question every time: push deeper, or leave with the loot you already have?

The Soulslike influence is immediately felt in the game’s combat rhythm. Dodging, stamina management, timing, positioning, and reading enemy patterns become decisive for success. Combat does not play out like random chaos; instead, it works as a measured structure that demands attention. That is one of the key factors that separates the game from similarly styled chaotic designs.

Kenshi attracted millions despite its harsh and punishing structure

The picture is different on the Kenshi side, but the outcome is similar. The desert-set, unforgiving sandbox survival RPG has reached 3 million sales. For a game with a brutal start, dense systems, and a visually old-school presentation, that number is striking. It is clear that the game is not an easily accessible experience.

Kenshi is not the kind of game that pulls players in right away. In fact, it barely comes close to that. But once you get past the learning curve, it offers a deep sandbox. In a wasteland, it is possible to build a squad and shape the environment around your own goals. That is exactly why, despite appealing to a narrow audience, it has built a lasting player community.

When Lo-Fi Games shared the sales milestone, it noted that more than 3 million players have been reached since the original launch in 2018. While thanking the community, the studio also made a point of recognizing mod creators, fan artists, storytellers, and content creators. Kenshi’s success once again shows that difficult games are not automatically commercially limited.

What matters here is not just the sales figure. Kenshi found long-term success despite being a premium game with a presentation that does not look immediately inviting. That suggests that in indie or mid-scale RPGs, the weight is no longer carried only by marketing power, but by system depth and a structure that keeps players engaged.

Olden Era is growing by leaning on the peak of the series

Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era is another example of the same trend. The game reached 1 million sales, and a roguelike mode was also hinted at in the process. It was also reported that the roadmap includes reorganizations and new modes. In other words, the game is preparing to expand its content without losing momentum on the sales side.

The key point here is that Olden Era moves forward by leaning especially on the 1999 HoMM 3 era of the series. That approach appears to have paid off. After passing break-even in a single day and selling 250,000 copies to cover its costs, the game kept its momentum going. Reaching 1 million sales now shows that this strategy has turned into not just nostalgia, but direct commercial strength as well.

The pattern Olden Era carries lines up with the other two games at the same point. Projects outside big-budget AAA production stand out sometimes through genre mixing, sometimes through system density, and sometimes by leaning on a solid core from an established series. What they have in common is that designs that may seem risky can still deliver strong results when they find the right audience.

Together, these three examples say one thing: success in the RPG genre is no longer tied to a single formula. Mistfall Hunter brings co-op and extraction tension together. Kenshi continues to generate sales years later with its harsh sandbox structure. Olden Era, meanwhile, is pushing a classic series forward with a modern content plan. They use different paths, but the destination stays the same: indie and mid-scale RPGs are not just filling the space outside AAA, they are sometimes setting the agenda too.