8-year old indie game hits 100k live players, likely related to title similarity with The First Descendant

Modified Jun 26, 2024 15:02 IST

Did The First Descendant made another game famous? (Image via Nexon)

Allegedly, thanks to The First Descendant, an indie mystery adventure called The Descendant is witnessing a sudden rise in its player base. The game was released in 2016, and this is one of its biggest surges in player count since then. Among the many speculations, the main theory is that the game is getting this new wave of attention thanks to its name's similarity with the upcoming looter shooter.

The surge of players occurred on June 11, 2024, when the game reached a record-breaking 54,689 players and constantly gained new players. This coincides with The First Descendant trailer reveal, which occurred on June 8, 2024. Many believe players are confusing both titles or getting the game on Steam when they search for The First Descendant.

The First Descendant may have made another indie game successful

After the initial surge on June 11, the game secured its pace and continued to climb with the player counts. At the time of writing, according to SteamDB, the game has over 100k active players. Currently, the peak player count is 128,847. This is way higher than any of the previous peak player counts recorded by the game.

Current players count of The Descendant (Image via SteamDB)

The Descendant is an adventure puzzle game where you play as a janitor named Mia. It is set in a secret underground facility named Ark-01, where you will uncover various secrets by playing the story and solving various puzzles. The title was developed by Gaming Corps AB and published by Microids Indie, and quite positively received by critics and players.

Although many people attribute its similar title to The First Descendant for the sudden rise of popularity, there is another potential reason. The Descendant is an adventure divided into multiple episodes. Players need to purchase all the episodes to be able to complete the full game.

Both games almost have nothing in common (Image via Gaming Corps AB)

The first episode has been made free, players can download it without any strings attached to get a feel for the game and decide if they want to invest in the full game. Many believe that making the first episode free could be why the game suddenly witnessed such a high surge of active players.

In the end, nothing can be said for sure, except The Descendant is getting a massive surge of new players and The First Descended could or could not be the reason behind it. Currently, the game has a “very positive” rating in the Steam Store. Keep in mind this title has no association with The First Descendent, which is expected to be released on July 2, 2024.

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