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Inventive new RPG launches to great reviews but few Steam players

Dread Delusion, an open-world RPG influenced by The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind, is struggling to attract players despite positive reviews.

Fascinating new RPG launches to great reviews but few Steam players: A cartoon man's face, surrounded by flies, from Dread Delusion.

One of the most compelling RPG games to launch so far this year is the final version of Dread Delusion. Inspired by earlier, pre Oblivion and Skyrim entries to The Elder Scrolls series, like 1996’s Daggerfall and 2002’s Morrowind, Dread Delusion offers audiences a fantasy world that avoids the typical elves and wizards, Western European medieval aesthetics to provide something truly, well, fantastic instead. Since it left Early Access on Steam earlier this week, the game’s enjoyed a positive reception. Unfortunately, though, its player count has struggled to reach the same heights as its reviews so far.

Dread Delusion has been in Early Access since 2022, but its only now, with its 1.0 launch, that full evaluations of the RPG game have come out. Our own review said that “Dread Delusion isn’t a game for everyone, and there are certainly areas where … it could be improved” but praised its “shockingly good writing, from its incidental one-off dialogues to its broader themes of fascination with old ways and old gods.” On Steam, Dread Delusion has a 91% or Very Positive rating based on 1,263 reviews.

Fascinating new RPG launches to great reviews but few Steam players: A screenshot of Dread Delusion's Steam player count.

Despite these positive reviews, Dread Delusion hasn’t attracted a large audience yet. At the time of writing, the game has hit an all time peak of 1,131 players and a 24 hour peak of 911 players.

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If you’d like to see more of it for yourself, head on over to Dread Delusion’s Steam page right here.

Or, if you’re interested in checking out other games like Dread Delusion, you can take a look at our top fantasy games and open-world games for more.

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