Price vs Rating: 20x the Price, 3 Points Apart
What this page helps you decide: whether paying more in this genre buys you a better-reviewed game, or something else entirely.
Across the twenty roguelikes, metroidvanias and souls-likes tracked on this site, the price range runs from $2.99 to $59.99 — a factor of 20. The review scores run from 95.3% to 98.3%, a spread of 3.0 percentage points. Those two sentences are the whole point of this page. The single clearest illustration: Sekiro™: Shadows Die Twice - GOTY Edition costs $59.99 and sits at 95.3% positive, while Downwell costs $2.99 and sits at 96.6% — the cheaper game scores higher. That is not a knock on the expensive one; a 95.3% rating on 354,685 reviews is a strong result by any measure. It is a statement about what a review score can and cannot tell you. In a genre where nothing tracked here falls below 95%, the score has stopped being a way to separate good from bad, and price has stopped being a proxy for quality. What price does still buy is production budget, length and polish — none of which show up in this column.
Why a tight score band makes price look irrational
When every title in a genre clears 95%, the review score stops working as a filter — it tells you the game is competent, and nothing more. Price meanwhile varies by a factor of twenty across the same set. That gap does not mean the expensive games are overpriced; it means price and score are measuring different things. Score measures whether the people who bought it were satisfied. Price reflects production cost and publisher positioning. A five-dollar game made by two people can satisfy its buyers just as thoroughly as a sixty-dollar game made by three hundred — and the score says so.
What price still tells you
Scope, mostly. The expensive end of this list buys hand-authored worlds, voice acting and long single runs; the cheap end buys tight loops built for repetition. Neither is better, and the review scores confirm that buyers of both got what they came for. This site publishes price and score side by side precisely so the comparison is visible rather than implied.
Step-by-Step
- Stop using the review score to choose between these. Under four points of spread across twenty titles is noise, not signal.
- Decide what you actually want price to buy: production scale, or hours per dollar. They point at opposite ends of this list.
- Check the review count alongside the percentage — a high score on 8,000 reviews is a weaker claim than a slightly lower one on half a million.
- Use price to filter what you are willing to risk, then choose on premise and format.
Data Tables
| Title | Price | Positive | Reviews |
|---|---|---|---|
| Downwell | $2.99 | 96.6% | 8,614 |
| Vampire Survivors | $4.99 | 98.3% | 264,888 |
| Pseudoregalia | $5.99 | 96.7% | 18,823 |
| Hollow Knight | $14.99 | 96.9% | 558,775 |
| The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth | $14.99 | 96.9% | 449,464 |
| Minishoot' Adventures | $14.99 | 97.7% | 8,241 |
| Hades | $24.99 | 98% | 307,972 |
| Dead Cells | $24.99 | 97% | 182,928 |
| ANIMAL WELL | $24.99 | 95.7% | 24,521 |
| Sekiro™: Shadows Die Twice - GOTY Edition | $59.99 | 95.3% | 354,685 |
Tips & Notes
- Downwell at $2.99 scores 96.6% — higher than the $59.99 title on this list.
- All twenty titles sit above 95.3% positive. In this genre a high score is table stakes, not a differentiator.
FAQ
Do more expensive games score better on Steam?
Not in this genre. Sekiro™: Shadows Die Twice - GOTY Edition at $59.99 sits at 95.3%, while Downwell at $2.99 sits at 96.6%. All twenty titles tracked here are above 95%.
What is the price range of the games tracked here?
$2.99 to $59.99 — a factor of 20. Checked 2026-08-28; Steam prices change with sales, so treat these as a reading on that date.
If the scores are all the same, how should I choose?
On premise, format and the constraints that can actually disqualify a game for you: platform support, language, and whether help exists when you get stuck. Each has its own page here.
Sources
- Official Downwell on Steam (official store page) — Source for its price, review count and review percentage. Read 2026-08-28.
- Official Sekiro™: Shadows Die Twice - GOTY Edition on Steam (official store page) — Source for its price, review count and review percentage. Read 2026-08-28.