Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead

When it gets good

Share of positive reviews by how many hours the reviewer had played when writing the review.

before it gets good opening up fully opened up

Based on all 557 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 298 reviews: 23.6h for positive, 24.1h for negative. Almost every game is rated lower in the first 2–3 hours: that window includes refunds and quick first impressions. What matters is how deep the dip is and how fast the game recovers.

Where players quit

Share of players who started the game and reached each story milestone. 100% is the most common achievement (55.7% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.

Story milestones aren't labeled yet; all achievements are listed below.

All achievements (39)

• Die You and everyone who followed you are forgotten among the billions lost in the Cataclysm... 100%
• One down, billions to go... Kill a zombie 100%
• Curiosity Die 9 times 76%
• Decamate Kill 10 Monsters 72%
• Ouroboros Die 99 times 57%
• DDT Kill an insect 52%
• Centinel Kill 100 Monsters 41%
• Rude Awakening Kill a monster in the first minute of the game. 39%
• Disassemble Number Five! Kill a robot 36%
• Silence your nightmares Kill a nether creature 36%
• The Last Homely House Find the refugee center 34%
• Thank God it's Friday Survive for a week 33%
• Timber If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? 32%
• Freeman's favorite Wield a crowbar 32%
• Fungicide Kill a fungus 31%
• Broken But Not Defeated Does your medical insurance cover that? 27%
• 28 days later Survive for a month 19%
• Killo Kill 1,000 Monsters 18%
• Resistance is not futile Kill a cyborg 15%
• What are they hiding? Find a Xedra lab finale 9.9%
• Cyberpunk Spiritus quidem promptus; caro vero infirma. 8.1%
• Ain't no mountain high enough Reach max Z level 7.7%
• A time to every purpose under heaven Survive for a season 7.7%
• Clockwork Man By most mechanical and dirty hand. I shall have such revenges on you... both. The things I will do, what they are, yet I know not. But they will be the terrors of the earth. 5.2%
• Ain't no valley low enough Reach min Z level 3.8%
• Murdyriad Kill 10,000 Monsters 2.2%
• Funeral It's a privilege to be buried when billions will not be. 1.8%
• Every rose has its thorn Step on something sharp 1.3%
• Homo Evolutis The world of man has ended. Long live the world of transhumanity. 1.1%
• Brighter days ahead? Survive for a year 0.9%
• Lumberjack What is a forest for a man with an axe? 0.7%
• The first day of the rest of their unlives Survive for a day and find a safe place to sleep 0.7%
• Please don't fall down at my door Walk 500 miles, then walk 500 more. 0.7%
• Deforestation If you cut down the trees you will find the wolf. 0.5%
• Pheidippides was a hack Run a marathon... plus a little more. 0.5%
• Swimming merit badge Swim 1000 tiles underwater 0.5%
• Funeral House You cannot bury the whole world, can you? Bury 100 corpses. 0.4%
• Undertaker Leave no one to rot among the living dead. Bury 10 corpses. 0.4%
• Hitsy Kill 100,000 Monsters 0.4%