When does Bardbarian get good?

Give it 5 hours. In the first 2 hours almost 1 in 3 reviews are negative (30%); after 5h it's 1 in 18 (6%). Only 62% of owners have even the first achievement — the rest barely played.

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ActionAdventureCasualIndieRPGStrategy

Bardbarian

Apr 1, 2014 Steam: Very Positive

Give it 5 hours

Gets good by 5h then rated almost like by veterans

Started playing 62% of owners

Steam reviews 89% positive of 1,512

What the data shows

In the first 2 hours almost 1 in 3 reviews are negative (30%); after 5h it's 1 in 18 (6%).
Only 62% of owners have even the first achievement — the rest barely played.

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 1,529 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 288 reviews: 8.7h for positive, 3.6h 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 (61.9% 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 (22)

Early Bird Complete the "morning" chapter. 100%
Adorable Sidekick You look lonely, have you considered a pet to keep you company? 97%
Keep it Movin' Don't get hit! 93%
What you got? Play and submit your best time for Survival Mode. 75%
Favoritism Upgrade a unit to MAX level. 67%
Unlock War Turtle Reach 3000m in Escape mode, and he's yours. 62%
Unlock MeatStack Appears randomly in Survival mode. May luck be with you. 62%
Survival Instinct Last for 3 minutes in survival mode. 60%
Unlock Octodad Waltz into Wave 10 and rescue him from that Fire Golem. 60%
High Noon Complete the "noon" chapter. 58%
Passive Vanquisher Send 2500 enemies to their grave. 58%
Lute n' Loot Loot 100,000 gold from the corpses of your fallen enemies. 47%
Good Evening Complete the "evening" chapter. 45%
Easter Deviled Eggs Something's cooking on the title screen. 34%
Insane in the Membrane Start a new game in Insane Mode. 30%
Nightmare Complete the "night" chapter. 28%
NEED4SPEED Go as fast as you possibly can. (Hint: Upgrade + Song) 28%
360noscopeblazeit Complete the entire campaign from start to finish without dying. 19%
4 headz Unlock the mythical 4th party slot. 19%
3 Mile Run Fact: There are 1609 meters in a mile. 17%
I am Legend Post a score in the Day 2 Insane Mode leaderboard. The most exclusive of all leaderboards. 12%
Hardbarian Do all the things! 100% Completion. 12%

Steam page Updated: 2026-10-20.