When does Budget Cuts get good?

Give it 3 hours. In the first 2 hours almost 1 in 2 reviews are negative (42%); after 4h it's 1 in 8 (12%). Only 48% of owners have even the first achievement — the rest barely played.

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ActionAdventureIndie

Budget Cuts

Jun 14, 2018 Steam: Very Positive

Give it 3 hours

Gets good by 3h almost every game dips in hours 2–3

Started playing 48% of owners

Steam reviews 80% positive of 1,878

What the data shows

In the first 2 hours almost 1 in 2 reviews are negative (42%); after 4h it's 1 in 8 (12%).
Only 48% 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 1,890 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 297 reviews: 5.6h for positive, 2.8h 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 (47.5% 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 (30)

Missing Link Shatter 20 ceramic objects 100%
Drop Dead Drop a sharp object onto an employee 80%
Feeling Crabby Find the crab 67%
Junk Food Feed a roomba 51%
Collector Find all basic collectibles 49%
Master Collector Find all golden collectibles 49%
If I can't then none of us can Steal a gun from a supervisor's holster 36%
Faithful Find the mouse 35%
Breakfast of Champions Eat chocolate and cookies 29%
Murder of Crows Find the golden crow 27%
No Brainer Hit 10 employees in the head with a sharp object 26%
Sharkbait! Hoo Ha Ha! Find the fish 19%
Done Deal Complete the game 16%
Toaster Find the robot toy 15%
Standard Procedure Complete the game on standard difficulty or harder 14%
Two by two, blue on blue Make a supervisor fire another supervisor 13%
The Early Bird Find the crow 12%
Pecking Order Find the hummingbird 9.7%
By Your Command Find the golden robot toy 9.3%
Headbutter Kill a drone by knocking it with your head 6.1%
Best Birb Find the golden hummingbird 6.1%
Me Love Cookies Eat 8 cookies in 4 seconds 5.9%
SoFishticated Find the goldfish 4.6%
I'd Rather Be Shiny Find the golden crab 3.6%
Long Shot Hit an employee with a sharp object from 10 meters away 3.2%
Take the Plunge Find the golden mouse 2.7%
Pushing The Envelope Complete the game with NPC Mutators: Aim Skill, Detection Speed and NPC Health set to at least Strong, Fast and High. 1.9%
Hugin & Munin Have two crows in your inventory 1.7%
Sniper Hit an employee with a sharp object from 20 meters away 1.3%
Pacifist Complete the game without killing anyone 1.1%

Steam page Updated: 2026-10-19.