When was the last time you saw a Steam review complaining that a game was too cheap?

Darkwater, the cooperative extraction horror from solo developer Targon Studios, hit #10 on Steam’s New Releases chart this week at $6.99 — a 30% discount off its already-modest $9.99 asking price. The result? 508 reviews, 84% positive, and one player who put nearly 45 hours into it wishing they’d paid full price “to offer further support.”

That’s the kind of problem most developers dream about.

The pitch is straightforward: 1-4 players command a submarine trapped under the ice of an alien planet, battling enemy vessels and deep-sea creatures while scraping together resources. Think FTL by way of Lethal Company — you’re not commanding from a god’s-eye view, you’re the crew, manually reloading torpedoes and patching hull breaches in real-time while everything floods.

PC Gamer called it “a mutant hybrid of Lethal Company and FTL,” trading comedy for tense naval combat. Report AFK praised the shift from tactical management to hands-on survival: “You’re not just ‘losing health’ — you’re watching the room fill up.”

The criticism? Length. “Fun but too short,” wrote one 4-hour player. “Needs to cook more but loads of fun,” said another at 7 hours. For a solo dev project in early access, those read more like requests for more content than warnings to stay away.

Is this the best dollar-to-fun ratio on Steam right now? At $6.99 for something that’s earned a “Very Positive” rating and kept one player engaged for nearly 45 hours, it’s making a strong case. The 106 concurrent players suggest word-of-mouth hasn’t fully caught up yet.

For those tired of $70 AAA launches with predatory monetization, Darkwater offers a different proposition: a solo dev charging less than a fast-food meal for something genuinely compelling.

The only real complaint is that there isn’t more of it.

Sources