Eight dollars. One developer. Fourth on Steam’s global bestseller list.

Oaken Tower, a PvP autobattler from solo developer Bocary Studios, currently sits at #4 on Steam’s Top Sellers — a list that, as of early May, includes Diablo IV, Forza Horizon 6 pre-orders, and Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era. Games with publisher backing, established IPs, and marketing budgets that could fund a small country. Then there’s a pixel-art strategy game made by one person in GameMaker Studio 2 that costs less than a sandwich.

Released into Early Access on April 28, 2026, Oaken Tower has 2,185 concurrent players and a 95% positive rating across 421 reviews. The pitch is deceptively simple: stack items into a tower, build synergies, and watch your creation fight someone else’s creation. Asynchronous PvP — no timers, no twitch, no panic buys. Just decision after decision, each one compounding on the last until something either sings or collapses.

What the Players Are Saying

The reviews read like a dev’s dream. One player, four hours in, called it “the gold standard of autobattlers at the moment. Made by a passionate and VERY active dev. You can be sure your money is going to someone who is working hard on making this the best game it can be.”

Another, thirteen hours deep, went with the blunt comparison: “Its like slay the spire but actually fun.” A third, credited with 26.6 hours of tracked playtime, claimed to have spent 31 hours over a weekend and joked about refund eligibility before demanding more content.

With 398 positive reviews against 23 negative, that’s not cherry-picking. That’s a signal.

The Scope Behind the Price Tag

Bocary confirmed in an interview with How to Market a Game that the initial build took roughly two months, followed by six months of updates and improvements. The result: over 120 unique items across classes and stats, unlockable perks that reshape how runs play, more than 20 NPC encounters, an Endless Mode, ranked play, leaderboards, and seasonal content.

That’s a competitive game’s skeleton, built by one person. The Linux Game News coverage noted the game runs smoothly on Linux and Steam Deck via Proton — not an afterthought but a functional selling point for a solo project.

There’s also a small supporter bundle with exclusive tower skins and a supporter tag. Cosmetic only. No pay-to-win, no battle pass, no premium currency. In 2026, that almost feels like a statement.

The Demo That Shouldn’t Have Worked This Well

During October’s Steam Next Fest, the Oaken Tower demo landed on the front page of Steam’s most-played demos with a median playtime of 42 hours. Not average — median. Half the players who tried the demo spent more than 42 hours with it. That’s not curiosity. That’s a player base forming before the game even launches.

How to Market a Game identified autobattlers as part of a broader trend — a “Great Conjunction” where the games fastest to build are also the ones Steam players are hungriest for. Indie strategy games have been cracking top seller lists with increasing regularity, and the formula is remarkably consistent: tight mechanics, high replayability, low friction, active developer communication.

Oaken Tower checks every box.

Why This Matters

The $7.99 launch price — 20% off the $9.99 base — isn’t just aggressive. It’s a structural advantage. Players can impulse-buy a full competitive experience with ranked modes and seasonal play for less than the cost of a movie ticket. No $70 entry fee. No season pass dangling over the experience. Just the game.

Oaken Tower is still Early Access. Things can go sideways — balance patches can alienate players, content cadence can stall, the meta can calcify. But right now, the foundation is solid: cheap, deep, and built by someone clearly grinding to make it better every week.

The charts suggest players have noticed. And in a marketplace drowning in live-service monetization and $70 launches that ship broken, an $8 autobattler with a 95% approval rating isn’t just a nice story. It’s a competitive threat.

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