Megabonk has sold over one million copies on Steam, marking a breakout moment for the low-priced indie auto-shooter. The game takes the survivor-like formula made famous by Vampire Survivors and rebuilds it in 3D, adding movement mechanics and exploration borrowed from Risk of Rain 2.
Priced around $8 to $10, the game is reportedly the work of a single developer. Players control characters through fully 3D arenas, sliding to build momentum, double-jumping over enemy hordes, and exploring maps to find shrines, shops, and hidden boss portals. The auto-attacking combat stays true to the survivor-like blueprint, but the added verticality and movement skill expression set it apart from its 2D predecessors.
At the million-copy mark and a $10 price point, the game would gross roughly $10m before platform cuts, discounts, and refunds. That’s a massive achievement for a solo indie project.
The game leans hard into humor. Its Steam store page lists joke system requirements—”Processor: potato / potato 2″ and “Graphics: no/yes”—with players reporting the game actually runs on low-end hardware. Other touches include a challenge that inverts camera controls and refuses to let players flip them back, and a character whose damage scales with movement speed.
Players describe two main biomes with difficulty tiers, though the current content lineup may have expanded since early discussions. A red smoke trail guides players toward boss encounters, and the game features visual gags like towers of stacked skeletons and goblins.
Why it worked
The survivor-like genre exploded after Vampire Survivors proved that short runs, explosive power scaling, and dirt-cheap prices could capture millions of players. Megabonk‘s 3D pivot addresses a common complaint about 2D survivor-likes: they can feel passive once the build comes together. Sliding, jumping, and navigating elevation changes demand active input even during late-game god runs.
Risk of Rain 2 proved the 3D transition works for roguelikes back in 2019, and Megabonk applies that same logic to the auto-shooter format. Combined with accessible system requirements, streamer-friendly chaos, and meme-forward branding, the game hits every note that drives virality on Steam.
