Vampire Survivors-esque indie reverse bullet hell game Megabonk sells 1 million copies in just two weeks

The trend of reverse bullet hells or roguelike auto-shooters continues in the vein of Vampire Survivors, with no signs of abating, with the latest blockbuster indie title, Megabonk, proving how potent the formula remains.

Developed solo by Vedinad and released on September 18, the 3D twist on the genre features additional mechanics like jumping and sliding, alongside a roster of 20 characters from a shades-wearing skateboarding skeleton to a monkey.

The game has pretty much skyrocketed on Steam. In a milestone announcement on October 2 via Megabonk’s official X account, the developer announced gleefully, “ONE MILLION MEGABONK COPIES SOLD IN 2 WEEKS THANK YOU GUYS!! I’ll be eating spaghetti with EXTRA sauce tonight.”

Megabonk’s surge mirrors the slow-burning success of indie “friendslop” titles like Lethal Company and Peak. These games take time to build momentum instead of blowing up day one like AAA titles. 

Recent Steam data shows that Megabonk surged to a 24-hour peak of 102,407 concurrent players with a daily average hovering around the 90,000 mark, pretty much outpacing Borderlands 4’s daily average of approximately 80,000 players, which dropped from its all-time peak of 304,398 concurrent players 21 days ago.

The game’s increasing popularity has propelled the title to sixth place among Steam’s global top sellers, outselling recent titles like Dying Light: The Beast, Borderlands 4, Peak, Cloverpit, Hades II, and Treyarch’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 7.

Alongside a million sales, widespread player engagement, the game has been critically acclaimed due to its addictive loop as players grind through reverse bullet hell waves, unlocking wild builds as they progress. With over 17,000 user reviews on Steam, the game has yielded a Very Positive rating of 91.81%.

Because of its goofy charm and solid gameplay, Megabonk has already been widely praised. But this is far from the end of the story, as Vedinad has already teased future additions to the game, like multiplayer, to keep the momentum rolling. For a mere $5.49, you can try out Megabonk’s addictively chaotic low-poly reverse bullet hell that gives you massive amounts of content to revel in.