The Early Access version No Rest for the Wicked, a new action RPG from Moon Studios, launched on Steam last week. Despite technical issues and initially mixed reception from players, the game has already managed to reach a relatively large audience.
Released on April 18, No Rest for the Wicked quickly picked at over 33k concurrent users (via SteamDB). Player interest increased over the weekend, reaching a new high of 36,276 CCU.
When looking at all new releases of 2024 by that metric, the game ranks 17th, right between free-to-play party game Astral Party (34.3k CCU) and Backpack Battles (36.5k CCU).
This makes No Rest for the Wicked the biggest Steam launch in the history of Moon Studios. Ori and the Will of the Wisps comes second with 34.8k CCU, followed by Ori and the Blind Forest (13.1k CCU).
Moon Studios’ new title also ranks 1st in peak CCU among all games published by Private Division, a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive:
- No Rest for the Wicked — 36.2k CCU;
- Kerbal Space Program 2 — 25.7k CCU;
- The Outer Worlds — 20.3k CCU;
- Kerbal Space Program — 19.1k CCU;
- Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey — 3.3k CCU.
The impressive launch was slightly overshadowed by a wave of negative reviews from players. In the first 24 hours, No Rest for the Wicked’s user score dropped to nearly 50% positive reviews due to many complaints about the game’s technical issues and poor performance, as well as its high difficulty and item durability (serves as a penalty that reduces the durability of all equipped items with each death).
Moon Studios quickly responded by saying that “this is Early Access, so there is plenty you will see improve as we continuously look to optimize and improve the game with your feedback.” The team has already released two hot fixes, which improved performance, fixed some bugs, and introduced balance changes like increasing item durability and reducing stamina costs.
As a result, the rating has increased to 66% based on almost 11k user reviews. Those players who left positive reviews praise the game’s art style, level design, combat, and core gameplay, as well as its unique blend of elements from different genres.
No Rest for the Wicked is likely the most ambitious game in the history of Moon Studios. At its core, it is an open-world action RPG, which combines Diablo-like mechanics such as tons of gear and random loot with Soulslike combat system. In addition to exploration and fights, there are various side activities such as fishing, resource gathering, crafting, and decorating your own property.
As Moon Studios CEO and creative director Thomas Mahler said last year, No Rest for the Wicked is a “make-or-break moment” for the studio. “Either we manage to revolutionize the ARPG genre or we’ll slowly fade away into the distance,” he noted.
Despite some rough feedback at the beginning of Early Access, the game has a potential to become a unique and somewhat innovative title in the genre. According to the studio, version 1.0 is expected to have a 4-player co-op, online PvP mode, new regions, farming, and other content.