The Game Census
198X cover art

198X

Hi-Bit Studios · 2019-06-20

SteamGOGPlayStation Store

Indie

Modes: Single player

Releases: Jan 22, 2020 (Nintendo Switch), Jun 20, 2019 (PC (Microsoft Windows)), Jun 20, 2019 (Xbox One), Jun 20, 2019 (PlayStation 4)

Part 1 of arcade epic 198X. A coming-of-age story told through multiple games and genres. Experience the thrill of shooting, driving, jumping, fighting and role-playing in 5 full-blown arcade stages – combined with cinematic pixel-art storytelling.

0
playing now
76%
positive of 2.2k reviews
Mostly Positive
steam rating
50,000–100,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
70/100
critic score (2 outlets, IGDB)
55/100
IGDB user rating (32 ratings)
2h
to beat · rushed 1h · completionist 5h
platinum
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
$9.99
steam price (US)

0 players in-game as of 2026-08-30 07:00 UTC (census sample)

198X is an action game developed by the Swedish team Hi-Bit Studios and published by Sonka. It was released for PlayStation 4 and Windows in June 2019, with a port for the Nintendo Switch published in January 2020. An Xbox One versions was announced but never released. A homage to arcade gaming in the 1980s, 198X's coming-of-age story follows an unnamed "Kid" as they discover a video arcade in an abandoned factory and fall in love with video gaming. Each of the five chapters is based around a video game genre such as beat 'em ups and horizontally scrolling shooters. The game received positive reviews, with praise for its gameplay and criticism of its short length.

Health check

Insufficient data
  • · Not enough review history collected yet to judge health.
  • · Top 16% of 17,990 Indie games in the census by review count.
Estimated sales: 54k–130k copies

Review-multiple estimate from 2,159 total reviews — how this is computed.

Current store prices

GOG$9.99

Deal snapshots via CheapShark, refreshed daily.

All-time low: $4.99 at Steam (2020-06-15) · bundled 4×via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $9.99 · on sale 2 of 7 observed days · $5.00 above the all-time low (census price snapshots)

Players online

102026-08-11 22:00 — 0 players2026-08-12 13:00 — 1 players2026-08-13 05:00 — 0 players2026-08-13 21:00 — 0 players2026-08-14 13:00 — 1 players2026-08-15 05:00 — 0 players2026-08-15 21:00 — 1 players2026-08-16 13:00 — 0 players2026-08-17 05:00 — 0 players2026-08-17 20:00 — 0 players2026-08-18 12:00 — 0 players2026-08-19 04:00 — 0 players2026-08-19 20:00 — 1 players2026-08-20 11:00 — 1 players2026-08-21 03:00 — 1 players2026-08-21 19:00 — 0 players2026-08-22 11:00 — 0 players2026-08-23 02:00 — 0 players2026-08-23 18:00 — 0 players2026-08-24 10:00 — 0 players2026-08-25 02:00 — 1 players2026-08-25 18:00 — 0 players2026-08-26 10:00 — 0 players2026-08-27 02:00 — 0 players2026-08-27 18:00 — 0 players2026-08-28 10:00 — 0 players2026-08-28 23:00 — 0 players2026-08-29 15:00 — 0 players2026-08-30 07:00 — 0 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).

Price history

$9.99$4.992019-06-202026-08-302019-06-20 — best price $9.992019-09-23 — best price $9.992019-12-03 — best price $9.992020-01-02 — best price $9.992020-02-17 — best price $9.992020-04-20 — best price $9.992020-06-15 — best price $4.992020-06-29 — best price $9.992020-09-07 — best price $9.992020-11-27 — best price $9.992021-10-04 — best price $9.992021-12-03 — best price $6.692022-05-09 — best price $4.992023-07-24 — best price $4.992023-08-08 — best price $4.992023-08-16 — best price $9.992023-12-05 — best price $4.992024-02-14 — best price $4.992024-06-06 — best price $4.992024-07-17 — best price $4.992024-08-19 — best price $5.992024-09-17 — best price $5.992024-11-27 — best price $4.992025-02-13 — best price $4.992025-03-13 — best price $4.992025-06-18 — best price $4.992025-12-18 — best price $6.492026-06-25 — best price $5.992026-08-28 — best price $9.992026-08-30 — best price $9.99
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Attention

2662026-05-30 — 8 pageviews2026-06-02 — 19 pageviews2026-06-05 — 13 pageviews2026-06-08 — 13 pageviews2026-06-11 — 11 pageviews2026-06-14 — 17 pageviews2026-06-17 — 9 pageviews2026-06-20 — 10 pageviews2026-06-23 — 6 pageviews2026-06-26 — 7 pageviews2026-06-29 — 13 pageviews2026-07-02 — 14 pageviews2026-07-05 — 17 pageviews2026-07-08 — 16 pageviews2026-07-11 — 23 pageviews2026-07-14 — 12 pageviews2026-07-17 — 21 pageviews2026-07-20 — 14 pageviews2026-07-23 — 11 pageviews2026-07-26 — 17 pageviews2026-07-29 — 22 pageviews2026-08-01 — 16 pageviews2026-08-04 — 19 pageviews2026-08-07 — 17 pageviews2026-08-10 — 15 pageviews2026-08-13 — 19 pageviews2026-08-16 — 12 pageviews2026-08-19 — 12 pageviews2026-08-22 — 9 pageviews2026-08-25 — 21 pageviews2026-08-27 — 7 pageviews
Daily Wikipedia pageviews (attention proxy, census-recorded).

Completion

14
achievements tracked
86.2%
earned "Welcome to Suburbia"
29.7%
median achievement earned by

Global achievement rates from Steam.

Details

WindowsSingle-playerPartial Controller SupportFamily Sharing1 DLC

1 supported languages: English

Console footprint

PlatformPlayers trackedCompletionTrophies/achievements
Steam (Steam)4,4665%14
PS4 (PlayStation)44211%15
PS4 (PlayStation)2829%15
PS4 (PlayStation)8718%15
Switch (Nintendo)210%0

Players tracked by Exophase (achievement/trophy trackers) — a sample of the player base, not total sales.

Player tags

2D1980sIndieRetroShortActionArcadeBeat 'em upShoot 'Em UpSingleplayer

Census log

Computed from census-recorded observations only — dates are observation dates.

Players also track

Star Control®: OriginsImmortal: UnchainedBorderlands 3PLANET ALPHACitadel: Forged with FireEternity: The Last UnicornWarhammer: ChaosbaneRebel Galaxy Outlaw

Similarity via IGDB.

Official site ↗Wikipedia ↗