The Game Census
Blackthorn Arena cover art

Blackthorn Arena

PersonaeGame Studio · Light Up Games · 2020-05-19

Steam

IndieRPGSimulationStrategy

Modes: Single player

Releases: Jan 17, 2020 (PC (Microsoft Windows))

Blackthorn Arena is a strategy/management sim with a real-time/turn based combat system, set in a world of mythical monsters and classic fantasy races. Play as the master of Blackthorn Arena, train your slaves into gladiators, forge them into your champions, and send them to fight for your glory!

3
playing now
69%
positive of 3.8k reviews
Mixed
steam rating
200,000–500,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
70/100
IGDB user rating (1 ratings)
$24.99
steam price (US)

3 players in-game as of 2026-08-30 03:00 UTC (census sample)

Health check

Quiet
  • · 3 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 8 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~1/week).
  • · Review velocity down 72% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Current weekly pace is under 5% of the all-time peak week (600 reviews).
  • · Top 11% of 17,990 Indie games in the census by review count.

Health tier since 2026-08-27

Estimated sales: 76k–170k copies

Review-multiple estimate from 3,778 total reviews — how this is computed.

All-time low: $4.99 at Steam (2024-08-21)via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $24.99 · on sale 10 of 21 observed days (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
46446420202026Week of 2020-01-01: 108 positiveWeek of 2020-01-01: 28 negativeWeek of 2020-02-01: 432 positiveWeek of 2020-02-01: 94 negativeWeek of 2020-03-01: 123 positiveWeek of 2020-03-01: 47 negativeWeek of 2020-04-01: 22 positiveWeek of 2020-04-01: 14 negativeWeek of 2020-05-01: 464 positiveWeek of 2020-05-01: 136 negativeWeek of 2020-06-01: 207 positiveWeek of 2020-06-01: 73 negativeWeek of 2020-07-01: 125 positiveWeek of 2020-07-01: 54 negativeWeek of 2020-08-01: 145 positiveWeek of 2020-08-01: 75 negativeWeek of 2020-09-01: 83 positiveWeek of 2020-09-01: 39 negativeWeek of 2020-10-01: 26 positiveWeek of 2020-10-01: 29 negativeWeek of 2020-11-01: 28 positiveWeek of 2020-11-01: 17 negativeWeek of 2020-12-01: 50 positiveWeek of 2020-12-01: 41 negativeWeek of 2021-01-01: 75 positiveWeek of 2021-01-01: 45 negativeWeek of 2021-02-01: 41 positiveWeek of 2021-02-01: 29 negativeWeek of 2021-03-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2021-03-01: 18 negativeWeek of 2021-04-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2021-04-01: 18 negativeWeek of 2021-05-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2021-05-01: 18 negativeWeek of 2021-06-01: 20 positiveWeek of 2021-06-01: 16 negativeWeek of 2021-07-01: 32 positiveWeek of 2021-07-01: 60 negativeWeek of 2021-08-01: 135 positiveWeek of 2021-08-01: 89 negativeWeek of 2021-09-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2021-09-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2021-10-01: 35 positiveWeek of 2021-10-01: 27 negativeWeek of 2021-11-01: 15 positiveWeek of 2021-11-01: 15 negativeWeek of 2021-12-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2021-12-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2022-01-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2022-01-01: 14 negativeWeek of 2022-02-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2022-02-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2022-03-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2022-03-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2022-04-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2022-05-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2022-05-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2022-06-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2022-06-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2022-07-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2022-07-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2022-08-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2022-08-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2022-09-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2022-09-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2022-10-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2022-10-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2022-11-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2022-11-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2022-12-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2023-01-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2023-02-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2023-02-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2023-03-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2023-04-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2023-06-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2023-07-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2023-07-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2023-08-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2023-09-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2023-09-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2023-10-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-11-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2023-12-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2024-01-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-02-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2024-04-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-06-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2024-08-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2024-08-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2024-09-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-11-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2024-12-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-01-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-05-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-08-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-08-01: 1 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

602026-08-07 00:00 — 2 players2026-08-07 08:00 — 4 players2026-08-07 16:00 — 1 players2026-08-08 00:00 — 2 players2026-08-08 08:00 — 5 players2026-08-08 16:00 — 3 players2026-08-09 00:00 — 1 players2026-08-09 08:00 — 3 players2026-08-09 16:00 — 2 players2026-08-10 00:00 — 1 players2026-08-10 08:00 — 1 players2026-08-10 16:00 — 1 players2026-08-11 00:00 — 1 players2026-08-11 08:00 — 0 players2026-08-11 16:00 — 2 players2026-08-13 00:00 — 1 players2026-08-14 07:00 — 1 players2026-08-15 15:00 — 0 players2026-08-16 23:00 — 3 players2026-08-18 07:00 — 2 players2026-08-19 14:00 — 1 players2026-08-20 22:00 — 1 players2026-08-22 05:00 — 3 players2026-08-23 13:00 — 4 players2026-08-24 21:00 — 1 players2026-08-26 05:00 — 3 players2026-08-27 13:00 — 4 players2026-08-28 19:00 — 0 players2026-08-30 03:00 — 3 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).

Price history

$24.99$4.992020-01-182026-08-072020-01-18 — best price $17.992020-04-03 — best price $19.992020-07-18 — best price $17.992021-01-05 — best price $19.992021-06-25 — best price $9.992021-08-14 — best price $19.992021-11-24 — best price $9.992022-01-05 — best price $19.992022-04-22 — best price $7.992022-07-07 — best price $19.992022-11-25 — best price $7.992023-01-05 — best price $19.992023-06-21 — best price $6.992023-07-13 — best price $19.992023-09-04 — best price $19.992024-03-11 — best price $7.392024-07-18 — best price $15.992024-08-28 — best price $19.992024-10-22 — best price $19.992024-12-19 — best price $19.992025-01-03 — best price $19.992025-04-08 — best price $16.242025-07-10 — best price $24.992025-12-05 — best price $17.492026-01-05 — best price $24.992026-03-19 — best price $12.492026-05-03 — best price $24.992026-05-25 — best price $24.992026-06-25 — best price $9.992026-08-07 — best price $24.99
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Completion

29
achievements tracked
90.8%
earned "Auspicious beginning"
20.2%
median achievement earned by

Global achievement rates from Steam.

Details

WindowsSingle-playerSteam AchievementsSteam CloudFamily Sharing3 DLC

9 supported languages: English, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, French, Italian, German, Spanish - Spain, Russian

Console footprint

PlatformPlayers trackedCompletionTrophies/achievements
Steam (Steam)5922%29

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

Player tags

CRPGSandboxBuildingMedievalStrategyDifficultRealisticManagementSimulationExploration

Census log

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

Players also track

Star Control®: OriginsSupreme Ruler UltimateSurvivalistAnother Brick in The MallWeapon Shop FantasyBronze Age - HD EditionDawn of ManCHANGE: A Homeless Survival Experience

Similarity via IGDB.

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