The Game Census
Death and Taxes cover art

Death and Taxes

Placeholder Gameworks · 2020-02-20

SteamGOGPlayStation StoreMicrosoft Store

AdventureCasualIndieSimulationStrategy

Modes: Single player · Perspectives: First person

Releases: Feb 20, 2020 (Linux), Sep 07, 2023 (Xbox One), Sep 10, 2020 (Nintendo Switch), Jul 30, 2024 (Android), Feb 20, 2020 (Mac), Feb 20, 2020 (PC (Microsoft Windows))

In this 2D, short narrative-based game, you assume the role of the Grim Reaper... on an office job. Your job is to decide which people are going to live or die. The consequences of your choices are yours to bear, while the mystery of your incarnation awaits revelation!

Death and Taxes is an Adventure, Casual, Indie, Simulation game released in 2020, priced at $1.68, with an estimated 500,000 .. 1,000,000 owners and Very Positive (86% of 8561 reviews).

43
playing now
86%
positive of 8.6k reviews
Very Positive
steam's rating (official)
500,000–1,000,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
75/100
critic score (1 outlets, IGDB)
77/100
IGDB user rating (38 ratings)
2
Nexus mods (112 downloads)
4.35★
PlayStation Store rating (133 ratings)
3h
time to beat (IGDB)
platinum
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
Playable
Steam Deck (Valve)
SteamOS: Playable
$1.68
steam price (US)

43 players in-game as of 2026-10-15 03:00 UTC (census sample)

Death and Taxes is a 2020 simulation video game by Leene Künnap, an Estonian indie game developer, and published by their company, Placeholder Gameworks, on February 20, 2020 on Steam. The player takes the role of a Grim Reaper, who must bureaucratically decide the fates of humans, specifically whether they will live or die. The game shares its ideology with the death-positivity movement, trying to open the discussion of death in a light-hearted way. On March 18, 2020, Placeholder Gameworks uploaded the game code under the MIT License on GitHub.

Trailer

Death and Taxes trailer thumbnail

Death and Taxes Gameplay Trailer

≈579,914 YouTube results for this game's trailer search

Health check

Healthy
  • · 43 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 882 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~110/week).
  • · Review velocity up 28% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 4% of 29,201 Adventure games in the census by review count.

Health tier since 2026-08-28

Estimated sales: 171k–385k copies

Review-multiple estimate from 8,561 total reviews — how this is computed.

Current store prices

GOG$1.69-87%
Microsoft Store$12.99

Deal snapshots via CheapShark, refreshed daily.

All-time low: $1.68 at Steam (2026-01-19) · bundled 7×via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $12.99 · on sale 67 of 96 observed days · $0.01 above the all-time low (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
37937920202026Week of 2020-02-01: 379 positiveWeek of 2020-02-01: 28 negativeWeek of 2020-03-01: 146 positiveWeek of 2020-03-01: 17 negativeWeek of 2020-04-01: 110 positiveWeek of 2020-04-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2020-05-01: 41 positiveWeek of 2020-05-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2020-06-01: 80 positiveWeek of 2020-06-01: 14 negativeWeek of 2020-07-01: 43 positiveWeek of 2020-07-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2020-08-01: 42 positiveWeek of 2020-08-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2020-09-01: 41 positiveWeek of 2020-09-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2020-10-01: 34 positiveWeek of 2020-10-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2020-11-01: 194 positiveWeek of 2020-11-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2020-12-01: 56 positiveWeek of 2020-12-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2021-01-01: 34 positiveWeek of 2021-01-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2021-02-01: 53 positiveWeek of 2021-02-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2021-03-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2021-03-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2021-04-01: 47 positiveWeek of 2021-04-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2021-05-01: 59 positiveWeek of 2021-05-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2021-06-01: 59 positiveWeek of 2021-06-01: 16 negativeWeek of 2021-07-01: 58 positiveWeek of 2021-07-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2021-08-01: 23 positiveWeek of 2021-08-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2021-09-01: 39 positiveWeek of 2021-09-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2021-10-01: 30 positiveWeek of 2021-10-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2021-11-01: 72 positiveWeek of 2021-11-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2021-12-01: 33 positiveWeek of 2021-12-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2022-01-01: 185 positiveWeek of 2022-01-01: 42 negativeWeek of 2022-02-01: 41 positiveWeek of 2022-02-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2022-03-01: 86 positiveWeek of 2022-03-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2022-04-01: 47 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2022-05-01: 41 positiveWeek of 2022-05-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2022-06-01: 55 positiveWeek of 2022-06-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2022-07-01: 184 positiveWeek of 2022-07-01: 21 negativeWeek of 2022-08-01: 71 positiveWeek of 2022-08-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2022-09-01: 61 positiveWeek of 2022-09-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2022-10-01: 38 positiveWeek of 2022-10-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2022-11-01: 162 positiveWeek of 2022-11-01: 29 negativeWeek of 2022-12-01: 228 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 27 negativeWeek of 2023-01-01: 120 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 18 negativeWeek of 2023-02-01: 165 positiveWeek of 2023-02-01: 32 negativeWeek of 2023-03-01: 93 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2023-04-01: 68 positiveWeek of 2023-04-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2023-05-01: 57 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2023-06-01: 67 positiveWeek of 2023-06-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2023-07-01: 89 positiveWeek of 2023-07-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2023-08-01: 176 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 30 negativeWeek of 2023-09-01: 84 positiveWeek of 2023-09-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2023-10-01: 55 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2023-11-01: 127 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 15 negativeWeek of 2023-12-01: 123 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2024-01-01: 76 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 22 negativeWeek of 2024-02-01: 81 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 14 negativeWeek of 2024-03-01: 225 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 46 negativeWeek of 2024-04-01: 56 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 13 negativeWeek of 2024-05-01: 57 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 18 negativeWeek of 2024-06-01: 95 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 148 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 22 negativeWeek of 2024-08-01: 94 positiveWeek of 2024-08-01: 18 negativeWeek of 2024-09-01: 91 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 15 negativeWeek of 2024-10-01: 56 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2024-11-01: 81 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 14 negativeWeek of 2024-12-01: 88 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 16 negativeWeek of 2025-01-01: 259 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 57 negativeWeek of 2025-02-01: 99 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 21 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 155 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 25 negativeWeek of 2025-04-01: 45 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2025-05-01: 96 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 19 negativeWeek of 2025-06-01: 94 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 19 negativeWeek of 2025-07-01: 81 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 20 negativeWeek of 2025-08-01: 73 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 15 negativeWeek of 2025-09-01: 67 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2025-10-01: 62 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 14 negativeWeek of 2025-11-01: 53 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2025-12-01: 69 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 18 negativeWeek of 2026-01-01: 254 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 40 negativeWeek of 2026-02-01: 79 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 16 negativeWeek of 2026-03-01: 86 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 16 negativeWeek of 2026-04-01: 71 positiveWeek of 2026-04-01: 17 negativeWeek of 2026-05-01: 37 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2026-06-01: 58 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 19 negativeWeek of 2026-07-01: 64 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 26 negativeWeek of 2026-08-01: 44 positiveWeek of 2026-08-01: 13 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

60122026-09-16 05:00 — 14 players2026-09-17 12:00 — 17 players2026-09-18 20:00 — 21 players2026-09-20 03:00 — 22 players2026-09-21 11:00 — 17 players2026-09-22 19:00 — 13 players2026-09-24 02:00 — 12 players2026-09-25 10:00 — 15 players2026-09-26 17:00 — 25 players2026-09-28 01:00 — 18 players2026-09-29 08:00 — 14 players2026-09-30 16:00 — 18 players2026-10-01 23:00 — 17 players2026-10-03 07:00 — 24 players2026-10-04 15:00 — 40 players2026-10-05 22:00 — 26 players2026-10-07 06:00 — 21 players2026-10-08 13:00 — 54 players2026-10-09 21:00 — 35 players2026-10-11 04:00 — 22 players2026-10-12 12:00 — 23 players2026-10-13 20:00 — 40 players2026-10-15 03:00 — 43 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).
13810Mar 2020Aug 2026Mar 2020 — avg 50 · peak 171May 2020 — avg 16 · peak 53Jul 2020 — avg 18 · peak 45Sep 2020 — avg 14 · peak 42Nov 2020 — avg 27 · peak 81Jan 2021 — avg 15 · peak 54Mar 2021 — avg 10 · peak 29May 2021 — avg 33 · peak 368Jul 2021 — avg 27 · peak 68Sep 2021 — avg 20 · peak 80Nov 2021 — avg 29 · peak 71Jan 2022 — avg 77 · peak 746Mar 2022 — avg 36 · peak 151May 2022 — avg 18 · peak 59Jul 2022 — avg 75 · peak 739Sep 2022 — avg 23 · peak 102Nov 2022 — avg 58 · peak 426Jan 2023 — avg 45 · peak 162Mar 2023 — avg 39 · peak 100May 2023 — avg 27 · peak 85Jul 2023 — avg 35 · peak 90Sep 2023 — avg 32 · peak 101Nov 2023 — avg 44 · peak 139Jan 2024 — avg 39 · peak 137Mar 2024 — avg 120 · peak 952May 2024 — avg 26 · peak 75Jul 2024 — avg 77 · peak 262Sep 2024 — avg 49 · peak 163Nov 2024 — avg 37 · peak 140Jan 2025 — avg 138 · peak 1,100Mar 2025 — avg 75 · peak 214May 2025 — avg 43 · peak 133Jul 2025 — avg 45 · peak 105Sep 2025 — avg 33 · peak 89Nov 2025 — avg 28 · peak 82Jan 2026 — avg 118 · peak 1,206Mar 2026 — avg 55 · peak 154May 2026 — avg 26 · peak 58Jul 2026 — avg 41 · peak 82Aug 2026 — avg 30 · peak 94
Monthly average players (source: steamcharts.com) — history via steamcharts.com; live census sampling since Aug 2026.

Price history

$12.99$1.682020-02-202026-10-152020-02-20 — best price $9.742020-06-25 — best price $8.702020-09-07 — best price $8.442020-12-22 — best price $7.142021-02-22 — best price $12.992021-06-28 — best price $12.992021-11-03 — best price $12.992022-01-08 — best price $5.192022-03-21 — best price $5.192022-06-23 — best price $3.892022-09-06 — best price $12.992022-11-29 — best price $12.992023-02-13 — best price $3.892023-05-11 — best price $12.992023-08-14 — best price $12.992023-11-28 — best price $12.992024-01-23 — best price $12.992024-03-20 — best price $2.592024-06-13 — best price $12.992024-08-06 — best price $2.592024-10-08 — best price $12.992024-11-27 — best price $2.592025-01-16 — best price $1.942025-03-19 — best price $1.942025-06-09 — best price $1.942025-09-11 — best price $12.992025-10-28 — best price $1.942026-01-18 — best price $12.992026-03-19 — best price $1.682026-05-14 — best price $1.692026-07-20 — best price $12.992026-09-02 — best price $1.692026-09-12 — best price $1.692026-09-22 — best price $12.992026-10-02 — best price $1.692026-10-12 — best price $1.692026-10-15 — best price $1.69
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Attention

44152026-05-31 — 34 pageviews2026-06-04 — 25 pageviews2026-06-08 — 28 pageviews2026-06-12 — 23 pageviews2026-06-16 — 28 pageviews2026-06-20 — 30 pageviews2026-06-24 — 20 pageviews2026-06-28 — 24 pageviews2026-07-02 — 22 pageviews2026-07-06 — 30 pageviews2026-07-10 — 26 pageviews2026-07-14 — 33 pageviews2026-07-18 — 21 pageviews2026-07-22 — 20 pageviews2026-07-26 — 25 pageviews2026-07-30 — 19 pageviews2026-08-03 — 22 pageviews2026-08-07 — 15 pageviews2026-08-11 — 20 pageviews2026-08-15 — 26 pageviews2026-08-19 — 29 pageviews2026-08-23 — 18 pageviews2026-08-27 — 19 pageviews2026-08-31 — 15 pageviews2026-09-04 — 19 pageviews2026-09-08 — 20 pageviews2026-09-12 — 32 pageviews2026-09-16 — 16 pageviews2026-09-20 — 22 pageviews2026-09-24 — 20 pageviews2026-09-28 — 18 pageviews2026-10-02 — 19 pageviews2026-10-06 — 31 pageviews2026-10-09 — 39 pageviews
Daily Wikipedia pageviews (attention proxy, census-recorded).

Completion

60+
achievements tracked
97.3%
earned "Lemons"
14.6%
median achievement earned by

Global achievement rates from Steam.

Details

WindowsmacOSLinuxSingle-playerSteam AchievementsSteam Trading CardsSteam CloudRemote Play on PhoneRemote Play on TabletFamily Sharing1 DLC

7 supported languages: English, Portuguese - Brazil, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Turkish, Spanish - Spain

Post-launch support: 1 DLC released, first 2020-06-01 (Steam store data)

Console footprint

PlatformPlayers trackedCompletionTrophies/achievements
Steam (Steam)8,6322%60
PS4 (PlayStation)16312%59
Xbox One, Windows (Xbox)1522%58
PS4 (PlayStation)14015%59
Switch (Nintendo)570%0

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

Where its players are

Share of Steam reviews by language (top languages measured) — a proxy for where the player base lives.

Player tags

IndieCasualPuzzleStrategyAdventureNarrativeSimulationStory RichDark ComedyReplay Value

Census log

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

Players also track

Star Control®: OriginsSurvivalistRusty Lake: RootsForce of NatureWeapon Shop FantasyAncient CitiesSuper Seducer 2 - Advanced Seduction TacticsVambrace: Cold Soul

Similarity via IGDB.

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