The Game Census
Dysfunctional Systems: Learning to Manage Chaos cover art

Dysfunctional Systems: Learning to Manage Chaos

Dischan Media · 2013-09-26

Steam

AdventureCasualIndieRPG

Modes: Single player · Perspectives: Text

Releases: Apr 04, 2013 (PC (Microsoft Windows)), Apr 04, 2013 (Mac), Apr 04, 2013 (Linux)

From Dischan Media, creators of the highly acclaimed Juniper's Knot, comes Dysfunctional Systems: Learning to Manage Chaos.Dysfunctional Systems is a visual novel series featuring Winter Harrison, a student mediator from a utopian world. Learning to Manage Chaos is the first entry in the series.What is a mediator?

Dysfunctional Systems: Learning to Manage Chaos is a $4.99 Adventure, Casual, Indie, and RPG game released in 2013, estimated to have 50,000 .. 100,000 owners, with Mostly Positive (75% of 786 reviews) sentiment.

0
playing now
75%
positive of 785 reviews
Mostly Positive
steam's rating (official)
50,000–100,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
60/100
IGDB user rating (2 ratings)
pending
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
$4.99
steam price (US)

0 players in-game as of 2026-10-14 18:00 UTC (census sample)

Dysfunctional Systems is a visual novel created by Canadian studio Dischan Media. The story follows Winter Harrison, a "mediator"-in-training, as she attempts to resolve chaotic situations in different worlds. The first of several planned episodes, Learning to Manage Chaos, was released on April 4, 2013 In February 2014, Dischan launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for another two episodes of the story. Although the campaign met and exceeded its funding goals, the project was cancelled on January 2, 2015.

Health check

Quiet
  • · 0 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 8 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~1/week).
  • · Review velocity up 60% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Current weekly pace is under 5% of the all-time peak week (115 reviews).
  • · Top 15% of 28,914 Adventure games in the census by review count.

Health tier since 2026-08-31

Estimated sales: 31k–63k copies

Review-multiple estimate from 785 total reviews — how this is computed.

All-time low: $0.99 at Steam (2014-03-10) · bundled 2×via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $4.99 · on sale 2 of 4 observed days (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
10310320132026Week of 2013-09-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2013-10-01: 23 positiveWeek of 2013-11-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2013-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2013-12-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2013-12-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2014-01-01: 103 positiveWeek of 2014-01-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2014-02-01: 29 positiveWeek of 2014-02-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2014-03-01: 52 positiveWeek of 2014-03-01: 13 negativeWeek of 2014-04-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2014-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2014-05-01: 15 positiveWeek of 2014-05-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2014-06-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2014-06-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2014-07-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2014-07-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2014-08-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2014-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2014-09-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2014-09-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2014-10-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2014-10-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2014-11-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2014-11-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2014-12-01: 25 positiveWeek of 2014-12-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2015-01-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2015-01-01: 14 negativeWeek of 2015-02-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2015-02-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2015-03-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2015-03-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2015-04-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2015-04-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2015-05-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2015-05-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2015-06-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2015-06-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2015-07-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2015-07-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2015-08-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2015-08-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2015-09-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2015-09-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2015-10-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2015-10-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2015-11-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2015-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2015-12-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2015-12-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2016-01-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2016-01-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2016-02-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2016-02-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2016-03-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2016-03-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2016-04-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2016-05-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2016-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2016-07-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2016-08-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2016-08-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2016-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2016-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2016-11-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2016-12-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2016-12-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2017-01-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2017-01-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2017-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2017-03-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2017-04-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2017-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2017-05-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2017-06-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2017-07-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2017-08-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2017-09-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2017-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2017-10-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2017-11-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2017-12-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2018-01-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2018-01-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2018-02-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2018-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2018-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2018-07-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2018-08-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2018-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2018-09-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2018-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2019-01-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2019-02-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2019-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2019-06-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2019-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2019-10-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2019-11-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2019-12-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2020-02-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2020-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-06-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2020-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-09-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2020-10-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2021-01-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2021-03-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2021-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-07-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2021-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-09-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2022-05-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2022-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-12-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-06-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2023-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-03-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-01-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-11-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 1 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

102026-09-15 19:00 — 0 players2026-09-17 03:00 — 0 players2026-09-18 10:00 — 0 players2026-09-19 18:00 — 0 players2026-09-21 01:00 — 0 players2026-09-22 09:00 — 0 players2026-09-23 17:00 — 0 players2026-09-25 00:00 — 0 players2026-09-26 08:00 — 0 players2026-09-27 15:00 — 0 players2026-09-28 23:00 — 0 players2026-09-30 06:00 — 0 players2026-10-01 14:00 — 0 players2026-10-02 21:00 — 0 players2026-10-04 05:00 — 0 players2026-10-05 13:00 — 0 players2026-10-06 20:00 — 0 players2026-10-08 04:00 — 0 players2026-10-09 11:00 — 0 players2026-10-10 19:00 — 0 players2026-10-12 03:00 — 0 players2026-10-13 10:00 — 0 players2026-10-14 18:00 — 0 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).

Price history

$4.99$1.242015-01-012026-03-262015-01-01 — best price $4.992015-06-11 — best price $2.492015-06-22 — best price $4.992015-11-25 — best price $2.492015-12-01 — best price $4.992015-12-22 — best price $2.492016-01-04 — best price $4.992017-06-30 — best price $2.492017-07-07 — best price $4.992017-10-02 — best price $1.992017-10-09 — best price $4.992017-11-22 — best price $2.992017-11-28 — best price $4.992017-12-21 — best price $1.242018-01-04 — best price $4.992018-06-21 — best price $1.492018-07-05 — best price $4.992019-10-28 — best price $4.242019-11-01 — best price $4.992019-11-26 — best price $2.492019-12-03 — best price $4.992019-12-19 — best price $1.242020-01-02 — best price $4.992020-06-25 — best price $1.242020-07-09 — best price $4.992021-12-22 — best price $2.492022-01-05 — best price $4.992024-05-14 — best price $2.492024-05-21 — best price $4.992024-06-27 — best price $1.242024-07-11 — best price $4.992025-09-29 — best price $2.492025-10-06 — best price $4.992025-12-18 — best price $2.492026-01-05 — best price $4.992026-03-19 — best price $3.742026-03-26 — best price $4.99
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Attention

702026-06-02 — 2 pageviews2026-06-06 — 2 pageviews2026-06-10 — 1 pageviews2026-06-14 — 2 pageviews2026-06-18 — 2 pageviews2026-06-22 — 2 pageviews2026-06-26 — 2 pageviews2026-06-30 — 1 pageviews2026-07-04 — 5 pageviews2026-07-08 — 5 pageviews2026-07-12 — 5 pageviews2026-07-16 — 3 pageviews2026-07-20 — 7 pageviews2026-07-24 — 3 pageviews2026-07-28 — 5 pageviews2026-08-01 — 5 pageviews2026-08-05 — 0 pageviews2026-08-09 — 3 pageviews2026-08-13 — 4 pageviews2026-08-17 — 1 pageviews2026-08-21 — 3 pageviews2026-08-25 — 3 pageviews2026-08-29 — 1 pageviews2026-09-02 — 5 pageviews2026-09-06 — 2 pageviews2026-09-10 — 6 pageviews2026-09-14 — 1 pageviews2026-09-18 — 4 pageviews2026-09-22 — 3 pageviews2026-09-26 — 2 pageviews2026-09-30 — 2 pageviews2026-10-04 — 0 pageviews2026-10-08 — 3 pageviews2026-10-12 — 0 pageviews
Daily Wikipedia pageviews (attention proxy, census-recorded).

Completion

11
achievements tracked
41.9%
earned "Follower"
23.5%
median achievement earned by

Global achievement rates from Steam.

Details

WindowsmacOSLinuxSingle-playerSteam AchievementsPartial Controller SupportFamily Sharing

Console footprint

PlatformPlayers trackedCompletionTrophies/achievements
Steam (Steam)1,64457%11

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

Player tags

RPGAnimeDramaIndieShortCasualSci-fiEpisodicAdventureStory Rich

Census log

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

Players also track

Star Control®: OriginsUnclaimed WorldChildren of MortaThe Long Journey HomeOmensight: Definitive EditionJudgment: Apocalypse Survival SimulationEternity: The Last UnicornRebel Galaxy Outlaw

Similarity via IGDB.

Wikipedia ↗Official site ↗