The Game Census
Research Story cover art

Research Story

Petal Cat Games · 2025-07-21

Steam

CasualIndieRPGSimulation

Modes: Single player

Releases: Aug 27, 2026 (Nintendo Switch), Feb 21, 2023 (PC (Microsoft Windows))

Set out to discover and record plants and creatures for the Violet Archive. Grow crops, tame animals, and build the perfect farm! Forge friendships along the way as you begin your life as a researcher!

95%
positive of 337 reviews
Very Positive
steam rating
0–20,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
platinum
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
$14.99
steam price (US)

Health check

Quietly active
  • · 49 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~6/week).
  • · Review velocity down 40% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 36% of 9,739 Casual games in the census by review count.
Estimated sales: 6.7k–15k copies

Review-multiple estimate from 337 total reviews — how this is computed.

All-time low: $11.19 at GreenManGaming (2023-12-21) · bundled 1×via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $14.99 · on sale 5 of 12 observed days (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
404020232026Week of 2023-02-01: 40 positiveWeek of 2023-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-03-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2023-04-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2023-06-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2023-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-07-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-09-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-12-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-05-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-06-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2024-08-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-11-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-12-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-02-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-07-01: 26 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 26 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2025-09-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-11-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2026-04-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-07-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 2 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Price history

$99.99$11.192022-11-242026-07-312022-11-24 — best price $99.992023-02-21 — best price $12.592023-03-01 — best price $13.992023-05-27 — best price $13.992023-07-13 — best price $13.992023-07-25 — best price $12.592023-11-17 — best price $11.892023-11-28 — best price $13.992023-12-21 — best price $11.192024-01-06 — best price $13.992024-03-10 — best price $13.992024-03-21 — best price $13.992024-05-06 — best price $13.992024-07-11 — best price $13.992024-10-05 — best price $13.992024-11-12 — best price $13.992024-12-04 — best price $13.992025-01-02 — best price $13.992025-03-08 — best price $13.992025-03-20 — best price $13.992025-05-30 — best price $11.892025-06-27 — best price $11.192025-07-22 — best price $11.192025-08-24 — best price $14.992025-09-29 — best price $13.492025-12-18 — best price $11.992026-03-02 — best price $11.992026-03-19 — best price $11.992026-06-25 — best price $11.242026-07-24 — best price $11.992026-07-31 — best price $14.99
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Completion

40
achievements tracked
59.1%
earned "New in Town"
7.1%
median achievement earned by

Global achievement rates from Steam.

Details

WindowsFull controller supportSingle-playerSteam AchievementsFull controller supportSteam CloudFamily Sharing1 DLC

2 supported languages: English, Simplified Chinese

Console footprint

PlatformPlayers trackedCompletionTrophies/achievements
Steam (Steam)1345%40

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

Player tags

RPGSandboxBuildingCraftingLife SimRelaxingSimulationAgricultureExplorationFarming Sim

Census log

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

Recent updates

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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