The Game Census
This Way Madness Lies cover art

This Way Madness Lies

Zeboyd Digital Entertainment LLC · 2022-11-10

SteamPlayStation Store

RPG

Modes: Single player · Perspectives: Bird view / Isometric

Releases: Nov 10, 2022 (PC (Microsoft Windows)), Jul 25, 2023 (Nintendo Switch), Sep 12, 2023 (PlayStation 5)

Shakespeare and Magical Girls, what could be better? Save the worlds of Shakespeare from the forces of Nightmare in this fast-paced turn-based JRPG comedy.

87%
positive of 191 reviews
Very Positive
steam's rating (official)
0–20,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
87/100
critic score (1 outlets, IGDB)
platinum
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
Playable
Steam Deck (Valve)
SteamOS: Playable
$1.89
steam price (US)
This Way Madness Lies is a 2022 role-playing video game by Zeboyd Games. It combines magical girl and Shakespearean themes in a retro pixel art aesthetic.

Health check

Quiet
  • · 18 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~2/week).
  • · Review velocity down 18% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 47% of 9,678 RPG games in the census by review count.
Estimated sales: 3.8k–8.6k copies

Review-multiple estimate from 191 total reviews — how this is computed.

Current store prices

Steam$1.89-81%

Deal snapshots via CheapShark, refreshed daily.

All-time low: $0.99 at Steam (2025-09-29) · bundled 3×via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $1.89 · on sale 0 of 7 observed days · $0.90 above the all-time low (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
484820222026Week of 2022-11-01: 48 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-01-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-02-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2023-04-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-06-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2023-07-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-10-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-01-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-04-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-05-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-08-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-01-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-02-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-04-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-07-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-08-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-10-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-12-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-02-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2026-04-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2026-07-01: 2 positive
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Price history

$1.89$1.892026-09-152026-09-212026-09-15 — best price $1.892026-09-16 — best price $1.892026-09-17 — best price $1.892026-09-18 — best price $1.892026-09-19 — best price $1.892026-09-20 — best price $1.892026-09-21 — best price $1.89
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Attention

3012026-06-23 — 18 pageviews2026-06-26 — 19 pageviews2026-06-29 — 30 pageviews2026-07-02 — 23 pageviews2026-07-05 — 11 pageviews2026-07-08 — 18 pageviews2026-07-11 — 1 pageviews2026-07-14 — 12 pageviews2026-07-17 — 10 pageviews2026-07-20 — 12 pageviews2026-07-23 — 6 pageviews2026-07-26 — 7 pageviews2026-07-29 — 11 pageviews2026-08-01 — 5 pageviews2026-08-04 — 8 pageviews2026-08-07 — 3 pageviews2026-08-10 — 8 pageviews2026-08-13 — 4 pageviews2026-08-16 — 5 pageviews2026-08-19 — 8 pageviews2026-08-22 — 8 pageviews2026-08-25 — 10 pageviews2026-08-28 — 6 pageviews2026-08-31 — 15 pageviews2026-09-03 — 4 pageviews2026-09-06 — 16 pageviews2026-09-09 — 13 pageviews2026-09-12 — 3 pageviews2026-09-15 — 5 pageviews2026-09-18 — 12 pageviews2026-09-20 — 4 pageviews
Daily Wikipedia pageviews (attention proxy, census-recorded).

Completion

16
achievements tracked
68%
earned "Pep Talk"
27.7%
median achievement earned by

Global achievement rates from Steam.

Details

WindowsFull controller supportSingle-playerSteam AchievementsFull controller supportSteam CloudFamily Sharing1 DLC

Post-launch support: 1 DLC released, first 2022-11-17 (Steam store data)

Player tags

2DRPGJRPGAnimeFunnyRetroCombatComedyLinearLovecraftian

Census log

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

Players also track

Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious DreamBloomtown: A Different Story

Similarity via IGDB.

Official site ↗