Steam’s newest mini-sensation has arrived and it’s known as MiSide. The meta thriller within the vein of Doki Doki Literature Membership has already racked up one of many highest rankings on Valve’s storefront only a couple weeks after its fully under-the-radar launch, thanks partly to streams by Mark “Markiplier” Fischbach and others.
Should you’re simply beginning to come again on-line after the vacation break, you may be shocked to study that 2024 was hiding one final Steam hit up its digital sleeve. MiSide is an anime horror recreation a few programmer who finds himself magically transported into the world of a cute, minigame-filled cellular sim that’s residence to his digital love curiosity, Mita. The premise is a mashup of visible novel and comfy strolling sim parts that ultimately goes to some a lot weirder locations and begins breaking the fourth wall within the course of.
Markiplier streamed the sport a few days after it got here out and, weeks later, the VOD has gathered over 3 million views. Particular edd, xQc, and others have since reacted to the sport as nicely. YouTube shorts and TikTok are additionally flooded with MiSide response movies and Mita fan cams. Because of this, the sport has over 43,000 evaluations on Steam with a optimistic score only a fraction greater than Balatro’s, making it one of many highest-ranked video games on Valve’s storefront, not less than for now.
MiSide’s success didn’t fully come out of nowhere. A really polished demo was launched on itch.io over a 12 months in the past and shortly acquired followers. At this level, the feedback web page is crammed with folks sharing YouTube movies of their very own playthroughs of the unsettling, creepypasta-infused, twist-filled story. In some methods it’s excellent catnip for the user-powered Steam algorithm: psychological horror + anime waifu + social media virality lottery = Steam’s first early winter breakout.
“Earlier than the sport’s launch, we by no means anticipated MiSide to be so standard,” the sport’s builders wrote on Steam final week alongside an replace including a photograph mode and different tweaks. “We’re very grateful to each participant who helps us! Along with persevering with to shine the sport and produce the deliberate content material, we can even rigorously take into account future plans, which can cowl all facets of the sport, each inside and out of doors the sport. We’ll share new plans with everybody as quickly as they’re accessible!”
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