Desktop Survivors 98 Steam Charts & Stats

All this needs is a cursor size setting, I often HAVE to get the recycle bin simply because the cursor is so small I can never see it and the recycle bin is the only thing I have that effectively makes the cursor bigger by being big and locked to the cursor.

This game could have been a super simple survivors game. Few upgrades, one endless stage, and that's about it. But it didn't. It chose to be more, and what resulted was one of the best roguelikes I've played in a little bit. I don't know what exactly it is about this game, but something about it keeps me coming back to it. There is so many dungeons, and the dungeons have rooms with different purposes, bosses that are genuinely difficult, and so, so many unlockable things to find. So many other "windows" and mini-games to play, like Blackjack or Milo's Mining. The permanent upgrades are really fun and satisfying to unlock, and the synergies that can be made are so cool. The music is a banger, and every soundtrack is memorable. Honestly, there isn't much to critique here. It's a really well made experience with tons of unlockables and secrets. The one thing I would say is that there is no ability to save runs, but since the runs are about 20-30min, it doesn't matter that much. For 5 usd, this game is so worth it. (9.5/10)

Having just fully completed the achievements, I will say this is one of the best 5 bucks you could spend. Super easy to pick up, hard to put down type of game. If you're looking for nostalgia and addicting gameplay, this is it! Synergies are great, music is fitting, weapons are awesome and have some cool mechanics (I'm looking at you fishing pole). The first time I got a "corruption" in this game, I didn't even know that mechanic existed and it made me want to play it over and over again. You unlock more and more things to do, as well as cursors to help you out. Mini games with purpose, cool bosses. It's honestly a steal and I probably would've picked it up for 10 bucks if I was aware of how much was actually packed into this deceptively small looking game.

"Desktop Survivors 98" is a fun novel take on the Vampire Survivors formula baked in with old school Windows PC nostalgia. You can customize the game by using your own desktop as the playing area or use a built-in background. It reminds me of a bit of "Windowkill" which also utilizes your desktop in novel ways. Some of the power-ups are humorous, like having a cat paw randomly bap enemies, a CD player shotgun that shoots out CD projectiles and MS Paint buckets that spill paint to create damaging floors. I got my chuckle's worth for $5.

Just when I thought no other game was going to keep me up all night like Vampire Survivors did, this thing comes along and hits me hard. Totally recommend it if you are into this kind of vice. The Win98 theme, sounds, midi, desktop presentation is very well made.

I bought this game half expecting another generic "self bullet hell" but I was very wrong. I gave it a shot based on the reviews and they were right. I am less than 2 hours into the game as of writing this review and I'm already hooked. It is currently 2 AM and it broke my heart to press exit game. I would play all night if I didn't have responsibilities. 10/10

Desktop Survivors 98 is a very fun indie "Vampire Survivors"/bullethell roguelike dungeon crawler that oozes Windows 98 aesthetics (despite those aesthetics, the game runs just fine on Linux and the Steam Deck via its Console Mode). 7.5 out of 10 from me. Regarding those aesthetics: it beats Vampire Survivors by a long shot in my honest opinion, although you go through this game's progression a lot quicker. The aesthetics include references to Windows 98 itself and its programmes but also slight references to other games from both the modern era and before W98 (e.g. Cookie Clicker and DOOM). I bought it on sale during the Steam Summer Sale for an euro less and I would've paid full price considering the time it took me to just get through all the dungeons (~4 hours). It has great value for those wanting to 100% complete it due to its weapon unlocks (and corruptions). The only big "negative" point I got is that balance wise, the game *can* fail during mid-run. I encountered the problem (twice: in the 3rd and 4th dungeon) that I had enough health to survive the timed levels but not enough attack power to gain more XP and money to progress further mid-run. Hopefully a balancing update can help mitigate this issue in the future. It's not game-breaking but definitely hurt the enjoyment of those two runs. Another "medium-sized" negative point is the game being unclear what would count as "progress" with bosses versus dungeon depth. (The answer is [spoiler]dungeon depth helps with gold grinding, while surviving X amount of levels per dungeon allows unlocking dungeons/stages, and at last bosses unlock either upgrade options in the menu or minigames. The bosses aren't necessary to unlock the final dungeon or (another spoiler)[/spoiler] [spoiler]the game's Endless Mode[/spoiler].) A smaller negative point might be that despite the fitting graphics and sounds: the actual enemy sprites seem to differ a bit to truly fit the Windows 98 theme this game nails with its bosses, weapons and Console Mode backgrounds! All-in-all: highly recommended for the price of 5€ outside of sales. I give it a 7.5/10! Definitely a fun "side quest" game to spend your money and time on. :)

Too many balance issues, would not recommend. Conceptually, the game and the elements within it are lots of fun. I enjoy the theme, I like the idea behind many of the weapons, but in actuality only like 1 or 2 weapons is even viable for use, everything else is fun in concept but so under balanced that they fail to be useful. As an example: There is a "cookie clicker" weapon, where a cookie hangs out in the middle of the screen. Conceptually, it's a really cool twist on the survivors gameplay loop. Rather than kiting the entire time it seems to encourage the player to hang out near the center to click the cookie. Unfortunately, even in the first room it either doesn't do enough damage or doesn't attack quickly enough for the player to actually use it. This, paired with each room being timed and all of the unkilled enemies despawning without giving any reward at the end of the timer, means that the player ends up behind in xp and money for every subsequent room, dooming the run from the start. (As an aside: the timer ending thing doesn't apply to the demo. In the demo, enemies remain until the player has killed all of them, which makes it much less likely that the player will be left down a creek without a paddle.) This isn't limited to just the cookie though, the majority of weapons feel underwhelming enough that I don't see a reason to pick anything other than the mouse cursor, at least until it is capped out, and then I might grab other things to supplement it's damage.

The funny cliparts keep attacking my cursor. I think my son might've installed a virus on my Windows 98 personal computer.

A survivors-like that emulates a Win9x desktop environment, with all weapons and upgrades also from that era. It's an amazing fresh new take on the emergent genre that everyone will enjoy, especially those of us that were alive during the Win95 to 2000 era. One major difference to other survivor-likes is that is has room based progression: once you clear a room, you can easily pause/minimize the game for as long as you need to before diving back in.