A Surprising New Free RPG is Dominating the Steam Charts (But Is It Any Good?)

If you’ve had a peek at the most-played games on Steam lately, no doubt you’ve seen a few newcomers. While the top slots are often reserved for the same free FPS games, Path of Exile 2 recently made a triumphant return thanks to a recent free weekend. But over the last day or so, a surprising new RPG has gone soaring to the top of the trending charts with over 229,730 concurrent players in the last 24 hours. What’s more interesting is that the game didn’t just come out, but rather, has been available since May 27th.

TBH: Task Bar Hero has seen a massive surge in players over the last few days. The game officially arrived on Steam back on May 27th, where it got off to a decent start with around 8,000 concurrents. Since then, its popularity has grown steadily, ramping it up to its current impressive heights. Yet despite its massive player counts, Task Bar Hero has Mixed reviews on Steam, with just 49% Positive Reviews. So, why is this new idle RPG taking the Steam charts by storm despite middling reviews?

TBH: Task Bar Hero Surpasses Bongo Cat as Steam’s New Top Idler Despite Mixed Reviews

Despite their status as a niche genre, at least one idle or clicker game typically sits in the most-played games on Steam. After all, idle games let you get a little taste of gaming even when you’re focused on other tasks. For a long time, Bongo Cat has been the go-to free idle game on Steam, consistently sitting in the top 10 most-played games. But for now, TBH: Task Bar Hero has surpassed the adorable cat typing game to claim a spot as the 5th Most-Played game on Steam over the last few days, according to SteamDB. Naturally, I got curious and decided to download the game to give it a try and see what all the fuss is about.

Unlike Bongo Cat, which quietly taps away while you type, TBH is slightly more involved. You select a class, then watch your avatar battle it out against various monsters at the corner of your screen. The music loops as your character auto-battles, and every so often, a notification lets you know there’s a new bit of loot to investigate or stat point to allocate. In theory, it’s pretty hands-off, though I personally found the music downright distracting and the notifications easy to get sucked into. But if you enjoy a good RPG, there’s certainly something to be said for watching a character level up at the bottom of your screen. And the game is entirely free, after all, making it a low barrier to entry for anyone like me who gets curious enough to check out the game.

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After a brief time playing the game, I yearned for the simple cuteness of Bongo Cat. That led me to wonder even more why the game has become so popular. So, I did some digging. Task Bar Hero did get a major update on June 1st, which might partly explain its steady increase in concurrent players since then. Indeed, many earlier reviews were quite positive, praising the game’s pixel art style and simple gameplay loop. However, not everyone is happy with the recent update, which made some sweeping adjustments to loot boxes and leveling. Others are frustrated at the game’s use of Steam Market transactions, which many believe have brought bots to the game to farm and trade items. That has reportedly clogged up the game’s servers, leaving many players to report experiencing lag. But it also brings the game’s true player count into question.

With just over 1,100 total Steam reviews, it’s likely that the bot accusations aren’t totally unfounded. Typically, you’d expect slightly higher review counts for a game with nearly 230,000 concurrent players, after all. Even fellow free idle game Bongo Cat boasts 26,000+ reviews from its average concurrent player count of around 181.5K. That said, the game is relatively new in comparison, and it could be that players are waiting to get a feel for the overall loop before weighing in.

Whether or not bots are partly responsible, it’s clear that Task Bar Hero is gaining some traction on Steam. With its place among the Most-Played games, no doubt many people will be curious enough to give it a try. For a simple idler, it’s relatively entertaining, and I didn’t personally experience much lag in the game’s early stages.

Have you played Task Bar Hero on Steam? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!