New Steam Game Has a 92% Approval Rating, and You Can Download it for Free Right Now

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Summary

  • Indie point-and-click adventure Poco is currently enjoying some decent momentum on Steam, with seemingly thousands of downloads and a 92% player approval rating.
  • Poco—which puts players in the tiny shoes of the world’s smallest clown—is entirely free to play, with no hidden costs.
  • Several Twitch streamers may have contributed to Poco’s rise in popularity.

A week after its debut, an indie game named “Poco” is receiving rave reviews with a striking 92% approval rating on Steam. Remarkably, it’s entirely free to play, without any hidden fees or charges. While the game has managed to create a buzz on Valve’s platform, the modest team responsible for this Steam release has declared that they have no intention of monetizing the game at this time.

Poco is a point-and-click adventure set in a circus, with minimal hardware requirements making it very accessible. During a two-month period ending April 15th, the game managed to gather $2,618 from 88 backers on Kickstarter. However, labeling Poco as a success story of Kickstarter might be misleading. The student team behind the game had always planned to release it, and they turned to crowdfunding only to cover additional costs such as festival submissions, at a time when the project was almost complete.

Approximately one month after concluding its Kickstarter campaign, Poco made its debut on Steam on May 20th. In the ensuing week, it garnered over 600 player reviews, with 92.43% of them expressing positive sentiments. This high percentage of favorable feedback propelled Poco into Steam’s “Overwhelmingly Positive” category, which indicates a strong user response.

A 2023 study by GameDiscoverCo revealed that only a tiny proportion of Steam users submit reviews. Therefore, it is reasonable to infer that Poco might have been downloaded numerous times, possibly surpassing 10,000 installations.

What Kind of Game Is Poco?

In this game, players assume the role of Poco, a diminutive clown known worldwide, who is expelled from his circus and finds himself in the Below World. Determined to return home, he constructs a rocket and gathers allies among an array of vibrant characters. Gameplay involves traversing environments, solving riddles, engaging in conversations, and partaking in mini-games. The visual style mirrors traditional point-and-click adventures, merging 3D character models with hand-painted backdrops created by artists.

Poco Developers Made it to Graduate

As a devoted admirer, I’m thrilled to share that the brilliant minds behind our favorite game, including Micah Boursier, developer of both The Multi-Medium and BirdGut, have made it clear they have no intention of monetizing Poco. This decision, clearly stated on their Kickstarter page, is rooted in the fact that this captivating project serves as a university thesis. Consequently, the release date for this masterpiece aligns with the developers’ graduation deadline.

Twitch Streamers Possibly Boosted Poco

It appears that Poco’s surge in popularity on Steam might be linked to increased attention from streamers around late May 2025. In the past few days, well-known Twitch content creators such as Ezekiel_III, Lexy, and Varidetta (who together have over 300,000 followers) have dedicated several hours to streaming the indie point-and-click adventure, resulting in around 2,000 hours of viewer engagement. Since the game is free-to-play, this extended exposure could significantly increase its popularity, potentially leading to a higher-than-usual rate of viewers transitioning into players.

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2025-05-28 20:04