Hytacka Opens Up About Rise of Rebellion Flop: “It Bombed Completely”

Despite his Dark Souls 3 pedigree, the Japanese dev’s passion project struggles to find an audience.

In a raw and refreshingly honest update, Japanese indie developer Hytacka has publicly acknowledged that his latest release, Rise of Rebellion, just isn’t doing well.

The soulslike action RPG, which launched on April 21, 2025, has drastically underperformed, falling far short of sales goals—even with industry experience and community buzz behind it.

Hytacka had previously worked on Dark Souls 3 before striking out on his own. But in a personal YouTube video, the developer didn’t sugarcoat the reality:

“The results are not good. In terms of what my goal was, I would say it bombed completely.”

Sales Way Below Expectations

Hytacka didn’t drop hard numbers, but he referenced a common indie dev formula: Steam reviews × 30 = rough sales estimate. With around 160 reviews, that puts sales at just around 5,000 copies—a massive miss compared to the 100,000 units he was aiming for.

What’s especially painful is that the game had over 40,000 wishlists pre-launch, so the initial hype just didn’t translate into purchases.

Rise of Rebellion currently holds a "Mixed" rating on Steam, with only about 40% positive reviews. While some players liked the combat mechanics, the overall reaction has been lukewarm at best.

Development Woes and Publisher Pressure

The game’s journey hasn’t exactly been smooth. Development started back in 2020, but after negative feedback on early demos, Hytacka completely rebuilt the game from scratch in 2023, focusing on tighter controls and refining gameplay systems. Unfortunately, that revamp wasn’t enough to win over most players.

The game was published by Kodansha, the major Japanese publisher better known for its manga and books. Hytacka expressed concern that the game’s poor performance might strain his relationship with them—casting doubt on support for any future projects.

What’s Next for Hytacka?

Looking forward, Hytacka says he’s not planning major updates for Rise of Rebellion. Instead, expect only small patches focused on bug fixes and a new optional easy mode, which will simplify the parry system and slow down enemies to help make the game more accessible.

As for his next game? Don’t expect anything too soon. While some fans have encouraged him to go smaller next time, Hytacka hinted he’s not ready to scale back his vision just yet. “Honestly, it'll probably be a while before I get to a point where I have something to show,” he admitted.

For now, Rise of Rebellion is available on PC via Steam, offering directional parry combat, combo-heavy swordplay, and a deep challenge for soulslike fans—if you're up for it.