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Few open-world RPGs have a documented, measured story of slow audience growth. The public record supports something narrower: Kingdom Come: Deliverance has been recast as a cult classic years after its release, and No Man’s Sky has spent the years since launch in sustained post-launch development and growing attention. Fallout: New Vegas belongs in any discussion of cult RPGs, but for different reasons. This guide separates these three cases, says what each source can and cannot prove, and explains what “found an audience” should mean before you apply it to a game.
What “found an audience” can actually mean
The phrase covers four different situations, and the evidence for each one is different. Treating them as interchangeable is the most common reason slow-burn claims sound more certain than they are.
- Later cult status: a game is praised more in retrospect than it was at launch.
- A growing community: the player base keeps expanding through word of mouth or continued play.
- A sequel’s success: the franchise grows commercially, which can draw new attention to the original.
- Years of updates: the developer keeps the product evolving long after release.
Sequel success and continuing updates are real in two of the cases below, but they describe the franchise or the product as it exists now. They do not, on their own, show when or how the original game’s audience grew.
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Warhorse’s historical RPG began as a Kickstarter project in 2014 and released in 2018. Of the three games here, it has the strongest claim to a delayed reputation, because a 2026 retrospective describes it as a cult classic rather than a launch-era hit.
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What the sources say
- British GQ’s profile, published February 13, 2026 and based on interviews with creative director Prokop Jirsa and actor Tom McKay, calls the game a cult classic. It describes the gritty role-playing style and the medieval Bohemia setting.
- Jirsa says the team wanted a “true historical RPG” and describes the game as deliberately outside the widest mass-market mold. These are first-party statements about intent, not audience measurements.
- On the game’s difficulty, Jirsa said: “Friction makes you feel like you earned something.” The design choice is the point: the game asks for patience, and the audience that accepts that trade is the one that tends to stay.
The sequel figure belongs to the sequel
The same British GQ profile reports more than five million copies sold for Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. That number describes the sequel, not the original. The article also says the sequel received nominations for Best RPG, Best Narrative and Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2025. These are useful signals that the series’ audience grew. They are not evidence of how many people bought or played the first game, or when.
What remains unestablished
No original-publisher sales figure for the first game’s audience over time was found in the sources reviewed. A Wikipedia chronology records the Kickstarter launch, the campaign target and result, the 2018 worldwide release, later ports, and DLC. It is useful for dates, but any financial figure in it should be checked against the original reporting before you quote it.
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No Man’s Sky: sustained reinvention rather than a late discovery
No Man’s Sky released in 2016. Hello Games’ official press page says the game continues to receive regular major updates that add stars, planets, biomes, creatures and stories. That is a documented fact about the product’s trajectory.
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The creator’s account is more revealing. In an interview with WIRED, director Sean Murray said: “I actually thought we were making something quite niche and experimental, y’know? In some ways, I still do?” The same interview describes unexpected mainstream attention after launch, and his wish to expand the game after release and communicate more with the community.
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Murray’s remarks are a creator’s recollection of his expectations, not independent audience data. They do not establish player counts, sales growth, or a specific year when the game “found” its audience. The most defensible description is sustained post-launch reinvention and attention, not a game nobody wanted at launch.
Fallout: New Vegas: a cult RPG, not a delayed-breakthrough example
Fallout: New Vegas is a strong entry for readers who want a faction-driven RPG with a reputation system and a dense post-apocalyptic world. The Guardian’s November 10, 2010 interview with lead designer Josh Sawyer covers the game’s setting, the Mojave’s competing factions, player reputation, and the post-post-apocalyptic society it depicts. That is good evidence for the game’s design.
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It does not provide a later popularity timeline, so it cannot support the claim that the game took years to find an audience. Include it as a related cult RPG, not as proof of the headline’s thesis.
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| Game | Evidence for later audience growth | Launch-era reception versus later reputation | Distinctive RPG and world | Post-launch support |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kingdom Come: Deliverance (released 2018) | British GQ, February 13, 2026, calls it a cult classic. The 5 million-plus sales figure is for Deliverance 2, not the original. | Kickstarter in 2014, release in 2018. Launch-era sales for the original: not stated in the sources reviewed. | Historical RPG set in medieval Bohemia, with gritty role-playing and deliberate difficulty. | DLC and later ports are recorded in a Wikipedia chronology. Ongoing update schedule: not stated. |
| No Man’s Sky (released 2016) | Creator’s account of unexpected mainstream attention in a WIRED interview. No player counts or sales figures found. | Director Sean Murray said the team thought it was making something niche and experimental. | Space exploration. Major updates add stars, planets, biomes, creatures and stories. | Regular major updates, according to Hello Games’ official press page. |
| Fallout: New Vegas (2010 interview) | Not a delayed-breakthrough source. The Guardian’s 2010 interview covers design, not popularity over time. | Not stated in the Guardian interview. | Faction-driven RPG in the Mojave, with player reputation and a post-post-apocalyptic society. | Not stated in the sources reviewed. |
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How to test a slow-burn claim yourself
- Look for a dated retrospective or interview, and note whether it describes reputation, sales, or updates. Those are three different claims.
- Check the developer’s own update log or press page to see whether the game is still being changed.
- Separate sequel results from the original’s record. A franchise’s success is not a sales figure for its first entry.
- Treat any sales or player number as valid only with its source, date and scope, such as a single edition or a single platform.
Verdict
If the headline’s “took years to find an audience” is taken to mean a documented later reputation, Kingdom Come: Deliverance is the strongest example, with the sequel’s success as context rather than proof. If it means years of growth driven by continuing development, No Man’s Sky is the better fit, supported by the developer’s own updates and by the creator’s account of attention he did not expect. Fallout: New Vegas is worth playing for its design, but the evidence here does not show a delayed audience for it.
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