Valve’s Dota Underlords Auto Chess Game Is A Multiplayer Smash Hit

Valve is making its own version of Auto Chess for Dota 2 on Steam, and the reaction so far is "mostly positive." Called Data Underlords, it is available as an Early Access title on Steam. Players have flocked to the game, with Dota Underlords peaking today at 188,079 concurrent players. That put its fourth on the list, behind Dota 2, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, and Counter Strike: Global Offensive.

That is good company to be in, as it pertains to concurrent player count. And it is certainly proving more popular than Artifiact, the themed trading card came with a "mixed" rating based on more than 12,200 user reviews, and an "overwhelmingly negative" rating based on the 195 most recent ones.

In case you have never heard of it, Dota Underworlds is an Auto Chess clone of sorts. Drodo Studio developed the Auto Chess mod for Dota 2, then decided to launch it as a standalone game. However, it was announced that Auto Chess would be an Epic Games Store exclusive title when it comes out later this year (there is an alpha version available for Android, and a PC version that was shown off at the PC Gaming Show ahead of E3).

Dota Underworlds is similar, and it landed on Steam Early Access a couple of days ago.

"Hire a crew and destroy your rivals in this new strategy battler set in the world of Dota. Join the Beta Season, with crossplay on PC and mobile," Valve explains.

The game's concurrent user count today is three times higher than Artifact's biggest (and short-lived) peak of 60,740. One of the main criticisms with Artifact was the need to spend money on the best cards rather than earn them through gameplay.

While the reaction to Artifact has been disappointing, Valve seems to have a winning product on its hands with Dota Underworlds. You can get in on the early access action with the game here.