Drives Wishlist Growth and Publisher Interest for Anime-Inspired Metroidvania

Codenightly, an indie studio based in Poland, engaged UberStrategist to support PR for Sunken Sky, an anime-inspired Metroidvania featuring hand-drawn art and character-switching mechanics. The campaign centered on Steam Next Fest as a key opportunity to introduce the game to media and players.

The client’s goal for the six-week campaign was to increase awareness, drive wishlist growth, and secure demo coverage ahead of launch. With just over 1,000 wishlists and no prior releases, the campaign required focused outreach to help the game stand out in a highly competitive Next Fest environment.

We structured the campaign around Steam Next Fest as a discovery-driven moment, focusing on building visibility before and during the event. We positioned Sunken Sky around its key differentiators and prioritized outreach to press covering indie games, demos, and Next Fest standouts.

Our team executed outreach in phases, beginning with pre-seeding demo keys to select media ahead of the event, followed by targeted pitching and a press release tied to demo availability. We maintained momentum through follow-ups and extended coverage with a post–Next Fest announcement to keep the game in the media beyond the initial window.

The campaign secured coverage across outlets such as IGN, which hosted the official trailer, and GameSpot, which featured the demo among top Next Fest titles, alongside additional placements in Bleeding Cool, Noisy Pixel, RPGamer, WorthPlaying, and GameTrailers. This coverage helped introduce Sunken Sky to relevant gaming audiences during a key discovery window.

‍Wishlist growth doubled during the campaign period, and the game attracted publisher interest as a result of its increased visibility. The campaign established early awareness, clearly positioned the title within the Metroidvania space, and helped create a stronger foundation for future PR efforts.