Following the success of our dedicated E3 efforts for United Label, we geared up for the official launch of the publisher’s souls-like boss-rush, Eldest Souls. Despite the game’s niche genre and brutal difficulty setting, we dedicated ourselves to finding and pitching media and influencers with just the right amount of masochistic enthusiasm for this type of punishing experience. Our concentrated efforts skyrocketed an indie game with a two-developer team to the front page of a tier-one global gaming outlet and delivered numerous hits and rave reviews with some of the biggest gaming press around the world.
In the weeks leading up to the game’s release, we worked closely with United Label to coordinate an exclusive press preview event, arranging for a select group of gaming journalists and editors to demo the game alongside the developers. Since these previews would be the first impressions published about Eldest Souls, we knew we needed to be strategic in our media outreach to find press participants with enough passion and patience for the game’s grueling boss battles. Our thorough research paid off, and we secured multiple positive previews with gaming and entertainment media, such as ScreenRant, Hardcore Gamer, Geek Culture, The Xbox Hub and more.
With the media’s optimistic response to the preview event, we knew Eldest Souls had a lot of potential with the right audience. We went to work compiling a carefully vetted global list of media targets and began pitching for reviews. Our efforts resulted in more than 45 reviews, including several from tier-one and -two gaming, tech and entertainment outlets, including IGN, Vandal, Tom’s Guide, NME, Screen Rant, Game Informer, PC Invasion, TheGamer, GamePressure and more. The majority of our review outreach resulted in several glowing accolades and positive scores of 4/5 or 8/10 or higher. Most notably, after giving the game an 8/10 review score, IGN featured Eldest Souls on the front page of its website. Game Informer rated the indie boss-rush an 8.25/10 and gushed about the game’s gratifying and action-packed combat in a gameplay video. Meanwhile, Tom’s Guide, NME and Screen Rant all lauded Eldest Souls as a formidable and addicting new addition to the souls-like genre.
Leading up to the game’s launch, we also referenced our strong media connections and compiled a substantial targeted list of global gaming media who would be captivated by Eldest Souls’ gorgeous design and fierce combat. We pitched the launch announcement and, in the first two days following the game’s release, we secured placements with several tier-one and -two gaming and entertainment outlets, including IGN, PC Gamer, Game Informer, GamesRadar+, 4gamer.net, NintendoLife, and Collider. Game Informer placed Eldest Souls at the top of its “Smaller Games Worth Keeping an Eye On” list, while GamesRadar+ listed Eldest Souls on its “30 Best PC games to play right now,” round-up.
Our aggressive PR efforts also caught the attention of gaming outlets, blogs and influencers around the globe, and, in the weeks leading up to and following the game’s release, we handled over 150 review requests. We also secured and coordinated multiple interviews requests from gaming media worldwide.
Check out just some of our coverage from the campaign below:
