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Solo developer Michel Losch has made a strong impact with his latest release Rooftops & Alleys: The Parkour Game. Launched on May 21, the game sold an impressive 70,000 copies within its first 30 days. The reception has been overwhelmingly positive, with 97% positive reviews from 2,453 Steam user ratings. At its peak, Rooftops & Alleys reached 1,425 concurrent players, according to SteamDB.
Michel Losch spent about 12 months developing the game using Unreal Engine 5 and Nekki’s 3D animation tool, Cascadeur. These tools allowed him to create a visually striking game with smooth and engaging animations, all on a limited budget. This focus enabled him to realize his vision without a large team or significant financial resources.
The success of Rooftops & Alleys can be attributed to its unique gameplay approach. While other modern titles like Ghostrunner use parkour as one mechanic among many, Rooftops & Alleys fully commits to the free-running experience. Losch wanted to create a game that fully embraces parkour, giving players the freedom to perform stylish tricks.
Before launch, the game went viral on social media. The announcement trailer collected 379,000 views on YouTube, and the game’s official TikTok accumulated around 1 million likes across videos. This pre-launch momentum played a critical role in early sales and player engagement. Rooftops & Alleys also benefited from the rising popularity of real-world parkour, helping it gain strong organic SEO. It now appears on the first page of Google results for “parkour game”.
Simon Carless of GameDiscoverCo discussed why the game resonated so well. He compared it to Descenders, a mountain biking game, noting that there are surprisingly few action-sports titles despite their real-life popularity. This gave Rooftops & Alleys a great opportunity to attract fans of both parkour and video games.
Before creating his game, Michel Losch worked as a 3D artist and graphic designer. He also produced electronic music under the name Millbrook. But thanks to the success of Rooftops & Alleys, he has now become a full-time professional game developer.
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