Fortune Mill fuses mini-games with the incremental idle formula for a big win (and big numbers)

Within about three hours of starting up Fortune Mill you almost certainly won’t remember what the actual goal of the game is, and that’s probably fine. In fact, it’s weirder that it had any sort of opening sequence, given that most of its contemporaries don’t.

Video games are in a weird space in 2026: ‘Viral’ games are more about doing less than ever. Incremental and Idle games ask you to basically put down the controller, ‘Friendslop’ titles forego any story and have you operate in padded out sandboxes. Being mechanically light is certainly in vogue, and the fact that players are cool with that now allows developers to build faster. Fortune Mill, which launched back in July of this year, falls into this category, but includes multiple games that unlock and run simultaneously as you progress.

Merging and gacha games come alongside others, to compliment the earliest room, a room about throwing darts at a wall. It’s when there are multiple ‘rooms’ in play that Fortune Mill really starts to sing. Previous rooms keep generating currency which can then be used to buff the later ones, add to that the (post-launch added) Zenith Shop which unlocks as you enter New Game Plus, and there’s enough moving parts and paths that Fortune Mill stands apart from a lot of the other ‘background’ games that have been launching lately.

Back when I first finished Fortune Mill, which was back in May, that level of meta progression didn’t exist and there was no real reason to spin up another game – with it instead pushing you toward the timed, hardcore mode. Adding it in, and allowing you to burn through spare currency to give permanent boosts, which can then boost other rooms, shows a developer that’s thinking outside of the box.

Most people often want to see growth in genres, with few people happy to play the same game released again and again. Independently each room feels like a minor minigame that simply wouldn’t hook people, but when you’ve got gatcha, pachinko, darts and scratchcards all working in harmony, Fortune Mill shows why it managed to hit big around launch. That and it features a rat with a machine gun.

Fortune Mill is available now for PC.