A Year-End Dark Horse Emerges! Sanqi’s New Release Smoothly Enters the Top 5 on the Bestseller List

Over the past couple of days, a new entry has appeared at the top of the mini-game sales charts: “Survive 33 Days” from 37 Interactive Entertainment.The game has climbed the charts at a rapid pace. Since first appearing on the charts on November 27, it took just 19 days to rise from outside the top 70 on WeChat’s Top Grossing chart to the top 5, and it also reached as high as No. 18 on Douyin’s Top Grossing chart.

As a regular on the bestseller charts, it’s no surprise that 37 Interactive Entertainment has released hit games; what’s truly surprising is that this time, they’ve actually placed their bets on “Boom Boom Like.”

01

A Different Kind of “Boom-Boom Like”

The prototype for “Rumble Like” was *Rumble Heroes* (Rumble Mercenaries), released in 2023 by the South Korean developer PlayHard.After its launch, the game ranked high on the free game charts in many countries. Although it ultimately failed to generate staggering revenue figures, its gameplay design—centered on a “casual RPG” experience—became an instant hit, attracting the attention of and inspiring imitations from numerous developers worldwide, and giving rise to a host of similar hit titles,Among them are the mobile game *Top Heroes (Song of the Kingdom)* by Jiangyu Interactive and the hit mini-game *Heroes of a Hundred Trials*, published by 99 Interactive.

《Rumble Heroes》

The “Boom-Boom Like” gameplay has a low learning curve and is easy to pick up, but its content framework is relatively rigid, making it difficult for developers to achieve breakthrough innovations based on it. As a result, once the hype died down, industry interest in it also waned.In the domestic mini-games market, ultimately only one title, *Heroes of the Forge*, managed to maintain a long-term presence on the best-seller charts.

"Heroes Forged in a Hundred Trials"

Who would have thought that two years later, 37 Interactive Entertainment would revive this gameplay mechanic and even take it to new heights?

First, *Survival 33 Days* chose a genre that naturally attracts a large audience—post-apocalyptic survival. This genre has a broad following in the casual gaming market, with top hits like *Endless Winter* and *Three Kingdoms: Ice Age* serving as benchmark titles.Even more fortuitously, around the time the game launched, the second edition of the Zhangjiajie “Qixing Mountain Cup” Extreme Wilderness Survival Challenge sparked widespread attention across the internet, and the release of *33 Days of Survival* coincided perfectly with the “survival” trend sweeping social media platforms.

In terms of gameplay, the game generally follows a “Boom-Boom-like” structure,Players form teams in the game and use the joystick to control their teams as they explore the map. By defeating monsters, chopping down trees, and finding treasure chests, they collect resources such as food, wood, and diamonds, which they then use to unlock new maps and summon or upgrade heroes.

However, its character progression system differs significantly from similar games in the past, as this game features two progression paths.The first is the military rank advancement system. Players must gradually unlock higher ranks—such as platoon leader, company commander, and battalion commander—by accumulating military merits (primarily earned by defeating bosses and completing the Leader’s Trial for the first time), raising their squad level, and racking up monster kills.Promotions not only result in a dramatic increase in combat power but also unlock additional deployment slots and raise the hero level cap, further enhancing resource acquisition and combat efficiency.

Second are the Countdown Events. As the game progresses through different stages, core events—such as healing teammates, fending off zombie hordes, and repairing the shelter—will unlock. Players advance the event’s progress by completing a series of stage-based missions, and upon completing an event, they’ll receive scarce resources such as Mythic-tier heroes, high-level gear, and skill books.This design reinforces players’ sense of progress through clear milestone objectives, significantly enhancing the sense of purpose and achievement as they advance through the game.

With these two progression paths in place, players must continuously strengthen their combat power by summoning more high-quality heroes and leveling them up, allowing them to explore broader areas and face more powerful monster challenges.However, the uncertainty surrounding hero summoning probabilities and the acquisition of leveling resources makes obtaining high-quality heroes the key to achieving a breakthrough in combat power—which also serves as a major driver of the game’s monetization.

Ways to level up heroes include leveling up, skill books, battle vehicles, exoskeletons, and gear, among others.

02

"Search, Strike, Withdraw" Again?

In addition to the optimizations to the progression system, another highlight of *Survive 33 Days* that cannot be overlooked is its striking resemblance to the “search, fight, and retreat” gameplay style.

Why do I call it a “déjà vu” experience? Because, in terms of core gameplay, this game doesn’t actually feature a complete and explicit “search, fight, and retreat” mechanic. However, starting with the tutorial, the game’s premise—where players must search for resources, rescue teammates, and then lead the group through hordes of monsters to successfully evacuate—creates a strong “search, fight, and retreat” atmosphere.

Throughout the rest of the game, the three core elements—"Search, Fight, and Retreat"—are ever-present.Search: Players explore the overworld, collecting various supplies and treasure chests to accumulate basic resources for character development; Fight: Players defeat monsters based on their specific traits to unlock treasure chest rewards, thereby obtaining more resources for character development; Retreat: After completing an exploration, players can retreat to safe zones such as towns or rest stops to rest and recuperate.

What’s even more interesting is that the game has incorporated a “small-room exploration” mechanic into its overworld exploration. Players will venture deep into locations such as abandoned supermarkets, schools, subways, and hospitals to explore and collect items, engage in combat, and evacuate safely—each small room serves as a condensed version of a “search, fight, and evacuate” level.

Furthermore, different scenarios feature distinct core mechanics; some include debuffs that inflict continuous damage, such as viral infection or high-voltage electric shocks. Players must use vaccines to cure infections or repair electrical circuits to eliminate voltage threats in order to ensure their safety while exploring.Some scenarios also feature a room-by-room exploration mode, with each room having different conditions for clearing it—some require defeating all monsters, while others require surviving for a specified duration. Players can only leave the scenario after gradually completing the challenges in each room and finishing the entire exploration.

Strictly speaking, *33 Days of Survival* can hardly be called a true “search, fight, and retreat” game, but by breaking down its core elements, it still allows players to experience the thrill and fun of “search, fight, and retreat.”

Thanks to this, even though the user acquisition strategy for *33 Days of Survival* was quite restrained after its launch,according to DataEye-ADX data, its average daily ad volume from mid-November to early December was less than 100 ads. However, bolstered by the organic traffic generated by the trending “survival” theme and combined with the wildly popular “search, attack, and retreat” core gameplay mechanics,the game quickly attracted player attention and rapidly climbed to the top of the best-seller charts.

Image source: DataEye-ADX

As we can see, even seemingly established classic game frameworks can breathe new life into mature gameplay mechanics—as long as developers identify the right entry points for innovation and integration, and through thematic enrichment, experience redesign, and meticulous attention to detail.

37 Interactive Entertainment, which has been deeply involved in the mini-games sector for many years, has clearly mastered this approach.