That’s always a possibility. Most games aren’t hits. But plenty of unlikely games have been. When Wayhaven was first published, “super-tropey supernatural romance in a threadbare genre fiction skinsuit” had never done well on HG either. Ditto for “super-weeby and railroady text rendition of anime” before Samurai of Hyuga.
They’re both good games that found massive audiences, despite the fact that it’s possible to slap uncharitable descriptions[1] on them. Instead of talking down your own work, publish it and see how it’s received!
A bunch of overall successful CoG/HG authors – Cataphrak, Jim Dattilo, Lucid, Kyle Marquis – have cast wide nets and written in lots of different styles and genres. Some of their games have flopped. They’re still star authors.
So put your work out there. The downside risk is negligible. Having a game that doesn’t sell super well just is not a big deal as you seem to fear for your future prospects (and still less for the HG platform). If some published authors have actually “pressed” (rather than just advised) you not to publish, that’s not cool.
And YA-ass rebel-v-eeeevil-empire fantasy that’s mostly distinguished by its “Civ 5 in text format” interlude? That hadn’t been a hit before Choice of Rebels. ↩︎