Games Like ESC

A nostalgic interactive fiction game set in the early 2000's. Chat with your friends, update your LimeJournal, and discover yourself through a rich world of storytelling, love and friendship.

Why similar: Typing 28% ★, Text-Based 16.1%, LGBTQ+ 16%, Interactive Fiction 14.5%, Visual Novel 10.4%

An AI has isolated the mind of a philosophy professor to evaluate human morality. Interface with the terminal, type system commands, and channel his responses through impossible ethical dilemmas. Your principles are on trial as every choice is recorded to determine your final profile.

Why similar: Typing 28.6% ★, Text-Based 15.1%, Interactive Fiction 13.1%, Emotional 9.1%, Retro 7.8%

Write letters with your typewriter on behalf of others in this cozy single-player game. Compose everything from simple hellos to theater scripts and love letters, express each client’s emotions, and find your own meaning to letter writing.

Why similar: Typing 32.5% ★, LGBTQ+ 19.9%, Emotional 12.2%, Interactive Fiction 11.6%, Text-Based 11.4%

Perhaps it was the curse of a black lily that bloomed too early in the winter...Before graduation, a girl falls in love with another girl... But her pure feelings are torn apart by a "loop of tragedy."By [interrupting choices] and [typing in words], you will weave her feelings into the story.

Why similar: Typing 33.7% ★, LGBTQ+ 23.9%, Visual Novel 14.6%, Mystery 7.4%, Female Protagonist 6.9%

The fate of humanity is at stake. Use your gift of clairvoyance to see into the future and stop an apocalypse that threatens the balance between your world and the deities'.

Why similar: Soundtrack 25.9% ★, LGBTQ+ 16.3%, Interactive Fiction 14.6%, Visual Novel 12.3%, Emotional 9.4%

It's 1999 and your friend sends you a floppy disk, titled "RemBo". It turns out to be the installer for an old BBS service, filled with both strangers and a familiar face. How are you going to use it?

Why similar: Typing 32% ★, Text-Based 18.9%, Interactive Fiction 17.2%, LGBTQ+ 13.6%, Visual Novel 11.5%

A curated compilation of Deconstructeam's best efforts in seeking new narrative experiences in games. Explore 10 unique, offbeat tales including "De Tres al Cuarto," a brand new short experience exclusive to the compilation about a couple of two-bit comedians trying to make it big.

Why similar: Typing 28.6% ★, Interactive Fiction 15.2%, Abstract 15%, Visual Novel 11.1%, Cyberpunk 10.5%

A call for help within a mysterious messaging app. Someone lost and wandering through a forest in a faraway place. And their destiny in your hands.

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 23.6%, Text-Based 21.5%, Interactive Fiction 19.6%, Typing 19.4% ★, Visual Novel 11.4%

A sapphic fairy tale mashup as Robin Hood teams up with Red Riding Hood to save their town set in a historically accurate medieval England.

Why similar: Soundtrack 22.9% ★, LGBTQ+ 17.6%, Text-Based 13.7%, Visual Novel 11.6%, Interactive Fiction 11.2%

Until Oblivion is an atmospheric narrative game that follows 17 year old nobody Emma Wilson as she tries to rekindle a dying relationship in a dying world. Join her in an increasingly nightmarish Halloween party and find out if anything (or anyone) is worth anything at all.

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 22.6%, Text-Based 16.4%, Interactive Fiction 14%, Abstract 12.2%, Visual Novel 10.2%

A dark lesbian horror/romance story so toxic it's emitting spores. Ethel, a shy university student, ventures into the wintry woods late at night, where she meets an enchanting femme fatale — but all is not as it seems.

Why similar: Text-Based 21.1%, LGBTQ+ 20.9%, Visual Novel 15.6%, Emotional 10.7%, Stylized 9.5%

A story about love, death, and the universe, told through tarot cards.

Why similar: Text-Based 22.9%, Interactive Fiction 20.8%, LGBTQ+ 17.7%, Visual Novel 17.3%, Emotional 10.8%

A GxG coming-of-age visual novel. Nina sucks at choosing. But when a mysterious incident happens at the arts academy, will she muster the courage to choose–or will she let someone else decide on her behalf?

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 24.7%, Interactive Fiction 16.7%, Visual Novel 13.3%, Text-Based 12%, Emotional 9.9%

A romance about falling in love for the first time, while suffering from social anxiety disorder.

Why similar: Typing 30.2% ★, LGBTQ+ 20.8%, Text-Based 14.4%, Visual Novel 9.9%, Emotional 7.1%

A retro early 1980s text adventure experience involving a murder mystery that is generated differently each time the game is played.

Why similar: Typing 30.9% ★, Text-Based 24.8%, Interactive Fiction 17.1%, Mystery 9.8%, Retro 7.5%

❗ EARLY ACCESS ❗ This game is an anthology of visual novels, which includes the “Deep Russian Depression” (pilot chapter) and custom stories from the game community. You can create your own stories as mods for the game and publish them in the Steam Workshop.

Why similar: Abstract 17.9%, Text-Based 16.1%, Interactive Fiction 14.8%, Visual Novel 13.9%, LGBTQ+ 9.2%

A visual novel about a girl who escaped from a psychiatric hospital. She is pursued by a strange being from another world — and it seems she’s not the only one who can see visitors from beyond.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 17.6%, Text-Based 16.8%, Visual Novel 14.1%, Abstract 13.8%, Surreal 10.2%

In the text-adventure “Head in the Cloud,” you play as a Marine hacker on a mission to sabotage a crime syndicate’s supercomputer. When things don’t go to plan, you must use your head to survive, or risk losing it!

Why similar: Typing 24.4% ★, Interactive Fiction 23.9%, Text-Based 22.1%, Retro 13.2%, Psychological Horror 6.5%

Experience the stories of Haru, Erika, and Manami, a trio of friends navigating their feelings of love, connection, and just wanting to belong.

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 25.8%, Soundtrack 19.2% ★, Interactive Fiction 16.1%, Visual Novel 15.7%, Emotional 11.7%

You play all four heroines in this big multi-chapter sci-fi text adventure. Negotiate underwater mechs, AIs, abandoned cities, crime, friendship, suspense, horror, humour, an art exhibition, virtual realities and a tank. Experience each PC via first-person prose as you puzzle, converse and explore.

Why similar: Typing 37.8% ★, Interactive Fiction 19.1%, Text-Based 18.4%, Sci-fi 7.3%, Female Protagonist 6%

IN SILENCE WAITS is a modern take on classic graphical adventures. Solve puzzles and avoid dangers as you explore the desolate wastes of a cruel world in search of a new home. In this world, not all monsters must be feared... and not all friendly faces should be trusted.

Why similar: Typing 33.7% ★, Interactive Fiction 20%, Text-Based 12.7%, Surreal 10.3%, Retro 9.6%

A forgotten oldie returns with a full makeover. Control some lost idiot by typing commands. Unmake puzzles to progress. Bump into several lovely weirdos along the way. Discover a wonderland of disturbing nonsense and industrial amounts of sarcasm.

Why similar: Typing 33.4% ★, Interactive Fiction 17.4%, Abstract 16.4%, Visual Novel 12.9%, Stylized 6.4%

Jeans on Toast is a text-based, choose your own adventure game summoned forth from the darkest depths of one girl's unhinged imagination.

Why similar: Text-Based 24.6%, Visual Novel 18.4%, LGBTQ+ 17.5%, Soundtrack 11.3% ★, Surreal 6.5%

A short horror visual novel where you get to know your brand new self-aware in-game boyfriend and explore your relationship through Talking About Something in the Nowhere.

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 32.4%, Text-Based 16.3%, Visual Novel 16%, Psychological Horror 11.3%, Emotional 8.5%

A mysterious plot about a film student who finds herself lost in the world of the dead, the Posthumous Lands. Alongside a purple-haired woman, Coralina must decipher Human Alchemy in this retro adventure with cinematic touches!

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 18.8%, LGBTQ+ 17.7%, Visual Novel 14.1%, Emotional 10.8%, Retro 8.9%

Working at a data entry job in the big city, you type up and transcribe the lost mail and letters that have nowhere else to go. But as the days carry on oddities in the mail start to emerge, and cracks begin to appear.

Why similar: Typing 36% ★, Text-Based 16.3%, Surreal 8.9%, Emotional 8.6%, Mystery 8%

If Found... is a game about going home, coming out and erasing everything.

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 37.8%, Visual Novel 16.4%, Interactive Fiction 12.6%, Emotional 7.8%, Stylized 6.9%

In a dark world somewhere between dream and nightmare you find yourself alone, cold, and without memory of who you are or where you came from. Guided by little more than a silver locket and questions, you must find your way off an isolated island in pursuit of answers.

Why similar: Typing 31.7% ★, Interactive Fiction 19.9%, Surreal 12.4%, Retro 10.6%, Text-Based 10.4%

A young high school student goes on an adventure to save her favorite virtual idol, Aiko, from malfunctioning, and gets help from the most unexpected of places.

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 21.7%, Soundtrack 15.6% ★, Visual Novel 13.1%, Cyberpunk 10.8%, Text-Based 10.6%

Echo of Starsong is a visual novel style adventure game. Eda, a girl who can hear mysterious sound waves known as starsong, crosses paths with a young man in search of their source. Together, they venture out to the heart of space to unravel an ancient myth.

Why similar: Soundtrack 28.6% ★, Interactive Fiction 18.1%, Visual Novel 17.1%, Emotional 14.2%, Female Protagonist 7.3%

A gritty, semi-kinetic visual novel about broken people and notorious gangsters, featuring six individualized routes with six different endings.

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 24.4%, Interactive Fiction 20.6%, Text-Based 17.4%, Visual Novel 15.3%, Female Protagonist 7.6%

A 5 minutes game about love and hesitation. Use Backspace to play. Hope you will never experience this hesitation.

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 24.9%, Typing 18.5% ★, Text-Based 18.1%, Interactive Fiction 17.8%, Emotional 8.7%

Horror vs. Heartfelt: You decide, when you play a teen sneaking out to hold a seance for your lost twin sister on the anniversary of her death. Lovingly handmade, this atmospheric short visual novel can be meditative or delightfully chaotic depending on how you play.

Why similar: Soundtrack 33.3% ★, LGBTQ+ 17.5%, Interactive Fiction 14.2%, Visual Novel 13.1%, Psychological Horror 8.6%

A meditative and story-driven puzzle game, where you must discover answers to decisions, we all have to make. Can you make a change in a world of endless wars?

Why similar: Typing 33.7% ★, Interactive Fiction 18.5%, Visual Novel 13.8%, Text-Based 13.4%, Emotional 7%

"non-binary" is a video game that mixes text choices and bullet hell to tell the story of two non-binary people's journey of self-discovery. Make your choices. Dodge words. Go through things that hurt without breaking down. If you can.

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 27.8%, Interactive Fiction 18.8%, Visual Novel 15.2%, Text-Based 12.7%, Emotional 11.8%

A girl suffering from hallucinations tries her best to live a normal life in the megapolis. She sees an advertisement for a certain doctor presenting a revolutionary technology for diagnosing and treating the psyche, "G.L.A.Z.A".

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 20.9%, Text-Based 19.5%, Visual Novel 15.6%, Abstract 14.7%, Surreal 10.6%

Play as a fairytale hero and help him garden, since saving the princess didn't go that well. A fantasy gardening visual novel and clicker game.

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 23.4%, Soundtrack 22.3% ★, Interactive Fiction 20.8%, Visual Novel 15.3%, Emotional 11.8%

Alone as two, together as one - A fantasy/yuri visual novel telling the story of two girls traversing a snow covered forest and growing closer.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 21.5%, Text-Based 20%, LGBTQ+ 18.6%, Visual Novel 16.7%, Emotional 10.4%

A short sci-fi visual novel about four scientists trapped in an underground lab. Explore their chat records to uncover the mysteries of Inturg Technologies. How can they escape their doom?

Why similar: Visual Novel 23.9%, Interactive Fiction 20.9%, Text-Based 14.3%, Mystery 12.3%, Sci-fi 11%

Time itself is breaking up, and Dodger, the dishwashing dude onboard Penrose Space Station, is the unlikely fixer. Join the chaos in this 80s-style comedy, sci-fi text-parser adventure as Dodger tackles a cosmic crisis like no other! This version includes all three episodes + new extra content!

Why similar: Typing 37.1% ★, Interactive Fiction 20.2%, Text-Based 14.3%, Retro 12.8%, Sci-fi 7.7%

Terminal is a command-line escape room. You aren't just reading a story; you're unlocking a machine. You are Tera, alone in your terminal window on a cold Illinois night. Your identity is lost, embedded somewhere within a haunted computer. Its code is a prison, but it's also your escape.

Why similar: Typing 30% ★, Text-Based 14.2%, Interactive Fiction 12.1%, Emotional 7.9%, Visual Novel 7.8%

"Let's play a typing game." Dyping Escape is a simple game where you type according to instructions from the game master, a mysterious eyeball. But be careful; everything you type becomes reality. Just be careful not to brick your computer.

Why similar: Typing 34.9% ★, Text-Based 18.3%, Interactive Fiction 16.4%, Surreal 10%, Psychological Horror 8.1%

In this pre-smartphone-era text adventure, use that good ol’ T9 phone to text your way through the highs and lows of school days. Choose replies piece by piece to shape your own story. Friendships grow; feelings get complicated; secrets flicker. Every reply matters—it all happens Between the Lines.

Why similar: Typing 38.2% ★, Text-Based 15.9%, Interactive Fiction 14.1%, Visual Novel 11.5%, Emotional 8.3%

When the world ends, who will you spend your final hours with? A visual novel for the GBA.

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 32%, Visual Novel 20.9%, Emotional 16.2%, Abstract 15.1%, Female Protagonist 7.7%

Dream Spectra is a visual novel about trying to hang out with your crush and escape your migraines, styled with surreal 90s 3D rendered environments.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 19.6%, Text-Based 19.4%, LGBTQ+ 18.7%, Visual Novel 15.4%, Surreal 9.7%

It's not what you say, it's how you say it. We should talk is a short-form narrative game that will make you think carefully about the words you choose. Can your relationship survive the night?

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 23.6%, Text-Based 20.8%, Interactive Fiction 17.9%, Visual Novel 14.9%, Emotional 11.6%

slime feet is a linear visual novel, a love story for everyone who has ever had to love through a keyboard. slime feet is about the body horror of an inevitable drawn out death, and the lesbian slime feet cybersex that comes with it.

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 25.3%, Text-Based 16.9%, Interactive Fiction 16.1%, Visual Novel 15.9%, Psychological Horror 9.3%

A short story about what sort of challenges everyday little things can be. Help the girl buy milk, be the first not to disappoint her.

Why similar: Visual Novel 20.4%, Abstract 18.3%, Text-Based 16.5%, Interactive Fiction 14.7%, Psychological Horror 12.3%

“Ghost Road” is the first installment in the Ghost Road series of games, and is a visual novel game about the myth of ghosts and monsters in the Chinese underworld. The player plays the role of the Ghost Detainer in the underworld to investigate the past deeds of the three female leaders.

Why similar: Soundtrack 28.8% ★, Interactive Fiction 14%, Visual Novel 13.8%, Text-Based 12.1%, Emotional 11.7%

Alice and Sophie finally have the time to go on an onsen retreat. However, their trip gets inturrupted by mysterious magic. The last straw: "MY FOOD!!!" Will the couple be able to find the culprit and finally enjoy their vacation?

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 25.6%, Interactive Fiction 25.2%, Visual Novel 18.9%, Text-Based 16.7%, Female Protagonist 9.2%

A word game.

Why similar: Typing 32.9% ★, Interactive Fiction 17.5%, Abstract 16.2%, Visual Novel 12.8%, Text-Based 8%

An apprentice. A healer. A warrior. Breathe, pull, and choose your way through their stories in this dark yet comforting narrative game about healing the worlds inside us.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 24.3%, LGBTQ+ 21%, Visual Novel 16.7%, Emotional 14.9%, Stylized 9.9%

An eerie liminal game that explores just how far an angel can fall. Play as sapphic Lucifer and corrupt angels into falling... in love with you.

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 23.7%, Interactive Fiction 15.8%, Visual Novel 13.9%, Surreal 10.2%, Abstract 9.6%

A stranger arrives at a quiet and isolated town... PIGBLUE.

Why similar: Text-Based 27.8%, Typing 22% ★, Visual Novel 21.6%, Mystery 10.1%, Psychological Horror 7.2%

Don't Let Me Fade is an interactive adventure about memory, identity, and loss. Piece together fragments of a life - even if a simple teddy bear is the last symbol of connection to oneself in a world without time.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 29.2%, Visual Novel 19.3%, Text-Based 15.1%, Emotional 11.5%, Adventure 9.6%

Be a convenience-store clerk in a first-of-its-kind chat game—and kick out AI Karens. There are no preset choices. Say what you couldn’t in real life and enjoy how the AI responds differently each time. A stress-relief game where your what-ifs come to life!

Why similar: Typing 35.6% ★, Text-Based 20.6%, Interactive Fiction 16.9%, Visual Novel 12.1%, Funny 8.5%

An emotional story portraying the struggles of anxiety—the paralyzing thoughts and irrational fears. Join Lucy on her journey to find solace, alongside her supportive yet puzzled roommate. A heartfelt narrative delving into the complexities of anxiety and the challenges of empathy.

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 25.5%, Interactive Fiction 17.1%, Visual Novel 16.7%, Text-Based 16%, Emotional 15.2%

Space Bear is a multi-choice text adventure typing game! Sort of. I mean, there isn't many actual choices, and the typing is more "mashing"...

Why similar: Typing 51% ★, Text-Based 29.6%, Adventure 10.3%, Indie 9.1%

A 3D-2D adventure where you travel a 3D world and explore 2D dungeons inside of its characters' bodies and minds! In an unforgettable, surreal story, travel the world, meet whimsical denizens, and save the world from the dangerous Nano Dust.

Why similar: Soundtrack 36.8% ★, LGBTQ+ 21.8%, Surreal 11.9%, Emotional 10.5%, Female Protagonist 6.9%