Games Like Dear Agony Aunt

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: Nostalgia 23.8% ★, Text-Based 14.2%, Typing 13.7% ★, LGBTQ+ 12.8%, Interactive Fiction 10.1%

Emily <3 is a brand new story set on an old-new social media. Customize your facenook profile, send some friend requests and determine the outcome of your senior year.

Why similar: Nostalgia 29.3% ★, Dialogue Heavy 12.1%, Choices Matter 12%, Multiple Endings 10.7%, Typing 8.4% ★

Pine Hill is a quiet Midwestern college town. Quiet enough that nobody seemed to hear Ginny Nicholson die. Alone with the thoughts in your head, now you just want to know one thing: why?

Why similar: Nostalgia 23.2% ★, Text-Based 17.6%, Interactive Fiction 14.5%, Dialogue Heavy 13.9%, LGBTQ+ 12.8%

A story-rich coming-of-age experience told through a 2004 desktop, where friendships, music, and late-night conversations shape who you become. Explore chats, drama, mini-games, and the early internet in a branching story about growing up, making mistakes, and finding your place.

Why similar: Dialogue Heavy 17.9%, Text-Based 16.2%, Interactive Fiction 15.5%, Choices Matter 11.1%, Multiple Endings 9%

Experience a pastel-toned emotional journey in Yuika My Bestie, a short visual novel you can complete in under 15 minutes per playthrough. With 5 unique endings and heartfelt choices, it takes just 30–40 minutes to explore every path of this soft, late-night cry.

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 18.5%, Dialogue Heavy 17.4%, Text-Based 11.2%, Multiple Endings 10.5%, Interactive Fiction 10.3%

EMBERBOUND is a furry visual novel about returning home, reuniting with old friends, and promises left unfinished. Back in his hometown to handle matters concerning his family’s old house, Yunxi faces the regrets and feelings that never truly faded.

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 22.4%, Interactive Fiction 16.2%, Simulation 11.4%, Text-Based 11%, Dialogue Heavy 9.1%

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+ 19.6%, Text-Based 19.2%, Interactive Fiction 13%, Choices Matter 11%, Multiple Endings 10.4%

A total-immersion kinetic novel: boot up a PC running Prisma OS and descend into the psyche of a broken protagonist as 2001 Argentina collapses in the background. Late-night chats, obsession, music, and raw Y2K bleakness — all the way to a point of no return.

Why similar: Nostalgia 29.2% ★, Dialogue Heavy 18.4%, Text-Based 16.4%, Interactive Fiction 16.3%, Story Rich 8.3%

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: Dialogue Heavy 16.7%, Text-Based 14.3%, Typing 12.8% ★, Interactive Fiction 12.5%, Choices Matter 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: Text-Based 21%, LGBTQ+ 20.8%, Interactive Fiction 15%, Multiple Endings 11.7%, Choices Matter 11.4%

Dust off your coffee machine and prepare your warmest smile to meet your customers again in the second episode of the much loved coffee brewing and heart-to-heart talking simulator; Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly.

Why similar: Dialogue Heavy 22.3%, LGBTQ+ 19.5%, Interactive Fiction 14.5%, Choices Matter 10.2%, Story Rich 7.3%

Retro virtual pet game with total fidelity to the 90s classics. A pixel art simulator with multiple characters, including rare pets, where your choices shape the evolution of your virtual pet.

Why similar: Nostalgia 58.7% ★, Retro 14.4%, Multiple Endings 8.3%, Simulation 5.1%, Relaxing 4%

An emotional narrative point-and-click about a daughter caring for her mother as dementia reshapes their bond. Explore heartfelt conversations, fragmented memories, and story-driven puzzles on a journey of caregiving and learning to let go.

Why similar: Nostalgia 39.5% ★, Wholesome 16.5%, Interactive Fiction 12%, Emotional 8.7%, Story Rich 7.4%

Travel to the world of the dead, whose stories encourage reflection on life. Chat with spirits, brew drinks to suit your mood, and bond with the people who run the afterlife cafes. In this urban sci-fi fantasy visual novel, your choices impact the living, the departed, and your own path forward.

Why similar: Dialogue Heavy 20.6%, LGBTQ+ 18.5%, Interactive Fiction 14.4%, Multiple Endings 10.8%, Choices Matter 10.5%

Crown Delights Deli is a visual novel with multiple dialect/language choices. As the cashier at a Brooklyn bodega, choose to talk in English, AAVE, or Spanish to a diverse cast of characters as you try to maintain a five-star rating for your boss.

Why similar: Dialogue Heavy 22.1%, LGBTQ+ 21%, Text-Based 18.4%, Choices Matter 12.1%, Story Rich 8.3%

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: Text-Based 18.8%, Typing 17.9% ★, Choices Matter 13.6%, Multiple Endings 13%, Interactive Fiction 12.1%

In this bizarre graphically-augmented text-adventure originally released in 1983 from the mind of Mel Croucher, Uncle Groucho is your guide in a wacky alternative Hollywood where cigars are currency and you are as likely to travel in a space shuttle as in a covered wagon.

Why similar: Nostalgia 48.6% ★, Text-Based 22.5%, Retro 14.7%, Interactive Fiction 7.9%, Funny 5.7%

Did I really save this pretty boy ten years ago...? A fresh summer youth BL visual novel about memory, promises, and mutual salvation. [clear cherry ice.] Get closer to Jiwon and Chaehyun, and see whether your bond becomes friendship—or something more.

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 23.1%, Text-Based 17.8%, Dialogue Heavy 16.1%, Multiple Endings 12.1%, Choices Matter 8.8%

Pasajeros is developed through a collection of urban and surreal stories collected in a taxi in Bogotá . It’s a four-night adventure packed with micro-stories of vampires, mariachis, and thugs. In addition to the opportunity to find love or madness in the night magic of a city.

Why similar: Dialogue Heavy 18.8%, Interactive Fiction 14.7%, LGBTQ+ 12.8%, Multiple Endings 11.1%, Text-Based 10.7%

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 20.6% ★, LGBTQ+ 20.6%, Text-Based 13.1%, Emotional 11%, Interactive Fiction 10.5%

Cozy visual novel about a lovely witch who’s able to talk to spirits in a fantasy setting. Using her powers, Julia helps her neighbors in their daily whereabouts. Craft potions, find the right time to use them and get to know both spirits and clients to find their peace.

Why similar: Dialogue Heavy 22.7%, LGBTQ+ 16.9%, Interactive Fiction 11.3%, Emotional 10.8%, Multiple Endings 8.5%

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

Why similar: Text-Based 24.5%, Interactive Fiction 17.5%, LGBTQ+ 17%, Choices Matter 13%, Multiple Endings 11.2%

An AI has isolated the mind of a philosophy professor to evaluate human morality. As the terminal operator, you access files, run programs, and take his consciousness through ethical dilemmas. Your decisions will train the AI's final algorithm.

Why similar: Typing 19.1% ★, Text-Based 18.2%, Interactive Fiction 12%, Retro 10%, Multiple Endings 9.7%

Coffee Talk Tokyo is the newest entry in the beloved series, set in a late-night café in Tokyo. Brew drinks, meet humans and yōkai, and experience heartfelt stories in a cozy, story-rich world.

Why similar: Dialogue Heavy 17.6%, LGBTQ+ 14.4%, Interactive Fiction 13.5%, Choices Matter 10.8%, Multiple Endings 10.6%

If she leaves now you will never see her again. Would you have enough courage to take a step, or would you stay quiet and regret it? Experience this story about love and loss.

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 21.9%, Multiple Endings 14.2%, Choices Matter 12.2%, Emotional 11.5%, Text-Based 10.3%

Build a life from childhood to legacy. LIVORA is a choice-driven life simulation where education, work, money, relationships, family, health, time and where you live all connect — and the decisions you make can shape what happens years later.

Why similar: Text-Based 19.8%, Interactive Fiction 14.5%, Choices Matter 12.2%, Multiple Endings 11%, Dialogue Heavy 10%

You're an NPC who gives quests to heroes. Play through 7 scenarios in this humorous narrative adventure with management sim gameplay and a real sassy manager. Now get to work!

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 22%, Wholesome 19.2%, Dialogue Heavy 16.5%, Choices Matter 11.9%, Multiple Endings 10.7%

Revisit and repeat the final moments of China's turn of the century in this narrative puzzle adventure. Play a 6th-grade student and greet classmates, explore secrets, play mini-4WD, or just wander around town. Make your choices to create a perfect day for everyone!

Why similar: Nostalgia 41.6% ★, Interactive Fiction 11.3%, Multiple Endings 10.4%, Choices Matter 10.1%, Retro 9.3%

Coffee Talk is a coffee brewing and heart-to-heart talking simulator about listening to fantasy-inspired modern peoples’ problems, and helping them by serving up a warm drink or two.

Why similar: Dialogue Heavy 22%, LGBTQ+ 17.8%, Interactive Fiction 12.1%, Multiple Endings 8.9%, Choices Matter 8.9%

《Dream of Homeland》 is a story-driven coming-of-age adventure. Follow Yuanyuan through a small southern Chinese town in the 2000s, make friends, explore childhood memories, and witness her journey toward adulthood.

Why similar: Nostalgia 57.3% ★, Emotional 11.3%, Text-Based 11%, Story Rich 10.6%, Casual 3.2%

A summer memory in the countryside. Get a taste of nostalgia and let the pixel art warm your soul in this country life simulation. Do all the things you remember, and all the things you wish you had.

Why similar: Nostalgia 56.8% ★, Dialogue Heavy 12.6%, Multiple Endings 11.5%, Retro 10.9%, Relaxing 5.2%

Where are you, Cinderella? is a visual novel about Vietnamese culture and the world of entertainment. Will you be able to find the lost shoe’s owner? Or, will you find your shoe?

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 20.3%, Text-Based 20.1%, Interactive Fiction 14.4%, Multiple Endings 13.2%, Choices Matter 12.8%

A spooky choices-matter mystery set in 2004 Switzerland. Many students have disappeared in Noirmont High over the past century. You're Lou, you just transferred here, and weird stuff immediately starts happening... will you be the next dropout?

Why similar: Nostalgia 46.9% ★, Dialogue Heavy 11.9%, Choices Matter 11.5%, Interactive Fiction 10.8%, LGBTQ+ 10%

Ignite the spark of inspiration while writing tales in a cozy environment where readers become part of the creative process. Follow stories as they're being written, interact with other authors, shape worlds through your ideas, earn reputation, unlock unique abilities, and get rewarded for your aid.

Why similar: Text-Based 24.1%, Interactive Fiction 20%, Typing 16% ★, Wholesome 11.3%, Simulation 10.5%

A horror visual novel about trying to get home to feed your cat.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 18.8%, Text-Based 17%, Choices Matter 14%, Multiple Endings 12.9%, LGBTQ+ 9.3%

Randall is your typical nerdy kid living a normal, unexciting life in the 80s. Secretly in love with the most popular girl in school and bullied by the soccer team gang. Until one day, he meets you — a divine entity who can change everything!

Why similar: Nostalgia 52% ★, Retro 11.7%, Choices Matter 9.6%, Story Rich 9.6%, Multiple Endings 9.6%

A dark noir visual novel following Alex, a former police officer drawn into the mafia’s world. In a city where trust can get you killed and everyone has something to hide, Alex and a mafia leader with buried secrets are pulled into revenge, power, and slow-burn romance shaped by your choices.

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 26.3%, Interactive Fiction 18.1%, Choices Matter 15.9%, Dialogue Heavy 12%, Multiple Endings 8.7%

“Lone Bird in the Tree” is an adventure game with male and female versions of each of the four characters. The story alternates between the “future” of the main character, who is deeply traumatized by the grief of his/her best friend, and the “story leading up to the loss of their best friend”.

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 25.7%, Text-Based 16.6%, Interactive Fiction 13.2%, Dialogue Heavy 12.2%, Story Rich 10%

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

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 23.2%, Text-Based 18.7%, Dialogue Heavy 15.8%, Interactive Fiction 14.5%, Typing 10.5% ★

Commander Keen is back. In the modernised Definitive Edition of the lost episode "Keen Dream". The game structure has been reworked to make the game a more modern experience without sacrificing any of the original charm!

Why similar: Nostalgia 68.9% ★, Retro 18.1%, Casual 7.4%, 2D 4.6%, Indie 1%

A cozy visual novel about running a tavern in a D&D-inspired fantasy! Gather rumors, serve magical drinks, and meet adventurers on a life-changing quest.

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 21.4%, Dialogue Heavy 16.6%, Interactive Fiction 12.2%, Multiple Endings 10.4%, Choices Matter 9.8%

Nostalgici Anonimi is a short visual novel set in a dystopian program to heal from feeling emotions. Choose your path, interact with the android therapist and the teenagers recovering from the nostalgia disease. Discover a card game to unveil your emotions and find hidden clues to find the truth.

Why similar: Nostalgia 41.9% ★, Text-Based 15.6%, Interactive Fiction 11.8%, Multiple Endings 10.1%, Choices Matter 10%

A short interactive DVD game. Today is Jess's Birthday! Can you find her a suitable gift? Just don't get distracted and forget about Jess. DVDs can't be cursed... right? Yeah it's fine.

Why similar: Nostalgia 55.5% ★, Interactive Fiction 16.3%, Retro 9%, Multiple Endings 8%, Story Rich 6.8%

Guilt Free is a visual novel crossed with a point and click made to offer perspective on mental health and eating disorders. Navigate a couple's rocky relationship and encounter "flaws" or "quirks" that may actually be symptomatic behaviors.

Why similar: Text-Based 21.5%, Interactive Fiction 15.7%, Dialogue Heavy 15.2%, Choices Matter 13.6%, Multiple Endings 10.9%

A Brown Rabbit's Story is an interactive storybook, a text-driven adventure where your choices lead to branching paths and multiple endings. In a quiet orphanage, a boy wishes his toy rabbit to life… and together, they must face the world’s cruelties and find hope.

Why similar: Text-Based 29.4%, Interactive Fiction 23.1%, Emotional 13.4%, Choices Matter 10.5%, Story Rich 10.1%

Experience the triumphs and tribulations of two Caribbean immigrants in post-war Britain, in the world’s first Windrush video game, from the creators of the BAFTA nominated Before I Forget. How will you shape your story in this branching narrative interactive photo album?

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 23.2%, Text-Based 14.5%, Choices Matter 13.2%, Multiple Endings 11.6%, Dialogue Heavy 11.4%

Be the person you needed. Brew tea, listen well, and guide branching stories in a narrative slice-of-life about showing up when it matters. No perfect answers. Only your choices and what they set in motion.

Why similar: Dialogue Heavy 20.8%, Interactive Fiction 13.9%, Choices Matter 13.4%, Emotional 12.7%, Multiple Endings 10.9%

A visual novel set in 1920s Paris. As summer draws near, young students are revising their end-of-year exams. Olivier is one of them.

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 22.5%, Interactive Fiction 16.9%, Text-Based 16.6%, Multiple Endings 11.4%, Choices Matter 9.5%

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+ 25.7%, Interactive Fiction 15.1%, Dialogue Heavy 15%, Text-Based 13.7%, Choices Matter 9%

Fishbowl is a slow and tender narrative game about dreams, grief, and hope. Rediscover your memories and find your way into the present in this intimate experience where slice-of-life meets surreal.

Why similar: Dialogue Heavy 21.2%, LGBTQ+ 15.2%, Interactive Fiction 14.9%, Multiple Endings 11.9%, Emotional 11.7%

The president trusts you. Exercise your Shamanic capabilities (or lack thereof). But don't get caught!

Why similar: Dialogue Heavy 22.9%, Interactive Fiction 18.7%, Text-Based 17.2%, Choices Matter 14.2%, Multiple Endings 13.2%

Chronicles of Humanity is an expanding anthology of historical visual novels. Enter different eras, weigh conflicting testimony under political and personal pressure, and shape who is protected, what is recorded, and how each life is remembered. Complete stories are released as separate DLC.

Why similar: Text-Based 21.3%, Dialogue Heavy 19.6%, Interactive Fiction 15.1%, Multiple Endings 14.2%, Choices Matter 14%

Emily is Away is an interactive story. Create a screenname and choose your path through the branching narrative.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 19.4%, Choices Matter 19.1%, Story Rich 15%, Retro 14%, Text-Based 13%

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

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 20.6%, Typing 18.4% ★, Text-Based 15.9%, Dialogue Heavy 13.4%, Retro 8.3%

A darkly comedic legal sim where your goal is to get disbarred—spectacularly. Play as a defense attorney or prosecutor in ethically disastrous cases full of bad decisions, weird clients, and Kafkaesque courtroom chaos. Succeed, and you lose.

Why similar: Text-Based 29.2%, Interactive Fiction 23%, Choices Matter 15%, Multiple Endings 14.7%, Story Rich 9.2%

Summer, 2001. Explore a Ukrainian village, help your grandfather, get to know the people who live there, and earn enough money to visit the local gaming club. A warm story about childhood, discovering video games, and a familiar world that changes as we grow older.

Why similar: Nostalgia 57.4% ★, Dialogue Heavy 13.2%, Emotional 10.7%, Story Rich 9.1%, Relaxing 3.3%

Play as a Duskweaver in this short "choices matter" story about self-sacrifice.

Why similar: Text-Based 24.1%, Interactive Fiction 17.9%, Choices Matter 17.5%, Multiple Endings 16.3%, Emotional 9.1%

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: Text-Based 22.8%, Typing 21.3% ★, Interactive Fiction 16.3%, LGBTQ+ 14.7%, Choices Matter 9.4%

Samael suffers from delusions. He feels lost until he encounters a priest one day. The priest is the only person in the world who makes him feel at peace. This, however, slowly turns into an obsession. Will Samael learn how to love properly or will he fall into a path of darkness? You decide.

Why similar: Text-Based 22%, LGBTQ+ 21.2%, Interactive Fiction 17.9%, Simulation 10.7%, Emotional 9.2%