Games Like Depression Quest

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

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 43%, Choose Your Own Adventure 23.3%, Indie 9.6%, Visual Novel 9.4%, Text-Based 6.8%

Why You'll Like It: It uses a nostalgic, text-based interface to explore the complexities of relationships and personal growth through choices.

A short interactive story about love, depression and the corporation.

Why similar: Indie 50.2%, Dark 19.7%, Visual Novel 19.2%, Singleplayer 7.3%, Story Rich 3.6%

Why You'll Like It: This game offers a similarly raw and unflinching look at the daily struggles of living with severe depression.

The Beginner's Guide is a narrative video game from Davey Wreden, the creator of The Stanley Parable. It lasts about an hour and a half and has no traditional mechanics, no goals or objectives. Instead, it tells the story of a person struggling to deal with something they do not understand.

Why similar: Psychological 30.5%, Indie 27.5%, Emotional 13.6%, Singleplayer 9%, Story Rich 7.7%

Why You'll Like It: This meta-narrative experience provides a deeply psychological look at the creator-player relationship and the nature of artistic expression.

Depression The Game is an interactive game simulating major depression. You are joining a young man on one of his really bad days trying to handle his thoughts and survive that day... Will he?

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 42.4%, Psychological 19.4%, Visual Novel 13.3%, Psychological Horror 7.9%, Emotional 7.7%

Why You'll Like It: It directly tackles the theme of depression using an atmospheric, life-simulation approach to interactive fiction.

Florence Yeoh feels a little... stuck. Her life is an endless routine of work, sleep, and spending too much time on social media. Then one day, she meets a cello player named Krish who changes everything about how she sees the world and herself.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 50.5%, Indie 19.8%, Visual Novel 16.8%, Singleplayer 5%, Emotional 4.7%

Why You'll Like It: A short, poignant interactive story that captures the emotional highs and lows of life and relationships through simple, effective mechanics.

A short, linear story game of a random demon guy's life.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 47.5%, Visual Novel 14.1%, Psychological 12.9%, Text-Based 12.3%, Psychological Horror 8.6%

Why You'll Like It: This interactive fiction title uses psychological horror elements to represent the daily grind of mental health struggles.

Set out on a cross-country journey to win back the love of your life and endure the hardship of making story-defining choices that affect your life and the lives of those around you.

Why similar: Indie 60.9%, LGBTQ+ 15.9%, Singleplayer 8.2%, Story Rich 8.2%, Visual Novel 6.8%

Why You'll Like It: The game focuses heavily on the consequences of life choices and the struggle to maintain one's path in a difficult world.

Haru is invited by her old friend Manami to spend a night at the hot springs. All Haru wants to do is enjoy the hot springs like everyone else, but she doesn't want to cause any trouble...

Why similar: Choose Your Own Adventure 41.2%, Visual Novel 21%, Emotional 9.1%, LGBTQ+ 8.9%, Multiple Endings 7.5%

Why You'll Like It: A gentle and empathetic visual novel that explores social anxiety and personal identity in a quiet, grounded setting.

Some memories aren't meant to stay. We are our memories and our experiences. What happens if you delete some of them? If you change your past and, thus, your future?

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 29.3%, Choose Your Own Adventure 25.5%, Text-Based 13.5%, Visual Novel 12.4%, Psychological Horror 6.3%

Why You'll Like It: A text-based simulation that captures the feeling of isolation and the weight of difficult life decisions.

A chronic illness simulator. You think you have a chronic illness, but you don't know what. All you know is you are always in some state of pain. You've been to too many doctors to count... but you still have to live your life.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 64.2%, Visual Novel 20%, Emotional 6.1%, Indie 5.5%, Singleplayer 2.3%

Why You'll Like It: This interactive fiction game focuses on the subjective experience of mental health and the difficulty of being understood.

The Cat Lady follows Susan Ashworth, a lonely 40-year old on the verge of suicide. She has no family, no friends and no hope for a better future. One day she discovers that five strangers will come along and change everything...

Why similar: Psychological 27.1%, Indie 16.8%, Psychological Horror 16.8%, Emotional 12%, Dark 9.9%

Why You'll Like It: A dark, psychological adventure that uses surreal imagery to explore the protagonist's battle with depression and trauma.

A game about writing nice letters to real people. Write and receive encouraging letters in a cozy room. Trade stickers and listen to chill music. We're all in this together. Sometimes all you need are a few kind words.

Why similar: Psychological 41%, Emotional 28.6%, Indie 19.4%, LGBTQ+ 11%

Why You'll Like It: This game creates a safe space for players to share their struggles and offer support, mirroring the empathetic core of the seed game.

A short non-linear narrative game about negative experiences after coming out as transgender.

Why similar: Choose Your Own Adventure 25.2%, Text-Based 18.2%, Visual Novel 17.4%, Emotional 10.1%, LGBTQ+ 8.3%

Why You'll Like It: A personal, narrative-driven exploration of identity and the internal conflict that comes with self-discovery.

In an AI-powered age where original authors have become largely redundant, play as a dejected writer on the brink of losing their creative drive forever.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 32.4%, Psychological 17.3%, Visual Novel 15.3%, Text-Based 13.1%, Psychological Horror 8%

Why You'll Like It: A psychological text-based narrative that explores the fragility of the mind through interactive storytelling.

A story-driven experience about two doctors traversing backwards through a dying man's memories to artificially fulfill his last wish.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 42.9%, Indie 20.4%, Emotional 16.2%, Psychological 9.1%, Story Rich 6.6%

Why You'll Like It: A story-rich experience that explores the emotional weight of memories and the desire to change one's past.

When the Darkness comes is a walking simulator whose glitchy and dark tale tries to illustrate the hardships of depression and anxiety through a variety of imaginary digital landscapes.

Why similar: Psychological Horror 33%, Psychological 21.4%, Indie 21.4%, Dark 9.5%, Emotional 8.2%

Why You'll Like It: An atmospheric, psychological exploration that uses first-person perspective to convey feelings of dread and isolation.

Play as a farmer who struggles to manage a failing farm. You come to a point where there is no more hope, and you must do something.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 34.8%, Choose Your Own Adventure 33.1%, Visual Novel 16.3%, Dark 6.4%, Psychological Horror 5%

Why You'll Like It: A short, dark interactive fiction game that uses visual novel elements to tell a haunting personal story.

A psychological text-based game where each day you are tasked with executing someone based on the limited information provided until one person remains with their full story revealed.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 37.6%, Psychological 18.2%, Choose Your Own Adventure 15.4%, Text-Based 12.5%, Psychological Horror 6.5%

Why You'll Like It: This game centers on the anxiety of decision-making and the impact of choices on one's personal life.

Episode 1 now FREE! Life is Strange is an award-winning and critically acclaimed episodic adventure game that allows the player to rewind time and affect the past, present and future.

Why similar: Multiple Endings 28.6%, Story Rich 23.8%, Singleplayer 23.3%, Indie 17.7%, LGBTQ+ 6.5%

Why You'll Like It: This title emphasizes the impact of small choices on a larger, emotionally charged narrative about growing up.

You who are unqualified to drink Meng Po's soup, you have been chosen for the game of life. A horror yuri visual novel following a series of death games in the afterlife.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 35.8%, Choose Your Own Adventure 25.6%, Visual Novel 12.2%, Psychological 10.8%, Psychological Horror 4.4%

Why You'll Like It: An indie interactive fiction title that captures a unique, surreal tone while maintaining a focus on narrative choices.

June 7th, 1995. 1:15 AM. You arrive home after a year abroad. You expect your family to greet you, but the house is empty. Something's not right. Where is everyone? And what's happened here? Unravel the mystery for yourself in Gone Home, a story exploration game from The Fullbright Company.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 33.2%, Indie 32.3%, LGBTQ+ 15.9%, Singleplayer 5.9%, Story Rich 5.8%

Why You'll Like It: An intimate narrative exploration that uses environmental storytelling to reveal deep personal truths about the characters.

Ukraine War Stories is a set of visual novels about the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Set in the early months of the war, it tells the stories of civilians trapped on Russian-occupied territory. All stories are based on real events and eyewitness accounts.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 33.3%, Choose Your Own Adventure 24.7%, Visual Novel 10.9%, Text-Based 9.7%, Psychological 8.6%

Why You'll Like It: A serious, choice-based narrative that forces players to make impossible decisions in a high-stakes, realistic environment.

When humans get too lonely, they turn into monsters… Set sail across a beautiful and evolving world of darkness and light, and discover what it means to be human.

Why similar: Emotional 47.6%, Dark 31.4%, Singleplayer 21%

Why You'll Like It: It uses metaphorical, atmospheric gameplay to visualize the internal struggle of loneliness and mental health.

"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: Interactive Fiction 47.1%, Visual Novel 17%, Text-Based 9.5%, Emotional 9%, LGBTQ+ 7.4%

Why You'll Like It: An interactive fiction game that uses unique mechanics to explore themes of identity and self-acceptance.

Gris is a hopeful young girl lost in her own world, dealing with a painful experience in her life. Her journey through sorrow is manifested in her dress, which grants new abilities to better navigate her faded reality.

Why similar: Indie 71.4%, Singleplayer 20%, Story Rich 8.6%

Why You'll Like It: A beautiful, non-verbal journey through the stages of grief and the process of emotional recovery.

The Stanley Parable is a first person exploration game. You will play as Stanley, and you will not play as Stanley. You will follow a story, you will not follow a story. You will have a choice, you will have no choice. The game will end, the game will never end.

Why similar: Psychological 49.5%, Indie 25.9%, Multiple Endings 11.5%, Singleplayer 7.2%, Psychological Horror 3.4%

Why You'll Like It: It provides a philosophical look at the nature of choice and the influence of the narrator on the player's experience.

A free drama-mystery visual novel with a modern fantasy setting. Reach out to the fourteen people trapped inside to find the truth through eighteen endings, influenced by but not exclusively bound to your own system time.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 41.4%, Visual Novel 17.7%, Choose Your Own Adventure 17%, Multiple Endings 4.7%, LGBTQ+ 4.5%

Why You'll Like It: A story-rich interactive fiction game that explores themes of decay and existential dread through multiple endings.

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: Interactive Fiction 45.8%, Visual Novel 19.9%, Emotional 8.4%, Indie 7.4%, LGBTQ+ 6.3%

Why You'll Like It: A conversational game that focuses on empathy and listening to the personal struggles of others in a quiet setting.

Battle demons and undead attorneys, and win souls to pay back your student loans! At the elite demonic-law firm of Varkath Nebuchadnezzar Stone, you'll depose a fallen god, find romance, and maybe even make partner, if you don't lose your own soul first.

Why similar: Choose Your Own Adventure 43%, Interactive Fiction 29.9%, Text-Based 17.7%, Indie 9.5%

Why You'll Like It: A classic text-based interactive fiction title that demonstrates the depth possible in pure choice-driven gameplay.

A story about a girl named Lizzy living in a miserable world and her journey to its darkest depths. A free atmospheric horror visual novel where you navigate life-or-death situations. SEEK PARADISE OR DIE TRYING

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 37%, Choose Your Own Adventure 27.4%, Visual Novel 13.7%, Psychological Horror 7.4%, Multiple Endings 5.1%

A visual novel about cute melancholic girls!

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 31.3%, Choose Your Own Adventure 21.8%, Visual Novel 20.8%, Multiple Endings 7.3%, Psychological Horror 5.1%

A long-form, choice-driven psychological horror and depression game in which the protagonist’s ending changes based on the choices made by “you,” the voice he hears in his head.

Why similar: Choose Your Own Adventure 43.2%, Psychological Horror 20.5%, Visual Novel 17.3%, Dark 11.9%, Singleplayer 3.6%

"Robot Hospice" is a 2D pixel art adventure game where beloved robots spend their final days in a hospice. As a new staff member, you will gently yet painfully bid farewell to these cherished machines that once lived alongside humans.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 38.5%, Choose Your Own Adventure 26.8%, Emotional 9.2%, Visual Novel 9.2%, Indie 8.8%

TOMORROW DON'T COME is a contextual puzzle game about depression and how it feels to be stuck.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 33.5%, Psychological 15.8%, Text-Based 11.5%, Visual Novel 10.2%, Indie 10.1%

A short psychological horror interactive story. Five years after vanishing without a trace, the woman you once called your lover writes from beyond the silence: "I will give birth to our creation.” In three acts, descend into a fractured mindscape where obsession, memory, and myth intertwine.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 25.9%, Choose Your Own Adventure 18.1%, Psychological 12.6%, Visual Novel 12%, Text-Based 8.7%

A narrative-driven hardcore RPG set in a gritty world ruled by real but unrelenting gods. Set out on a challenging lifetime journey, where every choice has a price and entails consequences. Will you become an inquisitor, a judge, or conspire against the old order? Dare to decide!

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 42%, Choose Your Own Adventure 27.3%, Visual Novel 12%, Text-Based 10.1%, Indie 4.4%

Anxiety Puppy is a 2D interactive narrative game that focuses on anxiety. In the game, anxiety is personified as a little puppy. Players will explore its story and try to coexist with it. Go find its traces and give it a hug.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 38.3%, Psychological 17.5%, Text-Based 14.5%, Visual Novel 13.8%, Emotional 7.9%

Play as Alice who has just had an unsettingly life-like dream about the end of the world, and is retelling it to her friend. A single play-through might take as little as 20 minutes, but experiencing all the possible paths Alice can take through the ruins of her city will take you many hours.

Why similar: Choose Your Own Adventure 40.4%, Interactive Fiction 36.8%, Visual Novel 22.9%

Pleh! is a short psychological horror walking simulator that tells the story of a depressed game developer, his intrusive thoughts and his dark mysterious secrets.

Why similar: Psychological 34.1%, Psychological Horror 19.5%, Emotional 16.8%, Dark 12.2%, Indie 8.3%

This small Narrative Point & Click (Puzzle) game is about the mental health struggles of a adolescent high school dropout who's lost at life. Find out what they're struggling with, you might even recognize some things from your own life.

Why similar: Text-Based 23.1%, Visual Novel 19.2%, Emotional 13.4%, Indie 13%, Psychological Horror 11.3%

YOU are a psychiatrist, trying to solve a murder whilst treating the unusual patients of the recently deceased Doctor Dekker. Type a question - patients reply in full screen video and have questions for you too but be careful what you say. Your words determine their eventual fates, and your own!

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 27.6%, Psychological 17.6%, Choose Your Own Adventure 14.6%, Indie 8.6%, Psychological Horror 7.5%

Befriend misfit deities and make a life for yourself in the Underworld! Can you escape your arranged marriage to the King? Do you want to?

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 41.1%, Choose Your Own Adventure 32%, Text-Based 11.2%, Singleplayer 4.8%, Indie 4.3%

You are subordinate to the deranged dictator and must plan his doomed invasion in this text-based RPG / Visual Novel. Navigate the shark-filled waters of the Great Leader's presidential cabinet, try to save your family, and survive the purges in a world of power-hungry leaders and nuclear warfare.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 34.6%, Choose Your Own Adventure 24.6%, Visual Novel 11.1%, Text-Based 9.6%, Psychological 9.4%

A yandere psychological horror visual novel. Choose a sweetheart to romance, but beware the petals of obsession.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 37.5%, Choose Your Own Adventure 26.6%, Visual Novel 13%, Psychological 12.5%, Psychological Horror 4.1%

A small "horror" narrative game about isolation and depression.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 63.8%, Psychological 19.9%, Psychological Horror 7.2%, Dark 7%, Singleplayer 1.2%

You're looking for a new apartment in Amsterdam. Your once-confident search is morphing into panic. Nothing is available. Anything will do. ANYTHING.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 37.4%, Choose Your Own Adventure 26.8%, Visual Novel 13.3%, Text-Based 9.7%, Psychological Horror 6.2%

Destined to Die is a task managing game about depression, containing over 200+ pieces of physical and digital art. What's the point in life, if all paths lead to death. Choose your actions, and learn how to live. All paths lead to death, but how long can you live?

Why similar: Emotional 44%, Dark 35.6%, Indie 13.6%, Singleplayer 6.9%

Free Will is a 2D psychological puzzle RPG where the puzzles happen outside of the game. Dig deep into the system code to fix the corruption, and uncover information that might be better off hidden.

Why similar: Psychological 52%, Indie 20%, Emotional 7.7%, Dark 6.4%, Multiple Endings 6.2%

A pull-apart puzzle visual novel whose fragments stitch the story together.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 35.6%, Choose Your Own Adventure 27.3%, Visual Novel 12.4%, Text-Based 11.4%, Psychological Horror 6.2%

Set over the course of roughly a week, you play as a young girl who has been living in a shelter all her life. The outside world is infected with a deadly disease. Society is in chaos. Fortunately, your papa is protecting you.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 52.8%, Psychological 17.2%, Psychological Horror 9.2%, Emotional 8.8%, Dark 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: Interactive Fiction 37.3%, Choose Your Own Adventure 23%, Visual Novel 13.6%, Text-Based 12.1%, Emotional 7.3%

Go about your normal every day life and meet new friends in this short visual novel!

Why similar: Visual Novel 36.6%, Text-Based 24.3%, Psychological Horror 16.4%, Indie 10.3%, Dark 7.8%

DeafBlind offers an immersive sensory deprivation experience, simulating what life might feel like if you were both deaf and blind. This game invites you to navigate a world shrouded in silence and darkness, challenging you to adapt and explore in entirely new ways.

Why similar: Choose Your Own Adventure 66.3%, Realistic 17.8%, Singleplayer 10.6%, Multiple Endings 5.3%

Social welfare survival horror based on real events. Endure emotional pain and societal pressure. Stay entertained. Survive the routine and become the hero of your studio apartment—battle inner demons, hide skeletons in the closet, and most importantly… keep the bathroom clean.

Why similar: Indie 31.5%, Psychological Horror 27%, Singleplayer 16.6%, Multiple Endings 16.1%, Story Rich 8.9%

A surrealist text-based RPG. You will explore an island, solve puzzles, and fight enemies, all in your attempt to get the Dark Egg.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 40.5%, Choose Your Own Adventure 31.5%, Text-Based 12.7%, Psychological Horror 6.6%, Indie 4.8%

A story about a dead lamb walking.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 53.8%, Visual Novel 18.1%, Psychological Horror 8.6%, Psychological 6.7%, Multiple Endings 5.8%

Follow Sybil in her pursuit for survival, having to sacrifice everything - her culture, her identity, her values - to achieve a single objective: escape from a place that is constantly trying to kill her. A short game about persecution and identity.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 27.6%, Visual Novel 24.1%, Emotional 17.2%, Multiple Endings 11.9%, Dark 11.2%

The Test: Reality Check is one of multiple installments in an ongoing social experiment that can be classified as an atmospheric, psychological-simulation with horror elements. Dive deep into your own psyche to find answers to questions you've kept locked away, hidden from yourself for far too long.

Why similar: Choose Your Own Adventure 41.5%, Visual Novel 20.2%, Text-Based 16.4%, Psychological Horror 11.2%, Multiple Endings 8.4%

A dark conversation with a girl during a nightly car trip. A short multi-ending novel game where you try to understand this girl and her pain.

Why similar: Visual Novel 27.8%, Text-Based 18.2%, Psychological 18.2%, Multiple Endings 11.1%, Indie 7.3%