Games Like Give up the Ghost

An atelier in the forest. The Artist’s brush halts before an empty frame, leaving the portrait unfinished. Lost souls arrive with memories of tragedy. Render the cruel truth, or shield their eyes with an eternal lie. A Gothic Mystery granting rest to the dead.

Why similar: Investigation 18.9%, Philosophical 13.3%, Interactive Fiction 12.9%, Hand-drawn 11.6%, Mystery 9.9%

Sunset Inferno is a choice-driven narrative adventure where you are a Recycler: a machine built to hunt war deserters. But when a bomb destroys your transport, it also cracks your programming. Uncover who attacked you before your makers decide you've changed too much.

Why similar: Investigation 15.1%, Choices Matter 12.7%, Interactive Fiction 11.5%, Mystery 11.3%, Story Rich 10%

My name is left behind these white walls. In its place, I am left with dozens of questions. I wander aimlessly, though she seems to guide me. I do not feel safe. Twenty-four hours... and everything will fall into place.

Why similar: Investigation 14.3%, Philosophical 13.8%, Hand-drawn 12.5%, Psychological 11.8%, Interactive Fiction 11%

You're the maintenance man for an apartment complex that has mysteriously been transported to the middle of the ocean. Woodrot is a surreal adventure game about getting to know your neighbors who all seem to blame themselves for their recent relocation.

Why similar: Psychological 14.4%, Philosophical 11.9%, Investigation 10.1%, Mystery 9%, Interactive Fiction 8.9%

Fallen into the sewer, a lone rat embarks on the long journey of returning home in an estranged, crumbling apartment. Navigate forgotten corners and unfamiliar spaces, befriend unlikely allies, and slip through dangers and shadows in the cracks of a broken world.

Why similar: Hand-drawn 19.4%, Investigation 15.3%, Story Rich 11%, Mystery 10.7%, Psychological 10.3%

Wander into the carnival of a giant magical dragon lady, where nobody ever leaves unchanged! Answer an extensive list of questions disguised as mini games as you explore the carnival grounds to discover what animal spirit lives inside you.

Why similar: Philosophical 18.1%, Investigation 16.6%, Psychological 12.6%, Interactive Fiction 10.8%, Choices Matter 9.4%

The Unleaving is a Chinese folk-horror Cthulhu RPG. As a member of a paranormal investigation group, venture into rural ghost stories and uncover the truth through dialogue, skill checks, and a little dice luck. Many stories, occupations, endings—some answers lie beyond knowing. They never left.

Why similar: Investigation 19%, Choices Matter 12.9%, Mystery 12.8%, Story Rich 10.7%, Multiple Endings 9.7%

Welcome to the Kabaret - where monsters from Southeast Asian myths and folklores dwell. Perform tea ceremonies, play traditional games, and question your humanity.

Why similar: Investigation 20%, Interactive Fiction 14.1%, Hand-drawn 12.6%, Choices Matter 11.6%, Multiple Endings 9.5%

A baby fell. You jumped after it. God didn't like that. DeadWeight: A Lullaby is a psychological narrative experience about guilt, judgment, and the weight of human intent.

Why similar: Philosophical 17.5%, Psychological 15.1%, Interactive Fiction 15%, Hand-drawn 12.1%, Multiple Endings 10%

An Aisling is an adventure game focused on exploration, story and character. Make friends or enemies as you try to uncover why kids are disappearing on the island of Rashinmore.

Why similar: Investigation 17.4%, Interactive Fiction 16.3%, Hand-drawn 13.7%, Choices Matter 10.7%, Stylized 9.1%

In this hand-drawn RPG, you play as Joe, a young man attending a dinner party with his new girlfriend. What he doesn't know is that every decision he makes, no matter how small, will have its consequence...

Why similar: Hand-drawn 17.5%, Choices Matter 13.4%, Interactive Fiction 12.4%, Multiple Endings 10.7%, Story Rich 10.2%

Stuck in an outpost deep in a sea of toxic fog, your crew has been decimated, you're cut off from the outside world, and oxygen is running out. Use limited bandwidth to coordinate unstable crewmates, conduct esoteric research that could change the world, and interpret strange signals from the deep.

Why similar: Investigation 20.7%, Hand-drawn 14.5%, Mystery 11.7%, Interactive Fiction 11.5%, Choices Matter 9.6%

Back To The Collis is a story-rich, fully hand-drawn 2D Point & Click adventure puzzle. Embark on a journey alongside the main character, Benjamin, to solve lots of engaging puzzles and explore the town of Collis, outstanding by its memorable populace.

Why similar: Investigation 22.3%, Hand-drawn 18%, Philosophical 16.5%, Story Rich 9.5%, Stylized 8.4%

A fake therapist loses her magic and must face real patients with nothing but words. Manage appointments, money, and emotional collapse in a narrative RPG about lies, deduction, and cognitive dissonance. Are lies your weapon... or your redemption?

Why similar: Investigation 16.7%, Psychological 14%, Interactive Fiction 12.2%, Choices Matter 10.9%, Stylized 8.9%

Step into a living illustrated world in a time when Europe is at a crossroads of great religious and political change. Walk in the footsteps of Andreas Maler, a master artist who finds himself in the middle of murders, scandals, and intrigue in the Bavarian Alps.

Why similar: Investigation 20.4%, Hand-drawn 14%, Interactive Fiction 13.7%, Stylized 9.4%, Story Rich 9%

A psychological horror game, where you answer a survey for a chance to win a cash prize

Why similar: Investigation 23%, Interactive Fiction 14.6%, Mystery 13%, Choices Matter 11.8%, Multiple Endings 10.8%

She was made to serve. Never to feel. A narrative adventure about a being created to preserve the world's balance — who begins, for the first time, to question everything she was made for. Form bonds, make choices, and discover the price of becoming something you were never meant to be.

Why similar: Philosophical 18.6%, Interactive Fiction 14.5%, Choices Matter 13.3%, Hand-drawn 12.6%, Story Rich 10.4%

Haunted by the ability to read minds, Suteru embarks on a journey of revenge against those who wronged him. Uncovering the secrets of his tormentors, he must confront his demons in a story that explores the depths and darkness of the human mind.

Why similar: Philosophical 15%, Interactive Fiction 12.7%, Psychological 12.3%, Hand-drawn 12.2%, Choices Matter 10.5%

RUNT is a rural gothic visual novel mystery where you play as Runt, the youngest of five brothers, surviving a monstrous post-apocalypse.

Why similar: Investigation 17.3%, Interactive Fiction 14.4%, Choices Matter 12.3%, Hand-drawn 10.6%, Multiple Endings 9.6%

Follow the story of a plague doctor alchemist and their attempt to alter the minds of a gardener, a street urchin, and a priest. Explore the abstract, reactive worlds of each subject; solve puzzles, interact with bizarre denizens, and see how your actions change minds -- for better, or for worse.

Why similar: Philosophical 18.7%, Investigation 15.8%, Psychological 11.5%, Choices Matter 8.5%, Mystery 8.2%

a cozy point-and-click horror game where you discover things are not what they seem

Why similar: Philosophical 18.7%, Hand-drawn 17.4%, Investigation 14.4%, Psychological 8.4%, Story Rich 6.9%

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: Philosophical 17.4%, Interactive Fiction 15.2%, Choices Matter 13.8%, Hand-drawn 13.5%, Story Rich 9.6%

Classic first-person point-and-click adventure game set in contemporary Prague. As a programmer and treasure hunter, you embark on a long journey to uncover the secrets of the infamous Executioner. Your task will be complicated by a sect of fanatic cultists and your own unexplained heritage.

Why similar: Investigation 16.1%, Choices Matter 15.7%, Hand-drawn 15%, Mystery 13.6%, Story Rich 11.3%

A short modern visual novel in which a young woman wanders into a [theoretically] abandoned train station, only to find people from her past waiting inside.

Why similar: Philosophical 19.7%, Interactive Fiction 13.7%, Psychological 12.4%, Mystery 11.5%, Choices Matter 9%

Marginalia is an atmospheric narrative anthology. Seven stories, one for each deadly sin. Enter the library. Choose your tale. Your choices will not save you. But they will define you.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 22.3%, Choices Matter 15.8%, Story Rich 14.4%, Psychological 12.9%, Multiple Endings 10.8%

In this detective horror visual novel, investigate a seabound anomaly. Explore areas of interest, uncover clues, and piece together evidence before time runs out — and before this mission becomes your last. Choose a side; don't look back.

Why similar: Investigation 23.4%, Interactive Fiction 15.1%, Mystery 12.5%, Choices Matter 10.9%, Psychological 9.2%

A mysterious creature has torn your home from reality. Explore the City of Stolen Worlds, uncover the secrets of its inhabitants, and try to find your way back. Or perhaps you want to become the new Master?

Why similar: Philosophical 19.4%, Interactive Fiction 18.3%, Choices Matter 13%, Psychological 11.3%, Multiple Endings 9.4%

Evan faces a frustrating battle with his conscience. It's one he cannot afford to lose, or he'll spend the rest of his life behind bars. Under intense scrutiny and questioning from two savvy detectives, how will he fare? That, is entirely up to you.

Why similar: Investigation 21.3%, Interactive Fiction 17.4%, Psychological 16.3%, Choices Matter 10.6%, Story Rich 8.3%

Map a mysterious land during the Age of Enlightenment. Draw the border between two warring kingdoms. Meet the locals. Juggle their demands with the requirements of your mission. Ethical dilemmas, secret plots, strange phenomena… will you be able to bring peace back to the land?

Why similar: Investigation 23.5%, Hand-drawn 16.6%, Mystery 9.7%, Choices Matter 9.3%, Dialogue Heavy 6.9%

Put on your headphones, close your eyes and watch the story in your imagination. What seems like a game may be something more. Is it a story waiting to be told or... felt? Enter the universe of Edgar A. Poe, where reason, like the devil, says "Goodnight".

Why similar: Philosophical 19.5%, Interactive Fiction 17%, Hand-drawn 15%, Stylized 10%, Story Rich 9%

Detective novelist MEL Gideon, whose career is facing difficulties, receives a strange letter claiming someone is in trouble and needs her help. Intrigued, she decides to investigate. As she digs deeper, she starts to realize that her past is far more complicated than she ever imagined...

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 18.2%, Hand-drawn 15.9%, Investigation 13.5%, Mystery 12.4%, Story Rich 7%

We Stay Behind is a single-player third-person mystery between dreams and reality. A comet is on course to destroy a small town but its inhabitants refuse to leave. Interview the people of Laburnum Creek, explore a beautiful national park and unravel the secrets of this picturesque town.

Why similar: Investigation 19.6%, Interactive Fiction 15.3%, Mystery 11.8%, Choices Matter 10.4%, Stylized 10.1%

Grayton the Detective is a narrative adventure game about a homeless man who once lived in wealth and comfort, now showers with a kettle, and solves petty mysteries on the streets of Cleveland. However, with the disappearance of mysterious Golden Spoon, everything may change.

Why similar: Investigation 26.1%, Hand-drawn 19.3%, Choices Matter 13.9%, Story Rich 10.1%, Stylized 8%

Become an investigator in a dark fantasy story. People keep going missing in Maligree, before being forgotten by all who knew them. Will you solve the case before you forget?

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 15.4%, Hand-drawn 15.1%, Choices Matter 14.1%, Investigation 10.8%, Story Rich 10.2%

A horror visual novel where you take on the role of a spy delving into the memories of others to find dirt on a sinister biocorporation. Not for children or the easily disturbed.

Why similar: Investigation 18.5%, Interactive Fiction 14.4%, Hand-drawn 13.6%, Choices Matter 11.2%, Mystery 11%

Just in Crime is a detective video game in which you play a detective dog and a wizard cat. With a twist; you are able to travel back in time and examine the crime scene a few seconds before it happened.

Why similar: Investigation 22.7%, Hand-drawn 13.8%, Interactive Fiction 13.2%, Mystery 11.2%, Choices Matter 10.3%

The Nameless Dead cannot be buried, their remains pile up in a mass of indignity. You have crawled from the gutter to name them. Explore the cemetery and uncover their names before the Worm eats your insides.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 23.8%, Hand-drawn 15.8%, Choices Matter 13.7%, Story Rich 11.5%, Multiple Endings 10.5%

A hand-illustrated visual mystery adventure that can be beaten in one sitting.

Why similar: Investigation 21.8%, Hand-drawn 15.6%, Interactive Fiction 15.3%, Choices Matter 11.3%, Stylized 9.5%

Uncover the skeletons in Hana's closet in "MINE MEMORY," a gripping psychological visual novel. Dive into Hana's memories, shape her destiny, and confront haunting choices with deep consequences.

Why similar: Psychological 24.9%, Mystery 16%, Interactive Fiction 15.4%, Choices Matter 14.6%, Hand-drawn 12.9%

Designed by some of the team behind the groundbreaking Disco Elysium, Hopetown is a narrative-first RPG with resonant storytelling and seismic conversations. Things will change under your nose and under your heel. Words will be your weapons, and you'll make your own truth.

Why similar: Investigation 17.1%, Philosophical 14.3%, Psychological 11.3%, Choices Matter 9.6%, Dialogue Heavy 7.5%

A queer mystery game about book banning. Play as Ruby (they/them), a journalism major on a surreal, after-hours adventure to investigate the disappearance of books from their college library.

Why similar: Investigation 23.5%, Interactive Fiction 14%, Mystery 13.1%, Story Rich 10.9%, Stylized 9.1%

Vampires infiltrate the nightclub queue. You are the bouncer. Check documents, observe suspicious behavior, and use tools to decide who gets in and who stays outside, but the final decision is always yours.

Why similar: Investigation 20.2%, Interactive Fiction 19.2%, Stylized 12.9%, Mystery 9.9%, Choices Matter 8.9%

You will answer a series of questions that will reveal things from deep within. Some will be uncomfortable, but with great knowledge comes great sacrifice. Can you make it all the way through The Test, and are you SURE you want the answers you seek? For it is time to unlock "Secrets of the Soul..."

Why similar: Investigation 18.1%, Philosophical 15.6%, Psychological 13.4%, Choices Matter 12.1%, Interactive Fiction 11.4%

A short 10 minute visual novel about being a fragment in the universe and trying to find a way out of the ****.

Why similar: Philosophical 26.4%, Psychological 16.3%, Stylized 10.7%, Mystery 10.2%, Dark 9.6%

A deceptively cozy narrative game about an alchemist that immigrates to a new country and opens an apothecary. Get to know your weird and wonderful community, brew the potions your customers need, and use your words to stir up a country on the brink of change.

Why similar: Investigation 29.4%, Interactive Fiction 19.6%, Choices Matter 14.4%, Multiple Endings 9.9%, Mystery 9.5%

WHEN THE CROW SINGS is an adventure mystery game with a focus on exploration, characters, and world building, featuring a cast of diverse survivors trying to keep the status quo as their compound life grows more complicated and dangerous.

Why similar: Investigation 17.1%, Interactive Fiction 15.9%, Hand-drawn 14.8%, Choices Matter 12.4%, Stylized 9.7%

A Pentiment-like set in 19th-century Malaysia, featuring pirates, East Indiamen, headhunters, a locked-room murder mystery, a blade of meteoric ore, a tarot deck, a mountain of light, and a tiger. It’s time to put your thinking cap on; as for those voices in your head – probably best to ignore them.

Why similar: Investigation 22.9%, Hand-drawn 15.3%, Interactive Fiction 14.5%, Story Rich 9.5%, Choices Matter 8.4%

Step into the shoes of a young mercenary in the midst of an identity crisis. Explore a surreal world on the edge of collapse, shape your identity through choice, and navigate a web of shifting loyalties, hidden agendas, and uncomfortable truths.

Why similar: Philosophical 21.8%, Choices Matter 12.6%, Hand-drawn 11.9%, Story Rich 7.8%, CRPG 7.2%

In "Omnisight" you decide what people will believe. Theories, relationships with colleagues, and secrets are just tools at your disposal. You change reality and transform yourself along with it. But are you ready to accept the consequences?

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 17.6%, Choices Matter 16.1%, Psychological 14.7%, Story Rich 13.3%, Hand-drawn 8.5%

Who could possibly spook the spooker? Feign your bravery as you uncover the secrets that lie in the haunted Manor; on an ultimate quest to help two boys.

Why similar: Hand-drawn 17.5%, Investigation 14.6%, Stylized 12.8%, Mystery 12.8%, Choices Matter 11.7%

A symbolic story where you play as a stranger searching for peace in this wretched world. You will wander through the dying land, finding yourself in different situations where evil forces will try to stop you by using your fears, doubts, and weaknesses.

Why similar: Philosophical 21.5%, Hand-drawn 20.7%, Psychological 16.1%, Mystery 11.6%, Story Rich 7.8%

In this 3D visual novel, follow failed screenwriter Junon as she attempts to make it through the most pivotal day in her life. Relive the past, alter the present, and embrace the future, or without your help, Junon’s story might end in a wreck.

Why similar: Choices Matter 16.5%, Interactive Fiction 15%, Mystery 11%, Psychological 11%, Story Rich 9.9%

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

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 20.5%, Philosophical 19.3%, Choices Matter 18.9%, Multiple Endings 13.5%, Psychological 12.2%

A School Prefect has been pushed out of a window, and everyone's blaming YOU. Can you find the culprit - or someone to take the fall - before you get EXPELLED? Mystery with a wicked twist, from the creators of Overboard!, 80 Days, Heaven's Vault and A Highland Song.

Why similar: Investigation 25.1%, Interactive Fiction 17.2%, Hand-drawn 17%, Choices Matter 10.1%, Mystery 10%

Soulflow is a 2.5D fantasy-detective game that offers a unique experience with its graphic style. In this story-based role play game, players must gather information from others during the day and try to solve the murders in the neighborhood to stay free.

Why similar: Investigation 22.5%, Interactive Fiction 13.4%, Choices Matter 11.3%, Multiple Endings 10.6%, Psychological 9.8%

Peak or Die is a narrative-driven survival game about leading a team of adventurers up a deadly mountain, where every decision has lasting consequences. Manage oxygen, food, and team morale while facing moral dilemmas, random events, and an unforgiving environment. Reach the summit — or fail trying.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 15%, Psychological 13.2%, Choices Matter 13%, Hand-drawn 11.8%, Mystery 10%

An EROTIC POINT & CLICK ADVENTURE inspired by the classic detective games of the 90s. Explore, investigate, and form intimate relationships as you uncover the truth behind a town's dark secret.

Why similar: Investigation 19.7%, Interactive Fiction 14.7%, Psychological 11.9%, Choices Matter 11.5%, Mystery 11.1%

Байкал зовёт. Прошлое возвращается в форме теней, и Андрей должен решить - играть по чужим правилам или переписать сценарий судьбы.

Why similar: Investigation 20.7%, Interactive Fiction 11.7%, Psychological 11.1%, Stylized 9.4%, Choices Matter 9%

The narrative is the puzzle itself. You have no power, no resources, but a cryptic force sends you to face the impossible, where you have to see through your opponents lies before they see through yours, be they human or not.

Why similar: Investigation 24.3%, Psychological 12.8%, Choices Matter 12.7%, Interactive Fiction 11.9%, Hand-drawn 11.1%

Have a psychotic episode in your bathtub. Argue with a rubber duck, flood your bathroom and drown Jesus. Find your very own ending – or all of them.

Why similar: Hand-drawn 16.5%, Interactive Fiction 13.6%, Choices Matter 10.9%, Stylized 10.5%, Psychological 10.3%