Games Like Growing Up

Spend your teenage years on an alien planet in this narrative RPG with card-based battles. Explore, grow up, and fall in love. The choices you make and skills you master over ten years will determine the course of your life and the survival of your colony.

Why similar: Life Sim 18.4%, LGBTQ+ 12.7%, Dating Sim 10.9%, Choices Matter 10.7%, Choose Your Own Adventure 10.3%

Why You'll Like It: This game masterfully blends life-simulation mechanics with deep, choice-driven narrative consequences across a character's formative years.

A twenty-dollar bill, four summers, fifteen years, and a one of a kind life. Create an experience that’s all your own in this near-fully customizable visual novel where you grow from childhood to adulthood with the lonely boy next door.

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 22.1%, Dating Sim 15.5%, Visual Novel 14%, Choices Matter 12.5%, Character Customization 11.4%

Why You'll Like It: It perfectly mirrors the experience of growing up alongside a companion, offering extensive customization and emotional growth.

Prepare the next monarch by finding her hobbies, training her for battle, and befriending the citizens she'll one day protect. Dive into an all-new parenting-simulator-RPG adventure, where every decision you make will not only affect the future of your daughter but that of an entire empire!

Why similar: Life Sim 29.9%, Choices Matter 12.2%, Multiple Endings 12.1%, Dating Sim 11.4%, Visual Novel 7.3%

Why You'll Like It: This title shares the core loop of raising a child through stat-based training, education, and social interaction to determine their adult path.

Design your own wizard to attend a magical school. Learn spells, explore dungeons, make friends, and find a date for the May Day Ball. But be careful, everyone has secrets - including you!

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 18.7%, Dating Sim 16.8%, Visual Novel 13.6%, RPG 13%, Simulation 11.3%

Why You'll Like It: This game focuses on the school-life experience, requiring players to balance academic performance with social relationships.

Step into the shoes of Lyric, the humble innkeeper in a quiet mountain village, as she reflects upon a lifetime of poignant memories, heartwarming friendships, and bittersweet choices — proving along the way that you don't have to slay dragons to be the hero of your own story.

Why similar: Life Sim 23.8%, Emotional 18.1%, Choices Matter 14.1%, Choose Your Own Adventure 10.5%, LGBTQ+ 9.9%

Why You'll Like It: It captures the emotional weight of a life journey, focusing on how small choices shape a character's perspective over time.

Live the life of a Monster, from birth to elderhood and beyond, making decisions that affect the world of Monsters and Humans. Solve problems. Meet animals and interesting people. Get to know them. Eat them. Make your own story!

Why similar: Choose Your Own Adventure 17.9%, Multiple Endings 15.4%, Choices Matter 13.3%, Life Sim 10.2%, RPG 8.8%

Why You'll Like It: This game features branching life stages where your choices determine your character's personality and ultimate place in society.

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: Choices Matter 14.4%, Dating Sim 13.6%, Emotional 13.6%, Multiple Endings 10.3%, Choose Your Own Adventure 9.4%

Why You'll Like It: It captures the specific nostalgia and social evolution of the teenage experience through a unique, choice-driven interface.

Princess Maker 2 Refine is a life simulation game which you play as a father of a girl, who had descended from the star. You have 8 years to raise your daughter from age 10 to 18 – your daughter will grow into her adulthood through various experiences.

Why similar: Simulation 21.4%, Life Sim 18.7%, Multiple Endings 18.4%, Management 11.4%, Choices Matter 8.7%

Why You'll Like It: As the foundational classic of the raising-sim genre, it remains the gold standard for guiding a character from childhood to a specific adult career.

Arcade Spirits is a romantic visual novel that follows an alternative timeline where the 1983 video game crash never occurred. It's 20XX and you've just started a new job at the Funplex game arcade. Who will you meet along the way? Will you find the romance you're seeking?

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 18.2%, Dating Sim 14.7%, Choose Your Own Adventure 12.8%, Choices Matter 12.1%, Visual Novel 10.2%

Why You'll Like It: It emphasizes career progression and relationship building within a narrative-heavy, choice-rich environment.

Live the day-to-day of a magic school student! Whimel Academy is a cozy magic school simulation game. Manage your time and balance between studying magic, part-time jobs, and befriending (or romance) classmates in this wholesome and enchanting world!

Why similar: Life Sim 20.5%, Dating Sim 11.9%, LGBTQ+ 10.6%, Hand-drawn 9.9%, Management 8.6%

Why You'll Like It: It focuses on the time-management and social aspects of school life, mirroring the daily routine found in Growing Up.

Rule the world or die trying!Being a Princess is not an easy job. Being a Queen is even harder. Especially when you're only fourteen years old, and the reason you've inherited the throne is that your royal mother has just met an untimely end.Now power is up for grabs.

Why similar: Visual Novel 30.4%, Simulation 12%, Choose Your Own Adventure 11.8%, Multiple Endings 9.8%, RPG 8.7%

Why You'll Like It: It provides a high-stakes take on the life-sim genre where every stat-building choice is vital for survival and success.

Welcome to Little London! Little Sim World is a cosy 2D life sim set in the heart of a little city full of charm, dreams, and surprises. Design your perfect home, meet quirky locals, build your routine, and live life at your own pace. A gentle world, a fresh start, and a story only you can write!

Why similar: Life Sim 29.5%, Dating Sim 16.6%, Choices Matter 12.5%, Character Customization 10.7%, RPG 7.7%

Why You'll Like It: This open-world life simulator offers deep character customization and the freedom to pursue various adult lifestyles.

Take fate into your own hands in Lakeburg Legacies, a social-based village management sim where love is your favourite resource. Play matchmaker to create the most effective, and most loved up, couples and help your kingdom thrive. How long will it take you to crown a sovereign?

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 20.5%, Dating Sim 17.3%, Management 17.2%, Life Sim 12.5%, Choices Matter 11.9%

Why You'll Like It: This game combines life simulation with management mechanics, focusing on the generational impact of your relationship choices.

Urban Tale is a realistic, vibrant and unique RPG that will allow you to fulfil your dreams, and pursue your most wanted goals in life. You start from scratch, having nothing in the city where you can meet a lot of people, that can help you throughout your adventure. Your goal is to succeed in life.

Why similar: Life Sim 25.5%, Choose Your Own Adventure 13.6%, 1990's 12.2%, Management 10.3%, Simulation 9.5%

Why You'll Like It: This sandbox life-sim allows players to shape their own path in a city, focusing on career and personal development.

Marchen fantasy raising simulation 『Lullaby Days』 is a game where the goal is to grow a duckling girl into a hero. Your duckling girl will grow through education, part-time work, exploration, and more. Create 70 endings in the Kingdom of Oberebach with around 90 sub-characters.

Why similar: Life Sim 23.1%, Multiple Endings 11.3%, Dating Sim 8.5%, Choices Matter 8.2%, Story Rich 7.8%

Why You'll Like It: A narrative-focused life simulation that emphasizes emotional storytelling and multiple potential outcomes.

select your protagonist and explore a variety of terrible fates!

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 22%, Choices Matter 15.5%, Multiple Endings 14.7%, Choose Your Own Adventure 13.1%, Visual Novel 12.9%

Why You'll Like It: This game highlights the consequences of choices through a unique, multi-path narrative structure that encourages exploration.

Start from humble beginnings and take charge of the daily life of a wannabe influencer. Balance your day between creating trend-based content, completing tasks to earn money, and building trust with your neighbors to uncover their stories. Are you ready to embark on your road to fame?

Why similar: Life Sim 34.2%, LGBTQ+ 16.5%, Management 14.9%, Character Customization 12.7%, Simulation 9.3%

Why You'll Like It: It focuses on the modern career-building aspect of life simulation, requiring players to balance social life with professional goals.

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+ 20%, Emotional 15.9%, Visual Novel 11.9%, Choices Matter 10.5%, Choose Your Own Adventure 9.3%

Why You'll Like It: A short, emotional visual novel that explores the nuances of social navigation and personal growth.

In LongStory you can be and date who you choose. Play as the gender of your choice and date the cutie you like best! LongStory is is based on real stories - things that have happened, if not to us, to people we know and love. We hope it is funny, sad, perplexing and wonderful… Just like life.

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 29.9%, Dating Sim 19.5%, Visual Novel 14.1%, Simulation 10.1%, RPG 9.8%

Why You'll Like It: It deals with the complexities of school life, identity, and social navigation in a relatable, choice-based format.

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+ 17.5%, Emotional 13.9%, Choose Your Own Adventure 12.1%, Choices Matter 11.2%, Visual Novel 10.1%

Why You'll Like It: It focuses on character interactions and narrative choices, providing a cozy atmosphere for personal development.

Welcome to the heartwarming world of Memories: Millennium Girl! Join your sister's journey through 8 unforgettable years, forming bonds with 25 adorable NPCs. With 50+ unique endings awaiting your choices, create a cute and captivating tale filled with connections, joy, and cherished memories

Why similar: Life Sim 28%, Choose Your Own Adventure 16.1%, Dating Sim 15.5%, Character Customization 9.3%, Simulation 8.4%

Why You'll Like It: It features stat-based growth and life-simulation mechanics that directly parallel the journey of maturing into adulthood.

Can you save magic before the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve? Life After Magic is a queer, retro visual novel that follows jaded ex-magical girls as they reconnect, deal with young adulthood, and face off against one last threat before Y2K hits.

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 23.5%, Dating Sim 16.7%, Visual Novel 12.6%, Choices Matter 12.4%, Story Rich 10.5%

Why You'll Like It: This title emphasizes narrative depth and character-driven relationships, focusing on the transition into adult life.

You're just a simple inhabitant of the endless Gigastructure. The best you'll get is seven shifts at a machine and a bowl of feed concentrate, and that for good service to the party.... Is that it? Or do you have a choice?

Why similar: Life Sim 20.4%, Choose Your Own Adventure 12.8%, Choices Matter 10.9%, Multiple Endings 9.1%, Visual Novel 9.1%

Why You'll Like It: A choice-heavy narrative game that uses life-sim elements to force players to manage their survival and social standing.

You can play as a young martial artist entering Justice Academy. Train through various courses, customize your build with different weapons, skills, and inner techniques. Explore the jianghu, bond with companions, and shape your fate across branching stories and three romanceable heroines.

Why similar: Emotional 16.1%, Dating Sim 14.5%, Choices Matter 14.3%, Multiple Endings 11.7%, RPG 9%

Why You'll Like It: It combines school life with RPG progression and branching paths that dictate the protagonist's future.

Yearning: A Gay Story (YAGS) is a realistic coming-out-focused character-driven slice-of-life visual novel where you play as a gay man starting his freshman year of college at a generic university somewhere in the midwestern United States.

Why similar: Life Sim 17.4%, LGBTQ+ 15.7%, Dating Sim 11.7%, Choose Your Own Adventure 10.6%, Choices Matter 10.2%

Why You'll Like It: It focuses on the social and romantic aspects of growing up, emphasizing the importance of personal connections.

Raise your daughter while she attends a magical academy. Choose which classes she attends, jobs she does, training she undergoes, and more in a character raising sim packed full of story and over 50 endings to reach. How she grows up to be the world's cutest princess depends on you!

Why similar: Life Sim 24%, Choices Matter 12.7%, Dating Sim 11.7%, Multiple Endings 11.1%, Visual Novel 7.7%

Travel to the desert community of Sandrock and take on the role of a fledgling Builder. Use your trusty toolset to gather resources, construct machines, and turn your run-down workshop into a well-oiled production facility to save the town from the jaws of economic ruin!

Why similar: Life Sim 43.7%, Dating Sim 18.5%, Character Customization 10.2%, RPG 8.9%, LGBTQ+ 7.3%

Why You'll Like It: It adds a crafting and community-building layer to the life-sim experience, focusing on establishing a new life.

You've inherited your grandfather's old farm plot in Stardew Valley. Armed with hand-me-down tools and a few coins, you set out to begin your new life. Can you learn to live off the land and turn these overgrown fields into a thriving home?

Why similar: Life Sim 50.2%, RPG 13.7%, Dating Sim 12.3%, Simulation 10.7%, Cute 5.4%

Why You'll Like It: While more open-ended, it is the ultimate life-sim for building a new life, forming relationships, and tracking personal progress over time.

《学生时代》是一款可自由构筑的校园人生模拟器。你将在高度还原的中国校园中，从入学一路走到高考，与多个性格鲜明的同学一起成长，互相陪伴。你的养成和选择，不但会决定你的人生，也会影响到朋友们的未来。

Why similar: Life Sim 17.3%, Emotional 12.2%, 1990's 11.5%, Dating Sim 11%, Choose Your Own Adventure 11%

You move to a new city to live with your "former" stepfather. Work, make friends, and explore the thrilling world of romance in this captivating game. Are you ready for the excitement? Let the journey begin!

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 33.1%, Life Sim 15.1%, Dating Sim 13.6%, Choices Matter 9.9%, RPG 6.7%

Join Max or Anne in Latin House for their first college year! They'll juggle classes, jobs, and social life with four dorm mates, potentially sparking some extracurricular fun. As Anne you can romance Max, Isabella, Dominic and Rakesh. As Max, romance Anne, Isabella, Sally and Rakesh.

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 20.8%, Dating Sim 17.6%, Visual Novel 13.1%, Life Sim 11.9%, Choices Matter 8.8%

Why You'll Like It: This game explores the social dynamics of college life, focusing on the relationships formed during this transitional period.

You have just entered the society, and since you have not found a satisfactory job for several months, you have to share an apartment with others. Your roommates is three lovely beauties, and then you will have a wonderful journey with three roommates and the people around you

Why similar: Life Sim 22.4%, Dating Sim 14.6%, RPG 11.5%, Simulation 11.5%, Emotional 10%

Emily is Away Too is a brand new story featuring new characters and multiple different endings. Message your friends, surf the web and choose your path through this branching narrative.

Why similar: Choices Matter 20%, Dating Sim 19.7%, Multiple Endings 12.9%, Simulation 12.1%, Story Rich 10.4%

「Princess Maker: Children of Revelation」is a raising simulation game that returns after 18 years as part of the "Princess Maker" package series, where you raise a young girl into adulthood. Become a parent in the game and help fulfill your daughter's dreams!

Why similar: Life Sim 38.7%, Simulation 17.3%, Multiple Endings 10.7%, Choices Matter 10%, Choose Your Own Adventure 9.9%

Nobody – The Turnaround is a life simulator set in a parallel world that echoes modern society. Manage your time and resources carefully, strive to find a way through difficult times, and overcome the predicament you find yourself in.

Why similar: Life Sim 36.8%, Emotional 12.6%, Choices Matter 10.2%, Simulation 9.2%, Management 8%

The first step that you never knew you needed to take to get to wherever you're wanting to go...

Why similar: Emotional 16.2%, Life Sim 14.4%, Choose Your Own Adventure 14.3%, Choices Matter 14%, Multiple Endings 11.5%

You can play as a newcomer, start a new life, and date 12 uncles

Why similar: Life Sim 25.2%, LGBTQ+ 20.2%, Visual Novel 11%, Emotional 10.6%, RPG 8.5%

You have been invited to attend a magical school. You can make new friends, learn spells, face exams, run for class office, and try to find a date for the May Day Ball.

Why similar: Visual Novel 27.6%, Dating Sim 27.2%, RPG 11.2%, LGBTQ+ 7.9%, Character Customization 7%

Raise a mushroom from a spore into a fine young woman, then discover the twists and turns her life may take in this creepy-cute fairytale life simulation game.

Why similar: Life Sim 28.9%, LGBTQ+ 20%, Choices Matter 13.8%, Multiple Endings 11%, RPG 8.4%

You have two weeks to save the harvest festival! Tend your garden and collect plants for spells and rituals to help the villagers of Flora. After all, if magic isn't for solving everyday problems, what’s the point of a village witch anyway? A cozy story filled with chaos, friendship, and romance!

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 16.1%, Life Sim 15.7%, Visual Novel 14.3%, Dating Sim 11.3%, Character Customization 11.1%

In the game, players will be the first perspective to a male homosexual. Through the game experience a gay's childhood, adolescence, prime and leap year through the whole life stage. During the game, the player can influence the entire life track of the protagonist through different choices made by himself.

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 66.4%, RPG 17.4%, Adventure 8.3%, Casual 8%

New Day is an upcoming life simulation game where almost anything can happen! Create your own islanders, design their apartments, and get involved with their day-to-day life as they divulge into unexpected friendships, problems, and more!

Why similar: Life Sim 30.1%, Choose Your Own Adventure 17.2%, LGBTQ+ 15.2%, Management 12.9%, Character Customization 11.1%

Dive into a massive 2-million-word immersive life sim. Use card-based strategies to survive office politics, rise from a rookie intern to a business tycoon, and find true love. Career, Romance, Wealth—why choose when you can have it all?

Why similar: Life Sim 29.9%, Dating Sim 17.4%, Choices Matter 11.4%, Story Rich 10.7%, Multiple Endings 8.4%

《College Diaries》 is a simulation game set against the backdrop of college life. Players take on the role of a college freshman, shaping their college career by choosing different majors, joining various clubs, participating in campus activities.

Why similar: Life Sim 23.6%, Dating Sim 15.1%, Emotional 12.9%, Visual Novel 9.7%, Multiple Endings 9.3%

This is a story where you do something more terrifying than entering a haunted house, more dangerous than assaulting an alien horde, and more important than ruling a fantasy kingdom. You, and you alone, must turn your newborn baby into a functional adult. Will you be a tiger mom or a helicopter dad?

Why similar: RPG 27.2%, Simulation 26.5%, Life Sim 14.7%, Choose Your Own Adventure 11.7%, Casual 11.6%

Start your new life! Build the farm of your dreams as you discover a world brimming with possibilities. Magic, romance, and adventure all await you in this nostalgic farming / life sim RPG!

Why similar: Life Sim 34.5%, Dating Sim 22.3%, LGBTQ+ 12.2%, RPG 10.5%, Simulation 9.2%

A new life awaits in Honeywood! Build a thriving community that will last generations in this cozy farm simulator. Farm, socialize, make friends, cook, craft, forage and uncover the secrets of the island! If someone doesn’t want to be friends? There are always other means.

Why similar: Life Sim 28.7%, Management 15.2%, Choices Matter 14.5%, Hand-drawn 11.4%, Simulation 8.7%

The new edition of a classic Living with Temptation contains all expansions, with redesigned gameplay, refreshed visuals, and a lot of new content. Relationship simulator where you may try to stay faithful to your wife, exploring her wild fantasies or... go wild and date other girls behind her back.

Why similar: Life Sim 18.2%, Dating Sim 11.7%, LGBTQ+ 11.6%, Emotional 10.9%, Choose Your Own Adventure 10.7%

These are troubling times, Your Grace. The petitioners’ petty matters exceed our limited resources, to say nothing of the war. A careful balance must be struck. Your throne awaits.

Why similar: Life Sim 18.9%, LGBTQ+ 15.1%, Choices Matter 13.9%, Choose Your Own Adventure 10.7%, Management 10.2%

Players follow Lu Yuan through important stages of his life and experience his growth trajectory from youth to maturity. It will take you to relive those decisions that you have never tried to make in reality, and feel the different life brought about by each choice.

Why similar: Choices Matter 19.3%, Life Sim 18.3%, Dating Sim 11.3%, RPG 11.2%, Story Rich 10.9%

Raptor Boyfriend: A High School Romance is a dating sim about a teen girl who moves to a small secret community of cryptids. Romance a magical Fairy, a sensitive Sasquatch and a bold Velociraptor. A satirical 90's teen drama about trying to find love in your last year of high school.

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 15.7%, Dating Sim 15.6%, Visual Novel 12.3%, 1990's 10.9%, Choices Matter 10.5%

Venture into the woods as you play Little Goody Two Shoes, a phantasmagorical horror narrative adventure where all your decisions matter!

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 23%, Dating Sim 17.9%, Choices Matter 13.8%, Multiple Endings 11.5%, RPG 10%

Verdant Skies is a life simulation game born from a love for games like Harvest Moon and a desire to create something unique with modern gameplay and deep storytelling. Ensure the success of the colony as you make friends and pursue romance with a diverse cast of characters.

Why similar: Story Rich 18.6%, LGBTQ+ 17.5%, Simulation 16.5%, Dating Sim 16.1%, RPG 15.7%

When your loved one hurts you, what do you do? A classic love story about letting go.

Why similar: LGBTQ+ 35.3%, Emotional 22.5%, Visual Novel 15.7%, Choices Matter 10.4%, Multiple Endings 8.8%

Relive the days of the early internet and dive into this fictional video game era, where the 'Kinmoku Shark’ gaming system and its online social network 'Videoverse' were still popular…

Why similar: Emotional 17.4%, Choose Your Own Adventure 15.1%, Choices Matter 14.5%, Visual Novel 14.2%, LGBTQ+ 12.6%

A card game in a Medieval setting where you make decisions on which not only your life will depend, but also the future of the kingdom!

Why similar: Life Sim 26.8%, Choices Matter 19.2%, Choose Your Own Adventure 17.2%, Multiple Endings 11.1%, RPG 7.6%