Games Like The River

A short, emotional visual novel following a grieving man who relives memories of days long gone. An exploration of loss presented honestly and kinetically.

Why similar: Visual Novel 22.8%, Interactive Fiction 20.6%, Linear 13.3%, Hand-drawn 12.1%, Drama 11.6%

A short atmospheric adventure game about finding meaning in a meaningless world.

Why similar: Adventure 37%, Philosophical 34.3%, Atmospheric 14.1%, Singleplayer 7.6%, 2D 7%

A short, twisted tale about a smuggler and a late night encounter in the English Channel. Control the camera and make tough choices, will you escape with your life?

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 31.2%, Visual Novel 24.8%, Philosophical 15%, Adventure 12.5%, Stylized 8.2%

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 25.7%, Dark 18.7%, Emotional 18.6%, Stylized 14.7%, Atmospheric 9.3%

A short, interactive visual novel set in the mid-19th Century, in which a poet fights against time as she's writing the most important work of her life. Poetry is the answer, but what is the question?

Why similar: Visual Novel 22%, Interactive Fiction 20.3%, Drama 11.2%, Emotional 10.6%, Hand-drawn 10%

A simple free clicker game

Why similar: Clicker 36%, Linear 19.9%, Philosophical 11.7%, 2D 9.1%, Stylized 8.8%

Late Bird is a short interactive story about birds, movies, suicidal thoughts and not growing up in time.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 32.4%, Visual Novel 22.4%, Hand-drawn 12.5%, Linear 9.3%, Drama 7.6%

URLate is a short and free point & click adventure that immerses you in a hand-drawn world filled with puzzles and mysteries to solve.

Why similar: Adventure 33.6%, Hand-drawn 21.9%, 2D 18.5%, Dark 11.2%, Singleplayer 7.7%

A Game About is a free, short, lo-fi point & click adventure that tasks the player with living with their daily routine. Through day to day choices, life changes in imperceptibles and unexpected ways.

HOW WE KNOW WE'RE ALIVE is an award winning, hour long melancholy, point-and-click narrative mystery set in the bible belt of Sweden.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 30.9%, Adventure 17.1%, Pixel Graphics 9%, Emotional 8%, Philosophical 7.7%

The Flood is a peaceful 5 minute narrative experience in which you pilot a little boat down a river. It's a gentle reminder that sometimes we should stop worrying about our destination and just enjoy the journey.

Why similar: Visual Novel 52.8%, Adventure 21.2%, Atmospheric 15%, Singleplayer 11%

Unroaded is a short free visual novel about the living dead man who instead of inaction has chosen the road.

Why similar: Visual Novel 48.4%, Adventure 22.2%, Philosophical 17.2%, Dark 12.2%

A game about the short journey of a boy who left home. Experience a dense story in around 2 hours, along with rhythm gameplay and music puzzles. Enjoy live acoustic sounds and a story that feels like a musical film!

Why similar: Visual Novel 24.8%, Linear 14.3%, Emotional 11.6%, Dark 10.2%, Drama 9.5%

A Night In Riverager is a free horror short set in the monochrome world of My Beautiful Paper Smile. It tells the tale of a strange hunter in an even stranger land, on a quest to find medicine for his ailing mother. Strange and powerful forces are stirring. Can he resist them?

Why similar: Hand-drawn 39.5%, Adventure 21.9%, Dark 18.5%, Atmospheric 12.4%, Singleplayer 7.8%

A short point & click narrative adventure inspired by the real life experience of a struggling solo indie game developer. A story about everything and hence nothing at all. Discover what truly matters to you.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 28.4%, Visual Novel 18.2%, Adventure 11.4%, Philosophical 10.7%, Dark 9.9%

A short 2D exploration adventure in a retro style! Explore a laundromat in the middle of the night and try to clear it!

Why similar: Visual Novel 33.7%, Hand-drawn 23.1%, Pixel Graphics 14.7%, 2D 9.4%, Atmospheric 8.8%

Ascend to the Heavens and find out if you're pure enough to be reborn on the Earth.

Why similar: Visual Novel 35.4%, Drama 14.4%, Philosophical 12.3%, Hand-drawn 9.8%, Emotional 9.7%

A Raven Monologue is a short experimental silent story about a raven that does not know how to croak and his relationship with the people in the town.

Why similar: Hand-drawn 39.4%, Visual Novel 30.1%, Atmospheric 17.7%, 2D 6.9%, Singleplayer 5.9%

The Last Oath is a short story based game about a knight that fell in battle fighting for their king. You find yourself with a final task to keep your oath to the king. Complete this task as you find out more about the world by interacting with the environment through text based dialogue.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 37.3%, Adventure 16%, Stylized 9.3%, Pixel Graphics 9%, Dark 8.2%

A slice-of-death visual novel about making friends, cracking cat puns, and waiting for eternity to pass.

Why similar: Visual Novel 48.2%, Hand-drawn 25.2%, Pixel Graphics 10%, Adventure 8%, Singleplayer 4.6%

A short (and free) adventure game, where you are tasked with helping a hurt, hungry, but inventive dung beetle on its journey to find something to eat near the end of the mushroom season.

Why similar: Linear 26.3%, Hand-drawn 21.7%, Adventure 20.2%, 2D 12.4%, Emotional 9.8%

Wood and Flesh: A Candleforth Short Story is a point & click puzzle adventure with hand-drawn 2D graphics and a cozy horror setting that tells a short story set in the Tales from Candleforth universe.

Why similar: Hand-drawn 36.2%, Clicker 32.2%, 2D 12.1%, Dark 8.5%, Linear 6.3%

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 32.3%, Visual Novel 22.1%, Adventure 19.1%, Emotional 7.1%, Pixel Graphics 6.8%

If On A Winter's Night, Four Travelers is a narrative-driven point-and-click adventure with horror elements that explores the stories of four characters in a masked ball taking place aboard a train in the late 1920s.

Why similar: Dark 15.9%, Linear 15.5%, Pixel Graphics 14.8%, Emotional 14.2%, Drama 14%

What do you do when you lose someone you love? A Taste of the Past is an emotional sidescroller about reconnecting with your Chinese culture while navigating a train to the afterlife. Featuring a wholesome story, cooking minigames, and hope.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 27%, Visual Novel 21.3%, Hand-drawn 13.3%, Adventure 10.5%, Drama 8.9%

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

Why similar: Adventure 38.6%, Dark 28.1%, Visual Novel 25.7%, Singleplayer 7.5%

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

Why similar: Visual Novel 55.5%, 2D 14.8%, Dark 12.6%, Adventure 11.9%, Singleplayer 5.3%

A short wordless adaptation of a Civil War story.

Why similar: Emotional 24%, Dark 22.1%, Stylized 21.8%, 2D 17.6%, Atmospheric 14.5%

Alone in the forest glade he shared with his wife, a woodworker struggles to accept her passing. Help him hold on to cherished memories of their life together as he struggles to care for himself and his now empty home. Pine is a single-serving game focused on telling a beautiful, emotional tale.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 22.4%, Visual Novel 17.4%, Hand-drawn 14.4%, Emotional 11.9%, Linear 10.9%

The Kite is a small dramatic point-and-click adventure. The game highlights the problems of a struggling family.

Why similar: Adventure 100%

Take the role of a painter struggling to finish his masterpiece in this short Gothic horror visual novel about art, pain and love.

Why similar: Visual Novel 24.4%, Interactive Fiction 21.7%, Hand-drawn 12.4%, Dark 8.6%, Emotional 8.1%

A short and mysterious free point and click adventure game, inspired by the feeling of oddness in an everyday situation.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 42%, Emotional 13.5%, Drama 12.6%, Adventure 10.5%, 2D 9.6%

《The Bright Star Of Seraph-Katis-》is a short text adventure game. This game combines a visual novel and an "adventure mode".

Why similar: Visual Novel 52.1%, Adventure 31.1%, 2D 11.9%, Singleplayer 4.9%

Morok is interactive visual novel with a northern mood

Why similar: Visual Novel 39.6%, Adventure 25.6%, Hand-drawn 18.8%, Dark 10%, Atmospheric 6%

The Space Between is a surreal short narrative experience in three acts about the walls we build for us.

Why similar: Visual Novel 29.6%, Adventure 12.3%, Dark 11.8%, Drama 11.1%, Emotional 11.1%

A Short Handcrafted Pixel Art Platformer that follows Sheepy, an abandoned plushy brought to life. Sheepy: A Short Adventure is the first short game from MrSuicideSheep.

Why similar: Pixel Graphics 24.2%, Adventure 23.4%, Linear 16.8%, 2D 13.4%, Atmospheric 11.4%

Summerland is a first-person narrative game about morality and the afterlife. You take control of Matthew, a detective reliving the events of his past, being questioned on his morals along the way. In every door lies another memory, and every memory unlocks another door.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 33.1%, Philosophical 17.1%, Adventure 16.8%, Linear 13.7%, Atmospheric 8.8%

A thoughtful and deeply personal title with stripped-down mechanics. The lack of dialogue or text allows you to create your own narrative through your time with four characters. Each short story will allow players to be swept away by the haunting lyrics of over twenty original, nostalgic songs.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 42.6%, Drama 18.1%, Emotional 13.6%, Pixel Graphics 11.3%, 2D 9.3%

"Hello my World! Lily." is a visual novel about a programmer who finds an unusual way to cope with loneliness and routine. But after a while, his imagination and actions go too far, and the line between reality and fantasy begins to melt rapidly.

Why similar: Visual Novel 32.1%, Adventure 21.9%, Hand-drawn 11.8%, 2D 8.5%, Stylized 7.5%

Home is where the stars are. An interactive bedtime story, for anyone who needs one. Take the bear and the little one on a deeply meaningful journey, as you experience stories of togetherness, of letting go and of finding a place you belong.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 29.4%, Visual Novel 19.8%, Adventure 12.6%, Hand-drawn 11%, Philosophical 10%

A short Visual-Novel, made with Artificial-Inteligence art, about a party of adventurers on a medieval setting.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 39.1%, Visual Novel 31%, Adventure 15.3%, Atmospheric 8.2%, Fantasy 6.4%

The Old Tree is a short free-to-play cinematic puzzle game about a newborn alien baby. Witness this microscopic entity's first moments of life and help it emerge from its underground lair and ascend towards an unknown destination.

Why similar: Adventure 59.2%, Atmospheric 14.3%, Singleplayer 13.4%, 2D 13.1%

Deepwell is a story-driven adventure game, about a small town surrounding a giant mystery hole.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 47.1%, Adventure 27.3%, Pixel Graphics 12.5%, 2D 10%, Singleplayer 3.1%

A linear visual novel about five short stories, unrelated at first glance. Be prepared for mysticism, gloomy atmosphere and light psychological horror. Not recommended to play if you are experiencing depression or severe psychological state.

Why similar: Visual Novel 26%, Interactive Fiction 17.3%, Dark 11.5%, Linear 10.7%, Adventure 10.1%

The NADI Project it is a free-to-play, first person graphic adventure, in which you will face various obstacles to escape from your destiny.

Why similar: Adventure 53.7%, Interactive Fiction 30.2%, Dark 7.2%, Atmospheric 4.7%, Singleplayer 4.2%

The End of the World and Her Room is a short, free point-and-click puzzle game. This is a quiet and fleeting story: in the final moments, inside her room, you observe the surroundings, search for clues, unlock her phone’s password, and slowly understand the traces the world has left behind.

Why similar: Clicker 42.8%, Hand-drawn 29.4%, Atmospheric 9.5%, Emotional 8.2%, 2D 7.1%

My dream is a Lost Memory is a short interactive story about having Déjà vu, realizing that this Déjà vu came to you because of a dream, and then wondering if that dream is actually a memory. It's a story about work, limitations and self-respect.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 23.4%, Visual Novel 18.1%, Hand-drawn 11.7%, Linear 10.8%, Philosophical 8.4%

Windy Meadow – A Roadwarden Tale is an interactive slice-of-life visual novel about choosing your own path. Help three protagonists make the most important choices of their lives. Featuring a multitude of hand-crafted characters and a richly detailed village set in the Roadwarden story world.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 29.4%, Visual Novel 23.3%, Adventure 12.3%, Pixel Graphics 9.2%, Emotional 9.2%

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: Visual Novel 23.1%, Adventure 14.1%, Emotional 12.9%, Interactive Fiction 11.5%, Dark 11.4%

This is a dramatic deep social point&click adventure about tough childhood and self-sacrifice.

Why similar: Hand-drawn 31.5%, Adventure 25.7%, 2D 9.1%, Dark 8.2%, Singleplayer 8.1%

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

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 43.9%, Visual Novel 30.6%, Stylized 10%, Atmospheric 7.9%, Adventure 4.2%

Gods of Savvarah is a visual novel with the philosophy of a classic fantasy RPG. Defeat enemies, explore countries, make friends, and find your place in Savvarah.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 30.2%, Visual Novel 26.1%, Hand-drawn 15.1%, Adventure 10.4%, Stylized 9.5%

Away — is a short game telling about the hero's death experience, performed in a gloomy black and white style.

Why similar: Adventure 35.7%, Linear 26.4%, Dark 17.6%, Singleplayer 13.8%, Atmospheric 6.4%

Experience the intricate dioramas and connections of your life, and the ripples we all make, in this award-winning narrative puzzle game about death, loss, and mental health.

Why similar: Adventure 26.4%, Emotional 20.3%, Stylized 17.1%, Atmospheric 13.6%, Dark 12.5%

Fears are not always just rustles in the dark. And death is not always a bad ending.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 26.8%, Visual Novel 21.3%, Adventure 15.3%, Hand-drawn 10.8%, Stylized 5.7%

A game for the ones we lost on the way. Memento Mori is a surreal walking simulator that combines a minimalistic art style and a show don't tell story, focused on dealing with loss.

Why similar: Linear 43.8%, Dark 20.5%, Emotional 19.2%, Atmospheric 11.4%, Singleplayer 5.1%

Aqua Catholicism; Explore Man's Original Sin Under The Sea

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 27%, Adventure 19.9%, Visual Novel 19.8%, Linear 10.9%, Stylized 6.6%

A handpainted cozy hidden object adventure. Explore a surreal world. Collect items for its quirky inhabitants. Fix damaged paintings and solve casual puzzles. Help a lost skeleton painter find his way home. This game is short but 100% FREE (no ads, no IAP).

Why similar: Adventure 39.8%, Hand-drawn 27.8%, Linear 14%, 2D 13%, Singleplayer 5.4%

In this short but profound story, you will discover that the New Year is not only fun, but also a time for self-reflection. Immerse yourself in an emotional journey that will leave you thoughtful and perhaps with a new perspective on the meaning of this holiday.

Why similar: Visual Novel 38%, Adventure 16.8%, Hand-drawn 11.3%, Atmospheric 8.6%, Drama 7.6%

Your Future Self is a 1-2 hour long story-driven experimental text adventure with unique conversational mechanics, time loop based gameplay, and an emotionally gripping time travel mystery set against the backdrop of a darkly realistic vision of our world ravaged by climate change.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 27.7%, Adventure 27.6%, Visual Novel 20.1%, Pixel Graphics 8.2%, 2D 6.2%