Games Like Time Bandit – Part 1: Appendages of the Machine

You're working overtime again in your dead-end job, whilst your boss is on vacation. However, strange things are happening throughout the office. Complete your daily work tasks, explore your office, report any anomalies you may find, and you may just find yourself getting a promotion...

Why similar: Mystery 25%, Choices Matter 20.5%, Exploration 16.1%, Story Rich 13.4%, Puzzle 12.9%

A unique mix of adventure and idle game. Plan and optimise your loops carefully and let the grind happen automatically. Explore this unique world, meet strange characters and escape the loop. A high-quality idle game that elevate the mechanics through an old school pixel-art adventure.

Why similar: Idler 47.1%, Time Management 14%, Exploration 12.7%, Adventure 8.5%, Retro 7.8%

Things are not what they seem at your new tech support specialist job. While resolving customer issues, you soon find yourself in the middle of a conspiracy. Will you side with your employer, join a rogue hacktivist group bent on destroying them, assist the police or stand alone?

Why similar: Simulation 32.8%, Story Rich 20.3%, Adventure 19.8%, Management 11.5%, Indie 8.4%

Time Loader is a story-driven puzzle-platformer with tiny robots, alternate realities, nostalgic music, and primitive tech from the 90s!

Why similar: Choices Matter 31.7%, Story Rich 20.8%, Simulation 18.8%, Adventure 12.4%, Casual 9%

A grisly mystery in a small town unfolds across centuries through the stories of its residents. Orchestrate their work, grow resources, upgrade skills, and create automated production loops between past and future eras. All to uncover a sprawling secret embedded in the flow of time.

Why similar: Idler 27.7%, Management 15.4%, Mystery 11.9%, Puzzle 10%, Story Rich 9.7%

The ability to discern hidden connections is both a gift and a curse. The covert mechanisms of reality do not reveal themselves to any and all, and there is a price to pay for this knowledge…

Why similar: Simulation 20.5%, Adventure 13%, Puzzle 12.8%, Strategy 12.2%, Mystery 12%

You are going to steal a time machine. In this escape room, you have to travel through time, explore mysterious places and solve puzzles to get priceless treasures. Will you be able to make it back alive?

Why similar: Puzzle 42.8%, Exploration 21.6%, Adventure 21.4%, Casual 14.3%

Clock in at TEREBRO INC. for the night shift in 1986. Protect the company's legacy as Risk Assessment Data Processor. Equipped with era-specific technology, navigate through obscured narratives to shape the company's future.

Why similar: Mystery 20.5%, Puzzle 17.6%, Story Rich 16.4%, Retro 15.4%, Simulation 12.8%

You don't work in a regular assembly line. In this escape room, you will investigate what is really being manufactured in a secret factory, explore mysterious places and solve puzzles. Will you discover the truth?

Why similar: Puzzle 31.2%, Mystery 28.5%, Exploration 16.3%, Adventure 14.1%, Casual 10%

Time Thief is an action adventure game where leaving your village makes the clock tick. Manage your time to stay alive, stealing seconds from creatures around its overworld with your sword.

Why similar: Retro 24.2%, Time Management 22.2%, Exploration 20.8%, Puzzle 14.7%, Adventure 14.3%

An exciting adventure through space and time awaits for you in the newest hidden object game! Immerse yourself into a real investigation, full of intrigue and mysterious temporal anomalies!

Why similar: Puzzle 42.7%, Adventure 22.9%, Casual 18%, Mystery 7.8%, Retro 6.7%

Timeworks is a time-traveling 3D puzzle platformer with a bouncy cartoon style. Work along past versions of yourself to solve puzzles, create unique Items, and fill out your quotas for your mysterious employers.

Why similar: Puzzle 51.6%, Story Rich 35%, Casual 13.4%

Time is relative. Sometimes 10 seconds can feel like an eternity... In TIMEframe you will discover a world in slow motion. Explore the remnants of a mysterious civilization on the brink of destruction.

Why similar: Exploration 35.3%, Casual 27%, Indie 22.5%, Adventure 15.2%

A pointy-clicky comedy corporate thriller. Solve puzzles, get to know your colleagues, and unravel a sinister global conspiracy. All in a day's work.

Why similar: Puzzle 28.5%, Mystery 28.2%, Story Rich 21.3%, Adventure 15%, Simulation 6.9%

Oddsparks is a blend of automation and real-time strategy for both the die-hard fans of the automation genre and the automation-curious. Explore a strange fantasy world, uncover the mysteries of the past, automate your workshops, and go on adventures with your odd & adorable Sparks!

Why similar: Automation 82.3%, Exploration 17.7%

Greetings, valued employee. You have been tasked with sorting the Ringo CorpoNation's genetic samples. With the credits that you earn, you can shop, game and pay your bills on time. Rogue workers may try to entice you into betraying your beloved employer, but we know you'll give 110%.

Why similar: Narrative 37.3% ★, Management 12.4%, Life Sim 11.9%, Mystery 9.6%, Retro 8.2%

EXPERIENCE this Story-Driven Alternate Reality Game (ARG) that blends Your Real Life with Science Fiction as it explores the Dark Limits of Conspiracy, Alternate History, The Supernatural and Fringe Science.

Why similar: Simulation 25.1%, Puzzle 21%, Adventure 18.6%, Mystery 14.5%, Indie 10.7%

Okay, Pedro is AWOL, and you have to get this LAN Party set up at the Game Store for the session later. Connect cables, install software, and solve puzzles all while you and the gang uncover the mystery of your missing friend.

Why similar: Mystery 29%, Puzzle 28.4%, Management 20.7%, Adventure 14.8%, Simulation 4.7%

Manipulate time to your will at any moment to solve challenges, avoid deadly traps and make it to the end of this strange journey.

Why similar: Adventure 43.4%, Indie 30.9%, Exploration 25.7%

a ~2 hour long graphic adventure novella. Tasked with disrupting the end of the world, you explore, investigate and produce your way through a strangely familiar world.

Why similar: Automation 66.6%, Exploration 19.1%, Adventure 14.3%

In Chronoquartz, every move matters! You have 10 turns per loop: explore, solve puzzles, and use your past knowledge to progress. Strategy, critical thinking, and time management will be your allies in this unique temporal adventure. Will you succeed in saving time?

Why similar: Puzzle 25.9%, Mystery 19.7%, Exploration 19%, Retro 17.8%, Adventure 7.9%

A cozy 2D Point & Click adventure featuring multiple playable characters and plenty of silliness. Oh, and there's time travel and relationship stuff going down too. And robots – lots of robots...

Why similar: Puzzle 33.8%, Retro 32.4%, Adventure 23.1%, Casual 10.6%

After waking up in the manor’s basement, you discover that you’ve aged at an abnormal rate. As you fight to survive, clues and records from different eras gradually bring the mystery into focus. When you become young again, you will inherit the true “legacy”.

Why similar: Puzzle 27.3%, Mystery 25.9%, Adventure 13.3%, Casual 9.6%, Strategy 7.2%

Become a phone repair technician, get the opportunity to look into the personal data of customers. Influence their destinies if you dare!

Why similar: Time Management 24.4%, Life Sim 17.1%, Management 17%, Choices Matter 12.9%, Exploration 10%

You're 25, you feel like all of your peers are ahead of you in life so you apply for a new job to try to find some sort of meaning. Your new career is filled with physics-based puzzles, hand drawn art & a cute little story.

Why similar: Puzzle 46.4%, Adventure 20.4%, Story Rich 18.4%, Indie 8.2%, Casual 6.7%

A non-linear first-person action adventure in a pirate setting. A single player time travel simulation game. Unusual gaming experience.Moving in space and time, the player must understand what is happening on the island and how the main character can move away from there.

Why similar: Mystery 23.2%, Story Rich 22.8%, Exploration 19.9%, Puzzle 19.1%, Adventure 15.1%

A service industry adventure with an apocalyptic flavor. A manic genre mashup told across two broken realities. Step through the cracks: find your Exit.

Why similar: Narrative 63% ★, Simulation 14.9%, Story Rich 13.9%, Adventure 8.2%

Experience working in retail with hardly any similarities to actually working in retail! Manage your time wisely to keep the shelves stocked, control the complaints of colorful and cranky customers, and be wary of the watchful eye of your manager to avoid being fired... or worse.

Why similar: Time Management 28%, Stealth 21.9%, Strategy 17.4%, Management 15.9%, Choices Matter 12.1%

Every day in the office is the same, clicking the same keys, attending the same boring meetings, wearing the same fluffy monster onesies, until something strange and magical happens. Now you need to sneak away, no matter how!

Why similar: Adventure 24.5%, Puzzle 21.8%, Mystery 14.2%, Indie 13.8%, Story Rich 13.7%

Orten Was The Case - A free movement puzzle/adventure game where you play as a youngster stuck in a time loop with the simple task of saving the world from literal destruction.

Why similar: Time Management 25.4%, Mystery 17.3%, Choices Matter 16.1%, Puzzle 12.7%, Story Rich 10.8%

A VR puzzle-automation game. Create intricate clockwork contraptions out of your own clones and restore life to an ancient tree using automation, a collection of rare plants from across the galaxy and a team of clockwork gardeners.

Why similar: Automation 29.7%, Time Management 17.9%, Management 13.7%, Story Rich 11.5%, Puzzle 9.3%

Experience the Caldora Airport from a slightly different angle with more emphasis on the rogue-like nature of the game and new gameplay elements.

Why similar: Time Management 30.3%, Life Sim 27.5%, Simulation 20.9%, Casual 11.4%, Management 7.1%

Explore the deepest SECRETs™ of the Tremendous Corporation®. Find out what happened to indie devs and save the gaming industry!

Why similar: Adventure 28.3%, Puzzle 27.1%, Mystery 24.6%, Casual 10.8%, Indie 9.1%

Help the cursed souls of Limbo escape their endless time loop in the afterlife. As Kulebra, a newly-deceased snake, witness their grief and guide them toward closure through point-and-click puzzles, light stealth, and empathy-driven boss encounters.

Why similar: Stealth 34.2%, Mystery 16.6%, Puzzle 15.8%, Story Rich 14.4%, Exploration 10.7%

Escape a time loop as an overworked office employee by solving cryptic puzzles with alternate reality game elements.

Why similar: Choices Matter 34%, Puzzle 29.3%, Story Rich 20.4%, Mystery 16.3%

Nomori is a mind-bending adventure game where you control time and space to journey through a shattered spirit world. Take shortcuts through portals, rotate your perspective, and control the flow of time to move forward, whichever way that is.

Why similar: Puzzle 37.7%, Exploration 30.8%, Story Rich 23.1%, Adventure 8.4%

Waking up alone in a derelict terraforming facility on an unknown (and distinctly not terraformed) planet, it's up to you to find a way to survive, learn what happened to the people who lived here and why you were abandoned in this narrative-driven incremental game.

Why similar: Time Management 31.1%, Exploration 12.2%, Puzzle 11.5%, Story Rich 11.4%, Strategy 10.9%

A time-bending puzzle game about working with - and against - your past selves. Subvert the rules of time travel, dodge paradoxes, and find a way to escape the loop.

Why similar: Sokoban 69.6% ★, Puzzle 17.9%, Strategy 7.3%, Indie 5.3%

​Explore the wacky world of House Sitter, and discover what secrets lie in wait. Meet new friends! Choose their fate!... Uncover who you truly are. But most importantly, get those chores done before Mom comes home.

Why similar: Simulation 34.7%, Adventure 23.2%, Casual 17.6%, Indie 14.1%, Puzzle 10.4%

Play as a witch living in secret among villagers in this hand-drawn narrative puzzle adventure. An attempt to change fate traps her in a time loop. Help the witch and her cat escape without getting caught by the inquisition. Your choices shape the outcome.

Why similar: Narrative 46.9% ★, Choices Matter 15.3%, Puzzle 14.4%, Story Rich 10.7%, Exploration 6.6%

Be the tax collector of a shady city hall in this narrative-driven resource management game. Talk to debtors, manage a team, make difficult choices, and challenge the city's moral decay. It's their money, but it's your job.

Why similar: Narrative 37.2% ★, Management 12.1%, Choices Matter 11.3%, Puzzle 8.2%, Story Rich 7.6%

Causal Loop is a narrative puzzler that blends mind-bending mechanics with a rich sci-fi story about time, consequence, and survival. Solve intricate puzzles by using the signature “echo” mechanic to record, replay, and interact with up to three versions of your past self. Can you break the loop?

Why similar: Mystery 29.3%, Puzzle 22.8%, Story Rich 19.6%, Exploration 16.8%, Adventure 11.5%

[NOW FREE TO OWN] A former firefighter turned private investigator gains the power to freeze time in this choice-driven erotic thriller visual novel—where hidden supernatural abilities, corruption, and dangerous temptation collide.

Why similar: Life Sim 41.2%, Puzzle 25.4%, Simulation 21.6%, Casual 11.8%

Zeno has accidentally banished his sister, so what now? Create paradoxes to help him complete trials and bring her back, obviously. Take on a wide variety of puzzles while collaborating with your past self and experiencing a fully-voiced cinematic story as you help Zeno bring her back.

Why similar: Sokoban 50.3% ★, Story Rich 13%, Puzzle 11.3%, Strategy 10.1%, Exploration 9.1%

A story-driven productivity adventure where you work alongside Memorie, an apprentice witch from another world. As you focus using the Pomodoro timer, the story progresses and her world gradually transforms. Turn solitary work into time shared with someone.

Why similar: Idler 45.7%, Time Management 40.6%, Casual 8%, Adventure 5.6%

Embark on an adventure with Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson on this surprising and elastic point-and-click game. Grab, pull, and release to help them solve a bizarre investigation full of humor and meta-time travel!

Why similar: Puzzle 31.8%, Mystery 30.6%, Adventure 22.4%, Story Rich 12.3%, Indie 2.9%

Every corner of this manor holds secrets. You inherit not just the estate, but scattered letters and an intricately designed puzzle. Eyepieces transcending spacetime plunge you into others' memories. Traverse 16 themed chambers, unravel nested mechanisms, until you unveil the buried past...

Why similar: Puzzle 27.8%, Mystery 25.3%, Adventure 13.2%, Strategy 10.5%, Casual 9.5%

Launch into a chaotic spaceship adventure: bend the rules of physics, experiment with unusual gadgets and toss everything around. With each journey, you will have limited time to reveal the mysteries aboard your solar punk spaceship - how much will you discover before you arrive home?

Why similar: Time Management 29.3%, Choices Matter 17.2%, Puzzle 16.5%, Exploration 13.3%, Simulation 12.4%

One of Arima Lodge's bellhops rides the elevator for his usual shift, but, after a man rushes into the elevator and compels him to get to the rooftop instead, he starts to realize something very serious is amiss.

Why similar: Time Management 46.8%, Mystery 14.8%, Choices Matter 14%, Adventure 13.3%, Casual 11.1%

Master time in this time-bending sokoban-like puzzle game with a story. You travel back in time to be in two places at once, to solve puzzles impossible to complete alone. Your success hinges on your ability to collaborate with yourself. Can you learn to manipulate time to save humanity?

Why similar: Sokoban 51.9% ★, Puzzle 16.5%, Strategy 16%, Story Rich 7.9%, Casual 5.3%

Patch me if you can is a puzzle adventure where you dive into a game world and manipulate objects however you want. Equip blocks to shrink boulders, move the sun, and thwart Lord's conspiracy. This broken world needs your 'patch'!

Why similar: Puzzle 37.8%, Exploration 31.7%, Casual 13.1%, Adventure 11.5%, Indie 5.9%

Hide Time is a story-driven horror game where you play as new employee of Passion Oasis. Explore that huge complex, do your tasks and uncover mysteries of your past.

Why similar: Stealth 30%, Mystery 16.8%, Puzzle 16.3%, Story Rich 15.7%, Exploration 13%

The Last Worker is an immersive narrative adventure centered around a lone worker’s last stand in an increasingly automated world. Kurt works for the world’s largest retailer and is forced to choose between capitalism or activism.

Why similar: Time Management 33.7%, Puzzle 16.5%, Exploration 13.7%, Strategy 13.4%, Story Rich 13.1%

Eternal Threads is a single-player, first-person story-driven puzzle game of time manipulation, choice and consequence.

Why similar: Narrative 39.1% ★, Choices Matter 15.9%, Puzzle 11.8%, Mystery 11.6%, Story Rich 10.4%

Forage, craft and automate to grow your factory, unlock new technologies and expand your island to discover new biomes. Progress through the ages from sticks and stones to the Bronze Age, the Industrial Era and into the future to uncover the secret of the Lighthouse and escape this reality.

Why similar: Automation 37.6%, Idler 26%, Management 9.9%, Strategy 7%, Simulation 6.9%

A bonkers time-loop tragicomedy murder mystery thriller featuring multiple casualties and a suspicious cat, from the creator of To the Moon & Finding Paradise.

Why similar: Narrative 53.1% ★, Story Rich 14.8%, Mystery 14.1%, Retro 10.2%, Adventure 7.8%

As a legendary thief, your next assignment lures you into a grand and lavish mansion. There you find a series of puzzle boxes, designed for an unknown purpose. What should have been a quick in-and-out, gradually turns into your own harrowing struggle for freedom and answers.

Why similar: Puzzle 34.2%, Mystery 27.7%, Adventure 13.1%, Story Rich 12.4%, Casual 8.3%

Gather exotic ingredients, brew complex mixtures, and expand your magically automated production lines -- keeping your shelves stocked, your customers happy, and your pockets full.

Why similar: Automation 35.7%, Management 22.9%, Life Sim 17.8%, Simulation 9.3%, Exploration 8.8%