Games Like Waking Mars

What if someone knew your mind better than you did? The Swapper is an award-winning, narrative driven puzzle game set in the furthest reaches of space.

Why similar: Sci-fi 32.8%, Puzzle 19.2%, Platformer 15%, Metroidvania 7.5%, Atmospheric 7.4%

Why You'll Like It: This atmospheric puzzle-platformer captures the same sense of isolation and scientific mystery found in the depths of Mars.

Named Game of the Year 2019 by Giant Bomb, Polygon, Eurogamer, and The Guardian, Outer Wilds is a critically-acclaimed and award-winning open world mystery about a solar system trapped in an endless time loop.

Why similar: Exploration 26.1%, Sci-fi 23.5%, Puzzle 13.3%, Adventure 10.9%, Story Rich 9.8%

Why You'll Like It: Like Waking Mars, it focuses on scientific curiosity, exploration of alien environments, and uncovering the secrets of a mysterious celestial body.

PREMIER EDITION - While seeking life on a distant planet, an astronaut discovers an abandoned Russian town. He suspects his mission is a hoax until a mysterious young woman saves him from a strange and deadly phenomenon...

Why similar: Sci-fi 28.5%, Platformer 19.1%, Exploration 15.1%, Puzzle 11.2%, Adventure 8.5%

Why You'll Like It: It offers a similar experience of exploring a desolate, mysterious planet while piecing together a narrative through environmental discovery.

Experience the freedom of unbounded climbing as you take control of BUD, a procedurally animated robot on a quest to save his planet. Create your own path through an alien world as you control and ride a giant plant on a vertical journey to the stars.

Why similar: Exploration 37.1%, Adventure 26.8%, Platformer 19.2%, Singleplayer 6%, Indie 5.8%

Why You'll Like It: It shares the focus on vertical traversal and interacting with a living, growing alien ecosystem to navigate the world.

The Moon has gone dark, cutting off Earth’s last source of energy. As a lone astronaut, you’ll explore abandoned lunar bases, solve intricate puzzles, and navigate stunning zero-gravity environments. Operate advanced vehicles, uncover hidden truths, and survive in this gripping sci-fi thriller.

Why similar: Sci-fi 30.8%, Adventure 21.4%, Indie 11.2%, Puzzle 8.1%, Exploration 7.8%

Why You'll Like It: A strong thematic match that focuses on space exploration, atmospheric storytelling, and solving puzzles in a lonely, sci-fi setting.

Exographer is an exploration game based on science. Become an explorer, stranded in an alien planet, and discover the secrets of an extinct civilization. Gain new powers to avoid dangers and obstacles in your journey, and use your camera to reveal particles and hidden clues.

Why similar: Platformer 18.7%, Sci-fi 18.3%, Exploration 15.7%, Puzzle 12.6%, Metroidvania 9.6%

Why You'll Like It: A puzzle-platformer that emphasizes exploration and scientific discovery in a sci-fi setting, closely aligning with the core loop of Waking Mars.

PLANET ALPHA, a beautiful alien world filled with mystery and danger. Pursued by relentless enemies, you must harness the power of night and day as you struggle to survive.

Why similar: Sci-fi 26.2%, Platformer 23.7%, Exploration 13.2%, Adventure 10.9%, Atmospheric 7.9%

Why You'll Like It: This game features a stunning, vibrant alien ecosystem that you must navigate through platforming and stealth, mirroring the atmospheric feel of Waking Mars.

In this Insanely Twisted, 2-D action-adventure game, explore unique environments and battle bizarre creatures.

Why similar: Metroidvania 37.6%, Sci-fi 18.4%, Exploration 12%, Adventure 11.2%, Indie 6.8%

Why You'll Like It: It features a unique, surreal alien world that encourages exploration and interaction with strange, bioluminescent flora and fauna.

Thousands of years after the activation of the Vesper Protocol, a small android crosses a fallen world, hunted by merciless machines, to control the power of Light and decide the fate of his race.

Why similar: Sci-fi 28%, Platformer 18.2%, Exploration 13.4%, Puzzle 10.8%, Indie 6%

Why You'll Like It: This atmospheric puzzle-platformer features a dark, sci-fi world where environmental interaction is key to survival.

Seasons After Fall is a 2D platform-puzzler game that will let you dive into a captivating universe and explore a land governed by magic and nature.

Why similar: Platformer 33.1%, Metroidvania 16.4%, Adventure 16.3%, Puzzle 9.1%, Indie 9%

Why You'll Like It: It emphasizes manipulating the environment and nature to solve puzzles, echoing the ecosystem-growth mechanics of the seed game.

Explore an abandoned space station in this retro-themed explorative action platformer.

Why similar: Metroidvania 41%, Platformer 19.3%, Adventure 9%, Sci-fi 8.5%, Exploration 6.1%

Why You'll Like It: A deep metroidvania that rewards exploration and curiosity, capturing the sense of being a lone researcher in a hostile alien facility.

Explore and uncover the mystery of a surreal alien world by blasting aliens and glitching your environment in this intense retro side-scrolling action/adventure.

Why similar: Metroidvania 40.2%, Sci-fi 17.3%, Platformer 16.9%, Exploration 6%, Adventure 5.3%

Why You'll Like It: It provides a classic metroidvania experience with a heavy emphasis on sci-fi mystery and exploring alien landscapes.

Humor-filled indie adventure game created by the makers of Machinarium and Samorost.

Why similar: Exploration 24.6%, Puzzle 17.8%, Nature 17.7%, Adventure 11.5%, Story Rich 11.5%

Why You'll Like It: While more whimsical, it captures the core joy of interacting with a complex, interconnected ecosystem to progress through the world.

Capsized is a fast paced 2D platformer focused on intense action and exploration. As a intrepid space traveler, your ship has crash landed on a mysterious alien planet. You must navigate through the perilous environment and fight off blood-thirsty creatures to save your crewmates and escape with your lives!

Why similar: Platformer 40%, Sci-fi 34.1%, Indie 11%, Action 8.3%, Adventure 2.9%

Why You'll Like It: This platformer features a lush, dangerous alien world that requires careful navigation and environmental awareness.

Deliver Us Mars is an atmospheric sci-fi adventure taking you on a suspense-fuelled, high-stakes mission to recover the ARK colony ships stolen by the mysterious Outward.

Why similar: Mars 37.5% ★, Sci-fi 26.6%, Platformer 17.5%, Story Rich 7.1%, Atmospheric 6%

Why You'll Like It: A direct thematic successor that continues the focus on Mars exploration, narrative-driven puzzles, and high-stakes space missions.

Xeodrifter is the story of an interstellar drifter traveling the stars on a simple mission of exploration. We join our nomad as he embarks on the investigation of a small cluster of four planets in the omega sector, after a collision with a rogue asteroid damaged his warp core.

Why similar: Metroidvania 25.1%, Sci-fi 22.7%, Platformer 19%, Exploration 11.5%, Adventure 6.6%

Why You'll Like It: A concise metroidvania that focuses on exploration and alien discovery, perfect for fans of the genre's pacing.

An atmospheric narrative-platformer about a service robot stranded on a mysterious planet, Planet of the Eyes features a stunning visual mix of puzzle and platforming challenges, an original musical score, and fully voiced audio logs left by another survivor. Explore the mystery of an unknown world.

Why similar: Sci-fi 25.7%, Platformer 23.7%, Puzzle 14.6%, Adventure 9.3%, Exploration 8%

Why You'll Like It: A puzzle-platformer that focuses on atmospheric exploration and narrative discovery on a mysterious, dangerous planet.

Transform into a bird and fly to explore and experience a vibrant world of floating islands in the sky. Venture down into lost ancient ruins where each step leads you closer to the end of the world.

Why similar: Exploration 31.9%, Adventure 23.4%, Indie 11.6%, Atmospheric 11%, Puzzle 8.6%

Why You'll Like It: It prioritizes the feeling of wonder and exploration in a unique, stylized world, focusing on movement and discovery over combat.

Journey to another planet and discover its secrets in order to bring your loved one back to life. Experience an adventure, inspired by old school classics like Another World, Heart of Darkness and Flashback.

Why similar: Sci-fi 24.5%, Platformer 23.5%, Adventure 17.7%, Indie 8.8%, Puzzle 6%

Why You'll Like It: A puzzle-adventure game that emphasizes exploration and narrative, set against a backdrop of sci-fi mystery.

Metroidvania with a mix of melee and ranged combats inspired by classics like Super Metroid, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night or Guacamelee! Help Anna “Thirteen” Charlotte battle her way through the secrets of Mars.

Why similar: Mars 29% ★, Metroidvania 21.1%, Platformer 13.8%, Exploration 8.7%, Adventure 6.9%

Why You'll Like It: A metroidvania set on Mars that leans into the exploration and action elements of the genre.

MindSeize is a 2D Metroidvania game set in a Sci-Fi-universe. Transfer your mind to a robot and rescue your beloved one!

Why similar: Metroidvania 19.1%, Adventure 17.6%, Sci-fi 13.9%, Indie 11.9%, Platformer 11.2%

Why You'll Like It: It combines metroidvania exploration with a sci-fi narrative, offering a more action-oriented but still exploration-heavy experience.

You play an explorer stranded on a dangerous alien planet. Low on fuel, your only hope for escape is to find the planet’s core in this incredibly clever action-puzzle-platformer.

Why similar: Platformer 34.2%, Sci-fi 19.5%, Puzzle 12.7%, Metroidvania 9.6%, Adventure 9.3%

Why You'll Like It: A short, puzzle-heavy platformer that emphasizes exploration and discovery on a strange, alien world.

Space Expedition is a 2D sci-fi platformer where you play as an astronaut who is sent to a space station to collect samples of mysterious dark matter. Space Expedition combines puzzle platforming, pixel art, and atmospheric adventures set in the style of 1980s sci-fi horror films.

Why similar: Platformer 25.8%, Exploration 25%, Adventure 12.3%, Atmospheric 11.8%, Indie 11.2%

Why You'll Like It: A retro-inspired 2D platformer that captures the classic feel of space exploration and puzzle-solving.

Unravel the mystery uncovered by a remote interplanetary mining operation. What did they find? What threat does it pose? And ultimately, what does it truly mean to be a hero?

Why similar: Metroidvania 35.2%, Adventure 23%, Platformer 19%, Indie 14.5%, Action 8.2%

Why You'll Like It: A metroidvania that emphasizes platforming and exploration within a sci-fi setting.

You're trapped, alone and cold on a distant planet. Pursued by a droid with only one purpose: killing everything. You must find an escape. Explore the hostile environment, find secret upgrades and new weapons, and finally make your escape from this dark, hostile planet...

Why similar: Metroidvania 41.3%, Platformer 32.2%, Exploration 17.5%, Action 9%

Why You'll Like It: A sci-fi metroidvania that focuses on exploration and survival in a lonely, atmospheric facility.

Crashed on a desolate but mysterious planet you find yourself eye to eye with an ancient civilisation. Explore the planet, find powerful upgrades, and fulfill your destiny.

Why similar: Metroidvania 30.8%, Platformer 19.4%, Exploration 15.7%, Adventure 11.8%, Atmospheric 6.9%

Take control of Zeb in this puzzle/platformer. He is a small energy based life form from space, known as a Plazma Being. While journeying through space to his home, Zeb was surprised to find that he was being kidnapped by aliens. They took him back to their planet and unceremoniously threw him into captivity.

Why similar: Platformer 28.1%, Sci-fi 27%, Puzzle 17%, Adventure 14.5%, Indie 7.6%

Why You'll Like It: A puzzle-platformer that focuses on exploration and unique movement mechanics within a sci-fi environment.

During an expedition to the Moon, two astronauts find themselves in a familiar town back on Earth. They soon discover the town is the beginning of a strange and mysterious journey...

Why similar: Sci-fi 39.9%, Exploration 21.8%, Adventure 12.4%, Story Rich 10.6%, Atmospheric 10%

Why You'll Like It: A cinematic exploration game that focuses on the mystery of space and the isolation of planetary discovery.

Explore an abandoned facility on the planet you've crashlanded, solving puzzles with strange plants along the way.

Why similar: Platformer 31.9%, Puzzle 18.2%, Adventure 16.1%, Sci-fi 14.4%, Side Scroller 7.4%

Why You'll Like It: A puzzle-platformer that focuses on the tension of exploration and environmental navigation.

A child infiltrates a spaceship to carry out a secret rescue mission. His objective is compromised when they must make a forced landing on a strange planet. Explore this mysterious place, overcome obstacles, and find the way back home!

Why similar: Platformer 25%, Sci-fi 21.4%, Exploration 16.9%, Puzzle 14.3%, Adventure 12.1%

A Dead World's Dream is a challenging retro platformerAs a peaceful alien, explore a harsh world looking for hidden species.Unlocking upgrades and power-ups, travel to even more treacherous places.Carefuly examine your surroundings before jumping toward new dangers and secrets.

Why similar: Platformer 43.8%, Adventure 29.7%, Exploration 26.5%

Why You'll Like It: A simple, atmospheric adventure game that focuses on exploring a desolate, alien landscape.

Play as Captain Grisham, and uncover the secrets of Planet 4-514 in this thrilling prequel to Side Scape!

Why similar: Metroidvania 27.3%, Sci-fi 20.2%, Platformer 16.7%, Exploration 14.8%, Adventure 6.8%

On the desolate moon of Lorian, a long-dormant Deadsuit awakens from slumber. Journey beneath the surface on an atmospheric 2D adventure of self-discovery, ancient mysteries, and cosmic terror. Explore winding caverns and acquire new abilities to unearth this alien world’s long-buried secrets.

Why similar: Metroidvania 26.1%, Sci-fi 26%, Platformer 18%, Adventure 7%, Atmospheric 6.2%

Teamwork matters most in this seamless, fantastical metroidvania within a living, breathing world. Realize each character's true potential to take down an invading force of overwhelmingly powerful parasites.

Why similar: Metroidvania 28.4%, Sci-fi 26.5%, Platformer 15.9%, Exploration 14.9%, Adventure 6.6%

Join renegade mechanic Robin and uncover the secrets of a dying planet. Explore a big world filled with intricate puzzles, interesting characters and menacing bosses in a beautiful platform adventure that tells a personal story about faith, purpose and the challenge of helping people.

Why similar: Metroidvania 33.4%, Platformer 17.9%, Adventure 10.9%, Indie 8.2%, Sci-fi 7%

Play as android MIO in this mesmerizing metroidvania where you explore the Vessel, an enormous technological ark overgrown with machines gone rogue. Uncover its secrets, enhance MIO's abilities, and save the spaceship and its residents from oblivion.

Why similar: Metroidvania 29.1%, Platformer 20.8%, Sci-fi 16.1%, Exploration 15.8%, Atmospheric 6.7%

Experience an immersive sci-fi adventure. Walk in the footsteps of the ill-fated crew members of the Miranda station. Explore a world cloaked in mystery and danger, solve clever puzzles to help discover the questions that...

Why similar: Sci-fi 28.8%, Adventure 16.8%, Exploration 16.6%, Puzzle 12.3%, Platformer 8.1%

Within the Cosmos is a sci-fi RPG. After awakening in a secluded star system, you soon discover a fractured human society grappling with an emerging android threat. Explore planets, uncover mysteries, and navigate differing philosophies. Your choices will shape how the story unfolds.

Why similar: Sci-fi 45.2%, Exploration 23.7%, Story Rich 8.9%, Adventure 8.3%, Atmospheric 7.5%

A wordless metroidvania through fog-covered ruins and the remnants of a lost world. Explore, gain new abilities and uncover meaning without guidance or dialogue.

Why similar: Metroidvania 21.6%, Sci-fi 19.8%, Platformer 16.7%, Exploration 12%, Puzzle 7.5%

What’s left of humanity are minds trapped in circuits. You are awaken as ReSetna, a warrior on a mission to rescue last human remnants. Explore seven hostile zones, face seven brutal bosses and evolve through a unique upgrade system. Uncover horrifying truth and decide if the future is worth saving.

Why similar: Metroidvania 43.8%, Platformer 28.4%, Adventure 12.9%, Indie 8.9%, Action 5.9%

A vibrant sci-fi platform adventure game where you help Maxwell the dog explore unfamiliar worlds, make strange new friends and contend with mysterious forces - by jumping, shooting, slicing, shrinking, warping and drilling.

Why similar: Metroidvania 26.6%, Platformer 23.7%, Exploration 15.3%, Sci-fi 14.6%, Adventure 10.6%

From the creative mind behind The Adventures of Shuggy comes an exciting new retro-styled 2D platformer, a winner of Dream Build Play 2012 and a top 50 game of 2012 according to Game Informer. Grab the gateway guns and explore a huge lab filled with mysterious puzzles in this classic platforming adventure.

Why similar: Platformer 30.8%, Metroidvania 19.5%, Puzzle 18.5%, Sci-fi 17.2%, Indie 11.4%

Take the role of ARID, the artificial intelligence within a high-tech combat suit. The Fall is a unique combination of adventure-game puzzle solving and side-scroller action, all set within a dark and atmospheric story. Get ready for a disturbing journey as you explore the world of The Fall.

Why similar: Sci-fi 40.4%, Adventure 14.3%, Puzzle 11.1%, Indie 7.1%, Atmospheric 6.8%

Starseed Pilgrim is a game about tending a symphonic garden, exploring space, and embracing fate.You are a gardener, tending to empty noise and empty space to fill them both with colour.You are a refugee, building your own world away from the spreading darkness.You are an explorer, discovering new places, new rules, and new fascinations.

Why similar: Puzzle 22.2%, Adventure 18.6%, Indie 17.3%, Exploration 17.3%, Platformer 15.7%

Discover a world where life is cheap, identities are bought & sold, & a quest for redemption can change the fate of a whole galaxy.

Why similar: Sci-fi 52.8%, Adventure 22.7%, Story Rich 7.9%, Indie 7.7%, Atmospheric 5.8%

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: Sci-fi 30.7%, Exploration 25.9%, Puzzle 16.3%, Adventure 13.4%, Story Rich 11%

You are stranded on a strange and peculiar planet. It’s time to embark on your journey and find your way home! Explore a gravity defying and challenging platformer with striking visuals and a captivating story that transports you to a world beyond ours.

Why similar: Platformer 42.8%, Adventure 19.8%, Indie 14.7%, Puzzle 13.4%, Atmospheric 3.8%

Genopanic is a pixel-art, Metroidvania-inspired adventure-platformer. Explore corridors of the space station, teeming with secrets and dangers, and engage in boss fights. Solve puzzles and uncover hidden mysteries in the dark atmosphere of a sci-fi research complex. Discover the truth with each step

Why similar: Metroidvania 24.4%, Sci-fi 18.3%, Platformer 18.1%, Exploration 12.8%, Atmospheric 6.8%

Explore the corners of a surrealistic post-human world to give life on Earth a second chance in this touching story about sacrifice and hope.

Why similar: Platformer 32.4%, Adventure 22%, Exploration 20.1%, Puzzle 16.9%, Atmospheric 6.5%

Pounce inside of your cozy armored mech and set off on a dangerous trek through an alien underworld full of irritable creatures and treacherous obstacles in a valiant effort to save your stranded captain and his crashed spaceship.

Why similar: Metroidvania 37%, Platformer 17.3%, Sci-fi 9.7%, Adventure 9.5%, Indie 8.3%

A 2.5D action-packed side-scrolling game, takes players on a thrilling sci-fi adventure! Take control of combat specialist Ares, or the new playable character, Tarus, to battle deadly machines with a variety of powerful weapons and armor. Your goal: Save Minos Space Station’s survivors and uncover the nefarious Zytron’s extinction agenda!

Why similar: Platformer 33.1%, Metroidvania 18%, Sci-fi 17.5%, Indie 13%, Action 9.6%

The Station is a first-person sci-fi mystery set on a space station sent to study a sentient alien civilization. Assuming the role of a recon specialist, players must unravel a mystery which will decide the fate of two civilizations.

Why similar: Sci-fi 39.4%, Adventure 18.2%, Indie 12.1%, Story Rich 11.2%, Puzzle 9.7%

An Intense Cyberpunk Rpg On the Red Planet! Mars War Logs takes you to Mars, nearly a century after the cataclysm that threw the planet and its colonists into chaos. Water has become the most precious resource on the arid red planet, with a few companies fighting a perpetual war for its control.

Why similar: Mars 41.3% ★, Sci-fi 38.9%, Action 6.2%, Adventure 4.8%, Story Rich 4.5%

Explore a dense, interconnected labyrinth, and unravel its many secrets. Collect items to manipulate your environment in surprising and meaningful ways. Encounter beautiful and unsettling creatures, as you attempt to survive what lurks in the dark. There is more than what you see.

Why similar: Metroidvania 31.2%, Platformer 17.7%, Exploration 17.1%, Puzzle 12.7%, Adventure 6.3%

"The Superfluous" [soo-pur-floo-uh s] A cave-diving, sci-fi, rogue-lite, platformer with jet packs and lots of explosions. Help stop an apocalyptic asteroid on collision course with Earth. Lead a squad to the center of the asteroid and blast it into space dust.

Why similar: Sci-fi 30.8%, Platformer 26.4%, Adventure 16.1%, Indie 10.6%, Action 7%

In the wake of catastrophe find the means to make your family whole again.

Why similar: Sci-fi 29%, Puzzle 16.5%, Adventure 13.3%, Atmospheric 11.7%, Story Rich 10.4%

Suddenly thrown into an unknown galaxy, you must explore, fight or befriend aliens and transform your ship from a small survey vessel into a powerful battlecruiser to unravel the mystery of the forces that brought you here and find your way home.

Why similar: Sci-fi 44.8%, Exploration 22.6%, Adventure 12.6%, Indie 7.6%, Action 5.4%

Venineth is a single-player game focusing on unraveling the mysteries of ancient alien technology, somewhere in the universe via exploration, platforming, and puzzle-solving, in a dangerous, distant worlds.

Why similar: Sci-fi 26%, Adventure 19.6%, Exploration 13.9%, Indie 13.1%, Puzzle 10.2%

A strange signal... an alien craft... an interplanetary, gravity-defying journey through space and time.

Why similar: Sci-fi 35.5%, Exploration 26.4%, Adventure 15.2%, Atmospheric 13.8%, Story Rich 9.2%