GAMESLIKE Guides
Pick your next game by what you miss
Start with a game you already love, then choose by the part you want back.
Submarine games for PC: crew command, sonar tactics, or co-op survival
Three different jobs underwater: keep a crew alive, win a tactical engagement, or keep your friends' submarine running.
Guide index
Pick a route
Start with the thing you miss, then pick by the tradeoff that changes the recommendation.
Fishing games for PC: casting, company, or a strange catch
Four fishing-first PC games, chosen by what you want the next catch to do: test your technique, start a conversation, fund a voyage, or fill a catalog.
Parkour games for PC: running routes, tricks, or combat?
Four different reasons to run: a directed campaign, a trick playground, one-hit fights, or zombie survival. Choose the one you actually want to repeat.
Shopkeeper games for PC: stock shelves, make goods, or brave the dungeon
Start with the work you want behind the counter: arranging a store, brewing its products, or finding stock worth selling.
Skateboarding games for PC: combos, lines, and learning the controls
Three ways to enjoy a good line: build a combo, find a platforming route, or learn how each foot moves the board.
Stealth games for PC: sneak alone or plan a squad operation
Start with one ninja, then branch into supernatural routes, agent decisions or five specialist roles.
Tower defense games for PC: upgrades, traps, or gems?
Three ways to build a defense: choose upgrade paths, turn dungeon terrain against invaders, or craft gems for the next wave.
Rhythm-Action Games for PC: Combat, Shooting, or Dungeon Runs?
Start with Hi-Fi RUSH for a combat adventure, Metal: Hellsinger for beat-driven shooting, BPM for randomized FPS runs, or Crypt of the NecroDancer for grid-based dungeon decisions.
City-building games for PC: choose management, survival, or a quiet sandbox
Start with the original Cities: Skylines for a functioning city, Timberborn for water engineering, Against the Storm for repeatable settlements, or Townscaper for building without objectives.
CRPG games by reading load, rules depth, and campaign commitment
Start with Baldur's Gate 3 for the friendliest full campaign, Divinity Original Sin 2 for playful systems, Pillars for classic party questing, Pathfinder for deep builds, or Disco Elysium for reading-first role-play.
Turn-based games: choose tactics, party RPGs, empire strategy, or deckbuilding
Start with XCOM-style tactics if position matters most, then route to party RPGs, empire strategy, deckbuilding, or character-driven tactical campaigns.
Musou games for horde-clearing, strategy, or licensed spectacle
Start with DYNASTY WARRIORS: ORIGINS for the clearest modern entry, WARRIORS OROCHI 3 for characters and team-building, or a licensed Warriors game when the world matters most.
Skiing games for racing, tricks, or open-mountain freedom
Start with Steep for a big mountain to make your own, then choose Snow Riders for route mastery, Shredders for tricks, or Grand Mountain Adventure for a calmer descent.
Mech games for fast action, heavy simulation, or tactical command
Start with Armored Core VI for fast action, MechWarrior 5 for deliberate piloting, BATTLETECH for lance tactics, or Into the Breach for tight turn-by-turn mech puzzles.
Medieval games for building, ruling, or surviving
Start with Manor Lords if you want to shape a settlement, Crusader Kings III if you want to rule through people, or Enshrouded if you want co-op survival and construction.
Incremental games for active play, build planning, or idle progress
Start with The Perfect Tower II if you want your next decision to change the next run, then choose a calmer or denser branch from there.
Games like Destiny 2 without weekly homework
Start with REMNANT II if your fireteam wants bosses, build choices, and loot without planning life around a reset.
Games like Call of Duty: campaign, PvP and co-op picks
Start with Titanfall 2 for campaign momentum and quick multiplayer, Insurgency: Sandstorm for heavier modern gunfights, Deep Rock Galactic for co-op missions, or THE FINALS for fast objective play.
Games Like Jackbox for One-Screen Party Groups
Start with Use Your Words for phone-friendly comedy, pick Drawful 2 when the room wants to draw, or choose What The Dub?! for captioning clips.
Games like Spore: creature creators and evolution sims
Start with Niche for inherited traits and survival, Impossible Creatures for building absurd hybrids, Thrive for cell evolution, or Equilinox for a calmer living-world project.
Games like Cult of the Lamb: combat and management
Start with Moonlighter for action plus a hands-on shop loop, V Rising for a combat-ready castle, Hades for better runs, or DAVE THE DIVER for a lighter operation.
Games Like Fire Emblem for Tactics, Bonds, and Consequences
Start with Symphony of War for a large recruitable army and readable formation tactics, then choose whether you want deeper builds, political choices, or harsher consequences.
Games like Outer Wilds: 3 mysteries without spoilers
Start with The Forgotten City for a place that changes as you understand it, then choose Obra Dinn for deduction or Lorelei for notebook-heavy mystery.
Co-op Extraction Shooters After ARC Raiders Without PvP Burnout
Start with Deep Rock Galactic when you want a squad-dependent shooter without enemy players owning the night. Then choose between evacuation chaos, build-driven runs, harsher scavenging, or Hunt's real PvP risk.
Puzzle Adventures After Blue Prince Where Knowledge Is Progress
Start with The Forgotten City for a recurring place that opens through what you learn, then choose by whether you want authored logic, evidence work, exploration, or notebook-heavy mystery.
Action Roguelikes After Hades for Fast, Repeatable Runs
Start with Dead Cells for the clearest solo action bridge, Ravenswatch for co-op coordination, Ember Knights for a group brawler, Astral Ascent for ability builds, or Wizard of Legend for compact spell runs.
Co-op Horror Games After Dead by Daylight
Start with Phasmophobia for a tense group investigation, The Outlast Trials for directed escape pressure, Lethal Company or R.E.P.O. for messy extraction stories, or GTFO for a serious tactical run.
Cinematic Action Adventures After Uncharted for a Weekend, Not a 100-Hour Map
Start with Indiana Jones and the Great Circle for treasure-hunt momentum, then choose the branch that matches the kind of adventure you want to open next.
Co-op boss-hunting games after Monster Hunter, without MMO homework
Start with WILD HEARTS for the closest hunt-and-prep rhythm, Granblue Fantasy: Relink for mission-based party bosses, GOD EATER 3 for faster action, or REMNANT II if your group wants a shooter branch.
Story RPGs Like Undertale Where Choices Linger
Start with DELTARUNE for the closest continuation, then choose by whether you want player awareness, a branching fate, retained knowledge, or a harsher aftermath.
Games like Age of Empires for real-time strategy, empires, and army timing
Start with Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition if you want the closest fit, then branch by the exact tradeoff you miss.
Games like Papers, Please for bureaucracy, moral pressure, and hard calls
Start with Not Tonight if you want the closest document-checking pressure, Death and Taxes if you want daily moral judgment, or Orwell if surveillance and evidence-reading matter more than booth work.
Games like Borderlands: co-op shooters and loot builds
Try Gunfire Reborn for co-op FPS builds, Risk of Rain 2 for item combinations, or Roboquest for fast runs. Borderlands 2 is the same-series option.
Games like Civilization for one-more-turn empire strategy
Start with Old World for the closest smarter Civ-like loop, HUMANKIND for culture-swapping eras, Age of Wonders 4 for fantasy combat, or Stellaris only if you want scale more than clean turns.
Games like A Way Out: two-player co-op stories, puzzles and chaos
Start with It Takes Two or Split Fiction for a full co-op adventure; choose We Were Here for an online escape built around communication.
Games like Mass Effect for space RPG companions, choices, and missions
Start with The Outer Worlds if you want a compact sci-fi RPG with companions and choices. Choose Andromeda to stay in Mass Effect, Starfield for space scale, or KOTOR for older BioWare party decisions.
Games like Overcooked for co-op chaos, shouting, and kitchen pressure
Start with PlateUp! if you want the closest fit, then branch by the exact tradeoff you miss.
Games like Overwatch for hero shooters without the same ranked grind
Start with Marvel Rivals for modern hero fantasy, Team Fortress 2 for casual class chaos, or THE FINALS for objective fights without hard hero-counter homework.
Games like Resident Evil when ammo, routing, and panic matter most
Start with SIGNALIS for tight inventory and route memory, Dead Space for bigger combat horror, The Evil Within for ugly panic, or Amnesia: The Bunker when being hunted matters more than headshots.
Games like Unpacking: cozy sorting and quiet stories
Start with A Little to the Left if you want the closest fit, then branch by the exact tradeoff you miss.
Games like Fallout for wasteland RPG choices, scavenging, and builds
Start with Fallout: New Vegas if you want the closest fit, then branch by the exact tradeoff you miss.
Games like Until Dawn for horror choices, group panic, and consequences
Start with The Quarry for the closest glossy follow-up, Man of Medan for the Dark Pictures format, or The Walking Dead if you want cast consequences more than jump scares.
Games like Animal Crossing for PC cozy island life and decorating
Start with Dinkum if you want the closest fit, then branch by the exact tradeoff you miss.
Games like Dispatch when you want messy choices, episodes, and superhero management
Start with Batman - The Telltale Series if you want superhero episodes, The Wolf Among Us if you want messier choices, or Marvel's Midnight Suns if the team-management side mattered most.
Games like Phasmophobia for co-op ghost hunting and panic calls
Start with Demonologist if you want the closest ghost-investigation loop, Lethal Company if the fun is panic over comms, or The Outlast Trials if your group wants louder co-op horror.
Games like Slay the Spire for deckbuilding runs and roguelike pressure
Start with Monster Train for the closest card-battle pressure, Balatro for scoring math, Inscryption for surprise, or Across the Obelisk for party deckbuilding.
Games like Cyberpunk 2077 for neon RPG choices and builds
Start with Deus Ex: Mankind Divided if you miss Cyberpunk's choice-heavy missions. Pick The Witcher 3 for quest consequence, Fallout 4 for loot and builds, Starfield for sci-fi scale, or Human Revolution for older cyberpunk roots.
Games like The Sims for building, life drama, and cozy control
Pick Stardew Valley for cozy routines, House Flipper for decorating, Two Point Campus for people-management chaos, Planet Zoo for living-system builds, or Tiny Life when direct household control matters most.
Games like The Last of Us for story survival and companion tension
Start with A Plague Tale: Requiem for companion protection, God of War for prestige companion action, Resident Evil 4 for horror-action pressure, Days Gone for post-collapse survival, or Hellblade for intimate psychological tension.
Games like Ghost of Tsushima for samurai combat and quiet open worlds
Start with Rise of the Ronin for an open world, Assassin's Creed Shadows for stealth, Sekiro for duels, or Nioh 2 for deeper combat.
Games like Little Nightmares for creepy short horror and chase tension
Start with INSIDE for bleak chase pressure, Little Nightmares II for more of the exact formula, Bramble for folklore horror, or DARQ if the puzzle-box unease matters most.
Games like Terraria for co-op bosses, crafting, or exploration
Start with Core Keeper for the closest co-op underground loop, Starbound for 2D exploration, Don't Starve Together for pressure, or Valheim for boss-led group survival.
Games like Among Us for social deduction, betrayal, and friend groups
Start with Goose Goose Duck for the closest swap, Project Winter for longer betrayal nights, or LOCKDOWN Protocol for loud first-person sabotage.
Games like Hogwarts Legacy for magic, school fantasy, or open-world quests
Start with The Witcher 3 for open-world questing, Skyrim for first-person fantasy freedom, Elden Ring for spellblade exploration, Baldur's Gate 3 for RPG choice, or Persona 5 Royal for school-life structure.
Games like Genshin Impact without gacha pressure
Start with Ys VIII for premium exploration and party action, Granblue Fantasy: Relink for anime boss fights, or Tales of Arise for a cleaner story RPG. Treat Wuthering Waves as the obvious but still-gacha caveat.
Games like GTA without GTA Online grind
Start with Cyberpunk 2077 for a dense mission city, Red Dead Redemption 2 for Rockstar pacing, Watch_Dogs for urban systems, or Sleeping Dogs for grounded crime action.
Games like Minecraft when building, survival, or co-op matters most
Pick Terraria for building plus progression, Valheim for co-op survival projects, Satisfactory for factory-scale builders, or Subnautica when the real Minecraft itch is lonely exploration.
Games like RimWorld when you want colony chaos, survival, or deeper simulation
Pick Oxygen Not Included for systems survival, Against the Storm for pressured colony runs, Kenshi for open chaos, or Dwarf Fortress only if deeper simulation is truly what you want.
Games like Firewatch for quiet mystery and short story play
Start with What Remains of Edith Finch for one-sitting emotional payoff, Gone Home for grounded walking-sim mystery, Oxenfree for voice tension, or The Vanishing of Ethan Carter for scenic investigation.
Games like Subnautica when you want survival, mystery, or lonely exploration
Pick Subnautica 2 for the closest new ocean, Outer Wilds for mystery, The Planet Crafter for survival-building progress, or Below Zero for a finished solo follow-up.
Games like Hollow Knight if you want bosses, exploration, or movement first
Start with Silksong for the direct sequel, Nine Sols for boss pressure, Ori for movement, ANIMAL WELL for exploration, or Blasphemous for punishment.
Diablo-like games for loot builds without live-service fatigue
Start with Grim Dawn if you want offline-friendly loot builds, Last Epoch if you want modern buildcraft, or Torchlight II if you want a lighter campaign.
Games like Baldur's Gate 3 when you want party choice, not just fantasy combat
Start with Divinity: Original Sin 2 for the closest Larian campaign, Pathfinder for build depth, Solasta for tactics, or Pillars and Tyranny for consequence-heavy questing.
Games like XCOM for squad tactics, campaign pressure, and clean turn-based combat
Start with Phoenix Point for the closest alien-war campaign, Troubleshooter for deep squad builds, Gears Tactics for aggressive cover combat, or Into the Breach when you want tactics without campaign sprawl.
Games like Factorio when you want logistics, automation, and factory problems
Start with Satisfactory for 3D factory sprawl, Dyson Sphere Program for planetary production chains, shapez for pure belts, or Mindustry when you want automation under pressure.
Open-world games like Skyrim: 6 RPGs worth exploring
Start with The Witcher 3 for quests, Fallout 4 for Bethesda-style wandering, or Kingdom Come: Deliverance II for first-person medieval immersion.
Soulslike games to play after Elden Ring or Dark Souls, by what broke you
Start with Lies of P for boss pressure, Sekiro for parry timing, Hollow Knight for exploration, or Another Crab's Treasure if you want a softer on-ramp.
Best Steam games like Stardew Valley, picked by what you miss most
Start with Coral Island if you want another farm-town routine, Dinkum if you miss shaping a place, or My Time at Sandrock if you want progress without more crop-first farming.
Story choice games like Detroit Become Human and Life is Strange
Start with The Walking Dead for emotional choices, Heavy Rain for Quantic Dream-style branching, The Wolf Among Us for mystery pressure, or Tell Me Why for relationship-led drama.
Games like Rust and Valheim for small groups that want survival pressure
Pick ARK or DayZ for social danger, 7 Days to Die for private-server pressure, V Rising for raid nights, or Enshrouded and Grounded for co-op survival without public-server stress.