Best Nonlinear Games on Steam
Unlike generic lists, our strategy game recommendations use a rigorous analysis of Steam user reviews to identify and feature only the best, community-validated nonlinear games. For those who prefer not to search, lists of the most played, top deals nonlinear games are available at the bottom of the page.
Filters & Lists
PULSAR: Lost Colony
The co-op open-world space sim where everyone has a role! Pilot the ship. Reroute power. Launch nukes. Explore alien planets. Research new talents. Work together to find the Lost Colony! ...or just deliver some biscuits
Spellcaster University
Develop a prestigious university of mages. Build rooms, train your students, fight orcs, slay the bureaucrats, manage your budget... a director's life is not a quiet one.
Class of '09
This is the anti-visual novel. Instead of playing as some guy magically able to score with beautiful anime girls, YOU play the anime girl and create mass chaos in the lives of your potential "suitors". Earnest comedy, social accuracy, and late 2000's aesthetic await you in Class of '09!
Causa, Voices of the Dusk
Causa, Voices of the Dusk is an intriguing turn-based strategy card game with innovative game mechanics. Sacrifice cards to raise your Cause, and bring them back later for unexpected powerful plays. Prove your abilities in battle and draft your way to Victory in extremely challenging campaigns.
Lunch Lady
Lunch Lady is a 1-4 player online co-op survival horror game. The school final exams are coming up and the best idea you and your friends had was to steal the test answers. Find all 10 pages and don't get caught by the murderous Lunch Lady!
CARNAL
CARNAL is a fast and challenging retro FPS straight from the mid '90s. The Sons of Anak are opening portals to extract Dark Matter from the "other side". Combat the possessed soldiers, the manifested demons helping them, and any inanimate objects standing in your way!
Paradise Lost
It's winter, 1980. Szymon, a boy raised in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, finds an abandoned Nazi bunker. Will he find what he’s looking for? Play Paradise Lost and explore an underground world, where Slavic mythology mixes with retrofuturistic technology. Discover the last story on Earth.
Enter The Backrooms
An indie psychological horror experience about surviving infinity. Navigate an endless expanse of rooms, ascend through various levels, gather items and artifacts, avoid going insane, evade corrupted entities, and see just how deep the realm known as The Backrooms goes.
Tiny Lands
Take your perceptivity to a new dimension in a relaxing low-poly isometric puzzle game. Find the differences in the beautiful, fully rotatable, and zoomable 3D environments. Can you find them all?
Idle Slayer
Idle Slayer is an incremental game with idle and active playstyle mechanics, medieval pixel art visuals and retro 8-bit sounds and music.
AOD: Art Of Defense
AOD is a new gameplay in the traditional tower defence genre. You must protect your base from waves of approaching enemies. Build and improve your towers and units and destroy your enemies in any way you can. Don't be weak, destroy them all, show who's in charge!
Lighthouse Keeper
This dark act takes place from a single day of the Lighthouse Keeper. Listen to keeper carefully and help him to interrupt his twenty-years-old shift at the Lighthouse.
Manifold Garden
Rediscover gravity and explore an Escher-esque world of impossible architecture. Witness infinity in first-person and master its rules to solve physics-defying puzzles. Cultivate a garden to open new paths forward, where an eternal expanse awaits.
Lucifer Within Us
Solve 3 increasingly intricate murders by examining the evidence -- find the motive, the means, and the opportunity. Use testimonies of the suspects as evidence by examining every detail for contradictions... and signs of sin. Purify the possessed. Purge the daemons.
Liquidators
Chernobyl, USSR, 1986. Three nuclear plant workers go on a daring mission to prevent a radioactive fallout that would affect half of Europe. Every moment is permanent, and all is at stake.
Rebel Galaxy Outlaw
Out of cash, out of luck, out on the fringe. Juno Markev has a killer to tail, a debt to pay, and more trouble headed her way. Rebel Galaxy Outlaw takes place in a greasy, blue-collar world of outlaws, truckers, cops and thieves.
A Monster's Expedition
An adorable and relaxing open world puzzle adventure for monsters who love to learn about humans!
Willy Morgan and the Curse of Bone Town
A letter from 10 years ago, an intricate web of lies to unravel and a mystery to solve. Explore an unconventional town of pirates, dive into the past, collect items and look for clues to help Willy find out what happened to his father...
Dark Nights with Poe and Munro
Guide local radio hosts Poe and Munro through six TV-like episodes of supernatural strangeness and sizzling on-screen chemistry. From the creators of The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker and The Shapeshifting Detective.
MetaWare High School (Demo)
How do you see the world when nothing is real? An experimental metafictional visual novel.
Horizon's Gate
Voyage into the wide world of Eral as an explorer, trader, or privateer. Defeat your enemies on land or at sea in deep but straightforward tactical combat. Unravel the secrets behind Dominio's betrayal – or sail off in search of your own adventure.
Most played nonlinear games on Steam
Take a look at the top nonlinear games that are currently attracting the largest player bases on the Steam platform, as of June 15th 2025.
1. Mind Over Magic
Mind Over Magic is a colony sim set at the site of a cursed magic school. Build and optimize your own magical academy, train powerful Mages, and master mighty relics in order to battle through the Underschool, a mysterious underground dungeon that holds the key to liberation from a deadly curse. Mind Over Magic is a survival, colony sim and building game developed by Sparkypants and published by Klei Publishing. Released on February 12th 2025 has received 3,477 reviews of which 3,068 were positive and 409 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.5 out of 10. The game has hit the top spot as the #1 most played nonlinear game, thanks to its 653 peak concurrent players over the last day.
8.5
3,068
409
653
players
2. Another Crab's Treasure
In a vibrant undersea kingdom on the verge of collapse, a hermit crab embarks on a treasure hunt to buy back his repossessed shell. The second game from AGGRO CRAB. Another Crab's Treasure is a souls-like, 3d platformer and funny game developed and published by Aggro Crab. Released on April 25th 2024 has received 17,139 reviews of which 16,158 were positive and 981 were negative resulting in an impressive rating of 9.2 out of 10. While seeing 188 players online at once in the last 24 hours, this game is currently ranked #2 among nonlinear games based on player count.
9.2
16,158
981
188
players
3. Islands of Insight
Seek out and solve 10,000+ puzzles at your own pace across this sublime puzzle game. Islands of Insight is a puzzle-platformer, nonlinear and puzzle game developed by Lunarch Studios and published by Behaviour Interactive Inc.. Released on February 13th 2024 has received 3,007 reviews of which 2,149 were positive and 858 were negative resulting in a rating of 7.0 out of 10. The game currently holds the #3 spot among the most played nonlinear games.
7.0
2,149
858
44
players
4. Dreamcore
Step into the surreal with Dreamcore, a body-cam styled psychological horror game that plunges you into the eerie beauty of "liminal spaces." Unravel the mysteries of Dreamcore’s non-linear worlds and uncover its hidden secrets. Can you discover what lies beyond the edge of reality? Dreamcore is a exploration, walking simulator and psychological horror game developed by Montraluz and published by Tlön Industries. Released on January 23rd 2025 has received 740 reviews of which 649 were positive and 91 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.3 out of 10. The game currently holds the #4 spot among the most played nonlinear games.
8.3
649
91
36
players
5. The Bible
A digital recreation of The Bible in Kinetic Novel form! Read through and save passages in any order with an original soundtrack, or listen through the greatest story ever told in audiobook form. Featuring an extensive Trivia section to find out how well you really know the stories of Old and New. The Bible is a singleplayer, relaxing and nonlinear game developed and published by Bible Games. Released on November 14th 2022 has received 983 reviews of which 864 were positive and 119 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.3 out of 10. The game currently holds the #5 spot among the most played nonlinear games.
8.3
864
119
19
players
6. Spirit Realm
English version not ready Spirit Realm is a early access, rpg and open world game developed and published by 深圳市灵境互娱科技有限公司. Released on June 21st 2024 has received 603 reviews of which 481 were positive and 122 were negative resulting in a rating of 7.5 out of 10. The game currently holds the #6 spot among the most played nonlinear games.
7.5
481
122
19
players
7. Taiji
Solve puzzle panels and uncover the meaning of the symbols within. Explore a dense world where secrets are hidden in plain sight. Taiji is a puzzle, nonlinear and difficult game developed and published by Matthew VanDevander. Released on September 09th 2022 has received 1,250 reviews of which 1,143 were positive and 107 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.7 out of 10. The game currently holds the #7 spot among the most played nonlinear games.
8.7
1,143
107
7
players
8. Majotori
How many lives will your ignorance ruin? Majotori is a trivia, multiple endings and nonlinear game developed and published by Majorariatto. Released on March 28th 2017 has received 1,909 reviews of which 1,844 were positive and 65 were negative resulting in an impressive rating of 9.2 out of 10. The game currently holds the #8 spot among the most played nonlinear games.
9.2
1,844
65
4
players
9. Turbo Kid
A nostalgic metroidvania adventure with insane weapons, skills, and pixel gore. Ride your BMX and blast your enemies as you discover the secrets of the Wasteland. Turbo Kid is a gore, action and narration game developed and published by Outerminds Inc.. Released on April 09th 2024 has received 423 reviews of which 404 were positive and 19 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.8 out of 10. The game currently holds the #9 spot among the most played nonlinear games.
8.8
404
19
3
players
10. The Mobius Machine
Discover a vast alien world. Fight the ferocious local fauna and killer machines. Reveal its secrets and find a way to escape. The Mobius Machine is a side-scroller action adventure, with an emphasis on free-form exploration and intense combat. The Mobius Machine is a metroidvania, exploration and side scroller game developed and published by Madruga Works. Released on March 01st 2024 has received 354 reviews of which 303 were positive and 51 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.0 out of 10. The game currently holds the #10 spot among the most played nonlinear games.
8.0
303
51
2
players
Best deals on nonlinear games on Steam
Discover fantastic savings with the best discounts on a variety of nonlinear games available on Steam right now, updated on June 15th 2025. Looking for even more deals? Use the search filters to explore a wider range of discounted nonlinear games.
1. Taiji
Solve puzzle panels and uncover the meaning of the symbols within. Explore a dense world where secrets are hidden in plain sight. Taiji is a puzzle, nonlinear and difficult game developed and published by Matthew VanDevander. Released on September 09th 2022 has received 1,250 reviews of which 1,143 were positive and 107 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.7 out of 10. Featuring a massive 99% discount, this game currently holds the #1 spot in the best deals for nonlinear category.
8.7
1,143
107
-99%
24.50€
0.47€
2. Another Crab's Treasure
In a vibrant undersea kingdom on the verge of collapse, a hermit crab embarks on a treasure hunt to buy back his repossessed shell. The second game from AGGRO CRAB. Another Crab's Treasure is a souls-like, 3d platformer and funny game developed and published by Aggro Crab. Released on April 25th 2024 has received 17,139 reviews of which 16,158 were positive and 981 were negative resulting in an impressive rating of 9.2 out of 10. Thanks to its incredible 80% discount, this game is now the #2 best deal in nonlinear games.
9.2
16,158
981
-80%
29.99€
6.11€
3. Turbo Kid
A nostalgic metroidvania adventure with insane weapons, skills, and pixel gore. Ride your BMX and blast your enemies as you discover the secrets of the Wasteland. Turbo Kid is a gore, action and narration game developed and published by Outerminds Inc.. Released on April 09th 2024 has received 423 reviews of which 404 were positive and 19 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.8 out of 10. Thanks to its incredible 75% discount, this game is now the #3 best deal in nonlinear games.
8.8
404
19
-75%
19.50€
4.89€
4. Mind Over Magic
Mind Over Magic is a colony sim set at the site of a cursed magic school. Build and optimize your own magical academy, train powerful Mages, and master mighty relics in order to battle through the Underschool, a mysterious underground dungeon that holds the key to liberation from a deadly curse. Mind Over Magic is a survival, colony sim and building game developed by Sparkypants and published by Klei Publishing. Released on February 12th 2025 has received 3,477 reviews of which 3,068 were positive and 409 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.5 out of 10. Currently offered at a 25% discount, this title has earned the #4 position in the best deals for nonlinear games.
8.5
3,068
409
-25%
22.99€
17.24€
5. Spirit Realm
English version not ready Spirit Realm is a early access, rpg and open world game developed and published by 深圳市灵境互娱科技有限公司. Released on June 21st 2024 has received 603 reviews of which 481 were positive and 122 were negative resulting in a rating of 7.5 out of 10. Currently offered at a 20% discount, this title has earned the #5 position in the best deals for nonlinear games.
7.5
481
122
-20%
9.75€
7.80€