Best Text-Based Games on Steam
Unlike generic lists, our game recommendations use a rigorous analysis of Steam user reviews to identify and feature only the best, community-validated text-based games.
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Can I Not Fall for Idols?
You’ve become the manager of a brand-new idol group—only to find yourself drowning in romance flags from the start! Love with idols is strictly forbidden. Can you survive this chaotic, no-love-allowed romcom—the first of its kind in the otome world!?
Bladesong
The ultimate swordmaking game. Forge unique weapons with freeform blade shaping and modular hilts, perfectly balanced to your customers’ needs. Master the art of smithing and uncover the secrets of Eren Keep, a last haven of a dying world – or so they say.
Confidential Killings - A Detective Game
A series of murders is shocking Hollywood! Use your detective skills: search the crime scene, find clues, solve the mystery. Who is pulling the strings behind these Confidential Killings?
Xenopurge
Xenopurge is a tactical auto-battler where you are a Commander tasked with purging the Xenos threat. Operate from a remote command center, issuing indirect orders via multi-screen interfaces. Plan routes, set priorities, and adapt as missions escalate and feel the true weight of being in command.
Chill with You : Lo-Fi Story
"Chill with You : Lo-Fi Story" is a sound novel game where you work alongside Satone, a girl who loves writing stories. Customize lo-fi music, ambient sounds, and landscapes to create a focused environment. As you deepen your bond with Satone, you may discover a special connection with her.
Hymer 2000
Hymer 2000 is an interactive text puzzle game, where players freely converse with the "Hymer" and use an open "Search" function to retrieve past conversations. By discovering keywords, gathering clues, and collecting "Faces", players uncover Hymer's secrets and ultimately shut it down.
Z.A.T.O. // I Love the World and Everything In It
USSR, 1986. A girl goes missing in the closed city of Vorkuta-5, yet not a soul seems to be concerned. Uncover the mystery behind her disappearance and transmit your signal to the universe.
Ye Guild Clerk!
The local Adventurer's Guild is hiring!... Not for adventurers, but for guild clerks! You play an important role in handing out quests, gold, and equipment as your actions shape the stories of these animal adventurers for better, or for worse..!
Ballshit
The first live-action visual novel with an anime flair! Gamer 'Eggy' turns into a girl. Join bro Monkey and his gf to uncover why the school belle hides a tough guy soul. Seek a cure or embrace your new life. Your choice drives this adventure!
Welcome To The Dark Place
The train is the only escape.
The Farmer Was Replaced
Program and optimize a drone to automate a farm and watch it do the work for you. Collect resources to unlock better technology and become the most efficient farmer in the world. Improve your problem solving and coding skills.
Sani Yang's Laboratory
You wake up in the world of anthropomorphic creatures. After finding you've been the subject of a certain lab's experiments, you must find the ulterior goals hidden from sight. Is this lab secretly a threat to the human world? Or is there more to it that you simply cannot understand?
Blippo+
Blippo+ is a live-action, off-cable TV simulator. Channel-surf the stars and discover the staticky, radical world of Planet Blip through its soaps, sitcoms, news, weather, and talk shows. But don’t touch that remote—everything’s about to get bent.
Scratch Inc.
Build an Empire, From Scratch, in this Scratch Card Idle/Incremental game.
Stellar Code
Mysterious phenomena from space. A researcher's fatal accident. Cryptic codes engraved on an unknown material. Together with your brilliant sister-in-law, you must unravel a mystery that could determine the fate of Earth. A sci-fi mystery visual novel of discovery and suspense.
Fate/hollow ataraxia REMASTERED
Relive the four days of destiny...
52 / 0 = ∞
This is a story with illustrations. You have to choose your destiny. You are obsessed with the idea of creating an ideal society. One day you come up with a genius idea, and you create a society that could live forever, BUT HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE!!?
Summer Pockets REFLECTION BLUE
No matter how much times passes... I remember that blue, blue summer. Summer Pockets, the midsummer story brought to you by Key, has been powered-up with even more to play, including new heroines and routes, in Summer Pockets REFLECTION BLUE, now available on Steam!
Shambles: Sons of Apocalypse
“The world you knew is already collapsed.”As an explorer in a bunker, explore a new world 500 years in the future and decide its fate. You can lead the world back to doom or bring it to peace. It all depends on your choices.
Pick Me Pick Me
Pick Me Pick Me throws you into the battlefield of love where you face off against a friend to charm quirky AI characters powered by a Large Language Model. Play your cards right to outflirt your rival to score the perfect date; embarrass yourself or fail to impress, & you'll get kicked to the curb!
Monster Prom 4: Monster Con
Can you find love at the nerdiest convention ever? "Monster Con" goes back to the multiplayer dating sim formula: go through absurd and funny situations as you find love among six sexy monsters! Who will you romance? The mimic who cosplays? The idol clown? Or the eldritch cutie? (There's also Liam)
Love Curse: Find Your Soulmate
Love Curse is a GL visual novel. You’ve fallen under a curse, and the only way to break it is to find your soulmate! The clock is ticking… Will you find true love? And what secrets will you uncover along the way?
The Chef's Shift
The Chef’s Shift is a fast-paced typing game in a restaurant setting, where you’ll both cook & serve food to hungry customers, all done by TYPING.
Love, Elections, and Chocolate
Love, Elections, and Chocolate is a romantic visual novel developed by the Japanese game studio Sprite. Upon its release in Japan, it garnered numerous awards for its exceptional art, captivating music, and well-crafted characters.
I'm Pregnant at 16
"I'm Pregnant at 16" is a visual novel about tough choices, growing up, and navigating relationships during an unexpected pregnancy. Personal stories and the consequences of decisions are balanced with awkward moments, chat messages, inner thoughts, and memes.
qualia
Intellica thanks you for volunteering in this short text-based Research Study. Pay attention to the participants answers, and classify them as either Human or Artificial. Join us in shaping the future of technology. Remember, think happy!
The Test: Reality Check
The Test: Reality Check is one of multiple installments in an ongoing social experiment that can be classified as an atmospheric, psychological-simulation with horror elements. Dive deep into your own psyche to find answers to questions you've kept locked away, hidden from yourself for far too long.
Never Second in Rome
Never Second in Rome is a turn-based historical game with RPG and management elements. You are a Roman centurion in the army of Julius Caesar. You will control both your character and the unit under his command.
Urban Myth Dissolution Center
Join forces with the psychic Director of the Urban Myth Dissolution Center and solve a variety of cases involving cursed relics, rental properties with shady histories, and dimensional anomalies. Monstrous oddities and otherworldly planes abound in this occult mystery adventure game!
The Butterfly Collector
investigate the evidence left by a stalker and kidnapper and track the fate of a college girl. The player advances and watches the plot by clicking to make choices for the heroine at key moments, with different choices leading to different endings.
The Chef's Shift: First Course
A fast-paced typing game in a restaurant setting, where you’ll both cook & serve food to hungry customers, all done by TYPING. Play through the Italian restaurant and get a taste of The Chef's Shift!
xiuzhen idle
This is a xiuzhen simulation placement game! From the refining of qi, building the foundation to the ascension of the celestial realm, crossed into the divine realm. （The game has been updated with the english mod, but you will need to select the "english" beta in the properties option to update it）