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55 Great Games Like Penrose

Our experts have spent time searching for great games similar to Penrose and have found the following:

Penrose is a text adventure, where you don't only read the story and choose its next step, but can go back into the text to change it in all sorts of mind-bending ways. As the develop describes it, "Penrose is a non-linear narrative adventure game about time, choice, and the nature of obsession."

Unfortunately, Penrose is not available on Mac, PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One or Xbox Series X|S. However, we recommend the following games that offer a similar experience or theme:

Penrose

Game Details

Release Date: 01/09/2020

Price: Free

Platforms: Android, Web and iOS

Content Rating: PEGI 12

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Players: 1

Genres: Brain Game, Narrative (Adventure and Creative)

Accessibility: 19 features

Components: 2D Side-On and Text

Developer: Double Speak Game (@DoubleSpeakGame)

Costs: Free

6 Similar Games Short List

Here are our hand-picked short list of similar games; the perfect thing to play next if you enjoyed Penrose. We don't use automatic matching, instead, we hand-pick games that are good to play if you have enjoyed Penrose.

Knights of San Francisco

Release Date: 04/05/2021, updated in 2022

Platforms: Android and iOS

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On

Knights of San Francisco is a text adventure with simulated combat. Through a series of textual choices and encounters, you explore what remains of the ancient city of San Francisco. It stands out for a complex evolving world and simulated combat all...

Dear Reader

Release Date: 19/09/2019, updated in 2021

Platforms: Apple TV, Mac and iOS

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On

Dear Reader is a word puzzle game. It takes classical literature and (by removing words, rearranging passages and introducing spelling errors) it tasks you with the puzzle of proofreading. Progression through the game unlocks numerous works that are...

Elsinore

Release Date: 22/07/2019

Platforms: Mac and PC

Components: 2D Overhead and Cartoon

Elsinore is a mystery-adventure set in Shakespeare's Hamlet. You play Elsinore who repeats the same four days as she tries to find a way to avoid the tragedy that lies before her.

Last Stop

Release Date: 22/07/2021

Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S

Components: 3D First-Person and Cartoon

Last Stop is an adventure set in London. You play three interconnected characters, making choices that shape their conversations, and determine where their stories lead.

Where the Heart Leads

Release Date: 13/07/2021

Platforms: PS4

Components: 3D Third-Person

Where the Heart Leads is an adventure game where you make life-choices and then see their impact. You play Whit Anderson, as he revisits and alters his past, present, and future. It's a game that creates a surreal dream-like narrative, but one that is...

Storyteller

Release Date: 23/03/2023

Platforms: Mac, PC and Switch

Skill Rating: 9+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Hand-Made

Storyteller is a puzzle game about building stories. You use a set of icons to match what is happening in each frame of the story. It's a simple challenge that gets the mind-stretching as you construct some of history’s greatest stories using building...

37 Similar Games Long List

Here are our hand-picked long list of similar games; the perfect thing to play next if you enjoyed Penrose. We don't use automatic matching, instead, we hand-pick games that are good to play if you have enjoyed Penrose.

Before Your Eyes

Release Date: 08/04/2021, updated in 2022

Platforms: Android, PC and iOS

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 3D First-Person and Cartoon

Before Your Eyes is a narrative game about an 11-year-old boy revisiting his life before "crossing over" to the other side. You play by exploring scenes that represent snapshots of his life. Unusually, you make choices and interact with the game by...

Everybody's Gone to the Rapture

Release Date: 12/08/2015, updated in 2016

Platforms: Mac, PC and PS4

Components: 3D First-Person and Open World

Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture lands you in a fictional deserted English village in 1984. As you walk the streets of another era you discover bright human forms who re-enact events like a radio play. Through their eyes, you see a web of fear,...

Bury Me My Love

Release Date: 26/10/2017, updated in 2020

Platforms: Android, Mac, PC, Switch and iOS

Skill Rating: 11+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On, Cartoon and Text

Bury Me My Love is a narrative adventure game where you play the husband of a Syrian woman, Nour, travelling to Europe. Play involves receiving and sending simple messages where Nout tells you how she is getting on and you influence her choices. It...

Wordle

Release Date: 20/12/2021

Platforms: Web

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead, Grid and Text

Wordle is a daily puzzle game where you (and anyone else playing that day) try and guess the secret word. You get six guesses that must be real words. Each letter is then coloured to provide clues: green for right letter in the right place, yellow for...

Sticky Terms

Release Date: 01/03/2020

Platforms: Android and iOS

Components: 2D Side-On and Text

Sticky Terms is a puzzle game where you construct words from other languages with portions of letters. You rotate, drag and overlap the different elements to create words, once you do you are rewarded with a drum hit and a definition of the word.

Her Story

Release Date: 24/06/2015

Platforms: Android, Mac, PC and iOS

Components: Filmed

Solve the 1994 mystery of a murdered man by searching an old police computer archive of interview videos of his wife. The game presents a retro computer interface but the interviews themselves are short films with real actors. Although there are only...

Lifeline

Lifeline (Series)

Release Date: 16/04/2015, updated in 2016

Platforms: Android, Mac, PC and iOS

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 3D First-Person and Text

Lifeline is a narrative adventure where you interact with an astronaut, Taylor via text messages. You help him return home after crashing his aircraft on a foreign planet.

A Dark Room

Release Date: 10/06/2013, updated in 2019

Platforms: Switch and iOS

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: Open World and Text

A Dark Room is an adventure where you try and survive in the wild. The world is depicted with just text but leads you into a dense narrative with intriguing visitors and a steadily expanding world. It has a simple start – a single option to stoke a...

Telling Lies

Release Date: 31/07/2019, updated in 2020

Platforms: Mac, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S

Components: Filmed

Telling Lies is from the same developer as Her Story. It's named as an investigative thriller game with non-linear storytelling by the developer.

Closed Hands

Release Date: 05/03/2021

Platforms: Mac and PC

Components: 2D Side-On and Text

Closed Hands is a text adventure game set in the lead-up and aftermath of a terror attack in a fictional UK city. You follow five core characters brought together by the same event. It's a branching story that you discover and influence as you read and...

Samsara Room

Release Date: 06/09/2013, updated in 2020

Platforms: Android, Mac, PC and iOS

Skill Rating: 13+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Hand-Made

Samsara Room is an abstract point-and-click puzzle-horror game. By solving the puzzles hidden throughout the room, you uncover an uneasy story about judgement and atonement told through the things you find.

Babble Royale

Release Date: 15/12/2021

Platforms: PC

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead, Grid and Text

Babble Royale is a puzzle word game played against 16 other players online. You simultaneously race to make words as in Scrabble. Here though, you do this to inch across the board and stay out of the encroaching storm.

Fate of Kai

Release Date: 19/03/2021

Platforms: Android, PC and iOS

Components: 2D Side-On and Hand-Made

Fate of Kai is a narrative puzzle game where you control the story rather than the characters. You discover Kai's story by walking through the panels of a comic book. It's a tale about a boy who wakes in a strange land handcuffed to a mysterious chest....

Frequency Missing

Release Date: 07/11/2018

Platforms: Android and iOS

Components: 2D Side-On

This is a point and click adventure. You play young radio reporter Patricia who has just started her first job at a radio station. However, strange things are happening. Richard, her friend who got her the job has vanished and someone is tampering with...

Kind Words

Release Date: 12/11/2019

Platforms: PC

Components: 2D Side-On and Text

Kind Words is unusual because of the main interaction. You write letters to real people and receive back encouraging letters in return. Set in a cosy room with soft furnishings and relaxing music, it creates a space in which to find support and...

Ord

PEGI 3 Video Game Age Rating for Ord in UK and Europe

Ord

Release Date: 05/06/2019, updated in 2020

Platforms: Android, Mac, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One and iOS

Skill Rating: 11+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Text

Ord is an unusual text adventure, rather than one grand story, you embark on a series of distinct quests. Whether it's defeating an evil warlock or creating your own world as a god, Ord tells stories through simple series of words and word associations...

SpellTower

Release Date: 25/06/2012

Platforms: iOS

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Text

Spelltower+ is a word-spotting game a little like Boggle mixed with Tetris. As you play, more tiles rise from the bottom of the screen so you need to pick good words to clear down the letters and avoid any letters make it to the top row.

Kentucky Route Zero

Kentucky Route Zero (Series)

Release Date: 07/01/2013, updated in 2019

Platforms: PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Components: 2D Overhead

Kentucky Route Zero is a magical realist adventure game in five acts. This means that you explore a deep and rich world backed by haunting electronic music and hymns to unfold a story of unpayable debts, abandoned futures, and the human drive to find...

Words For A Bird

Release Date: 04/06/2020

Platforms: Android and iOS

Skill Rating: 5+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On

Words For A Bird is a short adventure you play by completing sentences. You follow the story of a purple bird. Each sentence is completed with letters from the tree in which the bird sits, along with a clue tile in the middle of the screen.

Rusty Lake Hotel

Release Date: 14/12/2015, updated in 2016

Platforms: Android, Mac, PC and iOS

Skill Rating: 12+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Hand-Made

Rusty Lake Hotel is a surreal point-and-click adventure with a tangential horror narrative. While set in the same universe as the other games in the Rusty Lake series, it tells its own standalone story that only shares loose connections with the other...

Say No More

Release Date: 09/04/2021

Platforms: PC, Switch and iOS

Components: 3D Third-Person and Cartoon

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Typoman

Release Date: 19/11/2015, updated in 2017

Platforms: Android, PC, PS4, Switch, Wii U, Xbox One and iOS

Components: 2D Side-On and Hand-Made

Typoman is a running, jumping puzzle game where you use letters and words to solve puzzles and progress. You play as a character made of letters in a hostile land with evil creatures. As this unusual character, you make your way through the world...

Buddy Simulator 1984

Release Date: 18/02/2021

Platforms: PC

Skill Rating: 15+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Pixels

Buddy Simulator 1984 is an adventure horror game. What starts as a retro-themed set of mini-games soon evolves into a tale of anxiety, friendship and depression as your buddy makes new games for you to play each with creepy anomalies and glitches. It's...

Monorail Stories

Release Date: 30/09/2022

Platforms: Mac, PC and Switch

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Pixels

Monorail Stories is a narrative adventure where two people's lives are entwined by the journeys they take on the same monorail. You make choices for each character that can impact not only people on your commute but those on the other journey. It's...

Letter Rooms

Release Date: 26/05/2021

Platforms: iOS

Skill Rating: 9+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On

Letter Rooms is a simple anagram puzzle game. You get a hint and a set of letters and rearrange them to create the answer. This starts simply but adds more complexity like turning letters on and off or flipping letters.

The Case of the Golden Idol

Release Date: 13/10/2022

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Skill Rating: 11+ year-olds

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The Case of the Golden Idol is a point-and-click adventure set in the 18^th century, where you attempt to solve 12 gruesome deaths. You play by investigating each scene to gather information in the form of words that you piece together to make statements...

VA-11 Hall-A

Release Date: 21/06/2016, updated in 2019

Platforms: Mac, PC, PS Vita, PS4 and Switch

Skill Rating: 9+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead and Pixels

VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action, to use its full name, is a narrative game about a futuristic bar "VA-11's Hall-A", known locally as Valhalla. You serve drinks and talk to customers, to learn their stories and piece together the daily struggle...

Letters: A Written Adventure

Release Date: 09/02/2022

Platforms: Mac, PC and Switch

Components: 2D Side-On and Text

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Nanotale - Typing Chronicles

Nanotale - Typing Chronicles (Series)

Release Date: 23/09/2019, updated in 2021

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Nanotale is an adventure game where you type to progress through a magical planet on the brink of extinction. You play as Rosalind, a novice Archivist, in a journey to study and catalogue the mysteries of the dying planet. Your goal is to gather rock &...

One Button Travel

Release Date: 26/11/2015

Platforms: iOS

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead and Text

One Button Travel is a stylish text adventure where you communicate across time to try and cancel your permanent holiday in a dystopian future. You try and save your accomplice, who's already stuck in the future, by making choices and solving puzzles....

Writer's Block

Release Date: 28/08/2022

Platforms: PC

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Hand-Made

Writer’s Block is a word puzzle game where you create words to fight. You take on quests and spell words to beat or evade the strange opponents. It's an unusual combination of combat and vocabulary where you battle mental monsters standing in the way...

Choice of Robots

Release Date: 19/12/2014

Platforms: Android, Mac, PC and iOS

Components: 2D Side-On and Text

Choice of Robots is a text adventure game where you make choices to affect the story. Unlike other choose-your-own-adventure games here you are designing robots. How you put them together and treat them will change the world. Will you show them the true...

Letter Quest Remastered

Letter Quest Remastered (Series)

Release Date: 06/08/2015, updated in 2017

Platforms: Mac, PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 7+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Hand-Made

Letter Quest: Grimm's Journey Remastered is an adventure game where you use words to defeat monsters, ghosts, and evil bunnies. You play by spelling words to trigger attacks and cast spells. It's a novel combination of Scrabble and a classic adventure...

Midnight Protocol

Release Date: 13/10/2021

Platforms: Mac and PC

Skill Rating: 13+ year-olds

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Midnight Protocol is a strategy game about hacking that is controlled entirely with the keyboard. You type commands and interactions to hack into different systems and drain them of resources while trying to keep yourself hidden and safe. It's this...

Roadwarden

Release Date: 12/09/2022

Platforms: Mac and PC

Skill Rating: 9+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On, Pixels and Text

Roadwarden is a narrative text-adventure where you work as a sheriff trying to keep the peace (and trade) on the central roads of their community. What you do is similar to other adventure games (explore a dark fantasy world, interact with locals) but...

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Release Date: 23/10/2011

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These Robotic Hearts of Mine is a narrative puzzle game where you uncover a metaphorical story by completing levels. Unusually, the levels don't tell the story directly. They are difficult rotation-based Rubik's cube-inspired puzzles. But they are also...

22 Younger Content Rating than Penrose

If Penrose is not age appropriate for your child, here are similar games ordered by age rating so you can find an age-appropriate alternative that’s also a game they will love.

Letter Quest Remastered

Samsara Room

Writer's Block

These Robotic Hearts of Mine

11 Easier Skill Rating than Penrose

If you like the sound of Penrose but find it too complex or challenging, the games in this section offer a similar experience but with a lower Skill Rating.

Words For A Bird

Letter Quest Remastered

A Dark Room

Writer's Block

Knights of San Francisco

1 Board Game Alternative to Penrose

This is our hand-picked alternative to Penrose. This doesn't use automatic matching, instead, we hand-pick games that are good to play if you have enjoyed Labyrinth. These selections also include games that offer a different experience but address a similar theme or topic.

Allegory

16 Video Games Like Penrose Based on Genre

These are games of a similar genre mix to Penrose. This includes games from the Adventure, Creative, Narrative and Brain Game genres. We pick out games of a similar PEGI rating to further hone these generated suggestions.

Ghost Trick

Alt-Frequencies

Last Stop

Where the Heart Leads

Quadrilateral Cowboy

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney

Cris Tales

The Solitaire Conspiracy

Orwell: Keeping an Eye On You

Letters: A Written Adventure

Albert Wilde: Quantum P.I.

Signalis

16 Video Games With More Documented Accessibility Features than Penrose

If you like the sound of Penrose but it doesn’t offer the accessibility you require, the games in this section offer a similar experience but with more Accessibility Features. You can view a full breakdown in our Penrose Accessibility Report.

Nanotale - Typing Chronicles

Letters: A Written Adventure

One Button Travel

Penrose is in These Lists

In addition to the similar games listed above, which have been linked to this game specifically in the database, you may find games with a similar theme to Penrose in the following lists:

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Curated lists:
Game genre:
Style of Play:
Components:

How long to play:
User-generated content:	No
Accessibility features:	Yes

Controls
Gamepad:
Mouse And Keyboard:
Touchscreen:
Motion:	Motion Aiming Motion Pointing Motion Tilting Motion Gesture Motion Camera
Remap Controls:
Button Combinations:	Holding Down Buttons Optional Rapid Repeated Pressing Optional No Simultaneous Buttons
Controller Vibration:
Sensitivity:

Getting Started
Onboarding Before Play:
Assistance Getting Starting:	Tutorials Practice Area View Control Mapping Assistance With Controls Reaction-Time Not Critical Low Pressure Adjust Speed No Jump Scares
Assistance For Progressing:	Guaranteed Progress With God Mode Bank Progress With Frequent Checkpoints Assisted Progress With Boosts Assisted Progress With Hints Assisted Recall for Characters Assisted Recall for Narrative and Dialogue Save Progress Anytime

Reading
Reading Level:
Text Visibility:	Large Clear Text High Contrast Text
Subtitles:
Captions:
Voice Acted:

Navigation
Clarity:
Head-Up Display:
Menu Navigation:

Visual
Contrast:
Interactive Elements:
Visual Distractions:
Audio Cues for Visual Events:
Narration for Visual Elements:
	Motion Sickness Friendly
Colour Options:
Play Without Sight:
Violence:

Audio
	Balance Audio Levels
Audio Events:
	Play Without Hearing

Communication
Player-to-Player Online Communication:
Online Communication Assistance:

Difficulty
Difficulty Options:	Simple and Full Version No Memorisation Advantage No Hidden Information No Deceit Advantage No Colour Advantage No Mathematics Advantage No Weighing Decisions

Getting Started
Assistance Getting Started:	Clear Manual Electronic Version of Manual Electronic Version of Manual for Screen Readers Getting Started Video Digital Version Reference Aid
Assistance Progressing:	Play Order Tokens (Or play order doesn’t change) Reaction-Time Not Critical Low Pressure Low Impact Catch Up Rule

Reading
Reading Level:
Necessary Text Visibility:	Large Clear Text on Board (Or no text required) Large Clear Text on Cards (Or no text required) High Contrast Text (Or no text required) QR Code For Text (Or no text required) Primary and Secondary Text Distinguishable (Or no text required) Information Orientation Clear Icons

Physical
Pieces:	Components are Distinguishable by Touch Components are Replaceable No Non-Standard Dice (Or No Dice) No Tiny Pieces No Paper Money No Sprawl
Cards:	Large Card Size Standard Card Shape Limited Hand Management No Excessive Card Shuffling No Right-Handed Advantage
Placement:	No Unbound Placement Player Components Not Shared No Fiddly Placement Easily Verbalised Actions

Visual
Printed Visibility:	Colour Blind Friendly Design Double-Coding Colour High Contrast Colours
Component Identifiability:	Outline Key Elements No Busy Backgrounds Easily Verbalised Game State No Close Inspection Disadvantage Playable Without Sight

Audio
Communication:	Audio Cues Mirrored Visually (Or no critical audio signals) No Pressured Reveals No Pressured Communication Playable Without Hearing

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55 Great Games Like Penrose

Game Details

6 Similar Games Short List

37 Similar Games Long List

22 Younger Content Rating than Penrose

11 Easier Skill Rating than Penrose

1 Board Game Alternative to Penrose

16 Video Games Like Penrose Based on Genre

16 Video Games With More Documented Accessibility Features than Penrose

Penrose is in These Lists

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