Choose Waves
Choose Waves if you want an Indie experience. On Steam, it carries the stronger Steam consensus at 95.6% positive across 884 reviews.
Waves vs Waves 2: Notorious
Waves and Waves 2: Notorious both land in Action on Steam, which is why they keep getting compared. The comparison below is built from each game's Steam metadata — release year, genres, categories, Steam Deck status, price, and review score — refreshed daily by imho.run's scraper. Headline differences: Both are Action games on Steam. Waves (2011) is 4 years older than Waves 2: Notorious (2015). Waves scores higher on Steam reviews (95.6% positive) than Waves 2: Notorious (87.6% positive). No login or purchase needed — scroll for the full table, the verdict FAQ, and links to ranked similar games for both titles.
Which should you pick?
Choose Waves 2: Notorious
Choose Waves 2: Notorious if you want an Early Access game with Multi-player, Online PvP, and PvP. On Steam, it's the newer release (2015) and ships with the modern feature baseline. Waves 2: Notorious launched in 2015.
Both Waves and Waves 2: Notorious sit in Action on Steam and both list Steam Leaderboards, so either pick lands in the same broad neighborhood. Use the side-by-side table for the feature view, or follow the "Games like" links below to see ranked alternatives for either title.
Side-by-side comparison
 Waves |  Waves 2: Notorious | |
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2011 | 2015 |
| Genres | Action, Indie | Action, Early Access |
| Platforms | Windows | Windows, Linux |
| Steam Deck | Deck Verified | Unrated |
| Price | Free to play | Free to play |
| Steam reviews | 95.6% positive (884 reviews) | 87.6% positive (137 reviews) |
| Multiplayer | Single-player only | Multi-player |
| Developers | Squid In A Box Ltd | Squid In A Box Ltd |
Side by side
- Both are Action games on Steam.
- Waves (2011) is 4 years older than Waves 2: Notorious (2015).
- Waves scores higher on Steam reviews (95.6% positive) than Waves 2: Notorious (87.6% positive).
- Both are free to play.
- Waves is Deck Verified on Steam Deck; Waves 2: Notorious has no Deck rating yet.
Waves vs Waves 2: Notorious — FAQ
- Which is better, Waves or Waves 2: Notorious?
- On Steam reviews Waves scores higher (95.6% positive) than Waves 2: Notorious (87.6% positive). Both have enough reviews to trust the signal, so for players using reviews alone, Waves is the safer pick. Genre fit still matters — check the side-by-side table for the categories each game lands in.
- Should I play Waves or Waves 2: Notorious first?
- If you want chronology, Waves (2011) came out before Waves 2: Notorious (2015). If neither is a sequel to the other, order doesn't really matter — start with whichever fits your current mood, since both share enough on Steam to make either a reasonable opener.
- Are Waves and Waves 2: Notorious similar?
- They overlap on Action on Steam, so the catalogue groups them together — but "similar" depends on the specific mechanics. Use the genre + category rows above to decide whether the overlap matches what drew you to the one you've already played.
- Does Waves have multiplayer like Waves 2: Notorious?
- No. Waves 2: Notorious supports multiplayer on Steam (Multi-player), while Waves is listed as single-player only.
- Does Waves run on Steam Deck?
- Yes — Waves is rated Deck Verified by Valve. Waves 2: Notorious doesn't have a Deck rating yet, so its Deck behaviour is currently unverified.