Choose Waves
Choose Waves if you want the Steam Leaderboards side of the pairing. On Steam, it carries the stronger Steam consensus at 95.6% positive across 884 reviews.
Waves vs Echoes+
Waves and Echoes+ both land in Action, Indie 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 share Action, Indie on Steam. Waves (2011) is 4 years older than Echoes+ (2015). Waves scores higher on Steam reviews (95.6% positive) than Echoes+ (89.9% 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 Echoes+
Choose Echoes+ if you want a Free To Play experience. On Steam, it's the newer release (2015) and ships with the modern feature baseline. Echoes+ launched in 2015.
Both Waves and Echoes+ sit in Action and Indie on Steam, 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 |  Echoes+ | |
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2011 | 2015 |
| Genres | Action, Indie | Action, Indie, Free To Play |
| Platforms | Windows | Windows, macOS |
| Steam Deck | Deck Verified | Unrated |
| Price | Free to play | Free to play |
| Steam reviews | 95.6% positive (884 reviews) | 89.9% positive (527 reviews) |
| Multiplayer | Single-player only | Single-player only |
| Developers | Squid In A Box Ltd | Binary Zoo |
Side by side
- Both share Action, Indie on Steam.
- Waves (2011) is 4 years older than Echoes+ (2015).
- Waves scores higher on Steam reviews (95.6% positive) than Echoes+ (89.9% positive).
- Both are free to play.
- Waves is Deck Verified on Steam Deck; Echoes+ has no Deck rating yet.
Waves vs Echoes+ — FAQ
- Which is better, Waves or Echoes+?
- On Steam reviews Waves scores higher (95.6% positive) than Echoes+ (89.9% 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 Echoes+ first?
- If you want chronology, Waves (2011) came out before Echoes+ (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 Echoes+ similar?
- They overlap on Action, Indie 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 run on Steam Deck?
- Yes — Waves is rated Deck Verified by Valve. Echoes+ doesn't have a Deck rating yet, so its Deck behaviour is currently unverified.