Choose NERTS! Online
Choose NERTS! Online if you want a Free To Play experience. On Steam, it carries the stronger Steam consensus at 95.6% positive across 1,467 reviews.
NERTS! Online vs Exploding Kittens® 2
NERTS! Online and Exploding Kittens® 2 both land in Action, Indie, Casual 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, Casual on Steam. NERTS! Online (2021) is 3 years older than Exploding Kittens® 2 (2024). NERTS! Online scores higher on Steam reviews (95.6% positive) than Exploding Kittens® 2 (78.1% 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 Exploding Kittens® 2
Choose Exploding Kittens® 2 if you want a Strategy and Simulation experience. On Steam, it's the newer release (2024) and ships with the modern feature baseline. Exploding Kittens® 2 launched in 2024.
Both NERTS! Online and Exploding Kittens® 2 sit in Action, Indie, and Casual on Steam and both list Multi-player, Online PvP, and PvP, 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
 NERTS! Online |  Exploding Kittens® 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2021 | 2024 |
| Genres | Action, Indie, Free To Play, Casual | Action, Strategy, Indie, Simulation, Casual |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows |
| Steam Deck | Unrated | Deck Unsupported |
| Price | Free to play | 12.49 USD |
| Steam reviews | 95.6% positive (1,467 reviews) | 78.1% positive (224 reviews) |
| Multiplayer | Multi-player | Multi-player |
| Developers | Zachtronics | Marmalade Game Studio Ltd |
Side by side
- Both share Action, Indie, Casual on Steam.
- NERTS! Online (2021) is 3 years older than Exploding Kittens® 2 (2024).
- NERTS! Online scores higher on Steam reviews (95.6% positive) than Exploding Kittens® 2 (78.1% positive).
- NERTS! Online is free; Exploding Kittens® 2 is paid (12.49 USD).
- Exploding Kittens® 2 is Deck Unsupported on Steam Deck; NERTS! Online has no Deck rating yet.
NERTS! Online vs Exploding Kittens® 2 — FAQ
- Which is better, NERTS! Online or Exploding Kittens® 2?
- On Steam reviews NERTS! Online scores higher (95.6% positive) than Exploding Kittens® 2 (78.1% positive). Both have enough reviews to trust the signal, so for players using reviews alone, NERTS! Online is the safer pick. Genre fit still matters — check the side-by-side table for the categories each game lands in.
- Should I play NERTS! Online or Exploding Kittens® 2 first?
- If you want chronology, NERTS! Online (2021) came out before Exploding Kittens® 2 (2024). 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 NERTS! Online and Exploding Kittens® 2 similar?
- They overlap on Action, Indie, Casual 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.
- Is NERTS! Online free?
- Yes — NERTS! Online is a free-to-play Steam title. Exploding Kittens® 2 is paid (12.49 USD).