Games like Returnal™
If Returnal™ is your kind of game, the closest matches are Risk of Rain 2, Risk of Rain Returns and Nuclear Throne — picked from the ranked list below. Reviewers single out its gunplay feels distinct, atmospheric and challenging. Each pick is ranked by what players of this game also play, shared genres and tags, and review-mined similarity — not a generic popularity list.
Get personalized picks →Returnal is a 2023 action game from Housemarque and Climax Studios that tasks players with navigating procedurally generated biomes on an alien world. The core gameplay loop centers on bullet-hell combat, tactical positioning, and acquiring weapon upgrades across runs. Players describe the experience as atmospheric and dark, with reviewers highlighting a challenging-but-fair difficulty curve and gunplay that feels distinct. Movement mechanics are praised as fluid and responsive, while the layered narrative adds emotional depth to the sci-fi setting. The game carries a price tag of $59.99 and holds an 81% positive rating from over 4,400 Steam reviews. Notably, Returnal is not supported on Steam Deck.
About Returnal™: BREAK THE CYCLE Fight to survive as this award-winning third-person shooter brings Selene’s story to PC. Take on roguelike challenges. Engage enemies in bullet hell-fuelled clashes. Share your journey through Returnal™ with another player.
Players who liked Returnal™ also play
Steam players who put hours into Returnal™ also tend to own these titles — a signal called collaborative filtering. imho.run cross-references millions of library ownership patterns to surface games whose real audiences overlap, regardless of whether their genre tags match.
Risk of Rain 2
WHY THIS
Shares a challenging mood with Returnal™.
Top pick for Returnal™ fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Action with Returnal™.
Escape a chaotic alien planet by fighting through hordes of frenzied monsters – with your friends, or on your own. Combine loot in surprising ways and master each character until you become the havoc you feared upon your first crash landing.
Risk of Rain Returns
WHY THIS
Shares procedural generation and a challenging mood with Returnal™.
Second-strongest match for Returnal™ fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Action with Returnal™.
Carefully designed, beautifully remastered, and loaded with new ways to play—Risk of Rain is back and better than ever! Dive into the iconic roguelike full of unique loot combinations, enhanced with new Survivors, overhauled multiplayer, fan favorite content from Risk of Rain 2, and more!
Nuclear Throne
WHY THIS
Third-strongest match for Returnal™ fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Action with Returnal™.
Nuclear Throne is a post-apocalyptic roguelike-like top-down shooter. Not 'the final hope of humanity' post-apocalyptic, but 'humanity is extinct and mutants and monsters now roam the world' post-apocalyptic. Can you reach the Nuclear Throne?
Roboquest
WHY THIS
Shares a challenging mood with Returnal™.
Ranked #4 for Returnal™ fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Action with Returnal™.
Roboquest is a fast FPS Roguelite in a scorched futureworld. You're a rebooted Guardian, ready to kick some metal ass! Fight with your buddy or by yourself and annihilate hordes of deadly bots in ever-changing environments.
CRYPTARK
WHY THIS
Shares procedural generation and an atmospheric mood with Returnal™.
Ranked #5 for Returnal™ fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Action with Returnal™.
Cryptark is a 2D sci-fi shooter where you take on the role of a heavily armed privateer seeking to earn government contracts by boarding deadly alien space-hulks. It's up to you to strategize a plan of attack, pick an equipment loadout, and destroy the central core to be victorious.
The Flame in the Flood
WHY THIS
Shares procedural generation and an atmospheric mood with Returnal™.
Ranked #6 for Returnal™ fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Action with Returnal™.
A rogue-like river journey through the backwaters of a forgotten post-societal America. Forage, craft, evade predators.
HELLDIVERS™ 2
WHY THIS
Shares a dark mood with Returnal™.
Ranked #7 for Returnal™ fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Action with Returnal™.
The Galaxy’s Last Line of Offence. Enlist in the Helldivers and join the fight for freedom across a hostile galaxy in a fast, frantic, and ferocious third-person shooter.
ArcRunner
WHY THIS
Shares an atmospheric mood with Returnal™.
Ranked #8 for Returnal™ fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Action with Returnal™.
Traverse 'The Arc' in this beautiful, Cyberpunk-styled action rogue-lite as you attempt to reset an evil rogue AI. Experiment with different weapons and augments as you fight hordes of machines programmed for your annihilation! Collect Nanites & power-up after every run either solo or with friends!
Reviewers mention these as similar to Returnal™
Surfaced from review text: when other players write 'if you liked X, try Y', we catch the name and resolve it back to a Steam game.
Risk of Rain 2
WHY THIS
Shares a challenging mood with Returnal™.
Reviewers of Returnal™ cross-mention this title as a similar play. Shares Action with Returnal™.
Escape a chaotic alien planet by fighting through hordes of frenzied monsters – with your friends, or on your own. Combine loot in surprising ways and master each character until you become the havoc you feared upon your first crash landing.
Remnant: From the Ashes
WHY THIS
Shares procedural generation and an atmospheric mood with Returnal™.
Reviewers of Returnal™ cross-mention this title as a similar play. Shares Action with Returnal™.
The world has been thrown into chaos by an ancient evil from another dimension. As one of the last remnants of humanity, you must set out alone or alongside up to two other survivors to face down hordes of deadly enemies to try to carve a foothold, rebuild, and retake what was lost.
Enter the Gungeon
WHY THIS
Shares bullet hell, procedural generation and a dark mood with Returnal™.
Reviewers of Returnal™ cross-mention this title as a similar play. Shares Action with Returnal™.
Enter the Gungeon is a bullet hell dungeon crawler following a band of misfits seeking to shoot, loot, dodge roll and table-flip their way to personal absolution by reaching the legendary Gungeon’s ultimate treasure: the gun that can kill the past.
NieR:Automata™
WHY THIS
Shares an atmospheric mood with Returnal™.
Reviewers of Returnal™ cross-mention this title as a similar play. Shares Action with Returnal™.
NieR: Automata tells the story of androids 2B, 9S and A2 and their battle to reclaim the machine-driven dystopia overrun by powerful machines.
Demon's Soulbound
WHY THIS
Reviewers of Returnal™ cross-mention this title as a similar play.
Demon's Soulbound is a gay bara adult 3rd person point'n click adventure about domination, bdsm, sex between men and monsters, and serving a demon master.
Alan Wake
WHY THIS
Shares an atmospheric mood with Returnal™.
Reviewers of Returnal™ cross-mention this title as a similar play. Shares Action with Returnal™.
A Dark Presence stalks the small town of Bright Falls, pushing Alan Wake to the brink of sanity in his fight to unravel the mystery and save his love.
Quake
WHY THIS
Shares an atmospheric mood with Returnal™.
Reviewers of Returnal™ cross-mention this title as a similar play. Shares Action with Returnal™.
Developed by the award-winning id Software, Quake® is the ground-breaking, original dark fantasy first-person shooter that inspires today’s retro-style FPS games. With Quake (Enhanced), experience the authentic, updated, and visually enhanced version of the original.
SOULS
WHY THIS
Shares a dark mood with Returnal™.
Reviewers of Returnal™ cross-mention this title as a similar play.
One day, the boy meets a monster, with whom he builds a strange relationship that is neither friend, nor family, nor owner and pet. How will the boy's future change?
Cheaper alternatives
Games in the same vein priced at least 40% below Returnal™ at current Steam store prices.
Phasmophobia
WHY THIS
Priced ~67% under Returnal™ on Steam right now. Shares Action with Returnal™.
Phasmophobia is a 4 player online co-op psychological horror. Paranormal activity is on the rise and it’s up to you and your team to use all the ghost-hunting equipment at your disposal in order to gather as much evidence as you can.
Lethal Company
WHY THIS
Priced ~83% under Returnal™ on Steam right now. Shares Action with Returnal™.
A co-op horror about scavenging at abandoned moons to sell scrap to the Company.
Left 4 Dead 2
WHY THIS
Priced ~83% under Returnal™ on Steam right now. Shares Action with Returnal™.
Set in the zombie apocalypse, Left 4 Dead 2 is a co-operative action horror FPS takes you and your friends through the cities, swamps and cemeteries of the Deep South, from Savannah to New Orleans across five expansive campaigns.
Schedule I
WHY THIS
Priced ~67% under Returnal™ on Steam right now. Shares Action with Returnal™.
From small-time dope pusher to kingpin - manufacture and distribute a range of drugs throughout the grungy city of Hyland Point. Expand your empire with properties, businesses, employees and more.
Hollow Knight
WHY THIS
Priced ~75% under Returnal™ on Steam right now. Shares Action with Returnal™.
Forge your own path in Hollow Knight! An epic action adventure through a vast ruined kingdom of insects and heroes. Explore twisting caverns, battle tainted creatures and befriend bizarre bugs, all in a classic, hand-drawn 2D style.
The Forest
WHY THIS
Priced ~67% under Returnal™ on Steam right now. Shares Action with Returnal™.
As the lone survivor of a passenger jet crash, you find yourself in a mysterious forest battling to stay alive against a society of cannibalistic mutants. Build, explore, survive in this terrifying first person survival horror simulator.
People Playground
WHY THIS
Priced ~83% under Returnal™ on Steam right now. Shares Action with Returnal™.
Shoot, stab, burn, poison, tear, vaporise, or crush ragdolls in a large open space.
Free alternatives
Free-to-play games that recommended players of this title also tend to enjoy.
Life is Strange - Episode 1
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Action with Returnal™.
Episode 1 now FREE! Life is Strange is an award-winning and critically acclaimed episodic adventure game that allows the player to rewind time and affect the past, present and future.
Ultimate Custom Night
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Action with Returnal™.
Welcome to the ultimate FNAF mashup, featuring 50 selectable characters and custom difficulties!
Indigo Park: Chapter 1
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Action with Returnal™.
Explore the abandoned childhood wonder of Indigo Park! Guided by Rambley the Raccoon, help restore power to the destroyed amusement park while you run from the reason it shut down.
Counter-Strike:Global Offensive
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Action with Returnal™.
Counter-Strike:Global Offensive (CS:GO) expands upon the team-based action gameplay that it pioneered when it was launched over 2 decades ago. CS:GO features new maps, characters, weapons, and game modes, and delivers updated versions of the classic CS content (de_dust2, etc.).
missed messages.
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it.
‘goth gf’s iPhone’ airdrops you - accept or decline? A love/horror story about life, death, & memes.
Grimm's Hollow
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it.
A spooky, freeware RPG where you search the afterlife for your brother. Reap ghosts with your scythe, explore haunted caves, and eat ghostly treats on your journey through death.
Narrow it down
Head-to-head comparisons
More from Housemarque
Other recommendable Steam games by Housemarque, ranked by review count so the studio's hits land first.
Nex Machina
WHY THIS
Shares a challenging mood with Returnal™.
Another title from Housemarque, the studio behind Returnal™. Shares Action with Returnal™.
Nex Machina is an intense arcade style twin-stick shooter from Housemarque. Taking hints from both Robotron and Smash TV, Nex Machina focuses on pure action, voxel destruction and competition in the distant, cablepunk themed future.
Outland
WHY THIS
Shares an atmospheric mood with Returnal™.
Another title from Housemarque, the studio behind Returnal™. Shares Action with Returnal™.
Outland is a fast-paced, dynamic platformer where the player uses powers of light and dark in an epic journey to save the world from forces of chaos.
STORMDIVERS
WHY THIS
Another title from Housemarque, the studio behind Returnal™. Shares Action with Returnal™.
Housemarque's first gaming experience of a new era. Stormdivers is a 3rd person multiplayer centric shooter game, featuring chaotic battles and volatile explosions amidst a recurring nano-storm that swallows the beautiful and lush island surroundings to explore.
Plays great on Steam Deck
Valve-Verified or Playable picks from the similar pool — ready to go on Deck out of the box.
Risk of Rain Returns
WHY THIS
Shares procedural generation and a challenging mood with Returnal™.
Deck Verified — runs on Steam Deck out of the box. Shares Action with Returnal™.
Carefully designed, beautifully remastered, and loaded with new ways to play—Risk of Rain is back and better than ever! Dive into the iconic roguelike full of unique loot combinations, enhanced with new Survivors, overhauled multiplayer, fan favorite content from Risk of Rain 2, and more!
Nuclear Throne
WHY THIS
Deck Verified — runs on Steam Deck out of the box. Shares Action with Returnal™.
Nuclear Throne is a post-apocalyptic roguelike-like top-down shooter. Not 'the final hope of humanity' post-apocalyptic, but 'humanity is extinct and mutants and monsters now roam the world' post-apocalyptic. Can you reach the Nuclear Throne?
CRYPTARK
WHY THIS
Shares procedural generation and an atmospheric mood with Returnal™.
Deck Verified — runs on Steam Deck out of the box. Shares Action with Returnal™.
Cryptark is a 2D sci-fi shooter where you take on the role of a heavily armed privateer seeking to earn government contracts by boarding deadly alien space-hulks. It's up to you to strategize a plan of attack, pick an equipment loadout, and destroy the central core to be victorious.
ArcRunner
WHY THIS
Shares an atmospheric mood with Returnal™.
Deck Verified — runs on Steam Deck out of the box. Shares Action with Returnal™.
Traverse 'The Arc' in this beautiful, Cyberpunk-styled action rogue-lite as you attempt to reset an evil rogue AI. Experiment with different weapons and augments as you fight hordes of machines programmed for your annihilation! Collect Nanites & power-up after every run either solo or with friends!
Frequently asked about Returnal™
- Does Returnal™ work on Steam Deck?
- Returnal™ is currently rated Unsupported on Steam Deck. It may not launch or may have significant issues that block normal play.
- How much does Returnal™ cost?
- Returnal™ is listed on Steam at 59.99 USD (current store price; Steam sales may reduce this temporarily).
- Does Returnal™ have multiplayer or co-op?
- Yes — Returnal™ supports multi-player play according to its Steam store listing (Multi-player, Online Co-op, Co-op).
- What games are most similar to Returnal™?
- Based on Steam play patterns and shared genres/tags, the games most often recommended alongside Returnal™ are Risk of Rain 2, Risk of Rain Returns, Nuclear Throne.
- Who developed Returnal™?
- Returnal™ was developed by Housemarque, Climax Studios and published by PlayStation Publishing LLC.
imho.run ranks Steam game alternatives using a mix of collaborative filtering (ALS / iALS / EASE / LightGCN), content scoring over genres, categories, Steam tags, developers, and publishers, plus AI-extracted vibes mined from review text. The page above is generated in seed mode anchored on Returnal™.
For library-aware picks tuned to your specific taste, sign in with Steam on the home page.