Single-player games like Dear Esther
Below are 20 single-player Steam games similar to Dear Esther, ranked by player overlap. Every pick carries Steam's Single-player category, so multiplayer-only titles or always-online games don't sneak in. imho.run pulls the category data from Steam directly — Single-player here matches what the store labels.
Want the full alternatives list (paid + free + Steam Deck + cheaper picks)? See the parent games like Dear Esther page.
Ranked picks
- 1
Dear Esther: Landmark Edition
Single-player alternative to Dear Esther — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Indie and Adventure with Dear Esther.
Dear Esther immerses you in a stunningly realised world, a remote and desolate island somewhere in the outer Hebrides. As you step forwards, a voice begins to read fragments of a letter: 'Dear Esther...' - and so begins a journey through one of the most original first-person games of recent years.
- 2
Gone Home
Single-player alternative to Dear Esther — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Indie and Adventure with Dear Esther.
June 7th, 1995. 1:15 AM. You arrive home after a year abroad. You expect your family to greet you, but the house is empty. Something's not right. Where is everyone? And what's happened here? Unravel the mystery for yourself in Gone Home, a story exploration game from The Fullbright Company.
- 3
Proteus
Single-player alternative to Dear Esther — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Indie and Adventure with Dear Esther.
Proteus is a game about exploration and immersion in a dream-like island world where the soundtrack to your play is created by your surroundings. Played in first-person, the primary means of interaction is simply your presence in the world and how you observe it.
- 4
Firewatch
Single-player alternative to Dear Esther — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Indie and Adventure with Dear Esther.
Firewatch is a single-player first-person mystery set in the Wyoming wilderness, where your only emotional lifeline is the person on the other end of a handheld radio.
- 5
What Remains of Edith Finch
Single-player alternative to Dear Esther — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Indie and Adventure with Dear Esther.
What Remains of Edith Finch is a collection of strange tales about a family in Washington state. As Edith, you’ll explore the colossal Finch house, searching for stories as she explores her family history and tries to figure out why she's the last one in her family left alive.
- 6
Quern - Undying Thoughts
Single-player alternative to Dear Esther — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Adventure with Dear Esther.
Discover the truth about Quern’s past, unfold the mysteries of its present, and be the explorer who shapes its future. Quern introduces reusable puzzle mechanics to the classic genre, making the player think about the game as a whole, and not just as a series of individual challenges.
- 7
Home is Where One Starts...
Single-player alternative to Dear Esther — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Indie and Adventure with Dear Esther.
Home is Where One Starts... is a short, first-person exploration game in the same vein as Dear Esther or Gone Home. It’s a story about childhood, hope, and the miracle of memory. You play as a little girl from a broken home somewhere in the American South.
- 8
Kentucky Route Zero: PC Edition
Single-player alternative to Dear Esther — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Indie and Adventure with Dear Esther.
KENTUCKY ROUTE ZERO is a magical realist adventure game about a secret highway running through the caves beneath Kentucky, and the mysterious folks who travel it.
- 9
The Walking Dead
Single-player alternative to Dear Esther — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Adventure with Dear Esther.
A five-part adventure horror series set in the same universe as Robert Kirkman’s award-winning comic book series.
- 10
BioShock Infinite
Single-player alternative to Dear Esther — playable solo, no multiplayer required.
Indebted to the wrong people, with his life on the line, veteran of the U.S. Cavalry and now hired gun, Booker DeWitt has only one opportunity to wipe his slate clean. He must rescue Elizabeth, a mysterious girl imprisoned since childhood and locked up in the flying city of Columbia.
- 11
Everybody's Gone to the Rapture
Single-player alternative to Dear Esther — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Indie and Adventure with Dear Esther.
Featuring a beautiful, detailed open-world and a haunting soundtrack, Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture is non-linear storytelling at its best.
- 12
Oxenfree
Single-player alternative to Dear Esther — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Indie and Adventure with Dear Esther.
Oxenfree is a supernatural thriller about a group of friends who unwittingly open a ghostly rift. You are Alex, and you’ve just brought your new stepbrother Jonas to an overnight island party gone horribly wrong.
- 13
SOMA
Single-player alternative to Dear Esther — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Indie and Adventure with Dear Esther.
From the creators of Amnesia: The Dark Descent comes SOMA, a sci-fi horror game set below the waves of the Atlantic ocean. Struggle to survive a hostile world that will make you question your very existence.
- 14
To the Moon
Single-player alternative to Dear Esther — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Indie and Adventure with Dear Esther.
A story-driven experience about two doctors traversing backwards through a dying man's memories to artificially fulfill his last wish.
- 15
Shadowrun Returns
Single-player alternative to Dear Esther — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Indie and Adventure with Dear Esther.
The unique cyberpunk-meets-fantasy world of Shadowrun has gained a huge cult following since its creation nearly 25 years ago. Now, creator Jordan Weisman returns to the world of Shadowrun, modernizing this classic game setting as a single player, turn-based tactical RPG.
- 16
Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut
Single-player alternative to Dear Esther — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Indie and Adventure with Dear Esther.
Harebrained Schemes' biggest Shadowrun game to date, and the definitive Shadowrun RPG experience available on PC. Now a standalone title with tons of new content & improvements!
- 17
Still Wakes the Deep
Single-player alternative to Dear Esther — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Indie and Adventure with Dear Esther.
1975. Disaster strikes the Beira D oil rig off the coast of Scotland. Navigate the collapsing rig to save your crew from an otherworldly horror on the edge of all logic and reality in this 3x BAFTA Games Award-winning narrative horror experience.
- 18
Vampire: The Masquerade® - Bloodlines™ 2
Single-player alternative to Dear Esther — playable solo, no multiplayer required.
You are the Nomad — an elder vampire awakening from a century-long slumber, new to the modern nights. Trapped in your Blood is a stranger’s voice. This entity, a vampire detective known as Fabien, will be your guide to 21st-century Seattle.
- 19
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
Single-player alternative to Dear Esther — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Indie and Adventure with Dear Esther.
From the creators of Amnesia: The Dark Descent and Dear Esther comes a new first-person horrorgame that will drag you to the depths of greed, power and madness. It will bury its snout into your ribs and it will eat your heart.
- 20
Little Orpheus
Single-player alternative to Dear Esther — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Indie and Adventure with Dear Esther.
This definitive edition of the multiple-award-winning hit by master storytellers The Chinese Room is remastered for the big screen and includes all bonus content of the original. A HERO WILL EMERGE!