Single-player games like POOLS
Below are 16 single-player Steam games similar to POOLS, 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 POOLS page.
Ranked picks
- 1
Dreamcore
Single-player alternative to POOLS — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Adventure with POOLS.
Experience liminal spaces like never before. Dreamcore is the ultimate psychological exploration game, set in the largest liminal world ever made. No guides, no path—only intuition. Will you keep your bearings in a world designed to make you lose them?
- 2
Backrooms: The M.E.G.
Single-player alternative to POOLS — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Adventure with POOLS.
You are a MEG explorer seeking to uncover every accessible level and sub-level of the uncanny Backrooms. Atmospheric, captivating, oppressive and eerie locations await you - with no entities. Just you and pure liminality.
- 3
TAPE GLITCH
Single-player alternative to POOLS — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Adventure with POOLS.
A first-person psychological horror game where VHS tapes pull you into corrupted memories inside a flooded liminal complex.
- 4
Liminalcore
Single-player alternative to POOLS — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Adventure with POOLS.
Explore and admire while navigate through eerie, surreal environments inspired by the Backrooms lore. Explore this uncanny world lost in time and get lost in the otherworldly architecture in a world where reality bends and your sanity is tested.
- 5
NIDANA
Single-player alternative to POOLS — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Adventure with POOLS.
She continues to dream. A first-person dream simulator where you explore a corner of a dream.
- 6
Obduction
Single-player alternative to POOLS — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Adventure with POOLS.
A new sci-fi adventure from Cyan, the creators of Myst. Abducted far across the universe, you find yourself on a broken alien landscape with odd pieces of Earth. Explore, uncover, solve, and find a way to make it home.
- 7
Hotel 188
Single-player alternative to POOLS — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Adventure with POOLS.
Dive into a realistic experience of the Backrooms, without jumpscares, getting lost in impossible spaces and feeling like something is watching you. The uncertainty of not knowing where you're going will make you want to quit… Will you be able to make it to the end?
- 8
The Backrooms Simulator
Single-player alternative to POOLS — playable solo, no multiplayer required.
Based on the creepypasta. Enter the Backrooms: a realistic walking simulator through millions of monotonous empty hallways.
- 9
The Backrooms
Single-player alternative to POOLS — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Adventure with POOLS.
You find yourself in a strange world with no idea how you got there. As you explore more, the world gets increasingly convoluted and unstable. You are now in... The Backrooms.
- 10
Subliminal
Single-player alternative to POOLS — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Adventure with POOLS.
Subliminal is a psychological horror game inspired by the urban legend of The Backrooms. Bleeding edge lighting and rendering, handcrafted open-ended levels, light and perspective-based puzzles, nostalgic spaces, unfamiliar faces, and a rotting feeling that something is not quite right.
- 11
Lucid Blocks
Single-player alternative to POOLS — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Adventure with POOLS.
Explore, build, and survive in a cryptic expanse oozing with dreamlike oddities and esoteric critters.
- 12
Yume Nikki
Single-player alternative to POOLS — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Adventure with POOLS.
This is a game in which you traverse the extremely dark world inside a dream.
- 13
NaissanceE
Single-player alternative to POOLS — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Adventure with POOLS.
NaissanceE is an obscure and magical first person exploration game, a philosophical trip and an artistic experience. The adventure takes place in a primitive mysterious structure and the game mainly consists to explore and feel the deep and strong ambiance of this atemporal world.
- 14
Fatum Betula
Single-player alternative to POOLS — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Adventure with POOLS.
Placed in a world without change, you must create fate by watering an ancient plant. Determine a future and live with it.
- 15
Interior Worlds
Single-player alternative to POOLS — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Adventure with POOLS.
Snap your own homemade liminal space photos using a mysterious SLR camera as you explore a variety of empty, strange, and familiar spaces.
- 16
Proteus
Single-player alternative to POOLS — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Adventure with POOLS.
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.