Rank 01Why this
Also Text-Based and Interactive Fiction, like Mainland.
- $2.74 (Price checked Nov 3)
- Deck Playable
- 2022
Games like Mainland
- 11 games
- Updated May 5, 2026
Players who liked Mainland also play
The closest matches to Mainland: Roadwarden, Citizen Sleeper, No Longer Home, The Hungry Lamb: Traveling in the Late Ming Dynasty, and Zork Anthology. Ranked by imho.run from Steam co-play data, shared tags and reviews.
- Rank 01
Rank 02- $19.99 (Price checked Nov 3)
- Deck Playable
- 2022
Rank 03Why this
Shares environmental interaction with Mainland.
- $14.99 (Price checked Oct 31)
- Deck Verified
- 2021
Rank 04 
The Hungry Lamb: Traveling in the Late Ming Dynasty
Why this: Same atmospheric mood as Mainland.
Rank 05 
Zork Anthology
Why this: Shares text input command system and inventory management with Mainland.
Rank 06 
Rank 07 
Rank 08 
The full ranked list: top 24 games like Mainland
Best match first, as plain text. The same list for AI assistants:
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- 4The Hungry Lamb: Traveling in the Late Ming Dynasty
Same atmospheric mood as Mainland.
- 93% of 679 reviews
- 5Zork Anthology
Shares text input command system and inventory management with Mainland.
- 95% of 105 reviews
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- Released: 2015
- Developer: Vasily Voronkov, Ryan Joseph, Peter Kosyh
- Price: Free to play
- 81% of 146 reviews
- Genres: Indie, Adventure, Free To Play
- Platforms: Windows
Players highlight
- Interface eliminates text adventure guesswork
- Rail bound storytelling creates emotional weight
- Short but deeply immersive
- Atmospheric
- Contemplative
- Melancholic
More games like Mainland, sliced differently
Plays great on Steam Deck
Valve-Verified or Playable picks from the similar pool — ready to go on Deck out of the box.
No Longer Home
Why this: Shares environmental interaction with Mainland.
The Hungry Lamb: Traveling in the Late Ming Dynasty
Why this: Same atmospheric mood as Mainland.
About Mainland
The closest matches to Mainland: Roadwarden, Citizen Sleeper, No Longer Home, The Hungry Lamb: Traveling in the Late Ming Dynasty, and Zork Anthology. Ranked by imho.run from Steam co-play data, shared tags and reviews.
If Mainland is your kind of game, the closest matches are Roadwarden, Citizen Sleeper and No Longer Home — picked from the ranked list below. Reviewers describe it as atmospheric, contemplative and melancholic, and single out its environmental interaction and inventory management. 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.
About Mainland: A text adventure game about a 19th century explorer who finds himself stranded and alone.
Is Mainland worth buying?
Players recommend it
A summary of what players say, not a promise you'll like it. Every signal is listed below.
- 81% of 146 Steam reviews are positive.
- We don't track this game's daily reviews yet, so this is the all-time picture.
- Free to play.
- People who recommend it had played a median of 2 h when they wrote their review.
- Critics usually quit early: a median of 2.4 h played before their negative review.
What fans praise · Themes mined from positive reviews
- Interface eliminates text adventure guesswork
- Rail bound storytelling creates emotional weight
- Short but deeply immersive
- Survival choices feel consequential
Top critical reviews
The most up-voted negative English reviews in our sample, quoted as written.
“Overall a let down. The interactivity is very limited by the fact that the path you must take is one and only one, and often counterintuitive so that I had to spend time trying all the options more than using my imagination. The fact that…”
People who play it also play: Roadwarden, Citizen Sleeper, No Longer Home
Frequently asked about Mainland
Can I run it?
Is Mainland free to play?
Yes — Mainland is a free-to-play title on Steam. You can install and play it without buying anything, though some games include optional in-app purchases.
What games are most similar to Mainland?
Based on Steam play patterns and shared genres/tags, the games most often recommended alongside Mainland are Roadwarden, Citizen Sleeper, No Longer Home.
Who developed Mainland?
Mainland was developed by Vasily Voronkov, Ryan Joseph, Peter Kosyh and published by INSTEAD Community.