Games like Californium
If Californium is your kind of game, the closest matches are Looking For Fael, GlitchPets and The Burrito Quest — picked from the ranked list below. Reviewers single out its atmospheric, eerie and hypnotic. 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 →About Californium: Taking the form of a first-person experience of a bad trip, Californium pays homage to sci-fi legend Philip K. Dick by transporting you into the life of a writer searching for his own identity. Explore, solve the riddles and conduct your investigation. Will you find what’s behind the simulacra ?
Players who liked Californium also play
Steam players who put hours into Californium 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.
Looking For Fael
WHY THIS
Top pick for Californium fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Indie and Adventure with Californium.
Hello, this is Fael... Listen, this is going to sound strange, but... I think I'm lost in the apartment. Right now... I... I don't know where I am. Can you come and help me?
GlitchPets
WHY THIS
Second-strongest match for Californium fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Indie and Adventure with Californium.
This game is still in development: kind of a puzzle-platform-climb-story-adventure where your cartridge 'pets' glitches out from pet pee. You control a "debug" npc
The Burrito Quest
WHY THIS
Third-strongest match for Californium fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Indie and Adventure with Californium.
Your burrito is missing. You have to find it. What are you waiting for?
PALINGENESIS
WHY THIS
Ranked #4 for Californium fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Indie and Adventure with Californium.
A music-driven puzzle adventure where sound shapes the world. Solve mysteries, escape the Human Wheel, and experience the album by GRIGS in PALINGENESIS.
Intraquartz
WHY THIS
Ranked #5 for Californium fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Indie and Simulation with Californium.
INTRAQUARTZ is a multidimensional experimental maze puzzler where you control a microscopic mining rover inside extraterrestrial crystals.
Manifold Garden
WHY THIS
Shares an atmospheric mood with Californium.
Ranked #6 for Californium fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Indie and Adventure with Californium.
Rediscover gravity and explore an Escher-esque world of impossible architecture. Witness infinity in first-person and master its rules to solve physics-defying puzzles. Cultivate a garden to open new paths forward, where an eternal expanse awaits.
TRIP Steam Edition
WHY THIS
Ranked #7 for Californium fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Indie and Adventure with Californium.
Explore an avant-garde cubist dream, stimulate your visual senses and immerse yourself in a surreal TRIP. A visually tantalizing open world artware that culminates the player to relax and enjoy a safe enviroment for them to explore at their own pace. There are no objectives, no rules, just art.
Oneiros
WHY THIS
Shares an atmospheric mood with Californium.
Ranked #8 for Californium fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Indie and Adventure with Californium.
Will you be able to break the vicious circle? Can you regain control? Experience the surreal adventure filled with many puzzles and psychedelic visions.
Reviewers mention these as similar to Californium
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.
The Stanley Parable
WHY THIS
Shares an atmospheric mood with Californium.
Reviewers of Californium cross-mention this title as a similar play. Shares Indie and Adventure with Californium.
The Stanley Parable is a first person exploration game. You will play as Stanley, and you will not play as Stanley. You will follow a story, you will not follow a story. You will have a choice, you will have no choice. The game will end, the game will never end.
The Witness
WHY THIS
Shares an atmospheric mood with Californium.
Reviewers of Californium cross-mention this title as a similar play. Shares Indie and Adventure with Californium.
You wake up, alone, on a strange island full of puzzles that will challenge and surprise you.
SOMA
WHY THIS
Shares an atmospheric mood with Californium.
Reviewers of Californium cross-mention this title as a similar play. Shares Indie and Adventure with Californium.
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.
Paradise Killer
WHY THIS
Shares an atmospheric mood with Californium.
Reviewers of Californium cross-mention this title as a similar play. Shares Indie and Adventure with Californium.
Paradise Island, a world outside reality. There’s been a murder that only "investigation freak" Lady Love Dies can solve. Gather evidence and interrogate suspects in this open world adventure. You can accuse anyone, but you’ll have to prove your case in trial. It’s up to you to decide who’s guilty.
The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe
WHY THIS
Shares an atmospheric mood with Californium.
Reviewers of Californium cross-mention this title as a similar play. Shares Indie and Adventure with Californium.
The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe is an expanded re-imagining of 2013's The Stanley Parable. You will play as Stanley, and you will not play as Stanley. You will make a choice, and you will become powerless. You are not here to win. The Stanley Parable is a game that plays you.
Cheaper alternatives
Games in the same vein priced at least 40% below Californium at current Steam store prices.
POSTAL 2
WHY THIS
Priced ~86% under Californium on Steam right now. Shares Indie and Adventure with Californium.
Live a week in the life of "The POSTAL Dude"; a hapless everyman just trying to check off some chores. Buying milk, returning an overdue library book, getting Gary Coleman's autograph, what could possibly go wrong?
Buckshot Roulette
WHY THIS
Priced ~57% under Californium on Steam right now. Shares Indie and Simulation with Californium.
Play Russian roulette with a 12-gauge shotgun. Four enter. One leaves. Roll the dice with your life. Good luck!
GRIS
WHY THIS
Priced ~46% under Californium on Steam right now. Shares Indie and Adventure with Californium.
Gris is a hopeful young girl lost in her own world, dealing with a painful experience in her life. Her journey through sorrow is manifested in her dress, which grants new abilities to better navigate her faded reality.
The Test
WHY THIS
Priced ~72% under Californium on Steam right now. Shares Indie and Adventure with Californium.
You will answer a series of questions that will reveal truths from deep within. These questions may make you uncomfortable, but with great knowledge comes great sacrifice. Can you make it all the way through The Test, and if you do, are you sure you want the answers you seek?
Milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk
WHY THIS
Priced ~79% under Californium on Steam right now. Shares Indie and Adventure with Californium.
A short story about what sort of challenges everyday little things can be. Help the girl buy milk, be the first not to disappoint her.
Blood and Bacon
WHY THIS
Priced ~86% under Californium on Steam right now. Shares Adventure and Casual with Californium.
This Co-op Shooter , has Day and Night levels, multiple maps, players will take on 25 enemy types and numerous bosses, like Gargantuan Monsters and Minibosses every 10 days as you explore, shoot and run for your life against the onslaught of porcine monstrosities.
Crypt of the NecroDancer
WHY THIS
Priced ~57% under Californium on Steam right now. Shares Indie with Californium.
Crypt of the NecroDancer is an award winning hardcore roguelike rhythm game. Move to the music and deliver beatdowns to the beat! Groove to the epic Danny Baranowsky soundtrack, or select songs from your own MP3 collection!
A Short Hike
WHY THIS
Priced ~43% under Californium on Steam right now. Shares Indie and Adventure with Californium.
Hike, climb, and soar through the peaceful mountainside landscapes of Hawk Peak Provincial Park as you make your way to the summit.
Free alternatives
Free-to-play games that recommended players of this title also tend to enjoy.
Doki Doki Literature Club!
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Indie and Casual with Californium.
The Literature Club is full of cute girls! Will you write the way into their heart? This game is not suitable for children or those who are easily disturbed.
Life is Strange - Episode 1
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Adventure with Californium.
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 Indie with Californium.
Welcome to the ultimate FNAF mashup, featuring 50 selectable characters and custom difficulties!
Bongo Cat
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Indie and Simulation with Californium.
Bongo cat needs your help. Bongo cat needz more hatz!!! Every time you press a key, Bongo cat will punch your taskbar. Type, click, play, work to collect more points. Which hats will you find?
ENA: Dream BBQ
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Indie and Adventure with Californium.
Experience surreal environments and inexplicable characters as ENA in a new wild world.
The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Indie and Simulation with Californium.
Sonic the Hedgehog...was murdered!? Get to the bottom of the mystery in this brand-new adventure!
Indigo Park: Chapter 1
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Indie and Adventure with Californium.
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.
Narrow it down
Head-to-head comparisons
Frequently asked about Californium
- How much does Californium cost?
- Californium is listed on Steam at 6.99 USD (current store price; Steam sales may reduce this temporarily).
- What games are most similar to Californium?
- Based on Steam play patterns and shared genres/tags, the games most often recommended alongside Californium are Looking For Fael, GlitchPets, The Burrito Quest.
- Who developed Californium?
- Californium was developed by Darjeeling, Nova Production, ARTE France and published by ARTE France.
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 Californium.
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