Games like Open Waters
If Open Waters is your kind of game, the closest matches are Maja Island, DIVE or DIE - Children of Rain and Madness Afloat — picked from the ranked list below. 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 Open Waters: Open Waters is a first-person ocean survival horror game. Stranded in a small boat, you must navigate treacherous waters, evade creatures of the deep, and find your way back to safety before the ocean drags you into its depths.
Players who liked Open Waters also play
Steam players who put hours into Open Waters 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.
Maja Island
WHY THIS
Top pick for Open Waters fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Action and Adventure with Open Waters.
Sail through a mysterious open world island in your trusty boat, scavenge for resources to upgrade it, and face off against Maja.
DIVE or DIE - Children of Rain
WHY THIS
Second-strongest match for Open Waters fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Action and Adventure with Open Waters.
Every descent is a deadly gamble. DIVE or DIE in the cursed abyss, face Eldritch horrors to uncover the mystery of the black rain. Scavenge and upgrade, recruit and sacrifice. Save your camp... The Flood is coming.
Madness Afloat
WHY THIS
Third-strongest match for Open Waters fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Action and Adventure with Open Waters.
Pilot customizable steamships through a Lovecraftian Polynesian archipelago. Explore and survive handcrafted missions, manage cursed cargo, and balance sanity against power. Face the deep alone or in optional co-op expeditions.
Narcosis
WHY THIS
Ranked #4 for Open Waters fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Adventure with Open Waters.
Survival, horror at the sunless depths of the Pacific Ocean: Stranded on the seafloor with low light and few tools, an industrial diver takes desperate steps to surface before his oxygen — and sanity — give out.
Subnautica 2
WHY THIS
Ranked #5 for Open Waters fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Action and Adventure with Open Waters.
Subnautica 2 is an underwater survival adventure set on an all-new alien world, developed by Unknown Worlds. Play alone or with friends in 4-player co-op. Adapt to survive by building custom bases and crafting tools. Explore the unknown to uncover the mysteries hidden within the depths.
Darkwood
WHY THIS
Ranked #6 for Open Waters fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Action and Adventure with Open Waters.
Darkwood - a new perspective on survival horror. Scavenge and explore a rich, ever-changing free-roam world by day, then hunker down in your hideout and pray for the morning light.
Lamentum
WHY THIS
Ranked #7 for Open Waters fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Action and Adventure with Open Waters.
Lamentum is a pixel art survival horror game, set in New England in the mid-nineteenth century.
The Shore
WHY THIS
Ranked #8 for Open Waters fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Action and Adventure with Open Waters.
THE SHORE is a first person story driven game with an atmospheric environment and narrations, You will encounter mysterious creatures and unravel the secrets behind them. Strong elements of horror, struggle to survive an unknown world that will make you question your own sanity.
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.
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 Action and Adventure with Open Waters.
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 Open Waters.
Welcome to the ultimate FNAF mashup, featuring 50 selectable characters and custom difficulties!
ENA: Dream BBQ
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Adventure with Open Waters.
Experience surreal environments and inexplicable characters as ENA in a new wild world.
Indigo Park: Chapter 1
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Action and Adventure with Open Waters.
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.
STRAFTAT
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Action with Open Waters.
STRAFTAT is a 1v1/2v2 ONLINE first person SHOOTER with quick rounds in over 350 MAPS ; Including all WEAPONS, proximity chat and 4 players FFA.
The Looker
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it.
You wake up, alone, on a strangely familiar island full of puzzles that will frustrate and annoy you.
Sheepy: A Short Adventure
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Adventure with Open Waters.
A Short Handcrafted Pixel Art Platformer that follows Sheepy, an abandoned plushy brought to life. Sheepy: A Short Adventure is the first short game from MrSuicideSheep.
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Head-to-head comparisons
Plays great on Steam Deck
Valve-Verified or Playable picks from the similar pool — ready to go on Deck out of the box.
DIVE or DIE - Children of Rain
WHY THIS
Deck Verified — runs on Steam Deck out of the box. Shares Action and Adventure with Open Waters.
Every descent is a deadly gamble. DIVE or DIE in the cursed abyss, face Eldritch horrors to uncover the mystery of the black rain. Scavenge and upgrade, recruit and sacrifice. Save your camp... The Flood is coming.
Subnautica 2
WHY THIS
Deck Verified — runs on Steam Deck out of the box. Shares Action and Adventure with Open Waters.
Subnautica 2 is an underwater survival adventure set on an all-new alien world, developed by Unknown Worlds. Play alone or with friends in 4-player co-op. Adapt to survive by building custom bases and crafting tools. Explore the unknown to uncover the mysteries hidden within the depths.
Darkwood
WHY THIS
Deck Verified — runs on Steam Deck out of the box. Shares Action and Adventure with Open Waters.
Darkwood - a new perspective on survival horror. Scavenge and explore a rich, ever-changing free-roam world by day, then hunker down in your hideout and pray for the morning light.
The Shore
WHY THIS
Deck Verified — runs on Steam Deck out of the box. Shares Action and Adventure with Open Waters.
THE SHORE is a first person story driven game with an atmospheric environment and narrations, You will encounter mysterious creatures and unravel the secrets behind them. Strong elements of horror, struggle to survive an unknown world that will make you question your own sanity.
Frequently asked about Open Waters
- What games are most similar to Open Waters?
- Based on Steam play patterns and shared genres/tags, the games most often recommended alongside Open Waters are Maja Island, DIVE or DIE - Children of Rain, Madness Afloat.
- Who developed Open Waters?
- Open Waters was developed by FluffyGameDev.
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 Open Waters.
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