Games like SMS Returns
If SMS Returns is your kind of game, the closest matches are DODECIUM, Horror Royale and Verve — 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 SMS Returns: The 2012 viral phenomenon returns. A slender, faceless figure hunts you in your favourite maps rebuilt from the ground up, including the all-new Forest. Survive with friends in multiplayer, immerse yourself in VR, and build your own terrifying maps with the in-game editor. Will you survive?
Players who liked SMS Returns also play
Steam players who put hours into SMS Returns 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.
DODECIUM
WHY THIS
Top pick for SMS Returns fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Action and Indie with SMS Returns.
Solo Indie delivers a local 1-4 player split-screen physics-based create and combat sandbox with scientific tools for PvP or PvE. Replay many unique campaigns. Master your hex build strategy, microscopes, and chemistry skills. Be clever to achieve victory and learn as you go. !!! FREE DEMO !!!
Horror Royale
WHY THIS
Second-strongest match for SMS Returns fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Action and Indie with SMS Returns.
Horror Royale is an online and local multiplayer horror game. Communicate with your friends using proximity chat (but try not to let the monsters hear) and use items and your environment to avoid the monsters and survive. Now with mods; discover player-made monsters, human skins and maps.
Verve
WHY THIS
Third-strongest match for SMS Returns fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Action and Indie with SMS Returns.
Verve is a liminal space horror game with advanced movement (bhop, surf, etc.) and 128-tick multiplayer. Find a group of scientists lost deep inside the Verve and rescue them in the Backrooms-inspired singleplayer campaign or jump into multiplayer game modes like Hide and Seek and Nextbot Escape.
HYPERCHARGE: Unboxed
WHY THIS
Ranked #4 for SMS Returns fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Action and Indie with SMS Returns.
Hypercharge is a first and third-person shooter action figure game you've always dreamed of! Grab your friends, complete objectives, defend the Hypercore against waves of weaponized toys, and defeat Major Evil together in the story campaign!
Below, Rusted Gods
WHY THIS
Ranked #5 for SMS Returns fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Indie and Adventure with SMS Returns.
You are the lifeline supporting an expedition into the unknown. Keep both yourself and your squad alive by interpreting instrument readings, explore the facilities, and uncover something ancient and eager to be born.
Backrooms Media
WHY THIS
Ranked #6 for SMS Returns fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Action and Indie with SMS Returns.
Backrooms Media is a 1-4 player co-op horror that plunges you into unsettling, hyper-realistic liminal spaces. Navigate eerie environments filled with lurking horrors. Group up with your friends to face the terror of the endless backrooms together and... try to escape.
Escape the Backrooms
WHY THIS
Ranked #7 for SMS Returns fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Action and Indie with SMS Returns.
Escape the Backrooms is a 1-4 player co-op horror exploration game. Traverse 30+ eerie backrooms levels while avoiding entities and other dangers. Try to escape but be warned: survival isn't guaranteed.
Narcosis
WHY THIS
Ranked #8 for SMS Returns fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Indie and Adventure with SMS Returns.
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.
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 with SMS Returns.
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.
Ultimate Custom Night
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Action and Indie with SMS Returns.
Welcome to the ultimate FNAF mashup, featuring 50 selectable characters and custom difficulties!
Indigo Park: Chapter 1
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Action and Indie with SMS Returns.
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 SMS Returns.
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.
Counter-Strike:Global Offensive
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Action with SMS Returns.
Counter-Strike:Global Offensive (CS:GO) expands upon the team-based action gameplay that it pioneered when it was launched over 2 decades ago. CS:GO features new maps, characters, weapons, and game modes, and delivers updated versions of the classic CS content (de_dust2, etc.).
The Expendabros
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Action and Indie with SMS Returns.
The Expendabros have assembled and set their sights on the forces of ruthless arms dealer Conrad Stonebanks in the forests of Eastern Europe.
Dagon: by H. P. Lovecraft
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Indie and Adventure with SMS Returns.
Face unspeakable horrors. Succumb to madness. Welcome to a free daemonic narrative experience inspired by H. P. Lovecraft.
Paper Lily - Chapter 1
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Indie and Adventure with SMS Returns.
Paper Lily is an RPG horror game in which you can solve puzzles in different ways. Explore a hidden world, meet strange characters, and guide Lacie as she attempts to find answers about her unusual condition.
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Head-to-head comparisons
Frequently asked about SMS Returns
- Does SMS Returns have multiplayer or co-op?
- Yes — SMS Returns supports multi-player play according to its Steam store listing (Multi-player, Online Co-op, Shared/Split Screen Co-op).
- What games are most similar to SMS Returns?
- Based on Steam play patterns and shared genres/tags, the games most often recommended alongside SMS Returns are DODECIUM, Horror Royale, Verve.
- Who developed SMS Returns?
- SMS Returns was developed by Marc Steene and published by Dark Pathogen Studios.
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 SMS Returns.
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