Choose Rec Room
Choose Rec Room if you want an Adventure game with SteamVR Collectibles. 57,921 Steam reviews back the pick.
Rec Room vs Rec Room: A New Semester
Rec Room and Rec Room: A New Semester both land in Massively Multiplayer, Free To Play, Casual on Steam, which is why they keep getting compared. The comparison below is built from each game's Steam metadata — release year, genres, categories, Steam Deck status, price, and review score — refreshed daily by imho.run's scraper. Headline differences: Both share Massively Multiplayer, Free To Play, Casual on Steam. Rec Room (2021) is 5 years older than Rec Room: A New Semester (2026). Both are free to play. No login or purchase needed — scroll for the full table, the verdict FAQ, and links to ranked similar games for both titles.
Which should you pick?
Choose Rec Room: A New Semester
Choose Rec Room: A New Semester if you want an Action, Indie, and Early Access experience. On Steam, it's the newer release (2026) and ships with the modern feature baseline. Rec Room: A New Semester launched in 2026.
Both Rec Room and Rec Room: A New Semester sit in Massively Multiplayer, Free To Play, and Casual on Steam and both list Multi-player, MMO, and Online PvP, so either pick lands in the same broad neighborhood. Use the side-by-side table for the feature view, or follow the "Games like" links below to see ranked alternatives for either title.
Side-by-side comparison
 Rec Room |  Rec Room: A New Semester | |
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2021 | 2026 |
| Genres | Adventure, Massively Multiplayer, Free To Play, Casual | Action, Indie, Massively Multiplayer, Free To Play, Casual, Early Access |
| Platforms | Windows | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Steam Deck | Deck Playable | Unrated |
| Price | Free to play | Free to play |
| Steam reviews | 88.7% positive (57,921 reviews) | — |
| Multiplayer | Multi-player, Cross-Platform Multiplayer, Online Co-op | Multi-player, Cross-Platform Multiplayer, Online Co-op |
| Developers | Rec Room | Thunderstorm Games LLC |
Side by side
- Both share Massively Multiplayer, Free To Play, Casual on Steam.
- Rec Room (2021) is 5 years older than Rec Room: A New Semester (2026).
- Both are free to play.
- Both support cooperative play.
- Rec Room is Deck Playable on Steam Deck; Rec Room: A New Semester has no Deck rating yet.
Rec Room vs Rec Room: A New Semester — FAQ
- Should I play Rec Room or Rec Room: A New Semester first?
- If you want chronology, Rec Room (2021) came out before Rec Room: A New Semester (2026). If neither is a sequel to the other, order doesn't really matter — start with whichever fits your current mood, since both share enough on Steam to make either a reasonable opener.
- Are Rec Room and Rec Room: A New Semester similar?
- They overlap on Massively Multiplayer, Free To Play, Casual on Steam, so the catalogue groups them together — but "similar" depends on the specific mechanics. Use the genre + category rows above to decide whether the overlap matches what drew you to the one you've already played.
- Do both Rec Room and Rec Room: A New Semester have co-op?
- Yes — both list a co-op category on Steam. Specifics differ: Rec Room ships Online Co-op, Co-op; Rec Room: A New Semester ships Online Co-op, Co-op.
- Does Rec Room run on Steam Deck?
- Yes — Rec Room is rated Deck Playable by Valve. Rec Room: A New Semester doesn't have a Deck rating yet, so its Deck behaviour is currently unverified.