Games like The Initial
If The Initial is your kind of game, the closest matches are Initial 2 : New Stage, Bayonetta and ICEY — picked from the ranked list below. Reviewers single out its fast paced gameplay, brutal and challenging. 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 The Initial: THE INITIAL is a hyper action game about pretty schoolgirls battling against evil. It's developed by a small team of five developers. We hope you will love this game as much as we do.
Players who liked The Initial also play
Steam players who put hours into The Initial 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.
Initial 2 : New Stage
WHY THIS
Top pick for The Initial fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Action and Indie with The Initial.
“Initial Ⅱ” is a fast-paced hack & slash featured Action RPG. It tells a tale of both the super-power war and the friendship. Our Heroine wields 4 types of weapons and can dynamically switch between them at will. Hope you like it!
Bayonetta
WHY THIS
Shares a brutal mood with The Initial.
Second-strongest match for The Initial fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Action and Adventure with The Initial.
PlatinumGames’ universally acclaimed action masterpiece finally comes to PC. Experience the over-the-top stylish action in 60fps at unlocked HD resolutions. The definitive way to play: being bad never felt so good.
ICEY
WHY THIS
Third-strongest match for The Initial fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Action and Adventure with The Initial.
ICEY is a 2D side-scrolling action game and a META game in disguise. As you follow the narrator's omnipresent voice, you will see through ICEY's eyes and learn the truth about her world. The narrator will constantly urge you in one direction, but you must ask, "Why? Why am I following his directions?“ Obey? Rebel?
Onechanbara Z2: Chaos
WHY THIS
Ranked #4 for The Initial fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Action with The Initial.
Onechanbara Z2: Chaos is the latest entry in the Onechanbara series. Two sets of buxom vampire sisters battle through over a dozen stages of high-octane real-time swordplay. Fight off the invasion in gruesome detail, occasionally transforming into a demon for short bursts of added power and speed.
The Vagrant
WHY THIS
Ranked #5 for The Initial fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Action and Indie with The Initial.
Guide Vivian the Vagrant, through vibrant and dynamic landscapes while hacking and slashing a path from a quiet coastal village through mysterious forests, haunted castles, and wrecked battlegrounds. When the endless barrage of enemies have been vanquished, what solace will be left for our hero?
Daenerys doesn’t want Hentai
WHY THIS
Ranked #6 for The Initial fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Action and Indie with The Initial.
Daenerys does not want Hentai! but John Sand does not agree. Collect chests filled with gold to make war on him! And save Daenerys!
X-Blades
WHY THIS
Shares a challenging mood with The Initial.
Ranked #7 for The Initial fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Action and Adventure with The Initial.
In X-Blades, the player takes on the role of the enchanting heroine Ayumi, who survives a breathtaking dance of blades through the Hordes of Darkness. The long-haired beautiful anime, with her pistol blades and mind-blowing leaps, whirls and swirls from one fantastic level to the next.
Hyperdimension Neptunia U: Action Unleashed
WHY THIS
Shares a challenging mood with The Initial.
Ranked #8 for The Initial fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Action and RPG with The Initial.
Choose your tag team and rip through massive hordes of enemies with exciting aerial and ground-based combos. Look out, though - take too many hits and your clothes and defense will end up shredded!
Reviewers mention these as similar to The Initial
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.
Onechanbara Z2: Chaos
WHY THIS
Reviewers of The Initial cross-mention this title as a similar play. Shares Action with The Initial.
Onechanbara Z2: Chaos is the latest entry in the Onechanbara series. Two sets of buxom vampire sisters battle through over a dozen stages of high-octane real-time swordplay. Fight off the invasion in gruesome detail, occasionally transforming into a demon for short bursts of added power and speed.
METAL GEAR RISING: REVENGEANCE
WHY THIS
Shares a challenging mood with The Initial.
Reviewers of The Initial cross-mention this title as a similar play. Shares Action with The Initial.
Developed by Kojima Productions and PlatinumGames, METAL GEAR RISING: REVENGEANCE takes the renowned METAL GEAR franchise into exciting new territory with an all-new action experience. The game seamlessly melds pure action and epic story-telling that surrounds Raiden – a child soldier transformed into a half-human, half-cyborg ninja who...
SENRAN KAGURA SHINOVI VERSUS
WHY THIS
Shares a challenging mood with The Initial.
Reviewers of The Initial cross-mention this title as a similar play. Shares Action with The Initial.
The non-PC buxom shinobi of SENRAN KAGURA, the brawler series that’s as over-the-top with its fighting mechanics as it is with its gratuitous depictions of female ninja in various forms of undress, invade the PC realm for the first time in HD and 60fps glory.
Bayonetta
WHY THIS
Shares a brutal mood with The Initial.
Reviewers of The Initial cross-mention this title as a similar play. Shares Action and Adventure with The Initial.
PlatinumGames’ universally acclaimed action masterpiece finally comes to PC. Experience the over-the-top stylish action in 60fps at unlocked HD resolutions. The definitive way to play: being bad never felt so good.
Devil May Cry HD Collection
WHY THIS
Shares a challenging mood with The Initial.
Reviewers of The Initial cross-mention this title as a similar play. Shares Action with The Initial.
The popular stylish action games Devil May Cry, Devil May Cry 2, and Devil May Cry 3 Special Edition return in one collection!
NINJA GAIDEN: Ragebound
WHY THIS
Shares a challenging mood with The Initial.
Reviewers of The Initial cross-mention this title as a similar play. Shares Action and Indie with The Initial.
A brand-new side-scrolling entry to the NINJA GAIDEN series from the team behind Blasphemous, NINJA GAIDEN: Ragebound redefines the classic platformer saga in a spectacular, thrilling and challenging ninja adventure.
PlanetSide 2
WHY THIS
Shares a challenging mood with The Initial.
Reviewers of The Initial cross-mention this title as a similar play. Shares Action with The Initial.
PlanetSide 2 is an all-out planetary war, where thousands of players battle as one across enormous continents. Utilize infantry, ground and air vehicles, and teamwork to destroy your enemies in this revolutionary first-person shooter on a massive scale.
NINJA GAIDEN 4
WHY THIS
Shares a brutal mood with The Initial.
Reviewers of The Initial cross-mention this title as a similar play. Shares Action and Adventure with The Initial.
The definitive ninja action-adventure franchise returns with NINJA GAIDEN 4! Embark on a cutting-edge adventure where legacy meets innovation in a high-octane blend of style and no-holds-barred combat.
Cheaper alternatives
Games in the same vein priced at least 40% below The Initial at current Steam store prices.
Garry's Mod
WHY THIS
Priced ~50% under The Initial on Steam right now. Shares Indie with The Initial.
Garry's Mod is a physics sandbox. There aren't any predefined aims or goals. We give you the tools and leave you to play.
Vampire Survivors
WHY THIS
Priced ~50% under The Initial on Steam right now. Shares Action and Indie with The Initial.
Mow down thousands of night creatures and survive until dawn! Vampire Survivors is a gothic horror casual game with rogue-lite elements, where your choices can allow you to quickly snowball against the hundreds of monsters that get thrown at you. Be the bullet hell!
Titanfall® 2
WHY THIS
Priced ~55% under The Initial on Steam right now. Shares Action with The Initial.
Respawn Entertainment gives you the most advanced titan technology in its new, single player campaign & multiplayer experience. Combine & conquer with new titans & pilots, deadlier weapons, & customization and progression systems that help you and your titan flow as one unstoppable killing force.
Cookie Clicker
WHY THIS
Priced ~50% under The Initial on Steam right now. Shares Indie with The Initial.
An idle game about making cookies! Originally released in 2013 on the web, and actively developed since then. This is the official version for Steam.
WEBFISHING
WHY THIS
Priced ~50% under The Initial on Steam right now. Shares Indie with The Initial.
WEBFISHING a multiplayer chatroom-focused fishing game! Relax and fish (on the web!)
POSTAL 2
WHY THIS
Priced ~90% under The Initial on Steam right now. Shares Action and Indie with The Initial.
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 ~70% under The Initial on Steam right now. Shares Action and Indie with The Initial.
Play Russian roulette with a 12-gauge shotgun. Four enter. One leaves. Roll the dice with your life. Good luck!
Brotato
WHY THIS
Priced ~50% under The Initial on Steam right now. Shares Action and Indie with The Initial.
Brotato is a top-down arena shooter roguelite where you play a potato wielding up to 6 weapons at a time to fight off hordes of aliens. Choose from a variety of traits and items to create unique builds and survive until help arrives.
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 The Initial.
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 The Initial.
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.
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 The Initial.
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.
missed messages.
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Indie with The Initial.
‘goth gf’s iPhone’ airdrops you - accept or decline? A love/horror story about life, death, & memes.
NGU IDLE
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Indie and Adventure with The Initial.
NGU Idle is a Free To Play Idle game that's full of weird humor, tons of upgrades and hundreds of hours of content! Try out NGU Idle today and experience the joy of Numbers Going Up!
Grimm's Hollow
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Indie and Adventure with The Initial.
A spooky, freeware RPG where you search the afterlife for your brother. Reap ghosts with your scythe, explore haunted caves, and eat ghostly treats on your journey through death.
Narrow it down
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.
Bayonetta
WHY THIS
Shares a brutal mood with The Initial.
Deck Verified — runs on Steam Deck out of the box. Shares Action and Adventure with The Initial.
PlatinumGames’ universally acclaimed action masterpiece finally comes to PC. Experience the over-the-top stylish action in 60fps at unlocked HD resolutions. The definitive way to play: being bad never felt so good.
ICEY
WHY THIS
Deck Verified — runs on Steam Deck out of the box. Shares Action and Adventure with The Initial.
ICEY is a 2D side-scrolling action game and a META game in disguise. As you follow the narrator's omnipresent voice, you will see through ICEY's eyes and learn the truth about her world. The narrator will constantly urge you in one direction, but you must ask, "Why? Why am I following his directions?“ Obey? Rebel?
The Vagrant
WHY THIS
Deck Verified — runs on Steam Deck out of the box. Shares Action and Indie with The Initial.
Guide Vivian the Vagrant, through vibrant and dynamic landscapes while hacking and slashing a path from a quiet coastal village through mysterious forests, haunted castles, and wrecked battlegrounds. When the endless barrage of enemies have been vanquished, what solace will be left for our hero?
Frequently asked about The Initial
- Does The Initial run on Steam Deck?
- The Initial is rated Playable on Steam Deck — it runs, but expect some manual adjustments (control remapping, text size, or graphics settings) for the best experience.
- How much does The Initial cost?
- The Initial is listed on Steam at 9.99 USD (current store price; Steam sales may reduce this temporarily).
- What games are most similar to The Initial?
- Based on Steam play patterns and shared genres/tags, the games most often recommended alongside The Initial are Initial 2 : New Stage, Bayonetta, ICEY.
- Who developed The Initial?
- The Initial was developed by Restory Studio.
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 The Initial.
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