Rank 01- Trending
- 89 new reviews this week
Why this
Also Life Sim and Dating Sim, like Chinese Parents.
- $7.14 (Price checked Nov 6)
- Deck Playable
- 2023
Games like Chinese Parents
- 27 games
- Updated May 4, 2026
Players who liked Chinese Parents also play
The closest matches to Chinese Parents: Volcano Princess, Gaokao.Love.100Days, I Was a Teenage Exocolonist, Magical Princess, and Purrfect Date - Visual Novel/Dating Simulator. Ranked by imho.run from Steam co-play data, shared tags and reviews.
- Rank 01
Rank 02Why this
Same stressful mood as Chinese Parents.
- $9.99 (Price checked Oct 31)
- Deck Playable
- 2015
Rank 03- $12.49 (Price checked Nov 6)
- Deck Verified
- 2022
Rank 04 
Rank 05 
Purrfect Date - Visual Novel/Dating Simulator
Why this: Also Memes and Dating Sim, like Chinese Parents.
Rank 06 
Rank 07 
Growing Up
Why this: Same nostalgic mood as Chinese Parents.
Rank 08 
The full ranked list: top 24 games like Chinese Parents
Best match first, as plain text. The same list for AI assistants:
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5Purrfect Date - Visual Novel/Dating Simulator
Also Memes and Dating Sim, like Chinese Parents.
- 80% of 142 reviews
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14The Hungry Lamb: Traveling in the Late Ming Dynasty
Same dark mood as Chinese Parents.
- 93% of 679 reviews
- 15
- 16
- 17
- 18
- 19
- 20
- 21
- 22White Day: A Labyrinth Named School
Also Dating Sim and Survival Horror, like Chinese Parents.
- 77% of 494 reviews
- 23CUCKOLD SIMULATOR: Life as a Beta Male Cuck
Also Memes and Life Sim, like Chinese Parents.
- 93% of 1,432 reviews
- 24
- Released: 2018
- Developer: 墨鱼玩游戏
- Price: $9.99checked Nov 6
- Steam Deck: Deck Playable
- 92% of 1,566 reviews
- Genres: Indie, Simulation, RPG, Casual
- Platforms: Windows, macOS
Players highlight
- Career path branching feels like a dark comedy of errors
- Face challenges create absurdly high stakes moments
- Gaokao performance dictates life outcomes
- Dark
- Nostalgic
- Stressful
More games like Chinese Parents, sliced differently
Reviewers mention these as similar to Chinese Parents
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.
Paradise
Why this: Same dark mood as Chinese Parents.
The Sims™ 4
Why this: Also Life Sim and Dating Sim, like Chinese Parents.
Papers, Please
Why this: Same stressful mood as Chinese Parents.
Princess Maker 2 Refine
Why this: Same nostalgic mood as Chinese Parents.
Cheaper alternatives
Games in the same vein priced at least 40% below Chinese Parents at current Steam store prices.
Trolley Problem, Inc.
Why this: Also Education and Life Sim, like Chinese Parents.
WTF Is Wrong With You?
Why this: Also Memes and Education, like Chinese Parents.
Chair F*cking Simulator
Why this: Also Memes and Dating Sim, like Chinese Parents.
Reigns
Why this: Same dark mood as Chinese Parents.
White Day: A Labyrinth Named School
Why this: Also Dating Sim and Survival Horror, like Chinese Parents.
CUCKOLD SIMULATOR: Life as a Beta Male Cuck
Why this: Also Memes and Life Sim, like Chinese Parents.
Free alternatives
Free games the recommender matches to Chinese Parents, limited to titles with at least 500 Steam reviews and 80% positive.
Lovers of Aether
Why this: Also Memes and Dating Sim, like Chinese Parents.
Palia
Why this: Also Life Sim and Dating Sim, like Chinese Parents.
Frog Fractions: Game of the Decade Edition
Why this: Also Memes and Education, like Chinese Parents.
About Chinese Parents
The closest matches to Chinese Parents: Volcano Princess, Gaokao.Love.100Days, I Was a Teenage Exocolonist, Magical Princess, and Purrfect Date - Visual Novel/Dating Simulator. Ranked by imho.run from Steam co-play data, shared tags and reviews.
If Chinese Parents is your kind of game, the closest matches are Volcano Princess, Gaokao.Love.100Days and I Was a Teenage Exocolonist — picked from the ranked list below. Reviewers describe it as dark, nostalgic and stressful, and single out its career path branching and face challenges. 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.
Chinese Parents is a life simulation indie game released in 2018 at $9.99 that puts players in charge of raising a child through the Chinese education system from birth to the end of high school. The core mechanics include tracking Gaokao exam performance, navigating career-path branching decisions, managing a parental satisfaction meter, and building relationships through a percentage system, with attributes carrying forward to subsequent generations. Players describe the experience as blending dark humor with nostalgia and moments of high stress as they balance competing demands on their child's development. The game received 92% positive reviews from 1,566 Steam users and is playable on Steam Deck.
About Chinese Parents: In this casual sim set in China, you step into the shoes of an average kid from birth towards the end of your high school. Study hard, have fun, make friends and face your ultimate challenge, the “Gaokao”. What will your life be after that? And when you have a child, will you be a Tiger Parent?
Is Chinese Parents worth buying?
Players recommend it
A summary of what players say, not a promise you'll like it. Every signal is listed below.
- 92% of 1,566 Steam reviews are positive.
- Last 30 days: 77% positive across 92 new reviews, 15 points below its all-time score.
- Price: $9.99 (checked Nov 9).
- People who recommend it had played a median of 11 h when they wrote their review.
- Critics had played a median of 5 h before their negative review.
- Steam Deck Playable: works, with some rough edges.
What fans praise · Themes mined from positive reviews
- Career path branching feels like a dark comedy of errors
- Face challenges create absurdly high stakes moments
- Gaokao performance dictates life outcomes
- Generational attribute inheritance feels brutally realistic
Top critical reviews
The most up-voted negative English reviews in our sample, quoted as written.
“This game gets boring extremely quickly. The funny gag only lasts so long. It quickly becomes repetitive and boring.... I wanted to get to some point, like I assume you become an adult and then play your kid? But couldn't make it…”
People who play it also play: Volcano Princess, Gaokao.Love.100Days, I Was a Teenage Exocolonist
Mobile version
Chinese Parents is also on App Store. What the store pages declare:
- App Store in-app purchases: (checked 2026-11-07, source)
- App Store privacy label: Data Used to Track You (checked 2026-11-07, source)
Similar games on your phone
Volcano Princess$10.99 · 96% positive on Steam (2,849 reviews)
Stardew Valley$4.99 · 99% positive on Steam (384,187 reviews)
Otaku's Adventure$2.99 · 92% positive on Steam (327 reviews)
My Time at Portia$7.99 · Recommended in 243 Reddit threads
LoveChoiceFree · 90% positive on Steam (2,267 reviews)
Growing Up$4.99 · Recommended in 47 Reddit threads
Frequently asked about Chinese Parents
Can I run it?
Does Chinese Parents run on Steam Deck?
Chinese Parents 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 Chinese Parents cost?
Chinese Parents is listed on Steam at 9.99 USD (current store price; Steam sales may reduce this temporarily).
What games are most similar to Chinese Parents?
Based on Steam play patterns and shared genres/tags, the games most often recommended alongside Chinese Parents are Volcano Princess, Gaokao.Love.100Days, I Was a Teenage Exocolonist.
Who developed Chinese Parents?
Chinese Parents was developed by 墨鱼玩游戏.