Jendo: Origins similar games & best alternatives

Jendo: Origins

PC (Microsoft Windows) • 2020

Should you play it?

This is a comedy about high-schoolers friends, getting into extremely absurd and ridiculous situations.

What works
  • Free to play
  • Engaging and well-written story
  • Well-developed characters
  • Pleasant visuals and music
  • Substantial length for a free kinetic novel
Things to keep in mind
  • No player choices or interactivity
  • Linear and sometimes clichéd narrative
  • Some pacing issues and text verbosity
  • Lack of character customization or expression
  • Technical and translation issues reported

What to play next

Top picks

Games that feel the closest overall

  • First Snow

  • Ambre - a heartbreaking kinetic novel

  • Winter Novel

  • NEKOPARA Extra

  • The Sad Story of Emmeline Burns

  • The Longest Walk

  • Banyu Lintar Angin - Little Storm -

  • Bottle: Pilgrim Redux

  • KARAKARA

Hidden Gems

Less popular games with surprisingly high similarity

  • First Snow

  • Winter Novel

  • The Longest Walk

If you liked…

Recommendations by what you enjoyed most

  • Value

    Bubble People

  • Escapism

    Banter Schooldays!!三〇一室无一人

  • Story

    BLUE REFLECTION

Similarity map

Explore nearby similar games and see why they’re close.

How to use the graph
Similarity map

Each dot is a game. They are arranged from the same motivation profile as in the “Why this game works” section below. Closer dots usually mean more similar reasons to play (exploration, competition, relaxation, etc.)—not that one game is “better” than another.

  • Purple star: this page’s game — everything on the map is relative to it.
  • Coloured chips: click to highlight games that mainly differ on that motivation; click again to reset.
  • Dotted line: link between this page’s game and the one selected for comparison.
  • Hover a dot for a screenshot preview, score, and top score gaps; click to compare in the panel on the right.
  • Scroll or double-click the chart to zoom out and see more games.

Why don’t the axes read like a score? This view uses t-SNE: it only keeps who is close to whom. The scales are not “good to bad” or hours played—they separate groups on the map. Read distance between dots, not the axis numbers (hidden on purpose).

Jendo: Origins: A very typical example of its motivational profile. Motivations that often define this kind of title include Autonomy, Strategy, Experimenting, Competence. Here, the score leans higher than usual among comparable games on Fellowship, Idle. It leans lower than usual among comparable games on Fantasy.

Why this game works

A motivational profile of the game, with the closest similar game for each player motivation.

  • Autonomy

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  • Competence

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  • Competition

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  • Cooperation

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  • Creativity

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  • Domination

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  • Escapism

    Game with the same Escapism vibe

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    "Players use the game to immerse in a fictional school setting and story, escaping real life stresses."

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  • Expectation

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    "Players engage voluntarily out of interest in visual novels or story exploration; no obligation or pressure noted."

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  • Experimenting

    Game with the same Experimenting vibe

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    "No experimentation possible due to fixed story and absence of choices or alternate routes."

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  • Exploration

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    "Narrative exploration is limited; environments and story are presented linearly without discovery or secrets."

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  • Expression

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  • Fantasy

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    "Story grounded in realistic psychological drama and social issues, with only slight surreal or symbolic elements."

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  • Fellowship

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    "Players feel part of a community through shared fandom and narrative connections, though gameplay is solo-focused."

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  • Growth

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  • Health

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  • Idle

    Game with the same Idle vibe

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    "Suitable for casual, relaxed play sessions; some players use it as a light pastime or background activity."

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  • Intimacy

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  • Leadership

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    "No leadership or management roles; player acts as observer and participant in a fixed narrative."

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  • Progression

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  • Relaxation

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  • Sensation

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  • Status

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  • Story

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    "Strong narrative focus with emotional and character-driven plot."

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  • Strategy

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  • Thrill

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  • Violence

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  • Survival

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Last update: 09/07/2026