Ember similar games & best alternatives

Ember

PC (Microsoft Windows), iOS, Nintendo Switch • 2016

Should you play it?

Ember is a homage to classic role-playing games (RPG) that features a deep branching story, endless exploration across dynamic and living environments, a robust skill system, and an intricate crafting system.

What works

  • Engaging story and lore
  • Tactical combat with pause
  • Open world exploration
  • Flexible equipment-based skills
  • Good value for price

Things to keep in mind

  • Limited character customization
  • Small party size
  • Clunky ui and controls
  • Some crashes reported
  • Short linear main quest

What to play next

Top picks

Games that feels the closest overall

  • Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus

  • Zoria: Age of Shattering

  • Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales

  • Seven: Enhanced Edition

  • Tower of Time

  • EARTHLOCK

Less leadership-focused

Games that feels like Ember but with less leadership over others

  • Death's Door

  • Drova - Forsaken Kin

  • Epistory - Typing Chronicles

  • DYSMANTLE

  • Smoke and Sacrifice

  • Lost in Random: The Eternal Die

Choose your own criteria ->

Similarity map

How to use the graph

Similarity map

Each dot is a game placed from its motivation profile relative to this page’s game. Direction shows which motivation differs most; distance along that axis shows how large the gap is.

  • Purple star: this page’s game at the centre — everything is relative to it.
  • Direction: each axis is a main motivational difference vs this game (e.g. more / less competitive).
  • Distance on an axis: how large that difference is (ring scales show +/− points).
  • 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 to preview that game in the panel on the right; click to keep that comparison.
  • Scroll or double-click the chart to zoom.

How to read the map This is a polar difference map: direction = which motivation differs, and distance = how much (same units as the sidebar deltas).

Ember: A very typical example of its motivational profile. Motivations that often define this kind of title include Violence, Survival, Fellowship, Intimacy. Here, the score leans higher than usual among comparable games on Leadership, Relaxation. It leans lower than usual among comparable games on Survival.

Last update: 03/08/2026