LEAVES - The Return similar games & best alternatives

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LEAVES - The Return

PC (Microsoft Windows), Mac • 2017

Should you play it?

Mononino and the Treefruities fared well without you - until another disaster scattered the leaves of their home tree. Once more, take on the journey and challenging puzzles along the way.

What works

  • Unique handcrafted surreal art style
  • Challenging and varied puzzles
  • Calm, meditative atmosphere
  • Intriguing exploration and discovery
  • Voluntary, self-paced gameplay

Things to keep in mind

  • Tedious backtracking and navigation
  • Minimal narrative and emotional engagement
  • Short game length and limited replayability
  • Clunky ui and technical issues on some systems
  • Lack of innovation from first game

What to play next

Top picks

Games that feels the closest overall

More story-driven

Games that feels like LEAVES - The Return but with deeper narrative immersion

More continuation-driven

Games that feels like LEAVES - The Return but with an even stronger pull to keep playing

Choose your own criteria ->

Similarity map

How to compare these games

Compare nearby games

Each card is a nearby game on the similarity map, compared with LEAVES - The Return. Swipe sideways to move between games. Titles already listed in What to play next are left out.

  • Cover and title: open that game’s page.
  • What works / keep in mind: the same highlights as the desktop comparison panel.
  • Bars: the main motivational differences versus this game.
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).

Swipe to compare nearby games with LEAVES - The Return. These titles are not in What to play next.

LEAVES - The Return: Less representative of its motivational profile, with noticeable differences. Motivations that often define this kind of title include Survival, Violence, Competition, Thrill. It leans lower than usual among comparable games on Story, Continuation, Value.

Last update: 26/08/2026