The Shivah similar games & best alternatives

The Shivah - Trailer
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The Shivah

Linux, Android, PC (Microsoft Windows), iOS, Mac • 2013

Should you play it?

Russell Stone is a Jewish Rabbi at a poor synagogue in New York City. He is a devout man with a problem. Membership is way down and he lacks the funds to keep his synagogue open. Things are looking very bleak, and he has grown progressively more cynical and bitter with the passage of time.

What works

  • Unique jewish cultural setting
  • Engaging narrative with moral dilemmas
  • Multiple endings and replayability
  • Classic point-and-click style
  • Affordable price especially on sale

Things to keep in mind

  • Very short gameplay length
  • Some puzzles rely on trial and error
  • Limited inventory and exploration
  • Voice acting quality inconsistent
  • Final sequence can be frustrating

What to play next

Top picks

Games that feels the closest overall

  • Shadows on the Vatican - Act I: Greed

  • The Roottrees are Dead

  • The Crimson Diamond

  • Loco Motive

  • Metaphobia

  • The Posthumous Investigation

More fantastical

Games that feels like The Shivah but with more imaginative fiction

  • The Dark Rites of Arkham

  • The Blackwell Legacy

  • Bear With Me - Episode One

  • The Charnel House Trilogy

  • The Last Door: Season 2 - Collector's Edition

  • The Last Door - Collector's Edition

More intimate

Games that feels like The Shivah but with more focus on close relationships

  • Tails Noir Preludes

  • Cats and the Other Lives

  • Lamplight City

  • Kathy Rain 2: Soothsayer

  • Eliza

  • The Bad Kids

Choose your own criteria ->

From the same developer

From the same developer, ranked by motivational fit.

  • The Blackwell Legacy

  • Blackwell Deception

  • Blackwell Unbound

  • Blackwell Convergence

  • Gemini Rue

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).

The Shivah: Broadly representative of its motivational profile, with a few distinct shifts. Motivations that often define this kind of title include Survival, Violence, Competition, Thrill. It leans lower than usual among comparable games on Fantasy, Expression, Intimacy.

Last update: 03/08/2026