The Wake: Mourning Father, Mourning Mother similar games & best alternatives

The Wake: Mourning Father, Mourning Mother - the-wake-mourning-father-mourning-mother_1.avif
The Wake: Mourning Father, Mourning Mother - the-wake-mourning-father-mourning-mother_2.avif
The Wake: Mourning Father, Mourning Mother - the-wake-mourning-father-mourning-mother_3.avif
The Wake: Mourning Father, Mourning Mother - the-wake-mourning-father-mourning-mother_4.avif
The Wake: Mourning Father, Mourning Mother - the-wake-mourning-father-mourning-mother_5.avif
The Wake: Mourning Father, Mourning Mother - the-wake-mourning-father-mourning-mother_6.avif

The Wake: Mourning Father, Mourning Mother

PC (Microsoft Windows), Mac • 2020

Should you play it?

The Wake is a record of past wounds opened at a three-day funeral. The journal is encoded with a simple substitution cipher that the player must break in order to reveal the writer’s psyche and discover the contradictions that define him.

What works

  • Deep, emotionally resonant narrative
  • Unique cipher puzzle mechanics
  • Introspective and personal storytelling
  • Accessible puzzle difficulty with in-game aids
  • Atmospheric music and presentation

Things to keep in mind

  • Short playtime and limited gameplay depth
  • Puzzle mechanics can feel repetitive or frustrating
  • Story may be too personal or niche for some players
  • Interface and text readability issues
  • Lack of traditional game elements or variety

What to play next

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Similarity map

How to compare these games

Compare nearby games

Each card is a nearby game on the similarity map, compared with The Wake: Mourning Father, Mourning Mother. 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).
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  • 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 The Wake: Mourning Father, Mourning Mother. These titles are not in What to play next.

The Wake: Mourning Father, Mourning Mother: Less representative of its motivational profile, with noticeable differences. Motivations that often define this kind of title include Survival, Violence, Competition, Thrill. Here, the score leans higher than usual among comparable games on Intimacy. It leans lower than usual among comparable games on Fantasy, Expression.

Last update: 26/08/2026