Under The Waves similar games & best alternatives

Under The Waves - Trailer
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Under The Waves

Nintendo 64 • 2023

Should you play it?

Stan, a professional diver in the North Sea, is struggling to overcome a life-changing loss during an extended mission underwater. Stuck in his self-imposed solitude, he starts to experience strange events and will have to make the most significant choice of his life...

What works

  • Beautiful and immersive underwater environment
  • Emotional and well-written narrative
  • Relaxing and cathartic gameplay
  • Strong sound design and music
  • Meaningful environmental themes

Things to keep in mind

  • Slow pacing and repetitive tasks
  • Clunky controls and camera issues
  • Poor lip-sync and facial animations
  • Some bugs and crashes reported
  • Limited gameplay depth and challenge

What to play next

Top picks

Games that feels the closest overall

  • STARDROP

  • Farewell North

  • Call of the Sea

  • The First Tree

  • Dreamfall Chapters

  • Keeper

Less intimate

Games that feels like Under The Waves but with less focus on close relationships

  • Sword of the Sea

  • Spirit of the North

  • Tomb Raider: Underworld

  • CAT Interstellar

  • J.U.L.I.A.: Among the Stars

  • Conarium

Choose your own criteria ->

From the same developer

From the same developer, ranked by motivational fit.

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).

Under The Waves: A very typical example of its motivational profile. 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 Strategy, Fantasy.

Last update: 03/08/2026