Spiritfarer is a wonderful game about being a ferrymaster carrying a host of souls towards their afterlife.
But it’s not just about being a glorified bus driver, each soul lingers somewhere in the underworld for you to discover, and they have their own stories to tell before they are ready to move on. In the process, you also learn about the past of the player character, Stella, and how she ended up substituting for old man Charon.
It’s a lovely, sincere and heartfelt game, mixing storytelling and interesting gameplay, as you improve your ferry and find ways to help souls solve the problems stopping them for going through the Everdoor. Unfortunately, like all tales, it eventually end, and you might be left craving more stories which can similarly tug at your emotions.
Which is why we’ve prepared a list of ten games which can do it. Some are sad, others are more optimistic, but all of them are a great way to fill or heal the Spiritfarer-shaped void in your soul.
| Game | Release | Genre | Developer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Bear And Breakfast | 2022-07-28 | Strategy | Gummy Cat |
 | A Short Hike | 2019-07-30 | Adventure | adamgryu |
 | Wandersong | 2018-09-27 | Adventure | Wishes Ultd. |
 | Oxenfree | 2016-01-14 | Adventure | Night School Studio |
 | Afterparty | 2020-10-22 | Indie | Night School Studio |
 | Cozy Grove | 2021-04-07 | Adventure | Spry Fox LLC |
 | Before Your Eyes | 2021-04-08 | Adventure | GoodbyeWorld Games |
 | Mutazione | 2019-09-19 | Adventure | Die Gute Fabrik |
 | Stardew Valley | 2016-02-26 | Adventure | ConcernedApe |
 | Sakuna Of Rice And Ruin | 2020-11-10 | Action | Edelweiss |
 | Night In The Woods | 2017-02-21 | Action & Shooter | Infinite Fall |
 | What Remains Of Edith Finch | 2017-04-24 | Adventure | Giant Sparrow |
 | Travellers Rest | 2020-07-28 | RPG | Isolated Games |
 | Apico | 2022-05-20 | Indie | ellraiser |
 | GRIS | 2018-12-13 | Adventure | Nomada Studio |
 | Nova Lands | 2023-06-22 | Base Building | BEHEMUTT |
 | Dave The Diver | 2022-10-27 | RPG | MINTROCKET |
Wandersong
| Release date: | 2018-09-27 |
| Genre: | Adventure |
| Developer: | Wishes Ultd. |
While not quite as sentimental as Spiritfarer, Wandersong despite having a fair bit of action, never stops feeling friendly and rather unthreatening.
It’s a story about a bard tasked with collecting Earthsongs, pieces of musical composition with the power to save the world from destruction. Sadly, someone is killing the holders of the Earthsongs for reasons you will soon discover.
A massive element of the game is using your character’s musical talents to solve problems…and annoy other characters. But underneath being an annoying bard, Wandersong’s story is about finding harmony (literal and figurative) with other people, not even the ostensible villain is refused a chance. It’s a very pleasant, friendly, hopeful story, and a good, upbeat rebound after Spiritfarer.
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Oxenfree
| Release date: | 2016-01-14 |
| Genre: | Adventure |
| Developer: | Night School Studio |
If you would prefer a more serious tone, Oxenfree is a great option. On the surface, it’s a story about a bunch of teen’s party being interrupted by the creepy peculiarities of an abandoned military base.
That’s not what makes the game tick, however, even if the mystery is very interesting. The important part is conversations with other characters powered by a great dialogue system.
The conversations are very organic, paying attention to things like you interrupting others, or refusing to respond. This paves the way to the game’s multiple endings affected by the relationships you built, salvaged, or ruined over the course of the story. It doesn’t have the whimsy, but building relations to a relatable set of characters will likely appeal to anyone who liked Spiritfarer.
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Cozy Grove
| Release date: | 2021-04-07 |
| Genre: | Adventure |
| Developer: | Spry Fox LLC |
Staying in theme with haunted islands, let’s talk about Cozy Grove.
It’s a life sim putting you in the shoes of a Spirit Scout trying to help the lost ghosts of an ever-shifting island. In time, your actions will start bringing color and energy back to the initially bleak place. Of course, it’ll all take time and effort, if people’s problems could solve themselves, you wouldn’t be needed.
Your Spirit Scout is customizable, including lots of different fancy hats, and the characters you meet look cute, friendly, and generally approachable thanks to the game’s cute aesthetic and animations. The aspect of helping souls move on is also very similar to Spiritfarer’s, even if it exists in a different emotional context.
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Before Your Eyes
| Release date: | 2021-04-08 |
| Genre: | Adventure |
| Developer: | GoodbyeWorld Games |
You are Benjamin Brynn, a freshly dead man currently trying to get to your afterlife.
But before you get that ultimate prize, you have to sift through your memories, both good ones and bad ones, guided by a mysterious Ferryman. It’s an immersive exploration of one’s life, not only viewed from Benjamin’s eyes, but also controlled with your own.
Blinking moves time forward, which might carry you through painful memories, but also means the fond ones will be over faster. The tale your memories weave for the Ferryman is interesting, but he isn’t gullible, and will know when you aren’t telling the truth. But that’s for you to discover, as Benjamin’s life flashes Before Your Eyes.
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Eternal Hope
| Release date: | 2020-08-20 |
| Genre: | Indie |
| Developer: | Double Hit Games |
Eternal Hope is a story about loss with a little bit of a mythical flavor, as it follows the journey of a boy called Ti’bi who travels into the Shadow World hoping to save the love of his life.
Of course, if the journey was easy, anybody could do it, so before you might get a chance to realize your heart’s desire, you’ll have a perilous journey made only marginally more possible thanks to a weird ability.
Ti’bi can shift between dimensions, revealing dangers, solutions, and mysteries, as the journey is also one of discovery. In terms of gameplay, Eternal Hope is a side-scrolling puzzle platformer with lots of environmental challenges. Despite that, it’s mostly relatively slow-paced, so you can soak in the atmosphere without being worried about failing a difficult series of jumps.
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GRIS
| Release date: | 2018-12-13 |
| Genre: | Adventure |
| Developer: | Nomada Studio |
GRIS is a beautiful, engaging story about a girl called Gris, and the story is a metaphorical tale about coping with a tragic event in her life.
The stages of the game evoke the idea of stages of grief, and getting through them allows Gris to do more, unlocking abilities such as jumping or running, as she reaches emotional milestones.
This metaphorical emotional journey is supported by an incredible 2D art style, which created fascinating worlds and conveys the game’s themes and story without a single word. Between the artistic value, the strongly emotional story, and engaging moment-to-moment platform gameplay with no fail-states, GRIS is a phenomenal experience.
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Night in the Woods
| Release date: | 2017-02-21 |
| Genre: | Action & Shooter |
| Developer: | Infinite Fall |
Night in the Woods is a game about a 20-year-old college dropout, Mae, who returns to her small hometown to reconnect with her family and friends.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t go great, as Mae starts having odd visions, her mental state takes a hit, there are weird things going on in town, and Mae hides a certain secret she will need to deal with one way or another.
Mental health is the key theme in Night in the Wood, but the game also tackles the problems small towns go through when the main industry dries up. In the case of Possum Springs, it’s inspired by the Rust Belt and suffers from the coal mines being closed. NitW finds a good balance between the heavier and lighter elements of the story and world, so it doesn’t overwhelm.
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Ori and the Blind Forest
| Release date: | 2015-03-11 |
| Genre: | Action & Shooter |
| Developer: | Moon Studios GmbH |
Ori and the Blind Forest might be the most difficult and actively challenging game on the list.
Despite its emotional story, it’s platforming sequences can be quite intense and require quite a bit of precision, timing, and mastery of Ori’s abilities. But if challenging gameplay isn’t going to scare you off (and it shouldn’t, because it’s very good) you have a lovely story ahead of you.
The story is set in a forest of Nibel, once flourishing thanks to the Spirit Tree, now dying and withered due to a mysterious cataclysm. You’re a young guardian spirit who has a chance to restore life and light to the forest, but before that happens you will need to cope with the loss of your parental figure, learn why the forest dies, and discover your own connection to what’s going on.
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What Remains of Edith FInch
| Release date: | 2017-04-24 |
| Genre: | Adventure |
| Developer: | Giant Sparrow |
What Remains of Edith Finch is a game which will not put you in danger, it leaves you to explore at your own pace, giving you time to process everything you discover.
You play most of the game from the perspective of Edith Finch, a young woman who visits her family house as the last surviving descendant. Edith’s exploration reveals bits and pieces of the Finch family’s tragic history.
The game is effectively a walking simulator, letting you investigate the lives and causes of death of the last few generations of the family. As you explore, you’re privy to Edith’s thoughts and memories supporting the environmental and direct storytelling. If you aren’t opposed to deeply tragic stories, give this game a chance, there is a lot to appreciate.
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Stardew Valley
| Release date: | 2016-02-26 |
| Genre: | Adventure |
| Developer: | ConcernedApe |
Let’s end on a high, optimistic note, shall we?
Stardew Valley is a famously wholesome game about inheriting a neglected farm far from the city and trying to bring it back to its full potential. It’s not a lonely adventure, however, the Stardew Valley is a place with a thriving community of friendly NPCs happy to give you a hand, hang out, and perhaps even become your love interest.
The social aspect of SDV is as important as farm management, and every NPC has a vivid personality, and personal stories you can discover by building a friendship with them. Unlike many titles on the list, Stardew Valley is definitely a feel-good, hopeful and optimistic game, but it can become a bit of a stress-inducer if you become obsessed with maximizing your farm’s output.
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Empathy: Engaged
This concludes our short list of games similar to Spiritfarer, ranging from cozy to heartbreaking, but certainly don’t leave you indifferent to the stories they tell. The list also covers a few genres, from chill walking sims to intense platforming, so you can pick something matching the flavor of fun you’re looking for now.