ColdSide similar games & best alternatives

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ColdSide - coldside_2.avif
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ColdSide

PC (Microsoft Windows) • 2020

Should you play it?

ColdSide is a psychological horror first-person game. It takes place in an abandoned underground laboratory that studied anomalous phenomena.

What works

  • Strong atmospheric horror and tension
  • High quality graphics and lighting using cryengine
  • Good sound design and music by mikko tarmia
  • Multiple endings and collectibles for replayability
  • Accessible gameplay with simple puzzles and exploration

Things to keep in mind

  • Short game length with some pacing issues
  • Fragmented and sometimes confusing story
  • No voice acting, only text dialogue
  • Limited gameplay variety and linear progression
  • Save system limited to chapter starts only

What to play next

Top picks

Games that feel the closest overall

  • Wounded - The Beginning

  • Uninvited Guest

  • File Destined

  • Born Into Fear

  • Lethe - Episode One

  • SOMA

  • The Story of Henry Bishop

  • Welcome to Kowloon

  • The Alien Cube

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Hidden Gems

Less popular games with surprisingly high similarity

  • Someday You'll Return: Director's Cut

  • Oakwood

  • Pyromaniac

If you liked…

Recommendations by what you enjoyed most

  • Escapism

    File Destined
  • Fantasy

    Born Into Fear
  • Value

    Outlast

Similarity map

Explore nearby similar games and see why they’re close.

How to use the graph

Similarity map

Each dot is a game. They are arranged from the game’s motivation profile. Closer dots usually mean more similar reasons to play (exploration, competition, relaxation, etc.)—not that one game is “better” than another.

  • Purple star: this page’s game — everything on the map is relative to it.
  • 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 out and see more games.

Why don’t the axes read like a score? This view uses t-SNE: it only keeps who is close to whom. The scales are not “good to bad” or hours played—they separate groups on the map. Read distance between dots, not the axis numbers (hidden on purpose).

ColdSide: A very typical example of its motivational profile. Motivations that often define this kind of title include Expression, Fellowship, Cooperation, Leadership. Here, the score leans higher than usual among comparable games on Exploration. It leans lower than usual among comparable games on Violence, Relaxation.

Last update: 25/07/2026