Journal similar games & best alternatives

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Journal

Linux, PC (Microsoft Windows), Mac • 2014

Should you play it?

Enter the pages of the hand painted world of Journal. A journey through the life of a young and troubled girl as she tries to face up to the choices and responsibilities that come with childhood. An experience that questions the reliability of how we choose to remember events and explores the truths hidden within our dreams.

What works

  • Emotional and personal narrative
  • Unique hand-drawn art style
  • Soothing music and atmosphere
  • Thought-provoking themes
  • Simple, accessible gameplay

Things to keep in mind

  • Short playtime (~2 hours)
  • Limited gameplay depth
  • Fixed story outcome despite choices
  • Some control and interface clunkiness
  • Price considered high for content

What to play next

Top picks

Games that feels the closest overall

  • Long Dream

  • As Long As You're Here

  • The Heroes Around Me

  • Perfect Tides

  • Marie's Room

  • Greyfox RPG

More fantastical

Games that feels like Journal but with more imaginative fiction

  • Threefold Recital

  • LiEat

  • Mondealy: Day One

  • Bear's Restaurant

  • Port of Call

  • Rakuen

More expressive

Games that feels like Journal but with more self-expression and customization

  • The Lion's Song: Episode 1 - Silence

  • Behind the Frame: The Finest Scenery

  • Dordogne

  • Before Your Eyes

  • When The Past Was Around

  • The Star Named EOS

Choose your own criteria ->

Similarity map

How to compare these games

Compare nearby games

Each card is a nearby game on the similarity map, compared with Journal. 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).
  • 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).

Swipe to compare nearby games with Journal. These titles are not in What to play next.

Journal: A very typical example of its motivational profile. Motivations that often define this kind of title include Strategy, Experimenting, Competence, Survival. Here, the score leans higher than usual among comparable games on Intimacy. It leans lower than usual among comparable games on Fantasy, Idle.

Last update: 21/08/2026