The World Next Door similar games & best alternatives

The World Next Door - Trailer
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The World Next Door

PC (Microsoft Windows), Mac, Nintendo Switch • 2019

Should you play it?

An addictive mix of lightning-fast puzzle battles, powerful storytelling and immersive visual novel elements, The World Next Door follows Jun, a rebellious teen girl trapped in a parallel realm inhabited by magical creatures, who must find her way home before time runs out.

What works

  • Unique and engaging combat system
  • Beautiful art and character design
  • Charming story and characters
  • Relaxing soundtrack and atmosphere
  • Accessible difficulty with assist mode

Things to keep in mind

  • Short game length
  • Some combat control issues and jankiness
  • Abrupt and incomplete feeling ending
  • Limited character development depth
  • Minimal replayability and branching

What to play next

Top picks

Games that feels the closest overall

  • Kitaria Fables

  • Ten Trials of Babel: The Doppelganger Maze

  • Super Lesbian Animal RPG

  • Heroines of Swords & Spells

  • Demonschool

  • Bloomtown: A Different Story

More continuation-driven

Games that feels like The World Next Door but with an even stronger pull to keep playing

  • Tales of Symphonia

  • Going Under

  • False Myth

  • Full Metal Furies

  • Nobody Saves the World

  • Forge Quest

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 The World Next Door. 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 The World Next Door. These titles are not in What to play next.

The World Next Door: Less representative of its motivational profile, with noticeable differences. Motivations that often define this kind of title include Cooperation, Fellowship, Intimacy, Leadership. Here, the score leans higher than usual among comparable games on Intimacy. It leans lower than usual among comparable games on Continuation, Status.

Last update: 21/08/2026