Waves 2: Notorious similar games & best alternatives

Waves 2: Notorious - Trailer
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Waves 2: Notorious

Linux, PC (Microsoft Windows) • 2015

Should you play it?

Waves 2: Notorious is an arcade twin-stick shooter set in Cyberspace. Build Combos, earn Adrenaline and unleash powerful Burst attacks as you Dive into the Net and do battle against an AI that adapts to your weaknesses!

What works

  • Addictive and fast-paced gameplay
  • Deep loadout customization and upgrades
  • High replayability with multiple modes
  • Smooth controls and polished visuals
  • Great soundtrack enhancing experience

Things to keep in mind

  • Early access with incomplete features and bugs
  • No multiplayer or cooperative modes currently
  • Steep learning curve and sometimes unfair difficulty
  • Confusing menus and lack of tutorial clarity
  • Limited music variety and repetitive soundtrack

What to play next

Top picks

Games that feels the closest overall

  • Sektori

  • Nova Drift

  • SHOOPER NOVA

  • Beat Blast

  • Voids Vigil

  • Danmaku Unlimited 2

More fantastical

Games that feels like Waves 2: Notorious but with more imaginative fiction

  • XENOTILT: HOSTILE PINBALL ACTION

  • Skelly Selest

  • Space Scavenger

  • Grind Survivors

  • Hell is Other Demons

  • REVOLVER360 RE:ACTOR

Less competitive

Games that feels like Waves 2: Notorious but with less competition against others

  • Neon Sundown

  • Time Wasters

  • Tiny Rogues

  • Astro Prospector

  • Demon Hunt

  • Genome Guardian 2

More social

Games that feels like Waves 2: Notorious but with more teamwork and cooperation

  • CounterAttack: Uprising

  • Geometry Wars™ 3: Dimensions Evolved

  • Really Big Sky

  • Ultratron

  • Super Bit Blaster XL

  • Crimsonland

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 Waves 2: Notorious. 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 Waves 2: Notorious. These titles are not in What to play next.

Waves 2: Notorious: A very typical example of its motivational profile. Motivations that often define this kind of title include Competition, Status, Story, Fantasy. Here, the score leans higher than usual among comparable games on Violence, Survival. It leans lower than usual among comparable games on Fantasy.

Last update: 21/08/2026