How to Find Similar Games to a Game You Already Like

Updated

Start by entering one game you know well into a recommendation tool, then narrow the results with filters. On Nodal, you search for a Steam game you enjoyed and the site surfaces other games that players with similar tastes often enjoy next. Its recommendations combine patterns in how people actually play games with how games are described and tagged on Steam. Once results load, you can filter by tags, release year, price, popularity, and more. The method below works with any tool that exposes tags or filters, but the specific filter set described here comes from Nodal.

Step 1: Pick a starting game that represents what you want more of

The quality of your results depends on the starting point. Choose a game where you can name what you liked about it — not just "it was fun," but the specific parts: combat style, pacing, setting, difficulty, or how long a session runs.

  • Good starting points: a game you finished, a game you have many hours in, or a game whose core loop you would happily repeat.
  • Weak starting points: a game you only tried briefly, a game you liked for its story but not its gameplay, or a bundle title you barely remember.

If you liked a game mainly for one element (say, its art style) but disliked the actual play, it will pull your recommendations toward games with similar art but possibly the wrong gameplay. Pick a game whose play you want more of.

Step 2: Enter the game and read the first batch of results

Type the game's name into the search field and load the recommendations. Expect the first results to be the closest matches — often games in the same genre or by the same studio, or games frequently played by the same people.

Before filtering anything, scan the list and ask:

  • Do these share a genre, mechanic, or mood with my starting game?
  • Are any of them games I already know I dislike? If so, note why — that reason becomes a filter later.
  • Is anything here completely off-topic? That usually means the starting game is too broad or too niche to anchor well.

Step 3: Filter by tags to match the specific thing you liked

Tags are the fastest way to steer results. On Nodal you can filter by tags, release year, price, popularity, and more after results load.

A practical approach:

  1. Identify two or three tags that describe the part of the starting game you want more of (for example, a combat style, a setting, or a structure like roguelike or metroidvania).
  2. Apply those tags as filters.
  3. If the list shrinks to nothing or to games that look wrong, remove the least important tag first.

Be careful with stacking too many tags. Each filter you add is a constraint, and three or four narrow tags can eliminate every reasonable match. Two well-chosen tags usually beat five vague ones.

Step 4: Use year, price, and popularity to fit your situation

These filters are about fit, not similarity, so apply them after the tag filters:

Filter Use it when Watch out for
Release year You want something modern, or you specifically want older classics A year range can hide a great match from a different era
Price You have a budget or want to avoid full-price titles Price is not a quality signal in either direction
Popularity You want something with an active community or lots of discussion Low-popularity results are often the most interesting, not the worst

If you are looking for something to play with friends, popularity and release year matter more. If you are hunting for a hidden gem, loosen popularity and let the tags do the work.

Step 5: Compare candidates before committing

A recommendation is a lead, not a verdict. For each promising result, check the store page and compare it against your starting game on the same dimensions:

  • Core loop: what do you actually do moment to moment?
  • Session length: does it respect the time you have?
  • Difficulty and pacing: is it faster, slower, harder, or gentler?
  • Tags and description: do they match the specific thing you liked, or only the genre label?

Two games can share a genre and feel nothing alike. The tag match tells you they are related; the store page tells you whether the relation is the one you wanted.

When the results are not relevant

If the recommendations miss, the problem is usually the input, not the tool. Try these in order:

  1. Swap the starting game. Pick a different game you love that has a clearer, more specific identity.
  2. Loosen your filters. Remove tags one at a time and see which one was cutting off good matches.
  3. Change what you filter on. If tag filtering is not helping, try filtering by year or popularity instead and judge the unfiltered list by eye.
  4. Use a second starting game. Run the same process with another favorite and compare the two result sets — games that appear in both are strong candidates.

A quick checklist

  • One starting game whose gameplay you want more of
  • Two or three tags that describe the specific thing you liked
  • Year, price, and popularity filters applied only after tags
  • Store-page check on each candidate before you commit
  • A second starting game if the first batch disappoints

The whole process takes a few minutes per starting game, and the filters are what turn a generic "games like X" list into something you would actually play.