Games like Cookie Clicker

Cookie Clicker is the game that introduced many people to idle games. Created by Julien “Orteil” Thiennot and released as a free browser game in 2013, it starts with a single big cookie to click and grows into something far stranger and deeper. It is still free to play in the browser, and a paid version with extra content has been on Steam since 2021.

If you have played it and want more of that feeling, the good news is that the genre is full of brilliant games. Below are some we think are worth your time. All of them except the last are made by other developers, and we have no connection to any of them. We have tried to describe each one honestly, including who it might not suit.

It helps to know what you are looking for. Cookie Clicker’s appeal comes from a few things:

An instant start. Click once, get a cookie. There is nothing to learn.
A steady stream of goals. Another building, another upgrade, another achievement, always just ahead.
Huge numbers. Watching your total swell from dozens to quadrillions is the point.
Gentle surprises. Hidden mechanics and a growing sense of humour reward you for sticking around.
Starting again. Its prestige system turns a long game into a series of faster and faster runs.

The games below share some of these qualities and swap out others. Each entry says what is similar and what is different.

At a glance

Game	Feel	Similar to Cookie Clicker in	Different in
Universal Paperclips	Short, story-driven	Clicking to grow a number	Has an ending; a few hours long
Antimatter Dimensions	Deep, mathematical	Huge numbers, many resets	Much more complex later on
Candy Box 2	Playful, text-based	Starts tiny, keeps surprising you	Becomes an adventure game
A Dark Room	Mysterious, story-driven	Slowly reveals itself	Story matters more than numbers
Kittens Game	Slow, thoughtful	Long-term building	Many resources to manage
Trimps	Strategic	Automation and resets	Combat and planning matter
Steep & Steam (ours)	Calm, cosy	Tap, buy helpers, reset	Smaller and gentler

Universal Paperclips

Made by Frank Lantz and released in 2017, Universal Paperclips casts you as an artificial intelligence whose only goal is to make paperclips. It begins like any clicker (click a button, make a paperclip, sell it) and then steadily escalates in ways best left unspoiled. It is free in the browser, with paid phone versions.

Try it if you liked Cookie Clicker’s surprises and want something with a beginning, a middle and an end. Most people finish it in an afternoon or two.

Skip it if you want an idle game you can keep coming back to for months. Once it is over, it is over.

Antimatter Dimensions

Antimatter Dimensions started as a browser game in 2016 and is now also free on Steam. You produce antimatter with a chain of “dimensions”, each one producing the one below it. Before long you are dealing with numbers so large they barely mean anything, and then the game introduces its first reset, and then another layer on top of that, and another.

Try it if you enjoyed Cookie Clicker’s prestige system and want a game that keeps adding new rules for a very long time.

Skip it if you prefer cosy themes. It is abstract and numbers-heavy, and the later stages ask for real planning.

Candy Box 2

Candy Box 2, by the French developer aniwey, is the 2013 sequel to the original Candy Box!. Both are free browser games drawn entirely in text characters. You start with a counter of candies going up by one a second. What you can do with them turns out to be a lot more than you expect, and the game gradually becomes a small adventure with a map, quests and characters.

Try it if your favourite part of Cookie Clicker was the feeling that something odd was waiting around the corner.

Skip it if you want a pure idle game. Candy Box 2 asks for more active play than most.

A Dark Room

A Dark Room, by Michael Townsend of Doublespeak Games, was released as a browser game in 2013 and later came to phones. It opens with a single line of text and a fire to light. From there it grows into a village, then a journey, telling its story almost entirely through what you build and find rather than through dialogue.

Try it if you want an incremental game that is really about atmosphere and story.

Skip it if you are after big numbers. A Dark Room is short and gets more serious as it goes on.

Kittens Game

Kittens Game, created by the developer known as bloodrizer and online since 2014, puts you in charge of a village of kittens. You gather catnip and wood, build huts and libraries, research technologies and slowly guide your village through the ages. It is designed to be played over weeks in a relaxed, semi-idle way. It is free in the browser, and there are also phone and Steam versions.

Try it if you liked Cookie Clicker’s long game and enjoy juggling several resources at once.

Skip it if you want something you can understand in a minute. Kittens Game’s interface is mostly text and takes some getting used to.

Trimps

Trimps has been a free web game since 2015 and is also free on Steam. You gather resources, breed small creatures called trimps, and send them to fight through zone after zone, then reset for permanent bonuses and try to get further. Automation unlocks over time, which changes how you play.

Try it if you enjoyed Cookie Clicker’s prestige runs and want more strategy and planning in each one.

Skip it if you want something light. Trimps rewards study and experimentation, and its menus can feel busy.

Steep & Steam (ours)

We make Steep & Steam, so treat this entry as a description rather than a recommendation. It follows the classic loop most closely: tap to brew cups of tea, buy kettles, trays, brewers and counters that brew for you, unlock upgrades, and start a new season to welcome regulars who make everything faster. It is calm and cosy rather than surprising, with no adverts, no account and no purchases.

Try it if you want the Cookie Clicker loop in a gentle, quiet setting that is happy to be left alone for a day.

Skip it if you want a long, deep game today. Steep & Steam is our first game and is deliberately small; it does not have the years of extra content some of the games above do.

Choosing your next game

If you are not sure where to begin, think about what you enjoyed most:

The surprises: Universal Paperclips or Candy Box 2.
The huge numbers and resets: Antimatter Dimensions.
The long-term building: Kittens Game or Trimps.
The atmosphere: A Dark Room.
The calm loop of tapping and buying: Steep & Steam.

For more picks organised by how much time you have, see the best idle games to play in your browser. If you are new to the genre, start with what are idle games?