Best Episodic Games on Steam
Games released or structured as chapters, episodes, seasons, or serialized stories.
Browse all Episodic →
1Dispatch
- Players say: After his mech suit is destroyed, ex-hero Robert dispatches former villains, balancing city emergencies with office choices. Players like: Character Writing · Humor and Dialogue · Voice Performances
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Dispatch is a superhero workplace comedy where choices matter. Manage a dysfunctional team of misfit heroes and strategize who to send to emergencies around the city, all while balancing office politics, personal relationships, and your own quest to become a hero. All episodes out now!
Oct 22, 2025
In this game, you can…
- watch heroes level up into wild abilities, like healing a teammate mid-mission or cloning themselves to fill empty roster slots.
- replay entire episodes and scenes from an episode menu to see how different choices ripple forward.
- run a superhero call center after your mech suit gets wrecked.
- rehabilitate a roster of ex-supervillains by juggling their quirks, grudges, loyalties, and office relationships.
- read vague emergency calls, infer what's really happening, and dispatch the right mix of heroes to handle it.
- send multiple heroes to the same incident and trigger hidden interactions, extra effects, or secret dialogue when the matchup is right.
- make tiny dialogue choices that change which heroes join or get dropped later, pushing you into radically different team lineups.
- play quick hacking mini-games between dispatch decisions without leaving the flow of the shift.
- disable QTEs, or keep them on for timed memory challenges and situational sequence puzzles.
2Life is Strange - Episode 1
- Players say: A photography student discovers she can rewind time, reconnects with an old friend, and begins investigating a disappearance. Players like: Emotional Story · Max and Chloe · Memorable Soundtrack
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Episode 1 now FREE! Life is Strange is an award-winning and critically acclaimed episodic adventure game that allows the player to rewind time and affect the past, present and future.
Jan 29, 2015
In this game, you can…
- rewind a classroom shooting to stop it and save the target.
- rewind time to preview a choice, watch the reaction, then redo it before you commit.
- end the story by choosing to save one person or sacrifice an entire town.
- set up the room, trigger a mess, then rewind so the objects stay positioned for what you need next.
- engineer paint to spill on a bully blocking your way, then rewind to choose whether to expose her or befriend her.
- reunite with a childhood friend you just saved, then follow a storm vision to a lighthouse and start chasing a tornado mystery.
- sit on a bed, swing, or bench and just watch the world in silence while music plays.
3DELTARUNE
- Players say: Guide Kris and friends through a strange parallel world, exploring chapter-based adventures and fighting or sparing foes. Players like: Memorable Soundtrack · Lively Characters · Emotional Story
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Dive into the parallel story to UNDERTALE! Fight or spare your way through action-packed battles as you explore a mysterious world alongside an endearing cast of new and familiar characters. Chapters 1-5 are available now, with more planned as free updates!
Jun 4, 2025
In this game, you can…
- play a funny skeleton fight song on piano, then get run over by a dog driving a golf cart
- shop for a new TV by debating "groovy vs glooby" with the janitor, pulling out a diagram, buying it, and learning it's glooby
- fight battles that suddenly turn into punch-out against a giant robot, then switch into wario-ware-style minigames the next chapter
- keep picking "hug ralsei" in battle until it becomes your whole strategy
- heal yourself with a hammer, flirt with a watercooler, and swim through an acid lake
- stumble into secret bosses and a hidden route that changes the tone into something genuinely eerie
- graze bullets on purpose to build power faster while the battle box shifts and moves around you
- return to town and see the game acknowledge whether you chose to act kindly or fight
4The Walking Dead
- Players say: As Lee Everett, guide an orphaned girl through a zombie-ravaged world in an episodic adventure of dialogue, choices, and survival. Players like: Emotional Story · Memorable Characters · Lee and Clementine
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A five-part adventure horror series set in the same universe as Robert Kirkman’s award-winning comic book series.
Apr 24, 2012
In this game, you can…
- make a choice in an early episode, then watch it come back much later to change relationships and who lives
- pick dialogue answers in seconds while danger is happening, like choosing who to save as people get overrun
- decide between awful options like shooting a child before it turns, stealing supplies, or lying to survive
- start the story as a convicted murderer when your police ride crashes into a zombie
- find an 8-year-old girl alone, then spend the story making choices that shape how you protect her
- finish chapters with a screen showing how other players chose, so you can compare your big decisions
- build trust with survivors in a small group, then watch alliances flip fast when someone betrays you or dies
- walk around small areas, talk to everyone, and piece together who they are before the group falls apart
5Alan Wake
- Players say: Search for his missing wife as writer Alan Wake uncovers a supernatural mystery and uses light to expose enemies in Bright Falls. Players like: Intriguing Writer Story · Creepy Forest Atmosphere · Light-Based Combat
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A Dark Presence stalks the small town of Bright Falls, pushing Alan Wake to the brink of sanity in his fight to unravel the mystery and save his love.
Feb 16, 2012
In this game, you can…
- burn away an enemy's darkness shield with your flashlight before you can hurt them with a gun
- read manuscript pages you don't remember writing, then watch those exact events play out later in the world
- shoot monsters on a concert stage while a full song blasts through the speakers mid-fight
- recover health by reaching a bright streetlight that turns into a safe zone enemies won't enter
- start generators and other machines while enemies close in, using light to buy just enough time to finish the task
- get ambushed by flying axes and other thrown weapons while you scramble toward the next patch of light
- play through a TV-season structure with episode recaps, cliffhangers, and end-of-episode songs
6Half-Life 2: Episode Two
- Players say: As Gordon Freeman, travel with Alyx through the White Forest, fighting Combine forces and driving to deliver vital data to the Resistance. Players like: Story and Characters · Forest Environments · Varied Combat Encounters
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Half-Life® 2: Episode Two is the second in a trilogy of new games created by Valve that extends the award-winning and best-selling Half-Life® adventure. As Dr. Gordon Freeman, you were last seen exiting City 17 with Alyx Vance as the Citadel erupted amidst a storm of unknown proportions.
Oct 10, 2007
In this game, you can…
- carry a garden gnome through the entire game, hauling it in and out of the car without losing it.
- trigger an antlion invasion by stomping their grubs after being warned the nest will hear you.
- run out of rockets in the finale and improvise by using the car and throwing tree trunks at towering enemies.
- outrun a collapsing bridge as the city falls apart behind you.
- rip through the countryside in a turbo-boost car while your companion talks and enemies stalk the forests.
- travel for a stretch with a Vortigaunt ally who fights alongside you and comments on your escapes.
- flee an antlion guardian you can't kill, then push through a zombie-infested outpost, then get back on the road hunting supply stashes.
- defend a missile silo from Striders by tagging them with sticky bombs, then launching the missile to shut down the portal.
- use a physics gun to grab whatever's nearby and hurl it at enemies, from toilets to tree trunks.
7The Wolf Among Us
- Players say: As Fabletown’s sheriff, Bigby Wolf investigates a murder among hidden fairy-tale exiles through dialogue choices and timed fights. Players like: Noir Fairy-Tale World · Twisty Murder Mystery · Bigby and Cast
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From the makers of the 2012 Game of the Year: The Walking Dead, comes a thriller based on the award-winning Fables comic books. As Bigby Wolf you will discover that a brutal, bloody murder is just a taste of things to come in a game series where your every decision can have enormous consequences.
Oct 11, 2013
In this game, you can…
- choose which lead to follow first, and lose the other one forever when it means evidence gets destroyed or someone dies.
- track clues by scent, sniffing out evidence around crime scenes instead of relying on gadgets or lab tools.
- decide whether to act like a restrained sheriff or beat a suspect down, and have characters remember how far you went later.
- solve a brutal murder as the Big Bad Wolf, where the first body is just the start and everyone in the fable community becomes a suspect.
- replay a chapter, take the other location first, and watch the whole investigation chain change—who you catch, who escapes, and what you learn.
- interrogate fairy-tale suspects in loaded conversations where your tone can win trust, provoke fear, or trigger a confession.
- get slammed into cinematic brawls where you trade brutal hits and can lose control enough to start turning into a wolf.
8Life is Strange: Before the Storm
- Players say: As teenage Chloe Price, navigate Arcadia Bay, use sharp-witted Backtalk, and build a bond with Rachel Amber. Players like: Chloe and Rachel · Emotional Character Writing · Memorable Soundtrack
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Life is Strange: Before the Storm is a new three part standalone story adventure set three years before the events of the first game. This time play as Chloe Price, a rebel who forms an unlikely friendship with Rachel Amber in a dramatic new story in the BAFTA award winning franchise.
Aug 31, 2017
In this game, you can…
- win arguments by picking timed comebacks that bait, corner, or wear someone down until they cave.
- go onstage in a school production of The Tempest, then improvise when your scene partner goes off-script.
- play a bonus episode where you and your best friend turn the house into a pirate adventure and hunt for imaginary treasure.
- share one pair of earbuds on a moving train while listening to music together.
- tag hidden spots around town with graffiti instead of taking photos.
- dig through bedrooms, personal files, and private spaces to uncover secrets, even when it feels like crossing a line.
- choose whether Chloe and Rachel's fast-growing friendship turns romantic, then live with how that choice reshapes scenes.
9The Walking Dead: Season Two
- Players say: As Clementine searches for safety in a zombie-ravaged world, make survival decisions through dialogue, exploration, and timed action. Players like: Emotional Story · Clementine's Growth · Hard Moral Choices
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The Walking Dead: Season Two continues the story of Clementine, a young girl orphaned by the undead apocalypse. Left to fend for herself, she has been forced to learn how to survive in a world gone mad.
Dec 17, 2013
In this game, you can…
- import your Season 1 save and watch Season Two react to those old choices.
- reunite with Kenny and decide what your relationship is going to be now.
- get kidnapped by a new group, escape their camp, and stumble straight into delivering a baby under crisis conditions.
- play as Clementine all season and shape whether she stays kind or turns vicious.
- choose who to save when two people are getting attacked at once, knowing one is already bitten.
- sneak through areas as Clementine, rummage for useful objects, and decide how to deal with the survivors you run into.
- trek toward Wellington through snow, walkers, and hostile people as your supposed safe haven keeps slipping farther away.
10Half-Life 2: Episode One
- Players say: As Gordon Freeman, fight through a collapsing City 17 with Alyx, using firearms and a gravity gun to escape the Citadel’s looming disaster. Players like: Alyx as Partner · Compact Story Continuation · Ruined City Atmosphere
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Half-Life 2 has sold over 4 million copies worldwide, and earned over 35 Game of the Year Awards. Episode One is the first in a series of games that reveal the aftermath of Half-Life 2 and launch a journey beyond City 17. Also features two multiplayer games. Half-Life 2 not required.
Jun 1, 2006
In this game, you can…
- finish the whole episode firing a single bullet, then use the gravity gun for everything else
- use your flashlight to aim for your companion, letting her shoot zombies she can't see in the dark
- pick up and fling enemies and heavy objects with an overcharged gravity gun
- start exactly where the previous game ends, dropping into the Citadel disaster mid-collapse
- race back into the Citadel to hold off a reactor meltdown long enough to escape alive
- light flares that burn zombies alive while you fight through pitch-black tunnels
- blast through an infected hospital full of zombies in a fast, chaotic firefight
- keep loading train after train with refugees, sending group after group out before the city falls
