The Best Hand-drawn Games

Update : Saviorless added at rank #5.
1

TOEM (2021)

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90
Review score
Logo of TOEM Screenshot of TOEM Screenshot of TOEM Screenshot of TOEM

PC Windows Linux Mac OS Xbox Series X/s Playstation 5 Nintendo Switch Xbox One

Embark on a heartwarming journey in TOEM, a delightful photography game set in a magical black-and-white world. Help quirky characters, solve puzzles, and capture the beauty of your surroundings with your camera. Enjoy the relaxing landscape, chill beats, and the freedom to explore at your own pace. Despite its short length, TOEM's charming and pressure-free gameplay will leave you wanting more.


What we like:
  • Sweet art style
  • Cute music
  • Engaging and addictive gameplay
  • Freedom to complete quests at own pace
  • Dense and filled with opportunities for photography
What could be improved:
  • Relatively short game
  • Limited camera movement
  • Absence of a fast travel system
  • Almost entirely in black and white

  • editing
  • hand-drawn
  • photo
  • relaxing
  • cute
  • exploration
  • puzzle
  • adventure
  • soundtrack
  • photography
  • cozy
  • wholesome
  • music
  • funny
  • nature

2

The Wild at Heart (2021)

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84
Review score
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Xbox One Xbox Series X Playstation 4 Nintendo Switch PC Windows Mac OS

The Wild at Heart is a beautiful and joyous tale of discovery, full of quirky characters, exploration and puzzles. You play as Wake, a young scallywag searching for excitement who stumbles upon an adventure to save the world and reunite the Greenshields. With its hand-drawn art style, mysterious creatures and day-night cycle adding tension to the gameplay, you'll be sure to have some exciting escapades!


What we like:
  • Quirky characters with unique traits
  • Beautiful artstyle
  • Light combat & puzzles that increase in difficulty
  • Day-night cycle adding tension to the gameplay
What could be improved:
  • The standard loop:go here - do that
  • Parts of the narrative are well-honed

  • puzzle
  • hand-drawn
  • crafting
  • story
  • action-adventure
  • fantasy
  • emotional
  • time-management
  • 2d
  • atmospheric
  • colourful
  • resource-management
  • survival
  • exploration
  • adventure

3

Creaks (2020)

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91
Review score
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Mac OS IOS iPhone PC Windows Playstation 4 Nintendo Switch

The ground starts shaking, light bulbs are breaking - and something rather unusual is happening right behind the walls of your very room. Equipped with nothing but wit and courage, you slowly descend into a world inhabited by avian folk and seemingly deadly furniture monsters.


  • hand-drawn
  • puzzle
  • surreal
  • stylized
  • supernatural
  • platform
  • atmospheric
  • linear
  • cartoony
  • relaxing
  • 2d
  • mystery
  • story
  • dark
  • single-player

4

Gibbon: Beyond the Trees (2022)

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77
Review score
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IOS iPhone Playstation 5 Playstation 4 Nintendo Switch PC Windows Mac OS

Gibbon: Beyond the Trees is a hand-drawn adventure following a lost gibbon as they embark on a dangerous journey into unknown lands. Master the gibbon’s art of brachiation (swinging from branch to branch) at high speed, building momentum, pulling off spectacular somersaults. Race to freedom in liberation mode, or play through an hour-long narrative that captures the real struggle of living creatures.

Buy

  • nature
  • emotional
  • hand-drawn
  • platform
  • 2d
  • family-friendly
  • story
  • narration
  • colourful
  • atmospheric
  • action-adventure
  • relaxing
  • exploration
  • cute
  • procedural

5

Saviorless (2024)

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84
Review score
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Linux Mac OS Nintendo Switch Playstation 5 PC Windows j

Saviorless is a stylish dark fantasy action-platform game. Features two distinctive main characters on their quest to escape from a cursed land known as the Smiling Islands.


  • platform
  • hand-drawn
  • 2d
  • fantasy
  • dark
  • narration
  • hack-and-slash
  • conversation
  • surreal
  • atmospheric
  • stylized
  • self-narration
  • narrative
  • puzzle
  • multiple-endings

6

Cozy Grove (2021)

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81
Review score
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Xbox One Playstation 5 Xbox Series X Nintendo Switch Playstation 4 IOS iPhone Mac OS PC Windows

Cozy Grove offers a charming, narrative-driven island-style setting game where you play as a Spirit Scout who helps ghosts trapped on an island. With a range of activities such as fishing, crafting, and collecting resources, this game has an unexpected depth with ghost bear characters having their narratives ranging from comedic to bittersweet and impactful.


What we like:
  • Adorable cast of characters
  • Beautiful hand-drawn visuals
  • Charming soundtrack
  • Deep layer of complex themes
  • Available on multiple platforms
What could be improved:
  • Lack of cross-save functionality
  • Smaller scale compared to Animal Crossing
  • Limited storage
  • Time-limited quests
  • Limited play each day

  • relaxing
  • crafting
  • hand-drawn
  • life-sim
  • simulation
  • inventory
  • cute
  • real-time
  • cozy
  • narrative
  • collectathon
  • isometric
  • story
  • resource
  • difficult

7

Alien Hominid HD (2023)

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88
Review score
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Xbox One PC Windows Xbox 360

The 2D side-scrolling shooter from The Behemoth is back! With your mighty blaster and a group of mysterious kids by your side, destroy the agency and reclaim your spaceship!


  • cooperative
  • hand-drawn
  • run
  • old-school
  • aliens
  • boss
  • side-scrolling
  • local
  • gun
  • 2d
  • shoot-em-up
  • scroller
  • shooter
  • action
  • arcade

8

Welcome to Elk (2020)

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92
Review score
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Linux Nintendo Switch stadia Xbox One Mac OS PC Windows

Welcome to Elk is a biographical adventure set on an island like no other, where every character you encounter has a story to tell. From the weird and wonderful to the dark and desperate, all the tales told on Elk are based on true stories of life on the road less traveled.


  • narrative
  • hand-drawn
  • fiction
  • adventure
  • documentary
  • local
  • story
  • drama
  • violent
  • pretend
  • golf
  • villain
  • colourful
  • trading
  • exploration

9

A Taste of the Past (2022)

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97
Review score
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PC Windows

What do you do when you lose someone you love? A Taste of the Past is an emotional sidescroller about reconnecting with your Chinese culture while navigating a train to the afterlife. Featuring a wholesome story, cooking minigames, and hope.

Buy

  • life
  • immersive
  • walking-simulator
  • hand-drawn
  • scroller
  • fiction
  • simulation
  • text
  • point-and-click
  • visual-novel
  • stylized
  • interactive
  • cartoony
  • third-person
  • anime

10

Labyrinth City: Pierre the Maze Detective (2021)

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88
Review score
Logo of Labyrinth City: Pierre the Maze Detective Screenshot of Labyrinth City: Pierre the Maze Detective Screenshot of Labyrinth City: Pierre the Maze Detective Screenshot of Labyrinth City: Pierre the Maze Detective

IOS iPhone PC Windows Nintendo Switch

Adapted from the bestselling children’s book series Pierre The Maze Detective, play as Pierre in this adventure/puzzle game and recover the stolen Maze Stone. Journey through breathtakingly hand-drawn illustrations, meet eccentric characters, and solve puzzles to save Opera City!


  • maze
  • book
  • hand-drawn
  • puzzle
  • detective
  • hidden-object
  • exploration
  • comic
  • collectathon
  • 2.5d
  • collector
  • creature
  • colourful
  • cartoony
  • adventure

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