Games like Cavernous II
Cavernous II. These games share the most with it, and each one says why.

Stuck In Time
Also planning, exploration
Plan action lists for each time loop, let them run, and refine routes through a pixel-art world as you work toward escape.
85% steamhas ending70% idle
Incremental rush
Also challenges, planning
A puzzle-leaning speedrun incremental: beat each of seven increasingly hard stages within 60 seconds, helped by autobuy.
3.2★ galaxy
MyceliumUpdated
Also planning, exploration
Spread a fungal network through forest soil, weighing nearby poor ground against distant rich deposits since resources must travel back to the core.

Coin Factory
Also planning, challenges
Lay out factory tiles around an output tile, level them and place modifiers to find synergies, with handmade levels plus daily and nightly challenge maps.
77% steam
Mr.Mine
Also exploration
Dig a mine deeper and deeper, hire miners, discover what lives at the bottom.
92% steam75% idle
Antimatter DimensionsUpdated
Also challenges
Buy dimensions that buy dimensions, then break infinity, then break reality. The reference point every numbers-go-up game is measured against, and it has a real ending.
92% steam4.6★ galaxy200–600h ending55% idle
Ink Remnant
Also exploration
A short incremental where a mage starts with nothing in a magical city and researches upward, with new systems revealed as the story unfolds.
4.6★ galaxy
What Lurks Below
Also exploration
A 30-minute game jam incremental set in 1881, where you push deeper beneath the town of Old Gloomhollow to find what is down there.
4.6★ galaxy50% idle
Shelldiver
Also exploration
An elderly turtle pilots a submarine to catch jellyfish and salvage ocean junk, selling the haul to upgrade gear and dive into deeper biomes.
98% steam
It's FineUpdated
Also challenges
Survive the last 24 hours of a game dev crunch under your dog manager. Each station has its own mechanics, sleep powers a deep prestige tree, and there are alternate endings to find.
88% steamhas ending
Mine Your Way Out 2
Also exploration
Dig through a fully destructible pixel world and upgrade your gear to escape the underground, in about an hour.
4.4★ galaxyhas ending
IDLE_DIRECTIVEUpdated
Also exploration
Manage a limited grid inventory of producers and automation items while scavenging a dying world, trading with survivors, and resetting for augments.
86% steam
Cavern Crawler
Also exploration
A short prototype where you repeatedly crawl through caverns and grow stronger between attempts; all content fits in under an hour.
4.3★ galaxy
Outpath: First Journey
Also exploration
A free prologue to a first-person clicker where you gather, craft and automate a base, buying new islands, in either an active or idle style.
96% steam50% idle
Outpath
Also exploration
A first-person clicker base builder: gather by hand, then automate production and buy more islands to expand.
94% steam50% idle
The Board is YoursUpdated
Also planning
Buy chess squares and pieces and position them so defended pieces boost each other's output, with prestige perks that change your strategy.
97% steam4.2★ galaxy50% idle
Unnamed Fantasy Waiting Game
Also exploration
Wake alone in a magic-ruined world and stretch scarce resources while waiting, reading and uncovering what happened.
4.5★ galaxy
THE LONGING
Also exploration
Wait 400 real days in an underground palace for a king to wake. The clock runs while the game is closed, so you can explore or simply leave.
92% steamhas ending70% idle
The Greenening
Also exploration
Water an ash-covered planet to reveal what lies beneath, upgrade your abilities, and tend a garden aboard your spaceship in about three hours.
96% steam50% idle
Omega Layers
Also challenges
Buy generators, clear challenges, and prestige up an endless ladder of Greek-letter layers, like Antimatter Dimensions with no cap on layers.
4.1★ galaxy
LegendumUpdated
Also planning
Plan each day of a hero's life, auto-battle hordes and train skills before old age, carrying your soul forward to the next life.
4.6★ galaxy
NG Space Company
Also exploration
A space incremental about mining resources, exploring between stars and conquering systems.
4.2★ galaxy
Planar PioneersDormant
Also exploration
Gather resources and use them to travel to procedurally generated planes, inspired by Minecraft dimension mods.
4.1★ galaxy
Tumbleweed Destiny
Also exploration
Roll a tumbleweed through the desert, breaking cacti for points to spend on abilities, solo or with up to 16 players online.
95% steam