Next Up
An experiment by Prashant Matta
Pick another game

In Blackthorn Arena you: plan ahead, run a simulation, role-play with deep stats

2,661 of 20,285 games share what you do. These 10 fit best.

Your party Games like Blackthorn Arena

Keeps what you do. Adds something new.

  1. Ludus

    • Role-playing
    • Solo
    • Less played
    • Keeps: plan ahead
    • Keeps: run a simulation
    • Doesn’t keep: role-play with deep stats

    New here: balance an economy, ancient Rome

    Why you’d like it: Like Blackthorn Arena, you train bought slaves into gladiators, but Ludus has you running a gladiator school in ancient Rome.

    See on Steam: Ludus (opens in a new tab)

  2. Age of Gladiators

    • Strategy
    • Solo
    • Less played
    • Keeps: plan ahead
    • Keeps: run a simulation
    • Doesn’t keep: role-play with deep stats

    New here: play sports, ancient Rome

    Why you’d like it: Like Blackthorn Arena, you shape your gladiators’ attributes and abilities as they level, but here it is set in ancient Rome.

    See on Steam: Age of Gladiators (opens in a new tab)

  3. Bloodgrounds

    • Strategy
    • Solo
    • Early access
    • Keeps: plan ahead
    • Doesn’t keep: run a simulation
    • Doesn’t keep: role-play with deep stats

    New here: plan in turns, ancient Rome

    Why you’d like it: Like Blackthorn Arena, you recruit and train gladiators, but Bloodgrounds fights are turn-based and fallen gladiators are lost for good.

    See on Steam: Bloodgrounds (opens in a new tab)

Reserve

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  1. Gladiator School

    • Strategy
    • Solo
    • Mixed reviews
    • Keeps: plan ahead
    • Keeps: run a simulation
    • Doesn’t keep: role-play with deep stats

    New here: fight one on one from the side, real history

    See on Steam: Gladiator School (opens in a new tab)

  2. Age of Reforging: The Freelands

    • Role-playing
    • Solo
    • Mixed reviews
    • Keeps: plan ahead
    • Doesn’t keep: run a simulation
    • Keeps: role-play with deep stats

    New here: lead a party, magic

    See on Steam: Age of Reforging: The Freelands (opens in a new tab)

  3. Age of Gladiators II: Rome

    • Strategy
    • Solo
    • Mixed reviews
    • Keeps: plan ahead
    • Keeps: run a simulation
    • Doesn’t keep: role-play with deep stats

    New here: play sports, ancient Rome

    See on Steam: Age of Gladiators II: Rome (opens in a new tab)

  4. Gladiator Guild Manager

    • Strategy
    • Solo
    • Keeps: plan ahead
    • Keeps: run a simulation
    • Doesn’t keep: role-play with deep stats

    New here: set up teams that fight alone, runs that carry progress over

    See on Steam: Gladiator Guild Manager (opens in a new tab)

  5. Gods of Sand

    • Strategy
    • Solo
    • Early access
    • Keeps: plan ahead
    • Keeps: run a simulation
    • Doesn’t keep: role-play with deep stats

    New here: plan in turns, ancient Rome

    See on Steam: Gods of Sand (opens in a new tab)

  6. Mortal Glory 2

    • Strategy
    • Solo
    • Less played
    • Keeps: plan ahead
    • Keeps: run a simulation
    • Doesn’t keep: role-play with deep stats

    New here: level up and move squads, runs that carry progress over

    See on Steam: Mortal Glory 2 (opens in a new tab)

  7. Mortal Glory

    • Strategy
    • Solo
    • Less played
    • Keeps: plan ahead
    • Keeps: run a simulation
    • Doesn’t keep: role-play with deep stats

    New here: level up and move squads, starting over each run

    See on Steam: Mortal Glory (opens in a new tab)

Played one of these? See what to play after it: LudusAge of GladiatorsBloodgroundsAge of Reforging: The FreelandsGladiator Guild ManagerGods of SandMortal Glory

AI wrote the “Why you’d like it” lines, and a second AI pass checked them against each game’s store page. They can be wrong, so check the store page before you buy.

How this list was made

2,661 of 20,285 games share what you do. These 10 fit best.

What gets in

A game is what you do in it, so a pick has to share what players say you do most. If fewer than ten games earn a place, the list stays short.

Lists use the tags Steam players vote on, plus each game’s Steam store page.

Less played means far fewer Steam reviews than the game you finished. Mixed reviews means 60 to 69% of its Steam reviews are positive.

What only changes the order

A shared setting, look or popularity can move a game up or down, but it can’t put a game on the list by itself. Being set in space, for example, isn’t enough: a pick has to keep something you do.

What isn’t known

No players have tested this. Newer and smaller games have less data.

Privacy

To learn whether this works, the page records how it’s used. This is all of it.

What’s recorded

Searches

The text you type is never sent to Next Up. If it matches a game Next Up knows but has no list for, only that game’s number is recorded. If it matches nothing, only the fact that it matched nothing is recorded, with a rough length such as 4 to 6 characters.

Suggestions show a small image of each game, loaded straight from Steam’s image servers. So while you type, Steam sees which games’ images your browser asks for, though not the text itself.

The random ID

Your browser keeps a random ID for up to 6 months after your last visit, so repeat visits can be counted. It’s created when the first batch of this record goes out, which is your first action or the first time you leave or switch away from the page, whichever comes first. It’s stored in this browser, not in a cookie.

The ID is kept like this only in the US, Canada outside Quebec, Australia and New Zealand. Everywhere else, nothing is stored for it: the ID lasts only until you close or reload the tab, so a return visit counts as a new one. That’s decided from the location Cloudflare reports for your connection, so a VPN can change it. If it reports no country, or Canada with no region, nothing is stored either.

From your connection

The record keeps your country and region, device type, operating system and browser family, language, and the kind of site you came from. Your IP address, city and network aren’t stored, and this recording uses no cookies. Cloudflare may set a security cookie of its own.

Who else sees a visit

Cloudflare hosts the page and this data, and handles your connection like any web host. Store links and Steam searches go to Steam only if you click them, and Steam then sees that visit.

Game art loads straight from Steam’s image servers (shared.akamai.steamstatic.com and shared.fastly.steamstatic.com): on the first screen’s game tiles as soon as it opens, in search suggestions as you type, and on each list. So your browser contacts Steam for those images, and Steam sees that connection and which games’ images were asked for.

Google Analytics is blocked on this page by its security policy, but the rest of pmatta.design uses it.

AI-written lines

The “Why you’d like it” lines on cards were written by AI ahead of time and checked by a second AI pass. No AI runs while you browse.

How long it’s kept

Up to 13 months.

Turn counting off

Turning it off stops this browser sending anything and removes the ID. The choice is kept in this browser, so clearing site data turns counting back on, and so can a browser that clears such data by itself, as Safari can after 7 days without a visit. If your browser sends Global Privacy Control, counting is already off, and the ID is removed. What was sent before you turned it off is kept for up to 13 months, like the rest.

To ask about any of this, write to privacy@pmatta.design.