10 Games Like Librarian: Tidy Up, Ranked (2026)

3,072 books. That is what Librarian: Tidy Up the Arcane Library! puts on the floor in front of you, and since it released on 30 April 2026 it has collected 24,863 Steam reviews across all languages at a Very Positive rating, read off its Steam store page on 4 September 2026. Buried in those reviews is the same sentence over and over: I finished it, now I want another one.

That is harder than it sounds. The Alchemess team read every store page in this micro-genre — the first-person shelving sim, where you pick a thing up, work out where it goes and put it down — and there are dozens, most released in the last two months, most around US$5. Here are ten, ranked by how close each gets to the arcane library, with every price, review count and player mode read off that game’s own Steam page on 4 September 2026.

Alchemess launches 17 September 2026

What is Alchemess?
A cozy first-person sorting game from Techplay, a two-person studio in Phuket.
2,080 hand-named potions, 26 shelves from Alpha to Omega, a gold Sun shelf and a silver Moon shelf,
no timer, no fail state and nothing you can lose,
playable alone, in co-op, or as a Sun-vs-Moon race,
US$5.99 on Steam and the Epic Games Store from 17 September 2026,
with a 10% launch discount.

Wishlist on Steam

Is Librarian: Tidy Up the Arcane Library worth it?

Yes, on the evidence — but read the numbers carefully, because Steam shows three and they get quoted interchangeably. On 4 September 2026 its all-language total was 24,863 reviews with 23,488 positive; the store page defaults to your own languages, which showed 15,413 English reviews at 93%; and the last thirty days accounted for 1,968. All three are Very Positive, and the game was 20% off at around US$4.79 from US$5.99.

What matters more is what kind of game it is, because that decides which of the ten below suits you. Librarian is a game about efficiency: the principal forbids you to leave until all 3,072 books are back, and the store page is explicit that “the Principal’s evaluation shifts in real-time based on how many rows are correctly shelved”. You unlock magic as you go — Assemble summons other volumes of a series to your hands, Insight highlights matches in the pile, Auto-Shelving places a full armful in order. That is a good design and plenty of people want exactly it. If your pleasure was getting faster, most of this list will suit you. If the evaluation was the part you tolerated, the ranking turns over a long way down.

The rest comes off the Librarian: Tidy Up the Arcane Library Steam page. Librarian: Tidy Up the Arcane Library platforms are simple — Windows PC only, with no PlayStation, Xbox or Switch port announced, so anyone searching Librarian: Tidy Up the Arcane Library console has nothing to wait for. If you searched Librarian: Tidy Up the Arcane Library where to play, the answer is Steam, the only storefront its page points at. No DLC is listed. It is one library rather than a set of levels, and its achievements count rows, with badges at 50, 200 and 400. Three hours is possible: “Efficiency Librarian” rewards finishing inside three hours, and 13.4% of players hold it per Steam’s global stats on 4 September 2026. It carries four interface languages. ArtRising publishes its own AI disclosure on the store page covering four assets and some text editing; read it and decide for yourself.

How did we choose these games?

There is no single best game like Librarian, because “like Librarian” splits three ways: the same room, the same verb, or the same evening. Most Librarian: Tidy Up the Arcane Library similar games lists stop at the store blurb, so we ranked on how closely each reproduces the arcane library and broke ties on evidence.

• The verb has to match. Pick an object up, decide where it belongs, put it there. Cleaning, decorating and building games are out.
• Size of the mess, as a number. Librarian’s 3,072 books set the bar, and every entry gives the count its own store page publishes: 2,000 items and 8,000 items are different fortnights.
• What happens when you are wrong. Some of these score, time and rank you; some do nothing at all. Neither is better, and we say which every time.
• Whether anyone can help. Librarian’s Steam page lists Single-player and nothing else. Four games below list multiplayer, and we opened each page rather than assuming, ours included.
• Reviews with the count attached. 97% from 40 people is not 94% from 24,863. Every count below is the all-language total read on 4 September 2026, so your own store page, which filters to your languages, will show fewer.
• Price on the day. Steam prices move weekly and differ by region, so treat every figure as a stamp, not a promise.

Top 10 games like Librarian: Tidy Up the Arcane Library

We build one of these ourselves, so we have read more store pages in this genre than is reasonable. Closest to the arcane library first:

1. Sort Them Ducks

2. Cellar Keeper

3. Shelves and Sorcery: Tidy Up the Enchanted Shop

4. Shelve the Potions!

5. Cleaning Up The Puzzle Gallery

6. Too Many Toys!

7. Alchemess: Tidy Up Your Potion Shop!

8. Tidy Up Together

9. TV Archive: Tidy Up Together

10. Wilmot’s Warehouse

Now let’s review each game in detail.

1. Sort Them Ducks

If you want the closest thing to Librarian that exists, buy this and stop reading. Sort Them Ducks, from solo developer Mr.Duck and released 13 August 2026, has the same skeleton: a store of scattered objects, shelves that want them by category, an ability tree that makes you quicker.

The objects are 4,000-plus unique rubber ducks — pirates, wizards, astronauts, chefs, dinosaurs — and every correct duck earns money you spend on carrying more, moving faster, highlighting matches and revealing the right shelf. The progression curve is the point, exactly as in Librarian, and it is tuned well enough that 1,265 of its 1,370 reviews are positive. It carries 17 interface languages, and its store page lists Single-player and nothing else.

Highlights:

• Price: ~US$5.99 (4 Sep 2026)
• Size of the mess: 4,000+ rubber ducks
• Players: single-player only
• Reviews: 1,370, Very Positive
• Best for: the same loop, tonight

2. Cellar Keeper

Cellar Keeper from EgoTrampoline arrived on 6 August 2026 and asks you to return 2,448 bottles to their racks in a ruined cellar. The framing is better than it needs to be: a collector tried an ancient preservation spell, it turned him into a chicken, and he waits in a cage while you sort.

Mechanically it is Librarian with the dial exposed. Cozy Mode gives skill unlocks for carrying, searching and movement, with no time limits; Speedrun Mode strips the skills out and puts you on an online leaderboard. Getting a relaxed run and a measured one without buying a second game is why this sits second. It is cheaper than most of the list at around US$4.99, carries 13 interface languages, and 749 of its 836 reviews are positive. Single-player only.

Highlights:

• Price: ~US$4.99 (4 Sep 2026)
• Size of the mess: 2,448 bottles
• Players: single-player only
• Reviews: 836, Very Positive
• Best for: relaxing and racing in one purchase

3. Shelves and Sorcery: Tidy Up the Enchanted Shop

The most game on this list. Shelves and Sorcery from Teddy Bear Games LLC released 11 August 2026 with three fantasy shops of escalating size — The Hearth & Barrel at 1,048 items, The Merchant’s Rest at 3,085, The Grand Athenaeum at 4,066 — and four ways to replay each.

Casual Mode has no timer. Timed Mode puts you on a global leaderboard. Archmage Mode hands you every Sorcery and Enchantment from the first second, and No Magic Mode takes all of them away and leaves you route knowledge. That is 8,199 items across three rooms, comfortably the most content per dollar here. One catch before you pay: its store page lists English as the only interface language. Single-player, 537 of 574 reviews positive.

Highlights:

• Price: ~US$5.99 (4 Sep 2026)
• Size of the mess: 8,199 items, three shops
• Players: single-player only
• Reviews: 574, Very Positive
• Best for: replayers who read English

4. Shelve the Potions!

Shelve the Potions! from Knight Owl Games, released 24 August 2026, is barely a sorting sim — it is a deduction game wearing one as a costume. The witch’s cats have knocked 2,000-plus potions off the shelves, and each shelf is a handcrafted puzzle with a hidden rule you work out from symbols, notes and objects around the cellar.

There are 20-plus of those puzzles. Some resolve at a glance, others need a clue found two rooms ago, and when you are stuck you pet a cat and ask for a hint. It is the only game here where efficiency is useless, because the bottleneck is understanding rather than walking. It was 10% off at around US$5.39 when we checked, has 12 interface languages and a free demo, and 270 of 317 reviews are positive.

Highlights:

• Price: ~US$5.39, from US$5.99 (4 Sep 2026)
• Size of the mess: 2,000+ potions, 20+ puzzles
• Players: single-player only
• Reviews: 317, Very Positive
• Best for: thinking rather than optimising

5. Cleaning Up The Puzzle Gallery

An earthquake has thrown 2,071 jigsaw pieces across a gallery and you are the janitor. Cleaning Up The Puzzle Gallery from Th3GameStudio released 5 August 2026 and holds the best rating here: 542 of 569 reviews positive, which Steam labels Overwhelmingly Positive.

The gallery holds 87 paintings by 13 artists including Monet, Van Gogh and Hokusai, all from public-domain scans of the originals, so sorting doubles as hours of looking at good pictures. The challenge modes include “The Big White”, a 1,024-piece puzzle of pure white that starts as a joke and becomes a difficulty setting. You can also upload up to 83 of your own images and fill the gallery with them. Around US$4.99, 7 interface languages, single-player only.

Highlights:

• Price: ~US$4.99 (4 Sep 2026)
• Size of the mess: 2,071 pieces, 87 paintings
• Players: single-player only
• Reviews: 569, Overwhelmingly Positive
• Best for: jigsaws, art, and your own photos

How we wrote 260 potion names

Every game here answers the same question: how does a player know where a thing goes? Librarian uses cover art and titles, Cleaning Up The Puzzle Gallery uses the painting on the wall, and we wrote 260 names by hand and sorted them into 26 themed shelves, so Zeta holds sleep and dreams and Omega holds dramatic exits. Nobody solves it the same way. Continue reading on the Alchemess blog.

6. Too Many Toys!

The biggest single pile in the top half. Too Many Toys! from 4ydam and Jakub T released 28 August 2026 with 5,517 toys scattered through a shop — plushies, action figures, toy cars, board games, building blocks — each belonging on one specific shelf in one specific section.

Completed rows earn points, points buy upgrades, and the upgrades run further than most of this genre allows: bigger armfuls, faster movement, robot assistants, and a toy train you ride around the shop. If Librarian’s ability unlocks were your favourite part, this takes them furthest. It was 15% off at around US$5.09 when we checked, has 10 interface languages, and 140 of its 145 reviews are positive. Note it lists partial rather than full controller support.

Highlights:

• Price: ~US$5.09, from US$5.99 (4 Sep 2026)
• Size of the mess: 5,517 toys
• Players: single-player only
• Reviews: 145, Very Positive
• Best for: the longest upgrade ladder

2,080 bottles are waiting for a shelf

What is Alchemess?
A cozy first-person sorting game from Techplay, a two-person studio in Phuket.
2,080 hand-named potions, 26 shelves from Alpha to Omega, a gold Sun shelf and a silver Moon shelf,
no timer, no fail state and nothing you can lose,
playable alone, in co-op, or as a Sun-vs-Moon race,
US$5.99 on Steam and the Epic Games Store from 17 September 2026,
with a 10% launch discount.

Wishlist on Steam

7. Alchemess: Tidy Up Your Potion Shop!

Ours, launching 17 September 2026, so it has no reviews and no player numbers and we are not going to pretend otherwise. It sits seventh because we cannot honestly rank an unreleased game above six you could play tonight.

2,080 potions are on the floor of your apothecary: 260 names written by hand across 8 bottle shapes, numbered No 1 to No 2080, on printed parchment labels with hand-set type and no AI art anywhere. They belong on 26 shelves lettered Alpha to Omega plus a gold Sun shelf and a silver Moon shelf, grouped by theme, so tidying doubles as reading.

The two differences that matter are subtraction and company. There is no timer, no score and no evaluation — a wrong slot does nothing at all, which we explain in why there is no timer. And it is the only game in this roundup listing online co-op, split-screen co-op and a versus mode together: read out a six-digit room code and a friend is pulling bottles out of your hands, press one button for two players on one screen, or split the shop 13 shelves each and race — Sun vs Moon. It is US$5.99 on Steam from 17 September 2026, with a 10% launch discount, on Windows, in 9 interface languages.

Highlights:

• Price: US$5.99 from 17 Sep 2026, 10% launch discount
• Size of the mess: 2,080 potions, 260 names, 26 shelves
• Players: solo, online co-op, couch co-op, versus
• Reviews: none — the game has not released
• Best for: the calm without the scoring

8. Tidy Up Together

Tidy Up Together from Malum Games, released 14 August 2026, is this genre’s answer to “can we do it together”. An evil wizard has blasted the stock of your adventurer’s shop across the floor, and you can invite as many friends as you like to help pick it up.

Three shops hold 650, 2,500 and almost 10,000 items across 14 categories, which makes the largest the biggest single space in this roundup. There are no time limits, though it shows your completion time at the end — the gentle scoreboard a group tends to enjoy. Two things to weigh: its store page lists online co-op but no local split-screen and no versus mode, and English is its only interface language. Its rating is the softest here, 165 of 208 positive. The page also states that no AI was used in making it.

Highlights:

• Price: ~US$5.99 (4 Sep 2026)
• Size of the mess: ~13,000 items, three shops
• Players: solo and online co-op
• Reviews: 208, Mostly Positive
• Best for: a group and one very large room

9. TV Archive: Tidy Up Together

TV Archive: Tidy Up Together from Games Together, released 14 August 2026, carries the most modes here: single-player, online co-op and online PvP, plus a Sandbox mode with every skill unlocked and a No-Skill mode that removes them.

You shelve 3,180 videotapes into twenty categories — action, drama, cartoons, horror, football, news, motorsport, cooking, documentaries and the rest — the closest item count to Librarian’s 3,072 on this list. The skills read like Librarian’s spells with the names filed off: sort your handful numerically, highlight the correct shelf, highlight matching tapes, auto-place, auto-collect. It is the cheapest game here at around US$4.99, with 18 interface languages. Its rating is Mostly Positive at 391 of 541, and those negative reviews are worth reading before you buy rather than after.

Highlights:

• Price: ~US$4.99 (4 Sep 2026)
• Size of the mess: 3,180 videotapes, 20 categories
• Players: solo, online co-op, online PvP
• Reviews: 541, Mostly Positive
• Best for: racing a friend online

10. Wilmot’s Warehouse

The elder of this genre and still the strangest. Wilmot’s Warehouse from Hollow Ponds and Richard Hogg released 29 August 2019 and is the only game here that refuses to tell you where anything goes. 500 products arrive as wordless symbols, you arrange them across an empty floor by whatever system you like, then a hatch opens and you have to find what people ask for, fast.

It is top-down rather than first person, so Librarian’s room-sized physicality is gone. What replaces it is the purest form of the idea: your filing system is the thing being tested. 539 of its 560 reviews are positive, six years on. It also has the only local multiplayer besides ours — split-screen two-player co-op, which needs a gamepad, and split-screen versus. Around US$14.99, English only, Windows and macOS.

Highlights:

• Price: ~US$14.99 (4 Sep 2026)
• Size of the mess: 500 possible products
• Players: solo, split-screen co-op and PvP
• Reviews: 560, Overwhelmingly Positive
• Best for: two people on one sofa

Which of these is for you?

Ten games similar to Librarian: Tidy Up the Arcane Library is still too many, so here is the short version.

The same game again, tonight, for five dollars. Sort Them Ducks — same loop, same upgrade rhythm, 4,000 ducks instead of 3,072 books, and 17 languages if English is not yours.

You liked being timed and ranked. Cellar Keeper’s Speedrun Mode or Shelves and Sorcery’s Timed Mode, both with global leaderboards. Shelves and Sorcery has four times the content; Cellar Keeper has twelve more languages.

The evaluation was the part you tolerated. This is where the list turns over: nothing in the top six removes scoring, because the genre is built on it. Alchemess has no timer, no score and no evaluation, and a wrong bottle costs you the walk back and nothing else.

You want to play with somebody. Four of the ten allow it and they are not equivalent: Tidy Up Together and TV Archive are online only, Wilmot’s Warehouse is local only and wants a gamepad, and all three modes are listed on the Alchemess store page.

A puzzle rather than a job. Shelve the Potions!, where every shelf hides a rule and a cat will help if you ask.

Something to look at. Cleaning Up The Puzzle Gallery, for 87 public-domain masterpieces and the option of hanging your own photographs.

Comparison table: price, size and co-op

Search Librarian arcane library and you get a row of store pages that all look the same. They are not. Every figure below was read off that game’s own Steam page on 4 September 2026 and appears in its entry above.

Game	Price (4 Sep 2026)	Things to sort	Players	Steam reviews	Best for
Sort Them Ducks	~US$5.99	4,000+ ducks	Single-player	1,370, Very Positive	The same loop again
Cellar Keeper	~US$4.99	2,448 bottles	Single-player	836, Very Positive	Cozy run and speedrun
Shelves and Sorcery	~US$5.99	8,199 items, 3 shops	Single-player	574, Very Positive	Replay value
Shelve the Potions!	~US$5.39	2,000+ potions	Single-player	317, Very Positive	Deduction
Cleaning Up The Puzzle Gallery	~US$4.99	2,071 pieces	Single-player	569, Overwhelmingly Positive	Jigsaws and art
Too Many Toys!	~US$5.09	5,517 toys	Single-player	145, Very Positive	Upgrade trees
Alchemess	US$5.99 from 17 Sep 2026	2,080 potions	Solo, online co-op, couch co-op, versus	None — unreleased	Calm, and company
Tidy Up Together	~US$5.99	~13,000 items, 3 shops	Solo, online co-op	208, Mostly Positive	A big group
TV Archive: Tidy Up Together	~US$4.99	3,180 videotapes	Solo, online co-op, online PvP	541, Mostly Positive	Racing a friend
Wilmot’s Warehouse	~US$14.99	500 products	Solo, split-screen co-op and PvP	560, Overwhelmingly Positive	Two on one sofa

Which one to play tonight

Three things decide this and none is the review score. The size of the pile: 2,000 items is an evening, 8,000 is a fortnight, and picking wrong is how a cozy game becomes an obligation. Whether the game measures you: a leaderboard is a feature if you want one and a low hum of pressure if you do not. And whether anyone else is in the room, because only four of these ten say yes, and only one says yes on the sofa and online.

Alchemess is our attempt at the version where the measuring is gone: 2,080 bottles, 260 names written by hand, 26 shelves plus the Sun and the Moon, and a six-digit room code that puts a friend in your shop in about fifteen seconds.

Tidy the shop yourself on 17 September

What is Alchemess?
A cozy first-person sorting game from Techplay, a two-person studio in Phuket.
2,080 hand-named potions, 26 shelves from Alpha to Omega, a gold Sun shelf and a silver Moon shelf,
no timer, no fail state and nothing you can lose,
playable alone, in co-op, or as a Sun-vs-Moon race,
US$5.99 on Steam and the Epic Games Store from 17 September 2026,
with a 10% launch discount.

Wishlist on Steam

FAQ: games like Librarian

What is the best game like Librarian: Tidy Up the Arcane Library? Sort Them Ducks, for most people — the closest structural match, a first-person shelving loop with an upgrade tree, at around US$5.99 as of 4 September 2026 with 1,370 Steam reviews at Very Positive. For the same shape cheaper, Cellar Keeper is around US$4.99 with 836 reviews and both a cozy and a speedrun mode.

Where can I play Librarian: Tidy Up the Arcane Library, and is it on console? On Steam, on Windows PC. Its store page lists Windows as its only platform as of 4 September 2026 and ArtRising has not announced a PlayStation, Xbox or Switch version, so there is no console edition to wait for.

Is there a DLC for Librarian: Tidy Up the Arcane Library, or more content coming? No DLC is listed on its Steam store page as of 4 September 2026 and no further content has been announced there. The honest answer is that 3,072 books is what you get, roughly the scale of most games on this list.

Which games like Librarian tidy up have co-op? Four of the ten. Tidy Up Together and TV Archive: Tidy Up Together both list online co-op, and TV Archive adds online PvP. Wilmot’s Warehouse has local split-screen co-op and versus, with a gamepad. Alchemess is the only one listing online co-op, split-screen co-op and a versus mode together. Librarian, Sort Them Ducks, Shelve the Potions!, Cellar Keeper, Shelves and Sorcery, Cleaning Up The Puzzle Gallery and Too Many Toys! are single-player only, each per its own Steam page on 4 September 2026.

How do I choose between all these arcane library games? Answer three questions in order: how long you want it to last, judged by item count rather than price; whether you want to be scored or left alone; and whether anyone is playing with you. Those three cut ten games down to one or two, and the comparison table above answers them in that order.