Games like Ishmael
Games like Ishmael include Suzerain, The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante, Roadwarden, Milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk, and A Bird Story. We matched them by the tags players give Ishmael on Steam (Text-Based, Interactive Fiction, Choose Your Own Adventure, Visual Novel, and Free to Play): closest matches first, and among equally close ones the better-known games.

Suzerain
Shared: Choose Your Own Adventure · Visual Novel · Interactive Fiction

The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante
Shared: Interactive Fiction · Choose Your Own Adventure · Text-Based

Roadwarden
Shared: Text-Based · Interactive Fiction · Indie

Milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk
Shared: Visual Novel · Interactive Fiction · Text-Based

A Bird Story
Shared: Indie · Interactive Fiction · Story Rich

To the Moon
Shared: Indie · Interactive Fiction · Story Rich

Florence
Shared: Indie · Casual · Interactive Fiction

The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante — Chapter 1&2
Shared: Interactive Fiction · Choose Your Own Adventure · Visual Novel

No Case Should Remain Unsolved
Shared: Interactive Fiction · Visual Novel · Text-Based

The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog
Shared: Visual Novel · Free to Play · Text-Based

Dagon: by H. P. Lovecraft
Shared: Visual Novel · Interactive Fiction · Choose Your Own Adventure

Slay the Princess — The Pristine Cut
Shared: Visual Novel · Choose Your Own Adventure · Story Rich

Refind Self: The Personality Test Game
Shared: Interactive Fiction · Visual Novel · Choose Your Own Adventure

Coffee Talk
Shared: Visual Novel · Interactive Fiction · Story Rich

I Wani Hug that Gator!
Shared: Visual Novel · Choose Your Own Adventure · Interactive Fiction

Billionaire Lovers
Shared: Visual Novel · Interactive Fiction · Casual

The Test
Shared: Choose Your Own Adventure · Story Rich · Visual Novel

Choice of Robots
Shared: Text-Based · Choose Your Own Adventure · Interactive Fiction

The Hungry Lamb: Traveling in the Late Ming Dynasty
Shared: Visual Novel · Interactive Fiction · Story Rich

OPUS: Echo of Starsong - Full Bloom Edition
Shared: Visual Novel · Interactive Fiction · Story Rich

Far Away
Shared: Visual Novel · Choose Your Own Adventure · Story Rich

他人世界末 On-looker
Shared: Text-Based · Visual Novel · Indie

Until Then
Shared: Visual Novel · Interactive Fiction · Story Rich

Vampire: The Masquerade - Coteries of New York
Shared: Visual Novel · Interactive Fiction · Indie