Once a player has finished exploring the forests and plateaus in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, they might suddenly be struck with some sort of Hyrule hangover. After all, Nintendo’s expansive open-world is full of unique moments of discovery, compelling puzzles, and challenging enemies ever created in the last decade.
While there may not be many games as celebrated as Breath of the Wild, there are plenty of other titles with open worlds, awesome monsters, and nooks and crannies just waiting to be explored. So, let’s take a tour through ten other games with massive maps, swords, explorative adventures, or all of the above. The following titles may not be Breath of the Wild, but they will certainly scratch the same itch while the world waits for the sequel.
Updated November 13, 2022 by Mark Sammut: Games like Breath of the Wild do not come around often, but there are quite a few projects that should entertain fans of Nintendo’s open-world title. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, is slated for May 12, 2023, so there is still plenty of time to fill before Link’s next adventure debuts. In the meantime, players can check out these games similar to The Legend of Zelda: BOTW
Super Mario Odyssey
Nintendo’s 2017 was positively stellar. The release of a console along with two amazing titles established the company as a top-of-the-line console manufacturer and video game developer once again. The first game that was launched along with the Switch was Breath of the Wild, while Super Mario Odyssey came out later that same year.
Just like Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey has secrets awaiting the player at every corner. It makes for an excellent platforming title where players have all the freedom in the world to accomplish challenges and unlock the wealth of content that lies within.
Games like BOTW take a classic property and frame it around modern gaming conventions; Super Mario Odyssey isn’t quite as big of a departure from previous 3D Mario games as Breath of the Wild is to The Legend of Zelda, but it is in the same ballpark.
Monster Hunter Rise
The Monster Hunter series has been on a constant high since the debut of Monster Hunter World, a game that most people consider to be the most accessible title in the series. So, it’s only a given as to why so many people were hyped for Monster Hunter Rise.
The game is another excellent entry in the Monster Hunter series. The tough combat and excellent exploration make Rise the perfect recommendation for Switch owners seeking games like Breath of the Wild. Within Monster Hunter Rise’s small explorable areas, players are free to utilize their tools, experience, and knowledge to hunt the massive beasts that await.
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim
Breath of the Wild’s unfettered exploration allows players to experience some truly magical moments. This is a feeling that most gamers hadn’t experienced since the release of Skyrim.
To this day, Skyrim still stands tall as one of the best open-world RPGs around. Bethesda hit a gold mine with this title that it hasn’t stopped mining since. Although there is far more emphasis on story in the 2011 RPG than Breath of the Wild, Skyrim shines the brightest when treated as a sandbox for players to immerse themselves in.
Sonic Frontiers
Sega’s iconic Blue Blur has made his open-world debut, and as tends to be the case with every 3D Sonic the Hedgehog release, Sonic Frontiers is divisive. On the one hand, the title suffers from pop-in on most consoles and uses a combat system that gets old quickly; conversely, the game’s world can be a lot of fun to explore, and its story is pretty good by the franchise’s standards.
Sonic the Hedgehog’s transition to open-world has not been as seamless as The Legend of Zelda’s, but Sonic Frontiers is far from a horrible effort as well. If nothing else, long-time fans of Sega’s license can look forward to spending time with some of gaming’s most beloved personalities.
Asterigos: Curse Of The Stars
2022 has been a good year for AA-style action games. Steelrising and Soulstice both fit the bill, but they are quite far removed from Breath of the Wild. While not extremely similar to Nintendo’s masterpiece, Asterigos: Curse of the Stars deserves a recommendation, particularly for fans of action RPGs. As Hilda, players head to the cursed city of Aphes in search of the protagonist’s father. Before long, Hilda becomes involved in a mission to free Aphes of its doomed fate.
Combat-wise, Asterigos has quite a bit in common with Dark Souls, although the gameplay is more fast-paced and forgiving. Hilda immediately has access to all of her weapon types, which range from melee-focused swords and poles to long-range options like magic. Like Breath of the Wild, Asterigos encourages players to experiment with their weapon selection to see which one is the best fit for them.
Get it on Steam here!
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey & Valhalla
The Assassin’s Creed series has gone through a major resurgence since the release of Syndicate. As the series progressed, the entries have gradually incorporated more RPG mechanics and fantasy elements, and Odyssey was the first entry to really qualify as a full-blown role-playing game.
Odyssey is an excellent journey through Ancient Greece. It might be a bit too bloated with content, but players who look past this minor issue will find themselves enjoying one of the better Assassin’s Creed games.
Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla is the most recent release in the franchise and is an easy recommendation for players who wish to jump into a world filled with Vikings. A stunning open-world full of intrigue, side quests, and puzzles, along with an intricately woven storyline await RPG (and Breath of the Wild) fans.
Pokemon Legends: Arceus
Similar to how Breath of the Wild reformed Zelda as an open-world experience, Legends: Arceus did the same to Pokemon, although its map is split into biomes. Game Freak’s 2022 release is the storied franchise’s most ambitious entry in a long time, and it changes a number of things that have been ingrained into Pokemon for seemingly ever.
Legends: Arceus reworks the processes for both catching and battling Pokemon, offering mechanics that heighten the player’s involvement while enhancing unpredictability. Visually, Legends: Arceus leaves something to be desired and is not as impressive as Breath of the Wild; that said, the game is still a lot of fun, which is the most important thing.
Final Fantasy 15
After what felt like ages, Final Fantasy 15 was finally released to the public. The game suffered from a needlessly lengthy development period, and shades of this could still be seen in the final product.
However, underneath all these issues, there is something really special in Final Fantasy 15. The open world is beautiful and the combat feels great, regardless of how easy the game may be. It might be a stretch to call Final Fantasy 15 a game like The Legend of Zelda, but there are some things here that will resonate with fans of Breath of the Wild. The first half of FFXV generally keeps the reigns off players, immersing them in a large and gorgeous map while sporadically sprinkling in story beats. The plot does become more of a focus in the game’s second half.
Windbound
One glance at Windbound’s breathtaking visuals should be all it takes to conjure up images of a desolate Hyrule. Set on a remote island, Windbound’s graphics and environments are its best points, but how does the gameplay fare?
Windbound is a survival game and a pretty unforgiving one at that. This mostly comes down to the main protagonist’s insatiable appetite and the roguelike elements introduced on certain difficulty settings. Similar to Breath of the Wild, Windbound’s minimalist plot doesn’t hold the player’s hand, although it does give out objectives per chapter.
Hob: The Definitive Edition
At a glance, Hob has quite a lot of similarities with Breath of the Wild. A stylized open world in disrepair full of puzzles and baddies? Check. A quiet and mysterious beginning without much explanation? Double-check. A run-in with a carnivorous plant that eats your arm and introduces you to a mechanical appendage that comes to define most of the gameplay? Okay, maybe that part is unique to Hob.
This ten-hour adventure from Panic Button, the developers who have brought both Skyrim and Wolfenstein 2 to the Nintendo Switch, is both engaging and challenging. Sure, it may not be as long, epic, or expansive as Breath of the Wild, but it is a world of shaded art styles and puzzles that may just help fill the Link-shaped void. If you yearn for mind games while traversing the trees, why not rip off your arm and get to exploring a mystery land as a short hooded cyborg?
Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles
Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles is about as pure and wholesome of an adventure game as the genre is likely to ever produce. The player crashes their boat onto Gemea, a mostly peaceful, beautiful island filled with charming characters, calm animals, and not much in the way of danger.
There is something of a narrative tied to a force that blocks new areas, but Yonder never pressures the player into action, instead encouraging them to tackle things at their own pace. While the game lacks the combat of Breath of the Wild, Yonder more than delivers in the exploration department.
Marvel’s Spider-Man
Marvel’s Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man has been on plenty of awesome video game adventures, but Insomniac’s adaptation of the superhero is a touch above most of the competition. As Peter Parker, players get to accomplish their heroic duties in New York City, a playground that proves to be ripe with crimes of both the supervillain and normal variety.
In most areas, Spider-Man is not all that similar to Breath of the Wild, but the one thing they share is a focus on traversal. Forget the (awesome) combat and (entertaining) story, this superhero romp is at its best when Spidey is simply swinging through the air, dodging and turning his way around skyscrapers. This is a sandbox game that nails movement, making the minute-to-minute gameplay a joy to experience.
Sea Of Thieves
Breath of the Wild’s greatest achievement is arguably the freedom it provides. Once he enters Hyrule, Link can venture in any direction, crafting an adventure that follows the player’s preferences, pacing, and style. While there is plenty to do within the game’s world, people decide how they interact with the content.
Rare’s Sea of Thieves is similar in many ways. Whether solo or as part of a crew, players essentially create their own fun, and that largely consists of sailing across the sea in pursuit of thrills, treasure, and maybe a kraken. There are some missions to complete, but they are merely there to provide a little guidance – they are building blocks for the real meat of the experience. Sea of Thieves garnered a mixed reception upon release, but it has amassed a steady following since then.
Ys 8: Lacrimosa Of Dana
Nihon Falcom’s Ys debuted a year after The Legend of Zelda, and the action RPG is still going strong more than 30 years later. Despite producing almost nothing but greatness, the series took a while to really find its footing in western nations, but Ys 8: Lacrimosa of Dana helped bridge that gap. Requiring no prior knowledge of the story, players are dropped onto a mysterious and seemingly desolate island after a shipwreck leaves Adol stranded. From there, Adol recruits a couple of characters, forms something of a hub, and sets out to explore the island.
Ys 8’s lives and dies by its hack and slash combat, which happens to be incredible. Each character specializes in a weapon type, and the party members can be swapped on the fly during battles. While limited compared to BOTW, Ys 8 handles exploration quite well since the game’s map is decently sized but not too big.
Moonlighter
Have you ever wanted to work as a shopkeeper by day, then spend your nights as a vigilante treasure hunter who scours dungeons with nothing but your sword and courageous spirit? Well, that’s exactly what players sign up for when they start this old-school dungeon crawler from Digital Sun.
Sure, Moonlighter is more akin to the 2-D Zelda games of old than Breath of the Wild, but it’s hard not to obsess over the plucky protagonist Will and his quest to find true adventure. This title is hard, creative, and tells a heartwarming story about wholehearted ambition. There may not be prophecies or princesses involved, but the swordplay and story should help with Breath of the Wild withdrawals.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
While it’s far grittier and has some much darker aspects, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt offers a great open-world RPG experience. Additionally, now is the perfect time for players to try it out if they haven’t already, as it will get them in the mood for the next season of Netflix’s The Witcher, which is due to release next year.
For anyone who is a fan of Breath of the Wild’s expansive world, fantasy creatures, and intriguing storyline, The Witcher 3 is a great game to play.
Effie
In this 3D action-adventure platformer from Inverge Studios, players take control of Galad, a hybrid between Zeus, Link, and Captain America. He has been cursed with old age by a witch with entitlement issues and must set out on an adventure to clean some gems and get his hotter, younger body back into circulation.
This journey is actually quite fun, and it entails quite a lot of platform jumping, shield bashing, and boss outsmarting. The puzzles may be in short supply, and nothing about this experience is groundbreaking, but it is a lighthearted adventure with no shortage of fun (or unique level design). And hey, Galad wears green and has a shield.
Okami
There’s never been a better time to hop into the shoes (or paws) of the Japanese Sun Goddess Amaterasu and “brush up” on some 3D action-adventure. This Nintendo Switch port of Capcom’s 2006 classic is definitively the best version of the game, and the pairing of the white wolf and black brush has never been more fun.
At first glance, Okami may feel like it can be beaten surprisingly fast. But it soon becomes very clear that this is a long and epic adventure with both a winding narrative and a surprisingly expansive world. Playing as a divine wolf painting her way through a stylish take on Japan may not seem like a solid comparison to Breath of the Wild, but once fans start playing it, it’s hard to find anything to complain about.
A Short Hike
A Short Hike might not initially seem like the most obvious selection for games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, largely due to its short length, far smaller world, and lack of combat. This game follows a bird as she travels up a park trail towards its peak where she hopes to get reception for her phone. The process of getting there is left at the player’s discretion.
This freedom is what links A Short Hike to Breath of the Wild, and both games are very much about the journey and not the destination. People who enjoy diving into Hyrule just for the sake of exploration and traversal will probably love A Short Hike.
Horizon Zero Dawn & Forbidden West
Horizon Zero Dawn takes players and drops them into a post-apocalyptic Earth where humans seemed to have forgotten to save their progress at about 500 a.d. The flora and fauna apparently missed the memo, however, as humans must face off against giant mechanical beasts that are just out and about, and the world bears more than a few scars from humanity’s fall from dominance.
Guerilla Games’ open-world action RPG is also known for several other things, mainly: a fleshed-out heroine, difficulty, and robot dinosaurs. It’s massive, aggressive, unforgiving, and ultra compelling, and while this take on the distant future doesn’t feel at all like Hyrule, the addicting gameplay and profound story definitely do.
In 2022, Guerrilla Games released Horizon Forbidden West, the sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn. Setting players loose on a whole new area to explore, the second game takes everything that worked about its predecessor and expands on it, offering a better-paced story, superior combat, and an open-world that is just as beautiful as the original game.
Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King
Another title that feels a lot more like Link’s Awakening than Link awakening at the beginning of Breath of the Wild, this game asks “what if” Zelda quits waiting around for Link and decides to do the darn thing herself. Indeed, Castle Pixel’s 2017 tale is brimming with girl power, as it tells the story of a King that has been cursed into a deep sleep by his evil brother and a newly adorned knight named Lily who takes up arms to save the kingdom.
This game is a classic RPG in feeling, sound, and 8-bit pixel glory, but it is much more modern in its expansive open world and cheeky nods to recent games. It’s a fresh new take on a familiar vibe and may cause players to stop counting the days until Breath of the Wild 2 while they enjoy a nostalgic blast of retro sounds and simple sword slashing.
Darksiders 2
The first and main reason to play Darksiders 2 is the genius pun in the title. It’s just glorious. Another reason is the game’s unique blend of RPG elements, massive world, and incredibly fun boss fights. Those are also glorious. But if all this glory wasn’t enough, the reincarnation of death’s journey also packs in an incredible amount of DLC to expand upon the already epic journey from 2012.
This M-rated adventure was also one of the first 3D games to warrant the description of “Zelda-like,” it features a God Of War-esque slash and stomp combat system, and there is quite a lot of ground to be explored. If someone has finished Breath of the Wild but not Darksiders 2, then they have found a stalwart way to keep the open-world buzz alive.
Oceanhorn: Monster Of Uncharted Seas
Cornfox & Bros.’ 2013 adventure may look oddly familiar. This is mainly because it is a surreal love child between Breath of the Wild and The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. The similarities are in fact so numerous that this game is considered by some to be a direct Zelda knockoff. But hey, if players are looking to fill the void left by a Zelda game, then that may be just what they wanted to hear.
Oceanhorn features sea-faring, sword-swinging, grass cutting, vase throwing, island exploring, messy hair having, and ancient monster slaying. It’s a fun indie adventure that provides a lot of bang for the player’s buck, and it’s a worthwhile experience regardless of the fact that it is pretty much a shameless Zelda rip-off.
Middle-Earth: Shadow Of Mordor
Of all the games set in Middle-Earth, Shadow of Mordor is probably the most unique. This is because it is less of a fantasy action RPG and more of a simulation of how to be a master insurgent. Players reap ridiculous amounts of chaos, violence, and all sorts of morally dubious mayhem on Orcish society, all while swinging one of gaming’s most brutal iterations of a sword.
This game is much bloodier, grittier, and more adult in theme than any Zelda title, but it is a compelling action game with monsters just begging to be slain. Just don’t torture or enslave too many Uruks, or you may not be able to look at yourself in the mirror ever again.
Hyper Light Drifter
Heart Machine’s stylish, old-school action game is chock-full of awesome art, addicting combat, and moody inferred storytelling. This journey through a broken and decaying world pits players against fearsome mechs, all sorts of projectiles, and an abstract story that challenges the player to think.
Combat requires skill, the story requires reflection, and enjoyment of the world requires nothing at all. If atmosphere, mystique, and amazing combat mechanics were things a player loved about Breath of the Wild, then Hyper Light Drifter should be first on their to-play list.
Elden Ring
FromSoftware’s Elden Ring and Breath of the Wild are vastly different in a number of key areas. While Nintendo’s game certainly has its dark undertones, Elden Ring is a Lovecraftian nightmare in comparison. Set within the Lands Between, the game’s world is an unforgiving place filled with terrifying monstrosities that are aggressive, relentless, and, in some cases, massive. Elden Ring’s combat expands on Dark Souls’ systems, coming with a wide range of build options so that players can approach scenarios in their preferred way. Melee, ranged, magic, and even stealth are all viable forms for approaching battles.
For all their unique elements, these two fantastic games do share one very important thing: they approach open-world design in similar ways. Elden Ring and Breath of the Wild drop players on a vast map and simply let them explore. Although the former does provide more direction than the latter, the Tarnished are free to roam as they see fit, and there is a lot to discover in the Lands Between.
Hyrule Warriors: Age Of Calamity
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity was released for the Nintendo Switch as a follow-up to Hyrule Warriors. To be clear, the gameplay is very different from Breath of the Wild, as the Hyrule Warriors games take on the hack and slash format of the Dynasty Warriors franchise.
However, the reason that it’s a great recommendation is that Age of Calamity is a prequel that is set 100 years prior to the events of the Breath of the Wild, depicting the Great Calamity. This makes it a must for anyone who is a fan of the Breath of the Wild storyline and wants to know more about the backstory.
Immortals Fenyx Rising
Ubisoft recently released Immortals Fenyx Rising, created by the same team that made Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey. As well as having many similarities to Odyssey, Fenyx Rising is also a great choice for anyone looking to fill the Breath of the Wild-shaped hole in their life.
The game is suitable for a wider age range than Odyssey, so younger players can enjoy it as well as adults. The world might not be as large as that in Breath of the Wild, but the area is very dense and filled with secrets and awesome Greek mythos.
Genshin Impact
Labeled a “Breath of the Wild clone”, Genshin Impact surprised many as it wasn’t the cheap knockoff that most expected it to be. Calling it a “clone” is doing the game a disservice as it offers so many unique gameplay features and experiences, that it is rightly its own game that stands apart from the rest. Ever since Genshin Impact’s debut, miHoYo has consistently released updates that expand on this world’s lore, characters, and gameplay feature.
That’s not to say that Genshin Impact doesn’t feature a lot of similarities with Breath of the Wild and so naturally, any fans of the Zelda title will be sure to enjoy this free-to-play title newcomer.
Get the PC version here!
Tower Of Fantasy
At a glance, Tower of Fantasy will immediately conjure up memories of Genshin Impact; therefore, by association, Hotta Studio’s free-to-play game is similar to Breath of the Wild. Like miHoYo’s beloved release, Tower of Fantasy does more than enough to distinguish itself from its contemporaries. Set in a sci-fi world fueled by a strange energy source, players must shut down different towers to ensure they do not explode. The plot suffers from some pacing issues courtesy of the game’s annoying habit of restricting the player’s progression, but the actual story is perfectly serviceable.
Tower of Fantasy locks characters (and, consequently, weapons) behind a gacha system like Genshin Impact, and players build a team of three members. The game uses a flashy hack and slash combat system that includes an option to slow down time. When not engaging in battle, players spend their time exploring Tower of Fantasy’s sizable map.
Get It On Steam here!
