I’m looking for any games on PC (preferably Steam) that plays like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Mainly, I’m looking for large, open-world games, with lots of things to do, with an over-arching narrative/destination available. Think Minecraft, with but an actual definitive objective to complete.
I’m aware of Fromsoft’s work (Elden Ring), but I’m looking for non-soulslike games.
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Honestly. Try Dragon Age Inquisition. It isn’t “open world”, but it has MASSIVE regions (that people complained were too big). Lot’s to explore, plenty of side quests and puzzles. A base you can customize. Armor too.
Edit: Honestly, play on easy if the combat is too annoying.
Palworld full release is coming next month
Switch emulator with eden and play the other two newer zelda games. I stopped playing them cuz they seemed like the same exact game as botw. They even have mods for zelda games on emulators.
No Mans Sky comes to mind
I wasn’t exactly crazy about the story personally, but its there, and the game feels fairly Minecraft-y to me since you also mentioned that game.
I didn’t play it at launch, and I know that left a bit of a bad taste in a lot of peoples mouths, but in its current state I think its pretty amazing.
Really enjoying outward right now. It feels like a mix of botw Elden ring and a healthy dose of modded skyrim
Saints row iv.
Well no, not really. But it does unexpectedly have some commons.
You could also go for dying light. Both feature the points you mentioned though.
I enjoyed botw and totk, so you might also enjoy Enshrouded. Open world, lots of craft ability, base building and combat is fun and challenging. It’s a little less cartoony than Zelda but definitely not as intense as Elden Ring. They are still in early access but the next big update should be 1.0.
I checked out the game’s store page, and it looks interesting. Definitely wishlisting it!
Immortals: Fenyx Rising
I haven’t seen Sable suggested, but it’s a very pleasant indie game with a lot of BotW in its DNA. It’s not as large and content filled as some of these suggestions but it does have a great sense of style and is more tonally similar to Zelda.
Horizon Zero Dawn is on steam. Amazing game. Open world. I haven’t played the second one yet but I need to.
I really don’t get the appeal of Horizon Zero Dawn. I made it more than halfway through and then I quit.
It just felt like I have played the exact same game before just with another coat of paint. It felt completely uninspired gameplay-wise.
You shoot dinosaurs with a bow. Also, the storytelling.
The story gets really dumb at the end. Plus, the final boss is a type of robot you kill about a dozen of on the way to it, yet for some reason it’s super powered
Agreed, Horizon: Zero Dawn is a truly excellent game. It’s saddled with the usual Ubisoft design elements (map full of things to tick off, towers to unlock areas, etc), but none of that gets in the way of how fun the gameplay is and how good the story is.
It’s one of the few video game stories that has really, really stuck with me. Some moments in that game are genuine gut punches that will leave you reeling.
They both check the boxes here. First one I got near complete. The second one I’m still working through. Lots to do.
I believe it’s the first 3D game I ever got all of the things in. All the little items and collectathon stuff. Germany I don’t do that I don’t really care enough but I just enjoyed walking around the world and sniping and setting traps enough that it was worth it. Even the DLC was great and worth it
How I understand. I can’t imagine having to collect every item in Germany
lol I didn’t even notice that. I believe I meant generally. But I guess now I got to take a flight and it’s going to be a while. Wish me luck
Viel glück ! Auf wiedersehen !
Slowly working on my newgame+ run. This game is 10/10
Horizon zero dawn is live action breath of the wild
The Outer Wilds
All due respect to the other recommendations in this thread (The Witcher 3 is in my top 3 favorite games ever), but I get the sense you’re looking for a similar vibe - that self-paced, quiet, almost lonely exploration where, though you do have a goal, the point of the game is to wander the world and discover things. While most of these recs (and most open world games in general, so it’s understandable) have a strong story focus, The Outer Wilds will give you that quiet, unguided exploration BoTW does so well.
(And I know explicitly turned down souls-likes, but Elden Ring also hits that vibe super well. If you’re really stuck for something to play, it might be worth a try with one of the magic-focused builds that significantly reduce the skill needed)
I’ll definitely look into this. Thanks!
Exactly, Shadow of the Colossus is a better recommendation than Genshin Impact because of this. I’d also like to give a shoutout to some metroidvanias that fit the vibe and have big maps and lots of abilities like Aquaria and Knytt Underground.
Seconding this. Regardless of what op is looking for everyone should at least give outer wilds a try. Beautiful game.
I personally could not get into the gameplay loop of that game. Not a fan of the whole groundhog day thing. Also, the game is nothing like BOTW lol.
I see you got down voted but I completely agree. It’s absolutely nothing like a Zelda game (Majoras mask, maybe? But barely). And I also couldn’t get into it. It’s the kinda game you need to write down everything you discovered and then slowly piece together the puzzle - and one mess up and you need to start all over. I didn’t find it relaxing at all
If they are looking for what you just described, then I would have to recommend Animal Well
3rd this,
Great game don’t look it up just play it. It’s awesome
There was one called Immortals Fenyx Rising that I remember being quite similar to BotW. Unfortunately it’s Ubisoft
In my opinion it is good that we have alternatives on other platforms, not just buying switch.
Occasionally Ubisoft will make something worth playing. Immortals: Fenix Rising is one of them. It’s BotW without weapon breaking and no weather to make travel miserable.
I worked on that one, it still makes me happy to see good comments about it, and annoyed that ubi went on to cancel the sequel.
Ubisoft makes good games that they then riddle with bloat and grindy upgrade paths to encourage micro transactions.
And refreshingly light and humourous dialogue
Just looked it up on wikipedia, one of the negative comments on it was that it was considered too similar to BoTW 😂
That’s a fun one. The DLC is pretty cool too.
Unfortunately it’s Ubisoft
The reason why I don’t buy and play the game on Steam is, it “Requires 3rd-Party Account: Ubisoft Connect Account”. Didn’t even bother purchasing it for 4 Euros because of that.
Here is a few I can think of that are a bit similar
- Sable
- Bastion
- Planet of Lana
- A Short Hike
- Spirit of the North
- TASOMACHI: Behind the Twilight
- AER Memories of Old
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Btw, you should definitely try Elden ring if you haven’t already
Bastion is so fucking good
I really enjoyed Sable. It’s not the biggest or most complicated game, but it’s beautiful, thoughtfully written, and really pulls you into its world. I loved just zooming across the wastes on my bike wondering what I would explore next. Incredibly chill.
Planet of Lana, while kinda neat, is a linear story. There are almost no places to explore other than the scripted path. It’s not even a Metroidvania, so I don’t think it belongs on this list. With that said, the story is pretty interesting and I played and beat it and look forward more to PoL 2.
Enshrouded
Enshrouded and Palworld feel a lot like BotW/TotK to me, but better overall gameplay and worse dungeon puzzles!
I went straight from BotW to Elden Ring and ER was like exploring BotW but every part of the map had interesting things everywhere, made BotW feel really empty in comparison.
This game keeps on giving.
Ugh I got to the last biome and loved it sooo much, then got HEAVY (like 80+ hours a week, recovering from almost dying irl lul) into modding Valheim after playing 200 hours of vanilla. I’m now almost 1000 into Valheim and taking a lil break.
Waiting now for Enshrounded to go 1.0, and starting over. Sooooo psyched!
dude, glad you made it! 🤘
Thank yoooou! <3 It was very interesting!
Never tried an opiate before (by choice—I’ve tried everything else!) but they asked me if I wanted something for pain, and after my partner chastising me a lil bit about me minimizing my pain (“oh, I’m at a six or so” “RAI, you’ve been curled into a ball crying for two days. YOU’RE IN HOSPITAL!” “…okay, maybe a nine. I’m still conscious so it’s probably fine”) I said I’d love that. They injected me with morphene which was neat, then a later nurse was like “oh strange, they marked you down to get (other type of thing with morphene in the name but more words before it), do you want to change or stay with what you’ve got? It’s quite a bit stronger.” I figured I’ll proooobably (and very hopefully) never have that chance/option again, so I happily agreed. That was a very floaty week.
