Best RPGs Like Horizon Zero Dawn

The best rpg games like Horizon Zero Dawn are Monster Hunter: World, Horizon Forbidden West and The Witcher 3. Below are 6, each with the reason it is here — and, at the end, what filtering to rpg costs you.

Why RPG Is a Good Answer for Horizon Zero Dawn

Filtering to RPG means you want progression — a character to build or a party to grow — layered on top of whatever else you liked.

What you get: A reason to keep going after the novelty wears off. RPGs are the genre that reliably converts hours into feeling more capable.

What made Horizon Zero Dawn worth playing in the first place is covered on the full list. This page is the rpg part of that answer, and only the rpg part.

6 RPGs Like Horizon Zero Dawn

  1. 1. Monster Hunter: World

    The genre Horizon is really in — study the creature, prepare, then hunt it.

  2. 2. Horizon Forbidden West

    The sequel, with better traversal and a bigger machine roster.

  3. 3. The Witcher 3

    Preparation-led combat and the best open-world writing.

  4. 4. Ghost of Tsushima

    The most enjoyable open world of that generation to simply move through.

  5. 5. Elden Ring

    If you want the exploration with far more demanding combat.

  6. 6. Assassin's Creed Origins

    The same era of open-world design, and the closest structural sibling.

What This Filter Leaves Out

Immediacy. Almost every RPG asks for a slow first few hours, and the systems that make hour forty good are the same ones that make hour one a menu.

Specifically, these are strong answers for Horizon Zero Dawn that are not rpg games, so they are not on this page:

  • God of War — Sony's other big adventure, with a much tighter story.
  • Death Stranding — For the post-collapse world and the sense of a mystery underneath it.
  • Metal Gear Solid V — Approach-planning as the core pleasure, in an open world.

The full list is on games like Horizon Zero Dawn — 9 picks, no genre filter.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best rpg game like Horizon Zero Dawn?

Monster Hunter: World. The genre Horizon is really in — study the creature, prepare, then hunt it.

Are all of these on the PlayStation 4?

No. Horizon Zero Dawn released on the PlayStation 4, but a recommendation is only useful if you can play it, so the picks above span platforms and eras. What they share is the genre and the reason.

What is the difference between an RPG and an action game with stats?

Whether the stats are the point. In an RPG the build decides what you can do; in an action game with stats the build only decides how fast you do it.

Do I need to like turn-based combat?

No. The picks below span turn-based, real-time and action RPGs, and each one says which it is.

How are these chosen?

By hand. Each pick was written for the full Horizon Zero Dawn list first, on what the game actually does, and this page is the part of that list that is rpg — never a genre tag lookup, which is how "best racing games like Super Mario 64" used to be a page on this site.

Other Angles on Horizon Zero Dawn

More RPGs Recommendations

Or read the rpg guide for where to start in the genre generally.