Best Games Like Zelda: Okami, Tunic, Death's Door and More

"Like Zelda" means different things depending on which Zelda you loved. For some people it is dungeons that each hand you a new item and then make you use it everywhere; for others it is the secret-filled top-down map of A Link to the Past, or the open, climb-anything world of Breath of the Wild. This list says which part of Zelda each pick borrows, where to play it today and who it suits, so you can pick the one that matches your Zelda.

A game is here if it does at least one of Zelda's core things well (item-gated dungeons, an overworld full of secrets, puzzles solved with tools, or a lone hero exploring at their own pace) and if you can still buy it on current hardware. It is a list for after you have played the Zelda games themselves; if you have not tried Tears of the Kingdom (2023) or Echoes of Wisdom (2024) on Switch, start there. Availability changes, so check the store before you buy.

Clover Studio cast you as Amaterasu, the Japanese sun goddess, in the form of a white wolf. The Celestial Brush is the hook: you pause the game and paint on the screen to solve puzzles and fight, drawing a circle to make the sun rise or a line to slash an enemy. Its structure is the closest thing here to a 3D Zelda: dungeons, new brush techniques that open old areas, and a long adventure of 40 hours or more.

• Where to play it now: Okami HD on PS4, Xbox One, Switch and PC.
• Who it suits: fans of Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess who want a long, gentle adventure.

You play a small fox in an isometric world that looks friendly and is not. The cleverest part is the instruction manual: you find its pages one at a time, mostly written in an invented script, and they hint at secrets that were in front of you from the start. Combat is closer to Dark Souls than to Zelda, with a stamina bar and tough bosses.

• Where to play it now: PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, PS5 and Switch.
• Who it suits: players who loved the secrets of the original Legend of Zelda and A Link to the Past.

Acid Nerve's game casts you as a crow who collects souls for a bureaucratic afterlife. Each dungeon ends with a new ability (fire, bombs, a hookshot) that also opens shortcuts back in earlier areas, in the most Zelda-like way of anything on this list. It is shorter than most, around 10 hours, and its humour is dry.

• Where to play it now: PC, Xbox, PS4, PS5 and Switch.
• Who it suits: players who want classic dungeon structure with sharper combat.

Radical Fish Games set this 16-bit style action RPG Inside a fictional online game. Its dungeons are built around bouncing a ball off walls and switches, and they get properly hard. Fights are fast and the puzzles are among the best in any indie game, but it is long, often 50 hours or more.

• Where to play it now: PC, and since 2020 PS4, Xbox One and Switch.
• Who it suits: players who liked Zelda's puzzle rooms more than its overworld.

Vigil Games put Zelda-style dungeons Inside a hack-and-slash action game. You play War, one of the Four Horsemen, and each dungeon gives you a tool, such as the Crossblade or the Abyssal Chain, that you then use in fights and to reach new areas.

• Where to play it now: Darksiders Warmastered Edition on PS4, Xbox One, Switch and PC.
• Who it suits: players who want Zelda's structure with more action.

• Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm (2019) - a 3D adventure that looks and plays a lot like the Zelda series, on Switch and Apple Arcade.
• Blossom Tales (2017) - a short, warm 2D adventure in the style of A Link to the Past.
• Ittle Dew 2 (2016) - comic, puzzle-heavy dungeons and a small open island.
• Hob (2017) - a wordless adventure where you rebuild a mechanical world.
• Immortals Fenyx Rising (2020) - an open world in Greek myth with climbing, gliding and puzzle vaults, much like Breath of the Wild.

• Loved Ocarina of Time: Okami.
• Loved the original Zelda and its secrets: Tunic.
• Want dungeons above everything: Death's Door or CrossCode.
• Loved Shadow of the Colossus and Ico as much as Zelda: our games like Ico and games like Shadow of the Colossus lists.

For exploration-heavy 2D games, see games like Castlevania and games like Hollow Knight. The best handheld Zelda is on 3DS: see A Link Between Worlds and the rest of the best 3DS games.