15 Best Games like Zelda You Can Play (2017)

The Legend of Zelda franchise stands as a pinnacle of adventure gaming, masterfully blending strategic combat, environmental puzzles, and immersive storytelling into a cohesive experience. However, its exclusivity to Nintendo platforms leaves many gamers seeking comparable adventures elsewhere. This comprehensive guide examines five exceptional titles that capture the Zelda spirit while introducing innovative mechanics and unique artistic visions. Each selection has been carefully evaluated based on dungeon design complexity, puzzle integration, exploration freedom, and combat depth to ensure they meet the high standards Zelda fans expect.

Understanding what makes these alternatives compelling requires analyzing their core gameplay loops, progression systems, and how they balance challenge with reward. From brushstroke-based puzzle solving to precision combat mechanics, these games offer distinctive approaches to the adventure genre while maintaining the exploration-driven satisfaction that defines the Zelda experience.

Originally launching on PlayStation 2, Okami HD represents one of the most visually distinctive Zelda-inspired adventures available. The remastered version enhances the game’s signature sumi-e ink wash aesthetic, creating a living painting that responds to your actions. As the sun goddess Amaterasu in wolf form, you embark on an epic journey through mythological Japan, where every environment feels like an interactive scroll painting. The artistic direction isn’t merely cosmetic—it fundamentally shapes the gameplay through the innovative Celestial Brush system.

Where Okami most closely mirrors Zelda’s structure is in its dungeon design and puzzle integration. Each dungeon presents multi-layered environmental challenges that require both traditional item usage and brush technique application. The brush mechanics allow creative problem-solving—drawing bridges across gaps, manipulating time cycles, or restoring dead landscapes to vitality. Mastering these techniques becomes essential for progression, much like acquiring new items in Zelda temples. Strategic brushstroke execution can turn environmental obstacles into advantages, creating moments of satisfying revelation similar to Zelda’s signature ‘aha!’ puzzle solutions.

Combat in Okami blends real-time action with tactical brush integration. Enemy encounters often require identifying weaknesses and using specific brush techniques to expose vulnerabilities. The game’s structure follows the familiar Zelda pattern of overworld exploration leading to themed dungeons, each culminating in boss battles that test your mastery of recently acquired abilities. For players seeking the closest spiritual successor to Zelda’s adventure formula with a completely unique artistic identity, Okami HD delivers an experience that honors its inspiration while establishing its own legendary status.

Hyper Light Drifter serves as both homage and evolution of the classic 2D Zelda formula, combining pixel-art aesthetics with sophisticated combat mechanics and environmental storytelling. The game’s visual style draws inspiration from 16-bit classics but incorporates modern lighting effects and fluid animation that create a surprisingly immersive experience. Unlike traditional Zelda games, Hyper Light Drifter communicates its narrative entirely through visual cues and environmental details, requiring players to piece together the story of a dying world plagued by monstrous creatures and technological ruins.

The combat system emphasizes precision and timing over brute force, recalling the strategic engagement of Zelda’s most memorable boss fights. Each encounter demands careful positioning, dodging, and identifying attack patterns before executing well-timed strikes. The drifter’s limited health pool creates tension similar to Zelda’s more challenging segments, where mistakes carry significant consequences. Environmental puzzles are integrated seamlessly into the exploration, often requiring observation of visual patterns or manipulation of the game’s unique teleportation mechanics.

Where Hyper Light Drifter most innovates is in its non-linear progression and upgrade system. Rather than acquiring traditional dungeon items, players collect gear bits to purchase combat enhancements and mobility upgrades that open new exploration possibilities. The game’s four main regions can be tackled in any order, each featuring distinct environmental challenges and enemy types that test different aspects of your growing skillset. This approach maintains Zelda’s sense of progressive empowerment while offering greater freedom in how you develop your capabilities and approach the game’s challenges.

While initially appearing as a pure action RPG, Dark Souls shares fundamental design principles with Zelda’s adventure framework, particularly in its interconnected world design and methodical combat. The game’s labyrinthine environments function similarly to Zelda’s dungeons, with hidden pathways, environmental puzzles, and strategically placed enemies that require observational skills and careful planning to navigate. Both games emphasize learning through experimentation and observation, though Dark Souls adopts a more punishing approach to player mistakes.

The structural similarities become apparent in how both games handle resource management and merchant interactions. Like Zelda’s frequently inconvenient shop placements, Dark Souls merchants are often hidden in obscure locations or behind challenging encounters, making economic decisions strategic rather than routine. Environmental interaction follows similar patterns—breaking objects reveals hidden items, careful exploration yields valuable resources, and environmental clues hint at upcoming challenges. The combat, while more methodical than Zelda’s, shares the emphasis on timing, positioning, and understanding enemy attack patterns.

Dark Souls distinguishes itself through its intricate world connectivity and risk-reward systems. The bonfire mechanic serves a similar function to Zelda’s checkpoints but with greater strategic implications for resource management and progression. Weapon upgrading and character development offer deeper customization than traditional Zelda games, allowing players to tailor their approach to combat encounters. For Zelda veterans seeking more complex combat and a greater emphasis on mastery through repetition, Dark Souls provides a natural evolution of the formula that maintains the satisfaction of overcoming environmental and combat challenges through skill and observation.

Beyond Good & Evil masterfully combines Zelda-style dungeon exploration with stealth mechanics and investigative gameplay, creating a unique hybrid experience. Playing as photojournalist Jade, you investigate a planetary conspiracy while navigating military-style installations that recall Zelda’s more structured dungeon designs. The game’s environmental puzzles often require both traditional item usage and stealth-based approaches, creating varied challenges that test different problem-solving skills. The hovercraft navigation between locations provides overworld exploration reminiscent of sailing in Wind Waker or horseback travel in later Zelda titles.

The photography mechanic introduces an entirely new dimension to the adventure formula. Documenting the planet’s wildlife serves both narrative purposes and practical progression, as the pearls earned through photography enable essential equipment upgrades. This system creates organic motivation for thorough exploration, similar to how heart pieces encourage off-path investigation in Zelda games. The economic aspect adds strategic depth—managing your pearl income determines when you can upgrade your hovercraft’s capabilities or enhance Jade’s combat effectiveness, creating meaningful progression decisions.

Combat in Beyond Good & Evil strikes a balance between accessibility and depth, with combos and special attacks that unlock as you progress. The dungeon designs incorporate multiple approaches—some areas reward stealth avoidance while others require direct confrontation. Boss battles often combine pattern recognition with environmental interaction, much like Zelda’s most memorable encounters. The game’s greatest strength lies in how it integrates its various systems—photography, stealth, combat, and exploration—into a cohesive whole that feels both familiar to Zelda veterans and refreshingly innovative in its execution.

3D Dot Game Heroes represents the most direct homage to classic Zelda games, recreating the exploration and combat structure of the NES/SNES era with a modern 3D voxel aesthetic. The game deliberately mimics Zelda’s structural conventions—overworld navigation leading to themed dungeons, item-based progression gating, and combat that emphasizes spatial awareness and timing. The voxel-based visual style creates a charming bridge between retro 2D aesthetics and modern 3D presentation, with characters and environments composed of visible blocks that recall 8-bit sprites while allowing camera movement and dynamic lighting.

Combat mechanics closely follow the Zelda template with notable exaggerations that become central to the gameplay. Your sword extends to ridiculous proportions at full health, creating strategic considerations around maintaining maximum health for combat effectiveness. This mechanic encourages careful engagement planning and pattern memorization similar to Zelda’s more demanding combat sequences. The dungeons feature traditional lock-and-key progression, environmental puzzles, and boss encounters that test your mastery of newly acquired items, faithfully recreating the satisfaction of Zelda’s dungeon-crawling rhythm.

Where 3D Dot Game Heroes introduces innovation is through its extensive customization options and self-aware humor. The character editor allows creating personalized heroes using the voxel system, while the narrative frequently acknowledges and plays with Zelda conventions. The game strikes a careful balance between faithful recreation and affectionate parody, making it both an enjoyable experience for Zelda purists and an accessible entry point for newcomers to the adventure genre. For those seeking the most direct translation of classic Zelda mechanics with modern visual presentation, 3D Dot Game Heroes delivers a polished, self-aware interpretation of the formula.

The puzzles maintain straightforward design while delivering engaging entertainment, with intuitive controls that make the entire experience accessible. Movement utilizes analog sticks, primary buttons handle attacks, and secondary inputs manage object interaction. While the narrative might feel somewhat predictable at times, the core gameplay delivers consistent enjoyment throughout.

Evoland masterfully blends elements from multiple classic franchises, incorporating mechanics from early Zelda titles, Final Fantasy’s RPG systems, and Diablo’s action-oriented gameplay. What makes the experience particularly compelling is how gameplay mechanics progressively evolve throughout your adventure, living up to the game’s namesake. Your journey begins in a monochromatic top-down perspective with blocky pixel graphics reminiscent of original Gameboy Zelda games. As you discover treasure chests, the world transforms – the first unlock introduces 16-bit color palettes, followed by background music implementation, and numerous other enhancements.

Beyond visual improvements, you’ll acquire increasingly powerful weaponry to combat escalating enemy threats. This title particularly appeals to players seeking lighthearted entertainment with nostalgic elements rather than comprehensive recreations of its source inspirations. The gradual unlock system creates a rewarding progression curve that constantly introduces new mechanics.

Fable III provides players with the authority to either protect civilizations or systematically dismantle them. Set within a rich fantasy realm that shares structural similarities with Zelda games, you assume the role of ultimate authority over a miniature kingdom. You can choose to rescue settlements from monstrous threats, or alternatively, assist these creatures in consuming helpless civilians. This moral flexibility represents the game’s core strength – the absolute power over life and death decisions. Achieving this position requires substantial progression through the main narrative arc.

The central plot involves deposing a tyrannical monarch by rallying popular support from the citizenry. Securing the throne constitutes approximately half of Fable’s overarching storyline. After obtaining backing through promises of future assistance and rewards, your coronation presents a critical decision point: honor your commitments as a benevolent ruler or embrace corrupt tyranny. This morality system introduces compelling narrative depth, and many players discover that embracing villainy offers particularly entertaining gameplay opportunities with unique consequences.

Darksiders 2 delivers intense combat sequences while incorporating environmental puzzles reminiscent of Zelda titles, combat mechanics similar to God of War, and traversal systems echoing Prince of Persia. Despite combining these diverse influences, the game successfully crafts a distinctive identity separate from its inspirations. The experience offers substantial playtime filled with continuous action sequences that will satisfy dedicated action-adventure enthusiasts. The narrative follows Death’s journey alongside War within the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse mythology.

The game features an engaging storyline that immerses players complemented by responsive control schemes. Your arsenal includes primary and secondary weapon types for dispatching adversaries. Beyond standard armaments, you unlock special abilities capable of generating massive area damage when activated. The title expertly merges its grim aesthetic with Zelda-inspired exploration elements, resulting in an exceptional gaming experience that stands on its own merits.

Secret of Mana represents a timeless classic that incorporates clear Zelda-inspired elements within its design. This exceptional RPG features real-time combat encounters similar to Zelda’s approach rather than traditional turn-based systems. This innovative battle methodology has maintained the game’s popularity and recognition across decades. Originally released on SNES platforms, modern accessibility through emulation software and Wii Virtual Console allows contemporary players to experience this masterpiece on PC or Nintendo systems.

The game supports three-player cooperative gameplay simultaneously – a feature absent from traditional Zelda titles. Players explore numerous dungeons and solve environmental puzzles while controlling a sword-wielding protagonist. Successful progression requires effective collaboration between all three party members, as individual efforts prove insufficient against major challenges. The game maintains enduring appeal through its charming aesthetic and compelling narrative structure that continues to resonate with modern audiences.

Dust represents a visually stunning 2D adventure developed and animated primarily by a single creator. The animation sequences flow seamlessly while the distinctive artistic approach shines through meticulous hand-drawn assets. Your adventure commences in an enchanted realm, gradually expanding to diverse environments including shadowy caverns and expansive woodland areas. Lighting effects and ambient settings optimize visual presentation, populated by various characters including articulate animal companions.

While the protagonist’s backstory remains somewhat underdeveloped, his inherent charm maintains player engagement throughout the journey. The combat system combines fluid movement with combo-based attacks that feel responsive and rewarding. Environmental exploration reveals hidden areas and collectibles that encourage thorough investigation of each location. The soundtrack complements the visual presentation perfectly, enhancing emotional moments and dramatic sequences.

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