Best Games Like Zelda to Play Before Echoes of Wisdom (2024)

The upcoming release of The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is an interesting departure from the modern Zelda series, due to its top-down perspective not having a brand-new release in quite some time. This may represent a back-to-basics mentality for the team at Nintendo, where the origins of the series can be called back to.

However, in the interim between top-down Zelda releases on home consoles, several developers have picked up the slack that Nintendo has been leaving. Most notably, for various reasons like nostalgia and development efficiency, independent game designers have been carrying the torch of what can now be called "Zelda-likes." Releases like Tunic have been keeping the classic-feeling adventure genre alive and well.

10 Titan Souls is a Tough-as-Nails Action-Adventure

Win by Keeping Track of Every Situation

As its name might imply, Titan Souls takes aspects of the early Zelda formula and applies them to the game design philosophy of Dark Souls to great effect. It nails the feeling of death being the player's fault by being fair on a technical level. This fairness doesn't mean the game is easy, as it focuses on the complicated mechanic of calling the character's weapon back after using it. This leads to tense situations where players are constantly running out of resources, requiring quick reflexes to solve problems.

Fans of Zelda will enjoy how the game's mechanics grew around making simple top-down combat more complicated. Consequently, Titan Souls still feels as though it's wearing its inspirations on its sleeve despite looking completely different at first glance. Its extreme difficulty should also make it a good way to pass the time before Echoes of Wisdom comes out.

9 Wizard of Legend Takes Top-Down Action in a New Direction

Beat-Em-Up Action With No Breaks

Taking influences from various games, Wizard of Legend is a roguelike that centers around Zelda-like top-down combat. It's as though a classic Zelda game removed the standard sword and shield and left players with only items to use. Each of the game's spells, while many have similar functions, feel unique because of their extra effects. As well as this, it focuses completely on dungeon crawling, with each level focused on gearing up for the next boss.

Wizard of Legend's focus on a different method of combat forces players to be more creative, which fans of Zelda's item-based puzzles should appreciate. Additionally, the ability to switch out spells leads to moments of careful contemplation about what would be useful and what would fill niches in the design of a player's build. Overall, this causes Wizard of Legend to expand on Zelda's items interestingly.

Wizard Of Legend

Wizard of Legend is a fast-paced dungeon crawler with rogue-like elements that emphasizes dynamic magical combat. Quick movement and even quicker use of spells will allow you to chain spells together to unleash devastating combinations against your enemies!Battle your way through each challenge by defeating powerful conjured enemies! Collect valuable spells and relics and build up your magical arsenal to fit your play style! Achieve mastery over magic by chaining spells together to create devastating combinations! Face and defeat council members in magical combat to become a Wizard of Legend!

Indie Games

Shooter

Fighting

Systems

OpenCritic Reviews

Top Critic Rating:77/100 Critics Recommend:71%

Platform(s)

Nintendo Switch , PS4 , Microsoft Windows , Xbox One , Linux

Released

May 15, 2018

Developer

Contingent99

Publisher

Contingent99

See Also

Top 10 hardest video games, rankedThe 20 Hardest Games In the World (That Are Actually Fun, Too)Hardest Video Games Ranked [2024 List] - GamingScanThe Top 30 Hardest Video Games Ever Made (Ranked) – FandomSpot

Multiplayer

Online Multiplayer

Engine

Unity

ESRB

t

How Long To Beat

8 hours

8 Hob is a Beautiful Puzzle Platformer

Travel Into the Depths of a Peaceful World

It's clear to see Hob's influences, from its visual style to the design of its world. However, what sets Hob apart is not its combat or its puzzles, but its unique visual charm. It takes the modified top-down perspective later used in the Link's Awakening remake to show beautiful cel-shaded scenes, supplementing the game's fairly simple mechanics. This leads to a gentle, fun-focused experience that calls to mind games like A Link to the Past.

Hob is ideal for die-hard fans of classic Zelda, as its slightly more dynamic movement doesn't take away from its old-school charm. It has simple, steady puzzles and combat, which are fine-tuned just enough to feel fluid and like organic parts of the gameplay experience. Overall, Hob feels almost like a prototype for the newer top-down Zelda titles that would later come from Nintendo themselves.

Hob

Action

Systems

OpenCritic Reviews

Top Critic Rating:76/100 Critics Recommend:65%

Platform(s)

PS4 , PC

Released

September 26, 2017

Developer(s)

Runic Games

Publisher(s)

Runic Games

Engine

OGRE

ESRB

e

7 Minit Creates a Frantic Completion Challenge

Change the World With No Time to Spare

Minit's core concept is that the world resets every 60 seconds. Only the player's inventory remains constant. This almost calls to mind Majora's Mask in a top-down setting but with all the frantic sprinting of the last day at all times. This, of course, makes the experience extremely stressful, as each reset causes the player to juggle more and more necessary information.

Players need to remember where they've been, where they can go, and what they can do now after whatever happened in the last cycle, making Minit feel much more complicated than it is. The frantic nature of the game makes Minit into a much deeper game than it appears to be. What would be a simple adventure game becomes an exercise in time management as players are forced to discard all their accomplishments as soon as they achieve them.

MINIT

Adventure

Systems

OpenCritic Reviews

Top Critic Rating:80/100 Critics Recommend:83%

Platform(s)

PC , Xbox One , PS4 , Switch , Android , iOS

Released

April 3, 2018

Developer

JW, Kitty, Jukio, Dom

Publisher(s)

Devolver Digital

ESRB

e

How Long To Beat

2 Hours

PS Plus Availability

Extra & Premium

6 Master Key has Absolutely No Hand-Holding

Piece Together a Silent World

At first glance, Master Key appears to be a straightforward Zelda-like game, and that's mostly the case. However, it differentiates itself by leaving everything up to the player to find out. It has no hints, no dialogue and only environmental suggestions on its puzzles, exploration, and world. Even NPCs only speak in pictures.

This leads to a feeling of true exploration, as players are expected to find out what they're meant to do in Master Key through exploration and the items. This makes the game feel free and the solutions earned even if there was only one path. Taking classic Zelda puzzles to a new level, Master Key forces players to figure everything out for themselves. There are no helpful tips to determine the correct answer; all it takes is intuition and thought.

5 Hyper Light Drifter is a Fast-Paced Take on Classic Zelda

This Stylish Title Still Feels Like a Classic

The most prominent difference between this and games like A Link to the Past is Hyper Light Drifter's focus on the fluidity of combat. The Drifter's moveset focuses on quick attacks that typically move players in the same direction they're swinging, making the game feel, at first, completely different from a traditional Zelda title.

Hyper Light Drifter puts more emphasis on different weapons and ability upgrades instead of items. This leads to a more open world, as skilled players can complete the game's content in any order due to the lack of mandatory. Despite its differences, Hyper Light Drifter still has that classic Zelda feel due to the sense of adventure it creates for players. The game's world feels densely populated with NPCs, puzzles, and challenges. The focus on combat simply adds to the experience and makes it feel unique.

Hyper Light Drifter

Echoes of a dark and violent past resonate throughout a savage land, steeped in treasure and blood. Hyper Light Drifter is an action-adventure RPG in the vein of the best 16­bit classics, with modernized mechanics and designs on a much grander scale.From each character to subtle background elements, everything is lovingly hand-animated. Easy to pick up, difficult to master; enemies are vicious and numerous, hazards will easily crush your frail body, and friendly faces remain rare. Upgrade weapons, learn new skills, discover equipment and traverse a dark, detailed world with branching paths and secrets abound.

Action RPG

Systems

OpenCritic Reviews

Top Critic Rating:84/100 Critics Recommend:85%

Platform(s)

PC , PS4 , Switch , Xbox One

Released

March 31, 2016

Developer(s)

Heart Machine

Publisher(s)

Heart Machine

Multiplayer

Online Multiplayer

Engine

GameMaker

ESRB

T For Teen Due To Blood and Gore, Violence

How Long To Beat

8 Hours

Metascore

84

See Also

25 Hardest PC Games of All-Time

4 Chicory: A Colorful Tale is a Cathartic Puzzler

This Creative Game Balances Emotional Depth With Fun

The main gameplay draw of Chicory is its expansion of the Zelda series' focus on position-based puzzles in the open world. This classic feeling is assisted by the game's central mechanic of being able to paint on any surface in the game, leading to puzzles that require paint in the right places to complete as well as other platforming-style mechanics based on this theme.

Fans of more recent Zelda titles will appreciate the focus on storytelling in Chicory, which grapples with impostor syndrome as the main protagonist grows into their role throughout the story. It's heavy—much like some of the darker Zelda titles—but eventually becomes an uplifting message that can resonate with anyone who's ever doubted themselves. This makes Chicory feel unique, as most adventure games don't concern themselves with this kind of narrative. Better still, the game continues to be fun despite its hard-hitting themes.

Chicory: A Colorful Tale

Adventure

Systems

OpenCritic Reviews

Top Critic Rating:88/100 Critics Recommend:96%

Platform(s)

PC , PS5 , PS4 , Switch , Xbox One , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S

Released

June 10, 2021

Developer(s)

Greg Lobanov

Publisher(s)

Finji

Engine

gamemaker, gamemaker studio 2

ESRB

E For Everyone Due To Comic Mischief, Mild Fantasy Violence

How Long To Beat

9 Hours

X|S Enhanced

Yes

File Size Xbox Series

1 GB (May 2024)

Metascore

87

Split Screen Orientation

N/A (Shared Screen)

Number of Players

1-2

PS Plus Availability

N/A

Local Co-Op Support

1-2 Players

See at Playstation Store

3 CrossCode Brings Fast-Paced RPG Action

Beautiful Pixel Art Brings Much-Needed Breaks

CrossCode takes many of its influences from classic JRPGs, with its focus on story and system mechanics based on leveling up. However, it forgoes turn-based combat and instead goes with a top-down real-time system. Despite depending on movement and aim, it still feels like it takes inspiration from top-down Zelda titles. Combat centers around dodging, projectiles and close-up special moves, which creates an extremely dynamic gameplay experience.

For Zelda fans, the main draw of CrossCode is its smooth, frantic combat that feels like a more aggressive version of games like A Link to the Past. Players looking for a challenge will be able to sink their teeth into figuring out when to stop and heal, how quickly they can accurately aim a spell and how best to deal with whatever extra objective may appear in an encounter.

CrossCode

This retro-inspired 2D Action RPG might outright surprise you. CrossCode combines 16-bit SNES-style graphics with butter-smooth physics, a fast-paced combat system, and engaging puzzle mechanics, served with a gripping sci-fi story.

Action RPG

Systems

OpenCritic Reviews

Top Critic Rating:84/100 Critics Recommend:87%

Platform(s)

Xbox One , Switch , PS4 , PC

Released

May 15, 2015

Developer(s)

Radical Fish Games

Publisher(s)

Deck13 Interactive

Engine

Impact JS

ESRB

t

2 Enter the Gungeon Takes Standard Zelda Combat in a Different Direction

A Complete, Roguelike Departure From the Norm

It may seem strange to call Enter the Gungeon a Zelda-like, but it's not far off the mark. Despite Gungeon's cyclical roguelike structure and single-minded focus on ranged weapons, it still borrows from top-down adventures alongside its clear bullet hell influences. Players are expected to dodge through enemy projectiles and keep their aim steady, forcing them to use cover and various items to get through encounters.

This leads to a fast-paced adventure where many rooms feel like death-defying stunts. Fans of Zelda may appreciate the lack of hand-holding in combat, which can occasionally be overly easy. Gungeon changes combat by forcing the player to treat every enemy as a threat, dramatically raising the stakes. Each weapon functions at least slightly differently, causing situations where players have to choose what to keep to complete their run.

Enter the Gungeon

The game takes place on the planet of Ganymede, inhabited by self-aware bullets. After a giant bullet falls from the sky and destroys a fortress, a weapon of catastrophic power is formed: The Gun That Can Kill The Past. After the fortress is remade, people from all over the galaxy called gungeoneers travel to the fortress with the hope to use the weapon to change their pasts. Players can choose between one of eight characters with their own regrets to be changed.As a bullet hell game, the player can be expected to be shot at a lot. The screen can be absolutely filled with particle effects, and players will have to block, roll, and blast their way through areas with lightning-fast reflexes to advance in the game. Players will do with a huge variety of weapons, each with their own unique traits. It’s a game where the player will fail repeatedly, but the effort is worth it as players improve and make their way through the game.

Roguelike

Systems

OpenCritic Reviews

Top Critic Rating:84/100 Critics Recommend:88%

Platform(s)

PC , PS4 , Xbox One

Released

April 5, 2016

Developer(s)

Dodge Roll

Publisher(s)

Devolver Digital

Multiplayer

Online Multiplayer

Engine

unity

ESRB

T For Teen due to Fantasy Violence, Blood, Mild Language, Use of Tobacco

How Long To Beat

23 Hours

PS Plus Availability

Extra & Premium

1 Tunic is a Gorgeous, Hardcore Adventure

This Soft-Looking Game Brings Serious Challenge

Tunic is likely one of the most faithful Zelda-likes available—despite increasing the difficulty to new heights. Underneath its cute appearance, Tunic takes more influence from Dark Souls than most players would expect. Players are forced to make split-second reactions in intense boss fights. However, this only serves the game, making a nail-biting experience that feels satisfying to push through.

Plus, Tunic's puzzles are no joke, with some solutions mainly found in a fictional language that needs to be put together from context clues. The main aspect here that will appeal to long-time Zelda fans is how Tunic doesn't underestimate its audience. While the Zelda series has always been made for children to enjoy, Tunic has a level of respect for its players that makes itself known through difficult puzzles and combat. This makes the game feel exciting and adventurous for all players.

Tunic

Explore a land filled with lost legends, ancient powers, and ferocious monsters in TUNIC, an isometric action game about a small fox on a big adventure.

Adventure

Systems

OpenCritic Reviews

Top Critic Rating:86/100 Critics Recommend:93%

Platform(s)

PC , PS4 , PS5 , Switch , Xbox One , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S

Released

March 16, 2022

Developer(s)

Andrew Shouldice

Publisher(s)

Finji

Engine

Unity

ESRB

e

How Long To Beat

12 Hours

X|S Enhanced

Yes

File Size Xbox Series

3 GB (November 2023)