Xbox Games Like Zelda: 10 Great Alternatives You Can Play Right Now

I really need to start Immortals Fenyx Rising..

ReCore has been on my backlog for a while now. Might pick that up once I'm done with AC4's Freedom Cry.

Man, started fenyx on the switch and I am thoroughly impressed and enjoying my playthrough. 19+hrs in, already, only freed one god. Much more than a clone.

I tried out the demo of the Switch version of Immortals and really dug the combat; it's definitely something I need to check out, either on Switch or Series X.

ReCore is something I've been meaning to get around to. My wife was singing its praises a while back and generally if she likes a game then I'll like it, although that rarely works the other way around. 😂

Zelda botw one of my favourite games of the previous gen and comparisons for Fenyx Rising is enough for me to want to try it. Perhaps once it’s a bit cheaper I’ll bite but definitely something to look forward to.

@PhhhCough I picked Immortals FR up on switch and its one of my biggest regrets, everything looks so blurry, it gives me a headache after an hour or so of play. I really wish I had picked it up on a different system.

From this list I've only played Supraland so far, but in my opinion it's not similar to TLoZ:BOW at all.

First Darksiders is more Zelda like. Also slightly better imo.

@Mr-Fuggles777 damn, that sucks. Hopefully you got it at the $30/£30 mark. See if a secondhand store or someone else will trade you, straight up, for it.

ReCore is an underrated game. I hear a lot of hate for it, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Almost every game on here is worthy of being called a Zelda-like, except Oceanhorn. That game just bugs.

But if you haven't yet played Immortal Fenyx Rising, I'd dare say it's the best Zelda game that isn't a Zelda game in the past 10 years.

I really should finish Darksiders 2 some day...

Other than that, I'd recommend Okami as a pretty (emphasis on pretty) good Zelda-ish action-adventure.

Ittle Dew 2 should also be mentioned, although I'm not sure I'd wholly recommend it tbh. It's VERY Zelda-like, but it feels a bit slippery control wise, and the boss fights are very tough and rough - especially compared to the rest of the game. Overall, it doesn't really do anything special, but if you REALLY like ALTTP, check it out for sure. The first one is better (because it's shorter and tighter), but I don't think that one is on Xbox.

The funny thing about Immortals Fenyx Rising is that it improves a The Legend of Zelda game that is inspired by Assassin's Creed and Monster Hunter.

I’m 40 odd hours into Immortals and I’m still enjoying it. If I played this game last year it would have had a shout for my GOTY it’s that good. While it draws inspiration from BOTW it’s very much its own thing, I’ve even enjoyed the story and characters which I thought I’d honestly hate. Fenyx has a charm to him.

I recommend it to anyone, great game.

I really advice against ReCore as your Zelda alternative - what a dull, uninspired, wacky playing game that is. Furthermore, a very comprehensive list actually - including the brilliant CrossCode!

I played Okami on Wii and it's not just pretty but it has a very interesting setting. It looks a little bit blurry on Wii and the motion controls while a good idea aren't perfect so I'm going to play it again on Xbox (after a few other games).

@Skedaddle I was looking up Tunic last week and it looks SO good!

@Medic_Alert That's because, although most people praise Switch the most, the best Nintendo consoles right now are Wii U and New Nintendo 3DS . I have a Switch and my favourite Nintendo consoles are Wii U and New Nintendo 3DS while my favourite console is Series X (partly because of the free backwards compatibility and free backwards improvements).

Oh and I played Breath of the Wild on Wii U and it's not my favourite The Legend of Zelda game, in between.

These just might be the next best thing, but Link's Slim Shady. Yes, he's the real Shady. All the other Slim Shady's are just imitating.

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

@Medic_Alert That's like saying "Instead of trying to play Souls like games, just go play some Dark Souls". You're only limiting your perspective by not trying out other games. For example, if nobody had played Immortals and instead only opted for Zelda, we would've completely missed out on a phenomenal game. Same thing with Dark Souls, if you only play those games then you'll miss out on great alternatives like NiOh and Sekiro.

I've seen this mentality with a lot of Nintendo fans over at NL. I vividly remember reading articles about the Switch receiving ports of the Crash and Spyro remake trilogies and a lot of people were saying: "I don't want that trash here, I'd rather just play Mario instead". For some reason Nintendo fans are overly protective of their favourite franchises and are very reluctant in trying out new games.

Personally, I think it's better to be open-minded and discover new games than not being open-minded at all just because you've already found games that are really good. It doesn't mean that you won't find alternatives that are equally as good or even better. And it's not like Nintendo is the only company that's able to produce great games of its kind. This is especially important in a time when Nintendo is barely releasing any new games and mostly putting out ports/remakes/remasters. People who have already finished games like BotW may look for other games that are similar, which is something I'm doing right now actually, and then they'll be happy to know that they can play Immortals while they wait for BotW 2 to come out. I genuinely don't see what's wrong with having a wider range of offerings.

I think Immortals Fenyx Rising is about as close as you can get without owning a Nintendo console.
Loved Breath of the Wild on my Switch and this is definitely a love letter to that game.
Okami is a good one as well for your classic Zelda dungeon style gameplay.

@Medic_Alert 1) That's just your opinion.

2) That's just a generalisation, you can't apply that logic to every single game.

3) How is trying out other franchises staying in your comfort zone more than not trying out other franchises and only playing the same one over and over?

I have such mixed feelings about ReCore. Everything about it is charming, and should be really cool off the bat. And when it has cool moments, it has really cool moments.....but any time I pick it up I put it down again. The aimless map and lack of a sense of what the game wants you to do next, which inevitably leads you to frustrating battles you have no hope of winning, and the unclear upgrade progression system (particularly the parts for the companion bots) takes a lot of shine off the game. It's loaded with boundless potential, and there's the core (heh heh) of a fantastic game in there, but it always feels like they never really finished refining putting all the pieces together, and it ends up frustrating often as a result. I'd love to see it become a franchise that takes that core and makes a more robust game out of it.

Everyone always compares Darksiders 1 to Zelda. It feels more Metroidvania to me than to Zelda, I never really see the comparison. Darksiders 2 feels a lot more Zelda to me (and DS3 is basically cartoon Souls.)

Okami is actually better than most Zelda games. Its really, really good.

I'd also nominate Story of Thor/Beyond Oasis which is playable on the Mega Drive Collection. It gives LInk to the Past a run for its money in terms of 16-bit adventuring with a more in-depth combat system, some killer dungeons and a really nice elemental summoning/magic system for solving puzzles and beating on enemies. Oh, and the graphics are incredible.

(If you have a dev unlocked Xbox and a Mega Drive core for Retroarch then you can also play Soleil/Crusader of Centy which has a clever storyline, innovative 'animal' based items and fantastic level design)

@LtSarge I agree.

@BlueOcean I'm kind of with you regarding favorite consoles, which, honestly surprises me. SNES was my all time favorite console, bar none. But it got replaced by 3DS which was a powerhouse that just kept the hits coming with exactly the games I wanted for years on end, and even updated and improved upon some SNES favorites (like ALBW/ALttP.)

The first two years of switch it was on track to become my new favorite console of all time, replacing even 3DS. But then...something happened, and it just kind of halted. It went totally stagnant and the innovation just kind of tried up. It became Wii 2.0, but without DS/3DS behind it delivering on core experiences. There's just...nothing. Sure lots of fun games are releasing on it all the time, so a Switch-only owner has little to complain about at all, but most of what's coming to it are games I already played on other machines years ago, or games I decided I didn't quite want to spend the money on, years ago. I'm certainly not about to pay the same full price I didn't choose t pay back then now that it's back. It's a great machine for non-gamers who got back into gaming through the convenient hardware, or for Nintendo-loyal that play no other platforms....it's a platform with a market, for sure. But it feels like it started out being "my" market, but in the past 2 years they've transitioned it to become "the Wii market" - which is not my market.

They may come out swinging with tons of hits next year....but it feels like back-loading a generation when you're about to replace it doesn't carry the same impact as a generation hitting it's stride and delivering the hits for years. You don't look back fondly over the years and thing "wow, I remember all those highlights those years, I remember how cool that was that year" - you remember the cool launch, then remember moving on to other platforms for years, then had some stuff to finally play on that old feeling hardware.

I really love the Switch hardware, though it's feeling dated already. It's a good design that solves a lot of problems (I played Ori 1 on it instead of my XB for example.) But as a platform, it's just not delivering much to make it special. It's a great retro/indie box to play older games on if you never played them before, in a more convenient way. 3DS had constant new titles. Still waiting on Atlus to make me want to use the machine. It's clear there's not much coming to it at least until holiday that I care much about. MH Rise is about it.

3DS for now remains my favorite of all time. That was a special, special platform at a special time. WiiU....I'm ambivalent. To be sure, Switches greatest hits are......WiiU's greatest hits in a new box. But yet there were just so few. I loved the machine, but Switch does kind of replace it. I think Switch is a much better machine if you didn't own a WiiU. Tons of great new games coming out.....which is the problem I think. Rather than making Switch a new 9th gen platform, they decided to make it a hardware revision of WiiU and finish out its own generation as a do-over. Makes sense they're just riding it out with no games. Switch isn't Nintendo's new console. It's them re-launching what was supposed to be the WiiU. Which really makes me wonder how many of those pending games have really already been moved over to the next hardware, leaving Switch a stranded middle child in a weird place in history.

But it's very, very, very possible Series X ends up becoming my favorite of all time. That would be the first time ever that a non-Nintendo console held that spot, but so far, it's just doing everything right.... It's hard to top 3DS though. Switch looked like it was going to but then fell flat. Even without first party blockbusters, at least the third party games are from this decade....

I like my Playstations, too, but I haven't been super duper excited for them since the Vita.... Got burned too hard there.

@NEStalgia I agree with both comments. The biggest problem with Switch is that, in the same generation, Nintendo is willing to charge the same users for the same games twice and people still justify it because it's Nintendo. While being greedy and focusing on just one platform, they also seem to release fewer new classics than ever before.

Switch is a greatest-hits console but it's very expensive and not consumer-friendly. I just browsed the eShop and I found that Skyward Sword is full price, a Wii port, that is! And the reveal sells it as a Breath of the Wild precursor. Nintendo was absolutely wonderful but now it is not the Nintendo I grew up with. I just accepted it and focused on better things.

@BlueOcean To be fair to Nintendo, I'm not sure they're really selling the same games to the same people. What they're selling is barely any different than what we already bought other than which piece of hardware can launch it. It's less different then control and control ultimate, or sackboy on ps4 vs ps5. So in that the problem is us, trying to believe they're actually selling these things to us at all. Which we do because there's literally little else they're selling to us. Because they seem to be treating 2021 as year 8 of WiiSwitchU, nintendos successful 8th generation console. Wet already bought pikmin 3... Technically i don't think they intend us to buy it again. It's for the other 8 billion people that didn't have a Wii U to play it on.

But, that's all back to that lack of new classics. I know you're not a big Iwata fan, but i think that's it. He was interested in pushing creativity and output to keep that position of "innovator". The new management... Theyre just more Kotick, Ryan, Wilson, Matrick..... Little interest in Achievement of quality, just interest in monetizing assets with minimal opex.... Nothing more.

Yeah"greatest hits console"is a good description. I can see why it has appeal for less dedicated gamers, it's most of what you missed for 15 years and it fits in your bag to go anywhere. I love the hardware, but as a multiplat gamer, the library is disappointing. If i never had a wiiu I'd be over the moon, though. And most switch owners never had a wiiu... Because nobody had a wiiu. . But yeah the amount of old ports that are cheaper and run better elsewhere make it hard to justify buying anything but certain types of games. I don't even mind ss being full price.... Of it were an actual remaster. But it's not. Just button controls and an upres.... Even that, ok it's a decade old Nintendo game you can't get elsewhere, i get it. But when that's really all they have to offer in the next 6 months....... And yeah the whole botw precursor thing. The new management, there and at Sony, is ruining everything about both companies that was good and converting them to shills for the main stream social media mass market.

If ms ever goes back that route... And the gold price hike attempt showed powerful elements, not Phil, want to.... Maybe it's time to take up knitting instead......

@NEStalgia True 😊.

So, been playing ReCore. Been enjoying it so far, but I would not call it Zelda-like. For one, it's extremely platforming/jumping oriented, something that Zelda avoids like the plague. 3D Zelda even do auto-jumps to prevent the feel of platforming!

Also, got to say I wish the human character skin textures were a lot higher res. The main character freckles look extremely blury, but it was an early Xbox game, so I'm giving it a pass. Environments are also so far quite samey with basically just sandy rocky open areas and caves covered with ship remnants, but maybe I'm too early into the game?

As far as Nintendo and Skyward Sword: So far all Nintendo Switch ports have had extra stuff.

Pikmin got an extra epilogue, new modes and harder difficulty mode, along many QOL changes

NSMBU Deluxe had 3 new modes, the ability to play as different characters, big difficulty tweaks on the Luigi levels (2x time is a huge difference) and other QOL changes (plus it compiled two games, by including all the Luigi levels.)

Mario Kart Deluxe had new characters, new tracks, new items, new modes in Battle mode, plus inclusion of all DLC you had to buy separately on the Wii U.

Captain Toad added a few new levels and new 2 player mode, but little else, and as such just got a $40 price point.

The Wii U ports of Wind Waker and Twilight Princess had plenty of additions too.

Xenonlade had a whole new epilogue that added quite a lot of game time.

Honestly, "laziest" port Nintendo ever done was the Mario 3D All Stars and that was 3 games in one.

Point being, I'm sure Skyward Sword will have more content than just HD res and new controller options. Would not be shocked if an epilogue or some bonus dungeons.

People slept on Climax's Dreamworks Dragons: Dawn of the New Rider, but it's a fantastic topdown Zelda-style game. I mean, I get it; it's a licensed kids game, and chances are it would've been horrible. But I nabbed that during a sale for practically nothing over one of the myriad holiday sales and gave it a download after looking at the trailer, and found it super enjoyable. I mean, it's from Climax - the Sudeki devs (which Microsoft really needs to make available via Backwards compatibility already), Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (the best western Silent Hill by a mile), Bloodforge, Assassin's Creed Chronicles, the cancelled Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun, etc. — they're clearly a good team and people should pay attention to their games. So yeah, Dreamworks Dragons: Dawn of the New Rider; a really great classic Japanese-style action-RPG a la Zelda.

Also, since I brought up Sudeki just now writing about Climax, there are two great games actually available via backwards compatibility: Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy and the FANTASTIC Beyond Good & Evil. If people haven't played those when they originally released on Xbox (and Xbox 360, because the BG&E version is the HD Remaster version from the 360/PS3 era), they're still worth checking out!

@Tharsman if it had new content, they'd have advertised new content instead of blathering on about how is a beta of botw. . If it has more I'm be thrilled, but i think they're just that complacent now. They own the market and dont need to spend a yen. Once Sony and ms really get rid soft launch under control and get going, Nintendo will have to get into gear, which they know and are holding back for that time. I'n the meantime they can coast. It's kinda sad to watch. It's nintendos least interesting period since the n64. Even the wii years had the ds running circles around wiis casual content.

@NEStalgia I wonder if they want to release Switch 2 and Breath of the Wild 2 and try to repeat the 2017 phenomenon with new hardware just four years later.

@BlueOcean don't expect a Switch 2 to come about this soon. Most likely case we get a [New] Nintendo Switch akin to the [New] Nintendo 3DS, boosts but not a new gen.

It IS possible it would launch alongside BotW2, though.

@BlueOcean Like @Tharsman said, I don't think "Switch 2" in terms of a whole new platform. Sales are too good still to be moving on and they already abandoned a console too soon with WiiU, so they're kind of catching up. But a -=New=- Switch seems inevitable. Mid-gen bump....except late in the gen, and maybe a prolonged gen until Switch 2 as a result. The first console with a full-on 10 year lifespan maybe. 13+ years if you include WiiU.

While I don't think "Pro/New" is going to be quite as significant as X1 to X1X, I think it probably represents a meaningful enough jump to "feel" like a new platform enough to satisfy. And enough to show off their games in much better light than 900p 24fps, which is what I think they're waiting for for a lot of the "big" games. It feels like they're stalling at this point because they probably are. If there was no XSX we all would have been happy with X1X for years to come. I imagine for the Nintendo perspective it could be the same if they do enough with the "mid-gen." They're already behind the other consoles so they don't have to try to "keep up" by having a new platform as long as theirs does what they want it to do. But they do have to keep up with TVs and dev requirements at least.

Not upgrading to New 3DS often left games running the way Outer Worlds runs on Switch.... I expect sticking with old Switch will be "doable" but less than ideal once they do a refresh.

So yes and no. New hardware, yes. Meaningful upgrade, I think it will be. But new gen, almost certainly no. But I think all the big games they're holding back they're holding back to release when they can release them on both hardware revisions rather than launch them on the old one that makes the games look worse than they could.

@NEStalgia That's what I mean and I agree, I just avoided the term "Pro", "New" is more Nintendo and "2" was just me playing with BotW2. Switch is last-gen like Wii U but if they release an upgraded Switch it still would be last-gen. Of course, I expect it to be backwards compatible so it's still a Switch but not the leap that Xbox One X was over Xbox One. Just a newer console with the newer Zelda. Is it right or not? That's anyone's guess.

@BlueOcean Yep, that's what I'm expecting as well.

@Tasuki it isn't impossible, but there are difficulty settings you can change to slow things down, giving you more room for error.

Default settings are indeed very difficult, and definitively should had been reserved for opt-in higher difficulty.

I played the whole game through and loved the story, personally. Don't let the default settings rob you of the experience, just adjust everything down and give it another shot.