Submitted 2 weeks ago by AstroLightz@lemmy.world to games@lemmy.world
I’m looking for any games on PC (preferably Steam) that plays like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Mainly, I’m looking for large, open-world games, with lots of things to do, with an over-arching narrative/destination available. Think Minecraft, with but an actual definitive objective to complete.
I’m aware of Fromsoft’s work (Elden Ring), but I’m looking for non-soulslike games.
The Outer Wilds
All due respect to the other recommendations in this thread (The Witcher 3 is in my top 3 favorite games ever), but I get the sense you’re looking for a similar vibe - that self-paced, quiet, almost lonely exploration where, though you do have a goal, the point of the game is to wander the world and discover things. While most of these recs (and most open world games in general, so it’s understandable) have a strong story focus, The Outer Wilds will give you that quiet, unguided exploration BoTW does so well.
(And I know explicitly turned down souls-likes, but Elden Ring also hits that vibe super well. If you’re really stuck for something to play, it might be worth a try with one of the magic-focused builds that significantly reduce the skill needed)
Seconding this. Regardless of what op is looking for everyone should at least give outer wilds a try. Beautiful game.
I personally could not get into the gameplay loop of that game. Not a fan of the whole groundhog day thing. Also, the game is nothing like BOTW lol.
Exactly, Shadow of the Colossus is a better recommendation than Genshin Impact because of this. I’d also like to give a shoutout to some metroidvanias that have big maps and lots of abilities like Aquaria and Knytt Underground.
If they are looking for what you just described, then I would have to recommend Animal Well
I’ll definitely look into this. Thanks!
I would imagine horizon zero dawn and the Witcher would be what you’re looking for.
I kind of cringe at suggesting this, but Genshin Impact is if Breath of the Wild used a gatcha payment model instead of $60 up front.
But with a lot more yapping
I played for a couple of hundred hours a few years ago and didn’t spend any money at all on it. It’s perfectly fine to just ignore the gatcha stuff outside of the free pulls (or whatever it’s called) you get every now and then. I also don’t like Anime at all but this was one of the few things where it was alright.
yeah I’m not into anime art, but Genshin’s landscapes are breathtakingly atmospheric
I’ve found Palworld to be a lot like that, and it’s hitting 1.0 in July or so.
Palworld is so good. Feels like everyone forgot about it but the game just gets better and better
Palworld isn’t bad, but I feel like it doesn’t respect my time with how grindy it is. It’s about as grindy as some major MMOs, which isn’t what I’m looking for right now.
As I played I slowly increased the exp rate via the settings so that it wasnt such a grind
I don’t recall it being any more grindy than Minecraft, but I absolutely get that. No point in working all day, then coming home and doing something that feels like just as big a chore.
Here is a few I can think of that are a bit similar
Btw, you should definitely try Elden ring if you haven’t already
Bastion is so fucking good
I really enjoyed Sable. It’s not the biggest or most complicated game, but it’s beautiful, thoughtfully written, and really pulls you into its world. I loved just zooming across the wastes on my bike wondering what I would explore next. Incredibly chill.
Planet of Lana, while kinda neat, is a linear story. There are almost no places to explore other than the scripted path. It’s not even a Metroidvania, so I don’t think it belongs on this list. With that said, the story is pretty interesting and I played and beat it and look forward more to PoL 2.
Have you tried Legend of Zelda: Vreath of the Wild for PC? They even have it for Steamdeck. I love my Nintendo Steamdeck. I even got a Nintendo Steamdeck 2.
Please provide every link needed to make this possible. Thanks!
Nice try, Nintendo…
Immortals: Fenyx Rising
Crimson desert. You’ll never finish it.
Probably because you’ll just get tired of it. After the initial whiz bang faded, the HUGE beautifully rendered world was not enough to carry the absolutely dogshit story, repetitive unvaried encounters, and overwhelming plethora of shallow, poorly explained systems.
Enshrouded
This game keeps on giving.
Ugh I got to the last biome and loved it sooo much, then got HEAVY (like 80+ hours a week, recovering from almost dying irl lul) into modding Valheim after playing 200 hours of vanilla. I’m now almost 1000 into Valheim and taking a lil break.
Waiting now for Enshrounded to go 1.0, and starting over. Sooooo psyched!
Enshrouded and Palworld feel a lot like BotW/TotK to me, but better overall gameplay and worse dungeon puzzles!
I went straight from BotW to Elden Ring and ER was like exploring BotW but every part of the map had interesting things everywhere, made BotW feel really empty in comparison.
Crimson Desert is very inspired by BOTW/TOTK, and a bunch of other games, rolled into one. It’s also on PC.
I want to play it so vadly but I just can’t afford it :( Also can’t use a hyprland bypass as I play via cloud streaming.
Waiting for it to be >$20 in a few years myself
*it uses Denuvo tho.
and AI-generated art during its development :/
Sable
It’s like Breath of the Wild without combat.
TUNIC! Play Tunic!
This is a really good game that is almost completely unlike BotW.
Darn, my brain read Zelda and ignored the botw part. I see Zelda I think top down isometric spelunking.
I love Tunic but it’s probably not what OP is looking for. If “Minecraft with a goal” is what you want I’ll recommend Terraria. It’s dirt cheap for the amount of content you get.
Not even remotely like BotE
Horizon zero dawn is live action breath of the wild
Skyrim
Admittedly it’s a bit older
older? it just released like 5 years ago, and 8 years ago, and 12 years ago
I just tried to mod Skyrim earlier, but doing so on Linux is really painful.
Mod Organizer 2 (MO2) runs fine under Proton, but it doesn’t support collections, so I would need to manually install hundreds of mods, which is not worth my time.
As for Vortex, I couldn’t even get it to install.
So, I gave up on modded Skyrim. For comparison, on Windows: It’s click, install, done. I wish it was the same on Linux under proton.
It’s not exactly the same, because of the turn-based nature of it, but play Baldur’s Gate 3 if you haven’t.
It’s a massive world with a shitload of things to do and a definite objective (or rather 3 as each act has a major one)
With respect, Baldur’s Gate 3 is nothing like what OP is asking for.
The oft forgotten Gods and Monsters Immortals Fenyx Rising is a shockingly good BOTW-like. Booted it up the other day because I noticed I had it from when they gave it away for free some time ago, and it was such a pleasant surprise. In some ways (combat, traversal, dungeon design, writing) it’s even better than Zelda. Do yourself a favor though and remove most of the HUD and puzzle hints via the ingame options and pirate it if you can so you don’t have to deal with Ubisoft Connect and Denuvo.
Genshin is the only one I know of. Its monetisation is predatory, but it’s a huge open world action-RPG with tons of discoverable chests and environmental puzzles. Also it’s very f2p friendly if you’re not susceptible to hype and FOMO - I’ve been playing for 4+ years with most areas 100% explored (and 70+ characters unlocked) without ever spending a pence.
Tower of Fantasy and Wuthering Waves also kinda do the same schtick.
Elden Ring really gave me botw vibes.
All that exploration, shrines, random story lines and gigantic map and biome variety.
OP said they don’t want sousllikes
Genshin impact
Does Genshin run on Linux?
Look up the “Twintail Launcher”. Pretty easy entry point for several anime games. Theres even a version of proton, dwproton, that’s recommended for several of them.
Yup.
Morrowind, Fallout, and Dragon Age are all quality contenders.
Palworld full release is coming next month
V Rising. It’s basically goth Terraria. You’re playing as a vampire who just came out of a thousand-year hibernation, and your whole goal is to find and kill Dracula. You start by bullying skeletons with your bare hands to harvest their bones, and go all the way to building an enormous automated castle that can process thousands of units of raw materials.
Honestly. Try Dragon Age Inquisition. It isn’t “open world”, but it has MASSIVE regions (that people complained were too big). Lot’s to explore, plenty of side quests and puzzles. A base you can customize. Armor too.
I enjoyed botw and totk, so you might also enjoy Enshrouded. Open world, lots of craft ability, base building and combat is fun and challenging. It’s a little less cartoony than Zelda but definitely not as intense as Elden Ring. They are still in early access but the next big update should be 1.0.
I checked out the game’s store page, and it looks interesting. Definitely wishlisting it!
Sounds like Crimson Desert
No Mans Sky comes to mind
I wasn’t exactly crazy about the story personally, but its there, and the game feels fairly Minecraft-y to me since you also mentioned that game.
I didn’t play it at launch, and I know that left a bit of a bad taste in a lot of peoples mouths, but in its current state I think its pretty amazing.
Really enjoying outward right now. It feels like a mix of botw Elden ring and a healthy dose of modded skyrim
Crazy that I didn’t see anyone else mention this one, but you should check out Cloudheim. It has a free demo on steam.
phar@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Horizon Zero Dawn is on steam. Amazing game. Open world. I haven’t played the second one yet but I need to.
DaTingGoBrrr@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
I really don’t get the appeal of Horizon Zero Dawn. I made it more than halfway through and then I quit.
It just felt like I have played the exact same game before just with another coat of paint. It felt completely uninspired gameplay-wise.
Uruanna@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
You shoot dinosaurs with a bow. Also, the storytelling.
Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Agreed, Horizon: Zero Dawn is a genuinely excellent game. It’s saddled with the usual Ubisoft design elements (map full of things to tick off, towers to unlock areas, etc), but none of that gets in the way of how fun the gameplay is and how good the story is.
It’s one of the few video game stories that has really, really stuck with me. Some moments in that game are genuine gut punches that will leave you reeling.
007ace@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
They both check the boxes here. First one I got near complete. The second one I’m still working through. Lots to do.
phar@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I believe it’s the first 3D game I ever got all of the things in. All the little items and collectathon stuff. Germany I don’t do that I don’t really care enough but I just enjoyed walking around the world and sniping and setting traps enough that it was worth it. Even the DLC was great and worth it
HotsauceHurricane@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Slowly working on my newgame+ run. This game is 10/10