Over the years, I've played quite a few Zelda-likes. I finished old and newer games, all with their own strengths and flaws. Since I noticed there's little concrete information on the experience when playing these games, I decided to write down my thoughts on each game. I also want to cover some ROM hacks I played of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, since they're absolutely worth checking out if you crave more Zelda (oftentimes moreso than not-Zelda titles).

Retro games

Landstalker: I quite enjoyed this one, for all its jankiness. This is an isometric Zelda-like for the Sega Genesis, and plays largely similar to Zelda. The biggest differences are a much smaller focus on ability gating, and a bigger focus on platforming. The isometric viewpoint makes dungeons really complex. I loved navigating my way through them, since they take on a level of layering you usually only see in 3D games. I personally liked the platforming, but it's something you have to get used to. It may turn you off, since it can be hard to see how far away/high platforms are. Combat is simple but also a non-issue, since you get bombarded with revive herbs from the beginning. I actually didn't die a single time. A really charming game that's worth checking out if you have a stomach for complex, maze-like navigation and some tough but fair puzzle platforming.

Alundra: This PlayStation 1 game was made by former developers of Landstalker, and it shows. Though the isometric viewpoint is dropped, the game still focuses a lot on tight jumps. The navigation inside dungeons has been reduced, with brain-breaking puzzles taking their place. Items have become a lot more central to the experience, to the point where I'd say this game is even more Zelda-like than Landstalker. I somewhat missed the navigation aspect, and the puzzles could be somewhat frustrating due to their high difficulty and how easily you can mess them up. That said, this tough game has a lot of merits. It looks gorgeous, has an interesting story (more interesting than the ones in Zelda, I'd say) and has a LOT of dungeons, all of them unique and interesting. I should note that I played this game with a hack that reverts the strange balancing choices made by the English translation team. Combat feels a lot smoother without enemies (as reported) taking ages to kill, and I can't imagine playing this game without said hack. Enjoyable game if you have patience for longer experiences, like tough puzzles and a mature storyline. This is "Zelda for veterans". Use the Un-Worked Designs patch for this game, for optimal balance.

The Frog for Whom the Bell Tolls: This little old Nintendo game (for the original GameBoy, so it's all in black-and-white) has its similarities, as well as its differences to Zelda. This engine was used to create Link's Awakening sometime later. Because of this, the overworld navigation is quite similar. Finding clues on how to progress, talking to NPCs, finding items to become stronger, and navigating a few dungeons. There is a central dungeon you return to multiple times, similar to the Temple of the Ocean King/Tower of Spirits from the NDS Zelda entries. You acquire animal transformations that help you traverse different environments. The combat is completely different here, though. Battles are a matter of "who has the most hearts/attack/defense" and play out by themselves the second you engage with an enemy. I somewhat enjoyed this game, especially its writing (for which you will need an English translation patch), but it also felt really simplistic and somewhat dull at times, considering the gameplay. Fun to check out mostly for its novelty. Somewhat held down by its age and simplicity.

Go For It! Goemon 3: I finished this SNES game recently! I enjoyed it more than I expected. The unique setting helped a lot for this. This game is basically Zelda with really dumb Japanese humor, a futuristic setting and sidescroller dungeons with some cool and nifty platforming mechanics. The first part is pretty linear, but once you arrive in the future, you get an A Link to the Past-esque overworld map with Pieces of Heart and cool dungeons strewn about. You switch between multiple characters, each with their own abilities, in order to solve puzzles. You talk to NPCs to acquire items and find clues on how to progress. What made this game stand out was its slew of varied events. At some points, you use mech riders (see Final Fantasy VI) to traverse the overworld, but at times you use them in scripted setpieces where you run away from chasing machines. At other points, you pilot a gigantic robot while destroying buildings and enemies in a sidescrolling format. Like the Frog game, this one was only released in Japan, so you will need a translation patch to play it in English. Cool game that's fun for Zelda fans that would love a futuristic setting, while being able to withstand some typical Japanese tropes and a bit of platforming. It contains two player co-op.

Goof Troop: Another SNES game, this one released in the west. A very short game, and not as Zelda-esque as the ones I discussed above. This game consists of five stages, which you traverse in ways similar to Zelda dungeons. The difference is that you cannot directly fight enemies. You throw items in order to defeat them. What makes this game so much fun, is how it commits entirely to puzzle-solving. Beating enemies is a puzzle itself, but there are other mechanics requiring clever thinking in order for players to beat the stages. Each stage contains a boss battle. Some of these are no slouch. You can play this game with two players as well, and the game feels designed just for that purpose. Highly enjoyable game if you like dungeons and puzzle solving, while okay with a lack of direct combat.

Modern games

Anodyne: This 2013 game plays like a surreal fever-dream version of Zelda. You Explore an overworld, find dungeons and items in order to progress. The biggest difference is just the tone, it's strange and creepy, clearly taking place in a dream of the main character. It's actually one of my favorite Zelda-likes due to this. The atmosphere highly resembles something like Yume Nikki, but comes with the gameplay of your top down Zelda. Dungeons feature simple puzzles, and navigation about as heavily as Link's Awakening. I'm glad it's there. There's some post-game strangeness, as well. Strange and fun game with basic albeit satisfying level design.

Anodyne 2: Return to Dust: This game is a lot different from its predecessor, as well as being different from the average Zelda game. The overworld is in full 3D this time, resembling an old PS1 or N64 world. The dungeons take place in the minds of the NPCs you find here. Upon entering a dungeon, the game shifts to the classic top down style. There's some really interesting twists on this later on. While I enjoy the strange, unique tone and the aesthetic a lot, I actually prefer the first entry. The dungeons in this one are really simplistic, almost feeling like tutorials. I love navigation and complexity, so that let me down. The upside lies in the variety and just not really knowing what's going on a lot of the time. Really charming and unique game that's worth checking out for sure, but might not be for everyone.

Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King: This is the first Zelda-like I played, almost ten years ago. Back then, it was a great experience for someone looking for more Zelda. It is structured exactly like The Minish Cap. Looking back upon it, however (I recorded my playthrough), it feels kind of uninteresting. Almost a decade ago, there was little in the way of modern Zelda-likes. Anything matching the experience even lightly would be good enough. Now, I see simplistic dungeons and combat, lots of boring enemy placement and nothing to make this game stand out. The overworld is kind of lacking, containing upgrades that feel unnecessary due to the low difficulty. You can walk straight to the objective most of the time. It seems to be made with younger people in mind. That's fine though. The game has a lot of charm and a warm, inviting writing style. But yeah, this game so closely emulates Zelda, while doing little clever with it. Charming aesthetics, but this 1:1 Zelda-like doesn't utilize the formula in interesting ways. A nice romp, but nothing more.

Blossom Tales 2: The Minotaur Prince: I finished this one two months ago. Playing this is what made me reflect upon my experience with its predecessor. I wasn't much impressed. It has some neat moments in terms of gameplay, but it's bogged down by simplicity and generally uninteresting design. For some reason, they decided to reduce movement speed, making you move more slowly than in the first game. The dungeon design is a little better, with more unique mechanics and a little more balanced combat. It's all still really simple, though. Dungeons contain no more than one floor, and you cannot carry more than one Small Key with you at a time (just like in The Sleeping King). There's more emphasis on crafting, a mechanic I've never seen done anything interesting to the action-adventure genre. The charm is there, but little else. Just like its predecessor, The Minotaur Prince is charming and cozy, but offers little clever or interesting in terms of gameplay. Worth a try, but might hold little of value. Possibly great if you have kids.

Shantae: Risky's Revenge: The Shantae games are barely brought up in Zelda-like discourse. I guess I can somewhat understand? I started those games with the intention of playing Metroidvanias, but they turned out to be much more Zelda-like instead. These side-scrollers contain towns, and dungeons with keys to find, abilities to obtain and bosses to defeat. The writing is witty and humorous, there's no focus on isolation or loneliness. Risky's Revenge contains only three real dungeons, of which one is more of an enemy gauntlet. The overworld is where most of the exploration lies. It's all quite simplistic, but it's fun enough. This side-scrolling Zelda-like offers little special, but it's a fun appetizer for...

Shantae and the Pirate's Curse: This still is my favorite pure Zelda-like, only rivaled by three Zelda-inspired games I've listed below. Shantae and the Pirate's Curse is a side-scroller, just like its predecessor. You have one central town, with surrounding environments to explore. Then there's half a dozen islands, which you select in a menu. Each island could be considered a region in an older Zelda game. Your objective on each is to find the dungeon. Sometimes this involves NPC interaction. Sometimes you need to solve puzzles. Once, I had to do a sneaking section (similar to Gerudo Fortress in Ocarina of Time) in order to access a temple. The writing and story, meanwhile, are great. The music is amazing (composed by Jake Kaufman, famous for his work on Shovel Knight and Mina the Hollower). Each dungeon contains an ability. Each ability truly enhances your moveset, making for satisfying moment-to-moment gameplay. The dungeons are complex, but not too repetitive or maze-like. The game is relatively easy overall, but the final dungeon does have some very tight platforming. Shantae and the Pirate's Curse is a must-play for anyone who enjoys playing Zelda, as long as they can accept the side-scrolling format.

Prodigal: Prodigal's biggest strength is the amount of content and the excitement of stumbling upon it. This top-down Zelda-like stands out, mainly due to its very small overworld. Every nook and cranny may hide a dungeon, however. Or an item, or progress with your NPC bonding. Yes, there's NPC bonding. I wouldn't call this a dating sim, but you interact with NPCs in order to get closer to them. Getting close enough results in being able to marry the NPC you got closest to. Each marriable NPC has its own dungeon associated with them. Only by beating their corresponding dungeon can you marry the NPC. The main story is relatively short, with some neat enough writing/story to go with. There is a huge amount of post-game content (more than half of the dungeons is post-game), though. The dungeons are relatively simple, though. There's lots of puzzles, of which I liked most, but they aren't very tied to items. You get a bunch of important items early on, with which you solve most of the game's puzzles (think Breath of the Wild). The bosses are super basic. Still, I really enjoyed Prodigal for its uniqueness and I liked playing through its dungeons. Prodigal is a unique experience with lots of bite-sized content for you to uncover and explore. Its extensive post-game and varied NPCs keep you engaged.

Veritus: The sequel to Prodigal is a much different beast. It's basically a bunch of dungeons, back to back, all located within an all-encompassing castle. I actually preferred this game to Prodigal, simply because both the dungeon design and moment-to-moment gameplay felt better. I can see people preferring Prodigal, however. Veritus is much shorter and has way less hidden content to discover. It has some great, unique dungeons with pretty great puzzle design, awesome music and cool boss battles, however. Compared to its predecessor, Veritus approaches the formula differently. It's still great fun, though.

Under the Island: One of my favorites, due to aesthetics and general polish. Under the Island is basically Zelda in a modern setting, albeit a lot shorter. The tropical island setting allows for some gorgeous setpieces drawn with beautiful pixel art. Graphically, this is one of the best Zelda-likes. Gameplay-wise, this follows the classic formula. There's one central town, with a shop, NPCs providing hints and upgrades to your health etc. Surrounding it is your classic overworld, with varied regions hiding your classic dungeons. The overworld is really satisfying to explore, with many puzzles and obstacles impeding progression. Finding out what to do feels great. The dungeons are varied and interesting, though I really wish there were some more. They could be just a tad more complex, too. What sets this apart from other more... 1:1 Zelda-likes is the amount of variety in both overworld and dungeons, great balance between exploration and smooth pacing and the amount of items to find that feel genuinely helpful on your journey. Under the Island is a winner due to its beautiful aesthetic, varied and clever dungeons, and satisfying overworld.

Elementallis: Though less polished than Under the Island, Elementallis becomes more and more interesting as the game's complexity increases. The first two dungeons were nothing to write home about, making me fear a Blossom Tales situation. The third dungeon made me really happy, though, and it only got better from there on. Elementallis' biggest strength lies in its dungeon design. Dungeons are multi-floored, sprawling and filled with interesting puzzles later on. The game's balancing felt mostly good. I liked most of the bosses and there's a lot of upgrades around the overworld to make you stronger. The game has some small issues though. Firstly, the writing felt very flat until the endgame. This may be due to the developer being Spanish. Secondly, I noticed how hard it is to obtain money in this game, making some upgrades take really, really long to obtain (I had to farm money for several of them). Finally, it would be better to make fast travel more convenient. Outside of those issues, though, I loved Elementallis. Though not without flaws, Elementallis excels in what matters most: exploration, combat and puzzle design.

The Girl from Arkanya: I must say that I did not finish this game. Initially, I really liked what I saw. The game looks great, the story is interesting, the writing is charming and the developers put effort in creating a creative and believable setting. What turned me off is the focus on looting, crafting, and collecting. While mostly very similar to the classic 2D Zelda formula, Arkanya insists on having enemies drop loads of items. Your limited inventory space makes you backtrack to storage chests to store those items. You often won't know what you are going to need in order to craft better items, so items might just sit in your chest for ages. Another thing that bothered me is how dying sends you all the way back to a town, rather than the beginning of a dungeon. I dislike when these games make you respawn in the beginning of a dungeon room (looking at Blossom Tales); it's way too easy that way and you won't be able to appreciate shortcuts that way. This is a step too far in the other direction, though. Finally, the second "dungeon" wasn't really a dungeon. It's more of a fetch quest in a pirate-filled series of rooms. No puzzles to speak of. It felt really boring. I dropped the game once it turned out that the fourth dungeon was going to be the same thing. One thing I got to say is that this game has two-player co-op. That's neat. I actually played this with a friend. The Girl from Arkanya shows promise, but doesn't really fulfill it due to frustrating issues and lacking level design.

Zelda-inspired

Hyper Light Drifter: One of my favorites, and the very first game that I played from this post. Hyper Light Drifter is a visceral, fast-paced action game containing lots of exploration and impeccable atmosphere. The developer was inspired by A Link to the Past, but the game deviates from the classic Zelda formula by throwing you into a post-apocalyptic world with no dialogue and all possible pathways open from the start. There are four pathways to take from the central hub, each leading to an unique region with lots of exploration and deadly foes. Each region ends with a tough but fair boss fight, rewarding skill and intuition. I love this game. I remember playing it on Easy difficulty back when it had come out, back when I wasn't nearly as good with games. I beat it again a few years ago, and had a much easier time... even though I played on Normal this time. Hyper Light Drifter is perfect for people seeking a challenge, non-linear exploration and mature aesthetics.

TUNIC: My #1. TUNIC draws inspiration from the very first Zelda game. A game I hate with a passion. TUNIC takes its non-linearity, lack of direction and mysterious world and improves upon it by a hundredfold. Though its combat can be quite challenging (with accessibility options available), it's the puzzles, worldbuilding and mystery-solving that stuck with me. Secrets are hiding in plain sight, resulting in many "aha moments" for the player. It's hard for me to even talk about this game. It's just so intuitive. TUNIC is amazing.

Outer Wilds: Oh yeah, this game. Maybe this is my #1. The 3D game Outer Wilds was made by a group of people who concluded the Zelda series was getting too linear, too lacking in terms of exploration (back when Skyward Sword released). Outer Wilds is all exploration and mystery-solving. Everything is open from the start, but most players will never know the pathways you can take until they engage with the game proper, reading the various clues left behind by people of an ancient civilization. Space-faring is a big theme in this game. You start on a small, nature-oriented planet. But soon, you get your own space ship, with which you can fly through this pocket star system, filled with a bunch of unique and mysterious planets. There's no combat here, just exploring. The story unfolds as you unravel the past. The only thing I can criticize is that it started off somewhat unwieldy. You have to get used to the game's systems. Outer Wilds is a masterpiece of a game.

Cocoon: Another masterpiece, albeit somewhat less revolutionary. This game is simply a beautiful, clever exploration-based puzzle game. Some really unique puzzle mechanics are at play, though. It's not too long, but absolutely worth checking out if you enjoy puzzle-solving and clever thinking. Short but really, really sweet.

Ocarina of Time ROM hacks

The Missing Link: Taking place between Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, this short hack has you explore parts of the Lost Woods you've never seen before. With a bunch of interesting locations and a fully-fledged, cleverly-designed dungeon at the end, The Missing Link feels like an official DLC to Ocarina of Time. A must-play expansion to Ocarina of Time.

The Ultimate Trial: This hack, acting like a sequel to Ocarina of Time (relating to A Link to the Past), is more of a rogue-lite thing. I don't really like rogue-lites, but I fell in love with this hack. Link has to fight his way through a series of enemy gauntlets. What I enjoyed is that each room stays the same with each time you visit. Enemies stay in the same location, allowing you to learn the gauntlets inside out. You get to play with custom items that help you overcome the odds. Custom enemies, music and story add a lot to the experience. The Ultimate Trial might not be for all Zelda fans due to its specific brand of gameplay, but its polish and quality stand out.

Sands of Time: This is the only full-length hack on this list. Understandably, making a full-length Ocarina of Time hack is really tough. Getting it right is even harder. Sands of Time manages, for the most part. Taking place in a scenario where Ganondorf won against Link in Ocarina of Time before dying of natural causes, the world has turned into a greedy, industry-oriented land. The overworld is massive, containing areas never seen in a Zelda game before. There's a boatload of huge dungeon areas, with old and new items and enemies seamlessly integrated into the experience. The writing is a bit more cynical, which I think freshens up the game. There are a handful rough edges, but they barely bothered me as I kept encountering high quality areas and scenarios. Sands of Time is a unique take on Ocarina of Time, fully finished and huge to boot. Clever puzzles and relatively little issues make this a hack absolutely worth checking out.

Escape From The Facility: My favorite OoT hack. Its only flaw is that it's so short. This hack consists of exactly one dungeon. It's a masterpiece of a dungeon, varied and filled with unique mechanics and visuals. A must-play for N64 dungeon fans.

Curse of Moonlight: Taking inspiration from Bloodborne, this relatively tough hack (nowhere as tough as the real Bloodborne) throws you into a dark, monster-infested town. Sub-zones interconnect with each other, making exploration a blast. Finding out how and where to progress, while dealing with dangerous enemies is the main attraction here. The atmosphere is heavy and really well-done. Curse of Moonlight is a great experience for fans of dark ambience and Souls-like level design.

Legend of Morrowind: This hack plays somewhat like a small version of The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind. There are no real RPG mechanics. It's just you and the items you find. There is one town, filled with NPCs. These NPCs often give you quests, asking you to head into a mini-dungeon to take out an enemy, find an item, or something along those lines. The game culminates into a huge boss fight against Dagoth Ur. I don't know much about Morrowind, but this hack is fun for people who like Zelda.

Reality Estate: This hack brings the light/dark world mechanic from A Link to the Past into the world of 3D, making you explore a small. mundane manor while traversing its haunted counterpart. I must say that I expected more to be done with this mechanic. Still, this is another Zelda dungeon with high polish and a unique mechanic to utilize. Reality Estate utilizes a concept never seen before in 3D Zelda.

Still planning to play

- some Wonder Boy games

- more Shantae

- Brain Lord

- Beyond Oasis

- Legend of Oasis

- Mystical Ninja Goemon (N64)

- Okami

- Gunple: Gunman's Proof

- Marvelous: Another Treasure Island

- CrossCode (up next)

- Unsighted

- Phoenotopia: Awakening

- Master Key

- Isle of Reveries

- Mina the Hollower

- Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo

- Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy

- Beyond Good and Evil

Currently playing

- Moonrise Regalia (Oracle of Ages hack, released a few weeks ago)

- Tearscape (GBC-style, Bloodborne-inspired Zelda-like)

u/Thirteen_1355

Short rundown of three more Zelda-likes I played