10 Best Games Like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Stepping out of Kokiri Forest for the first time is a feeling that stays with you. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time made its world inviting through more than size: a locked doorway could become a promise, a new item could change an old location, and a dungeon could turn everything you had learned into one satisfying challenge.

These ten games capture different parts of that appeal, from traditional third-person quests to smaller adventures built around secrets. The ranking favors exploration, environmental puzzles, useful equipment, and memorable dungeons. It includes seven alternatives from other studios and three Zelda follow-ups, with spoiler-light story details to help you choose your next journey.

10. Immortals Fenyx Rising

A shipwrecked warrior is an unlikely candidate to rescue the Greek gods, but that is the job waiting for Fenyx. With Typhon threatening the Golden Isle, you set off to help a dysfunctional divine family and turn an ordinary survivor into a mythological hero. The playful narration gives this adventure a lighter mood than Link’s journey through a ruined Hyrule.

The appeal for Ocarina of Time fans is the constant exchange between fighting, exploring, and solving environmental puzzles. Godly powers serve several purposes, while the Vaults of Tartaros give you contained challenges built around movement and manipulation. Its climbing, gliding, and open map put it closer to later Zelda adventures in structure, so choose it when you want Ocarina’s heroic fantasy with more freedom between objectives.

9. Blue Fire

The abandoned kingdom of Penumbra has the sort of lonely corridors that make you investigate every doorway. As a small warrior exploring its ruins, you meet survivors, take on their requests, and gradually discover what happened to this troubled land. There is a story to uncover, but the atmosphere and the journey do much of the talking.

Blue Fire combines sword combat, temples, and hidden treasures with a far greater emphasis on manual platforming. Reaching a ledge can demand a carefully timed jump and dash, particularly in the challenging Void stages. That makes it a good match for players who loved navigating Ocarina’s three-dimensional spaces and want their movement skills pushed further. Expect a more demanding acrobatic adventure than Link’s familiar automatic leaps.

8. TUNIC

A little fox wakes on a beach and heads into a world of ruined structures, strange creatures, and unanswered questions. TUNIC keeps its larger story close, letting discoveries and fragments of an in-game instruction manual guide your understanding. Going in with minimal knowledge is part of the pleasure, so its mysteries are best left for you to untangle.

The isometric camera gives it a different feel from Ocarina of Time, yet the habit it encourages is familiar: study a suspicious corner, remember an inaccessible route, and return when you have learned something new. Sword-and-shield encounters demand care, and the manual turns observation into its own kind of progression. Pick TUNIC for the feeling of being a small adventurer in a world that still has secrets, especially if finding those secrets matters more than following a clearly marked quest.

7. Kena: Bridge of Spirits

Kena is a young Spirit Guide seeking a sacred Mountain Shrine. Her path takes her through a forgotten village, where troubled spirits remain tied to the lives they left behind. Small companions called the Rot join her, bringing a mischievous warmth to a story concerned with grief and helping others move on.

It is an inviting choice if Ocarina’s forests, character encounters, and gradual acquisition of useful abilities are what you remember most. Kena’s staff and expanding powers support both combat and environmental problem-solving, while the Rot help manipulate the world around her. The journey is more compact than a sprawling Zelda quest, and its bosses can put up a serious fight. That combination gives it a strong identity: an intimate, visually expressive adventure with enough resistance to make its victories  all the more memorable.

6. Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm

Set a thousand years before the first Oceanhorn, this adventure follows a young knight across Gaia as the warlock Mesmeroth’s Dark Army threatens the world. Companions Trin and Gen join the journey, making the quest feel like a small traveling party rather than a solitary mission. Their assistance also becomes part of solving certain obstacles.

Of the games outside Nintendo’s own series, Oceanhorn 2 offers one of the clearest matches for a traditional third-person Zelda adventure. There are settlements to visit, dungeons to investigate, and tools that broaden what you can do. The Caster Gun adds a distinctive twist to combat and puzzles, while contextual companion commands create further possibilities. Come for the familiar rhythm of setting out, finding trouble, and earning the means to move onward; stay for a colorful world with its own mythology.

5. Darksiders Warmastered Edition

War, one of the Four Horsemen, stands accused of triggering the apocalypse before its appointed time. Stripped of much of his power, he returns to a devastated Earth to find out who deceived him. It is a thunderous premise full of angels, demons, and ruined cities, with a much harsher tone than a quest through Hyrule.

Under that heavy-metal exterior sits a remarkably comfortable recommendation for classic 3D Zelda fans. You work through substantial dungeons, find equipment that changes how you navigate them, and use your growing arsenal to overcome puzzles and powerful enemies. Combat places more weight on aggressive combinations and spectacle, but exploration remains essential. Warmastered Edition is the version to look for if you want the original Darksiders adventure in remastered form, and a darker take on the dungeon-to-dungeon progression that made Ocarina so compelling.

4. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD

When his sister is kidnapped, a young islander named Link leaves home and becomes caught up in a much larger struggle. His search takes him across the Great Sea, with pirates, distant islands, and an extraordinary talking boat helping shape the adventure. The expressive art makes even small reactions memorable, giving this version of Link a personality that comes through without lengthy speeches.

The ocean changes the space between dungeons, but the underlying pleasures will feel familiar to anyone coming from Ocarina. New items open possibilities, puzzle-filled interiors reward attention, and bosses test how well you understand your equipment. Sailing gives that progression a different pace, with discoveries waiting on the horizon. The HD edition’s Swift Sail is especially welcome for repeat voyages. Choose it for a brighter Zelda adventure that preserves the traditional dungeon structure while making the wider journey feel wonderfully different.

3. Ōkami HD

The sun goddess Amaterasu takes the form of a white wolf and sets out to restore a land scarred by darkness. Accompanied by the tiny artist Issun, she travels through a world inspired by Japanese folklore, helping its inhabitants and confronting the forces threatening them. Bringing color and life back to damaged places makes your progress immediately visible.

Ōkami understands the pleasure of gaining an ability and then seeing familiar surroundings differently. Its Celestial Brush lets you interact with the world through painted strokes, connecting puzzles, exploration, and combat through a single central idea. Towns, extended quest lines, and substantial dungeon areas give it the scale of a full heroic journey. The opening takes its time, but players who enjoy Ocarina’s conversations and gradual unfolding will find plenty to appreciate. It is our strongest recommendation here for a classic 3D Zelda-style adventure outside the Zelda series.

2. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD

A young ranch hand’s life changes when a spreading twilight draws him into a conflict beyond his village. Transformed into a wolf, Link joins forces with the mysterious Midna and begins a journey to restore a threatened Hyrule. Their uneasy partnership gives the story a strong emotional center without needing to reveal where it eventually leads.

Twilight Princess is an easy recommendation if you want another expansive adventure built around the principles Ocarina of Time established. Horseback travel, distinct regions, memorable equipment, and ambitious dungeons all play major roles. Wolf form adds a second way of investigating the world, while the human combat and item puzzles retain a familiar foundation. The HD edition presents that adventure with updated visuals. For players who want Ocarina’s guided progression and dungeon design on a grander, moodier stage, this is one of the most natural next steps.

1. The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D

Link arrives in Termina to find a world living beneath a falling moon. With only three days before disaster, he must learn how to turn back time and make meaningful progress within a repeating cycle. The premise is immediately unsettling, but it also creates room for small, human stories as you learn where people go and what they need.

As Ocarina of Time’s direct follow-up, Majora’s Mask offers the closest connection to its hero and basic adventuring style while taking the experience somewhere stranger. Transformation masks change your movement and abilities, and the clock makes observation as valuable as swordplay. There are fewer main dungeons, with much of the richness coming from side quests and the lives unfolding around them. The 3DS remake offers a convenient way to revisit that design. It takes first place because it pairs the strongest family resemblance with a bold, memorable reason to keep exploring.