Highlights
- Darksiders: While different from Wind Waker, Darksiders offers similar gameplay and structure that fans of Wind Waker might enjoy, with dungeons, exploration, and collectibles.
- Assassin's Creed Black Flag: Like Wind Waker, Black Flag provides open-sea exploration and a pirate theme, although its combat and graphical style differ from Wind Waker.
- Sable: This exploration-focused game, while lacking combat, offers a stunning world, puzzles to solve, and a day/night cycle that resembles the familiar feeling of exploring in Wind Waker.
Nintendo's The Legend Of Zelda is one of gaming's most iconic franchises, and The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker is one of its most revered entries, primarily for the amount of freedom it gives players, as well as its iconic cel-shaded art style.
There have been few games that manage to capture Wind Waker's gameplay and atmosphere over the years, but there have been some that come close. These examples provide a variety of games outside The Legend Of Zelda franchise that may appeal to fans of Wind Waker, specifically. While not all of these games are wholly similar to Wind Waker, they all contain aspects that many Wind Waker fans might enjoy.
6 Darksiders
Darksiders has a completely different theme, aesthetic, and atmosphere to Wind Waker, but for those that enjoy Wind Waker primarily for its gameplay and structure, and are also fans of spectacle fighters and games like God Of War, Darksiders might be worth a look.
Fans of Wind Waker might find enjoyment in Darksiders' various dungeons made up of puzzles, enemy encounters, and bosses. Darksiders also features plenty of exploration and collectibles, something that Wind Waker fans will likely appreciate. Overall, Darksiders sets a very different tone than Wind Waker, but there's still familiarity to be found in Darksiders' bones, and for those that enjoy spectacle fighters as well, this game is absolutely worth trying.
5 Assassin's Creed Black Flag
This unique entry in Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed series breathed fresh air into the somewhat stale franchise with its pirate-themed plot and open-sea exploration. Similarly to Wind Waker, Black Flag gives the player access to a boat and tasks them with sailing the open seas, giving them plenty of freedom in the process.
On top of the game's similar sailing gameplay, fans of Wind Waker will also enjoy Black Flag's pirate theme and treasure hunting, and the game's open-world exploration that contains several islands. However, Black Flag's core gameplay mechanics, such as its combat and stealth elements, are very different from Wind Waker. Furthermore, Black Flag doesn't contain the charming, cel-shaded graphical style of Wind Waker.
4 Sable
This beautifully imagined, peaceful exploration game doesn't feature any combat, instead focusing on its narrative and exploration facilitated by a stunning world made up of sweeping landscapes, mesmerizing landmarks, and hulking wreckages.
Players explore the wonderful world of Sable both by foot and on the back of a customizable hoverbike. As players explore, they will also be faced with various puzzles to solve, and the game's day/night cycle transforms the excellent visuals in a way that stops players from taking the gorgeous colors for granted. Overall, players looking for an atmospheric, awe-inspiring game that feels familiar to exploring in Wind Waker are likely to have a good time with Sable, but it lacks the swash-buckling hack-and-slash adventure that Wind Waker is so beloved for.
3 Lil Gator Game
This hyper-casual adventure game focuses on exploration and a wholesome story packed with fun and quirky characters that players can interact with and complete quests for. The game has no health bar, and therefore no real challenge, as it's more about the atmosphere and joy of exploration and adventure rather than combat and difficulty.
Due to its nature, Lil Gator Game won't be for everyone. Even though its graphical style and story take inspiration from Wind Waker, Lil Gator Game's actual gameplay can be quite different, and there's no sailing to be had here. So, for fans of Wind Waker looking for a challenging game with lots of enemies, combat, and bosses, Lil Gator Game isn't the best choice. But, for fans of Wind Waker looking for a similarly cute and quirky style and atmosphere who don't mind a casual game focused on exploration and NPCs, Lil Gator Game is worth a shot.
2 Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles
Unlike Wind Waker, Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles doesn't have any combat, but for those that can look past the game's peaceful nature there is an expansive, charming, and wondrous open world to explore.
Yonder has players completing quests for various NPCs, engaging in the game's fishing and farming mechanics, as well as crafting and trading items. Along their journey, players will also have to solve various puzzles, something that Wind Waker fans are sure to enjoy. Overall, the game's beautifully imagined world and charming graphical style, as well as the immense freedom it gives players, will have Wind Waker fans that don't mind the lack of combat in a state of joy.
1 Oceanhorn: Monster Of Uncharted Seas
Oceanhorn: Monster Of Uncharted Seas is unabashedly a Zelda clone, taking inspiration primarily from games like Majora's Mask, but also Wind Waker. Oceanhorn: Monster Of Uncharted Seas is packed with action adventure, but unlike Wind Waker, it does have a fixed-camera perspective and elements from the older Zelda games that might turn some fans of Wind Waker away.
Oceanhorn was originally published for mobile, so the Steam version is a port, however, the port is fairly well done and relatively stable. The game has players battling through various dungeons packed with puzzles, loot, and enemies. Oceanhorn also features sailing very similar to Wind Waker in loving homage, but unfortunately doesn't have the same breadth of freedom as Wind Waker. Overall, Oceanhorn is a great Zelda-like experience that takes heavy inspiration from Wind Waker and makes itself unique with its fixed camera and level-up system. However, it doesn't quite reach the heights of Wind Waker due to its more linear structure and general lack of player freedom.