Top 11 games similar to Horizon Zero Dawn

The first part of Horizon, released in 2017, turned out to be original and successful enough that 5 years later its direct sequel with the subtitle was released Forbidden West. The ending of the game clearly hints at a full-fledged trilogy, but so far neither the publisher nor the developers have officially confirmed the continuation. Therefore, we have collected for you the top projects that are similar to Horizon Zero Dawn — partially or completely, so you definitely won't be bored waiting for news.

P.S. We did not include titles from Sony in the top, since they are made according to the same patterns — vigorous adventure games from a third person in an open or simply large, well-developed world: somewhere with an emphasis on the plot (God of War), somewhere on aesthetics (Ghost of Tsushima), and somewhere on the atmosphere (Days Gone).

The relaunched Tomb Raider trilogy is several dozen hours of different adventures: from escaping from an enchanted island in Tomb Raider to traveling through an enchanting jungle in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, which can stir more than one fan's heart. Lara Croft will once again find forgotten cities, fight villainous organizations and even prevent the end of the world, but now in a more cinematic manner. True, you shouldn't expect real tombs earlier than Rise of the Tomb Raider; after all, the 2013 game is more of a linear shooter of category B.

Unfortunately, Crystal Dynamics (which, by the way, is now do not belong Square Enix) didn't bother to find good screenwriters, so you can't expect interesting characters, cool plot twists, or at least decent development of the main character, but this doesn't stop you from exploring the most beautiful locations.

The Assassin's Creed series has long gotten rid of the squabbles between assassins and Templars, the normal hidden blade and charismatic characters, preferring huge maps and donation shops to this. The mythical trilogy as a whole is an invention for casual players who prefer to ride a unicorn through the kingdom of Hades, and as part of a once great series it looks controversial. The trouble here lies in the rather dull quests, the endless grind, and the fed-up captures of outposts that have grown to the scale of a natural disaster.

However, one cannot help but give the developers their due — the worlds of Ancient Greece (Odyssey), Ancient Egypt (Origins), and England of the 9th century (Valhalla) look incredible, no matter how empty they are. In addition, mythological elements, added contrary to all common sense, give ordinary adventures some kind of heroic shade, which a gamer not familiar with the series may like.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits is the debut work of the once ordinary animation studio Ember Lab, which received a decent reception in 2021. The game tells about the adventures of the brave girl Kena, who, instead of inheriting a treasure behind her house, got the job of guiding spirits to the afterlife.

The project turned out to be compact, incredibly beautiful and a little naive, and the cute decaying assistants became its main decoration. The gameplay is based on solving puzzles, clearing locations from damage, fighting ordinary enemies and bosses that can cause an unprepared gamer to fire a gamepad into the wall. Kena is an indie game, and therefore you can forget about the endless grind and the huge open world, but at the present time this can hardly be called a minus.

ReCore: Definitive Edition is a not very popular, but pretty good third-person action adventure. In the story, the girl mechanic Jul, after a long cryostasis, arrives on the planet Far Eden, but instead of active work on colonization, she finds only a wasteland filled with unfriendly robots. Of course, the heroine decides to figure out what happened here, and at the same time save the mission to create a new home for humanity. She will be helped with this by her charismatic animal-like robot partners.

You will have to entertain yourself in the open world with difficult platform stages, various puzzles, dungeons and, of course, grind. The player, in the absence of other NPCs, as in Horizon, learns lore information from various diaries and notes. The project turned out to be controversial, and there is a high chance of abandoning it due to some monotony and excessive complexity towards the end, but connoisseurs of the setting should try it.

Far Cry: Primal is a kind of caveman simulator, not burdened by either a complex plot or a charismatic villain, the main advantage of which is the thick atmosphere. Primal places the player in a loincloth setting and simulates a delightful world around them — from saber-tooth tigers and mammoths to the semblance of a primitive language.

Of course, you can't count on effective opposition to the local fauna — the main character Takkar lives 10 thousand years BC, and this is somewhat early for firearms, so the weapons are only what a person is able to find or craft. At the same time, Primal is still Far Cry from Ubisoft with all its towers, resource grinding and trippy moments.

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West is an adventure game from the long-suffering creators of Hellblade — Ninja Theory. The story takes place 150 years after a devastating war in which very few survived. Two heroes — the introverted Monkey and the pretty Trip — travel through a post-apocalyptic world filled with hostile robots and slave owners.

Odyssey to the West is a truly strong road movie, captivating with the development of the relationships between the main characters. There is also parkour and light puzzles, but the story is quite linear, so there is no open world.

When listing projects with an authentic post-apocalyptic atmosphere, one cannot help but recall Mad Max from Warner Bros. The open world is a wasteland, the power in which belongs to bandits, and a man with a broken destiny in the main role, driving around the endless expanses in his car. The plot begins with how Shlem's gang takes Max's transport away and leaves him to die on the road, but there are no final credits after that: you have to get up and return your property back.

The gameplay of Mad Max follows the canons of Ubisoft — there are towers, outposts, and searching for resources. And also driving races in a car and fighting in the style of Batman. Although there are weapons in the game, you shouldn't count on decent ammunition in wasteland conditions.

NieR: Automata is a slasher film in a post-apocalyptic setting, in the center of which is the android 2B, fighting against robots who long ago expelled the remnants of humanity to the Moon. In contrast to the chaste-looking Aloy, the heroine controlled by the gamer is dressed and drawn so sexy that she still generates cosplay sets of varying degrees of frankness.

However, it's still worth taking your eyes off the android: the plot in the project is intricate and deep with a couple of dozen different endings, and the open world, despite its modest content, is atmospheric. The only obstacle: NieR: Automata is a Japanese title with all the features inherent in such projects. If this is not very close to you, you should look for another game.

The third part of The Witcher's adventures can, to some extent, be called the older and more talented sister of Horizon Zero Dawn. The game came out two years earlier, and now it's hard to imagine a gamer who wouldn't run around locations looking for cards for Gwent. However, despite similar elements, such as a beautiful and holistic open world and a spirit of exploration, The Witcher 3 feels a much more mature and bold project — it is not so sterile for the mass player and, touching on deep themes, does not hesitates to illuminate them from all sides.

Dialogues from CD Projekt RED's creation have long been snapped up for quotes and memes, and the immortal dispute between fans of Triss and Yen clearly demonstrates the elaboration of both local characters and the strength of the narrative.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is one of the best Nintendo exclusives. The plot, in which you need to save the princess and destroy the evil evil, cannot be called outstanding, but a bunch of interesting and slightly crazy characters compensate for this somewhat. In general, Breath of the Wild is a real gift for lovers of open worlds: different climatic zones with their own unique monsters and weather conditions, riddles, interaction with the environment, challenge sanctuaries, and even determining a place on the map from a photograph. The game also features a very addictive cooking mechanic. The project has only one drawback — it is locked on Nintendo consoles.

However, Ubisoft tried to correct this oversight with Immortals Fenyx Rising. Of course, it's not nearly as good as Link's journey, but the pleasant setting of Ancient Greece, charismatic gods and various riddles can provide a couple of dozen hours of entertaining adventure.

Another title from Warner Bros. in our top, this time in the Lord of the Rings universe — Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. The game handles the canon of John Tolkien (John Ronald Reuel Tolkien) very freely and is a work purely based on motives. The world in «Middle-earth» is open and hostile — evil orcs are trying to tear off the head of the main character Talion. But he himself is not so simple: having lost his family and life, he returned back thanks to his new friend to exact revenge and justice.

The combat in the project says hello to Batman, and the outposts and camps say hello to Ubisoft. The Nemesis system became innovative at the time the project was released, which to this day attracts the attention of players.