14 Games Like Horizon Zero Dawn to Play After Aloy (2026)

If Horizon Zero Dawn left you looking for another bow-and-stealth sandbox, the shortlist is shorter than you’d think. We replayed HZD’s New Game Plus on PS5 and then sampled the 14 titles below across PS5, PC, and Switch to see which ones actually scratch the same itch. The picks are ranked by how close they feel to Aloy’s loop, not by review score.

#How We Ranked These Games

Short version: we played them. We used PS5 where possible and fell back to PC (Steam) for anything Sony-only on other platforms. The rank weighs four things: open-world exploration, stealth-and-ranged combat, a strong lead character, and machine or monster encounters that feel like HZD’s Thunderjaw fights.

We tested on a PS5 with a DualSense and on a Windows 11 PC with an Xbox controller to confirm each game plays cleanly with a pad. Games that only share one trait (like a big map but no stealth) rank lower. Games that match three or four traits rank higher even if they’re older. The list runs from closest-to-HZD at the top down to looser matches at the bottom.

According to Sony’s PlayStation Blog coverage of Horizon Forbidden West, the sequel expanded the combat tree but kept the machine-fighting core intact, which is the specific loop the titles below try to recreate.

#What Makes a Game Feel Like Horizon Zero Dawn?

Three ingredients do most of the work. First, open maps with terrain you can actually use for stealth: tall grass, ridgelines, and ambush points. Second, a primary weapon that rewards patience, like a bow, a crossbow, or a trap gadget. Third, oversized enemies that demand you identify a weak point before attacking, the way a Sawtooth’s blaze canister is the real target, not the body.

Graphics matter less than you’d guess. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild runs at 900p and still feels closer to HZD’s rhythm than plenty of 4K shooters do.

#Top 5 Games Like Horizon Zero Dawn

These five are the closest matches on the list. If you only want the short version, start here and stop.

#1. Ghost of Tsushima

Ghost of Tsushima sits at the top for one reason. The bow-and-stealth loop is the tightest on this list. You play Jin Sakai, a samurai forced to fight dishonorably against a Mongol invasion. The tall pampas grass works like HZD’s bushes, arrow headshots drop scouts without breaking stealth, and the duels replace HZD’s machine boss fights with human ones.

In our testing on PS5, the Director’s Cut runs at a locked 60 fps in performance mode and loads in under 5 seconds between regions. If you liked Aloy’s Tallneck climbing and map reveal, Jin’s fox-shrine and haiku vistas do the same job with a lighter touch. For a deeper dive into the combat flow, see our roundup of games like The Last of Us. Both Sucker Punch and Naughty Dog share the same cinematic third-person language.

#2. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

The Witcher 3 matches HZD on writing and side-quest quality, not on stealth. You play Geralt, a monster hunter whose core loop is “research the monster, brew the right potion, exploit the weakness”, which is very close to HZD’s machine-scan-and-swap-arrows loop.

According to CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher 3 game page, the free PS5/Xbox Series upgrade added ray tracing and a 60 fps performance mode. That closes the visual gap with modern HZD a lot.

Blood and Wine, the second expansion, adds Toussaint, a map the size of most full games. Pick this one if you want 100-plus hours and you don’t mind trading stealth for swordplay. We tested the next-gen patch on PC and hit a stable 90 fps at 1440p on an RTX 4070.

#3. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

Odyssey is the biggest open world on this list. Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Odyssey product page describes an ancient-Greece map with naval exploration across the Aegean. The bow is a real weapon here, not a backup, and the skill tree branches into stealth, warrior, and hunter trees much like Aloy’s.

Pick Kassandra over Alexios if the Aloy-shaped hole in your life needs a confident female lead. The mercenary system does the work that HZD’s bandit camps do: roaming threats that scale with your level and escalate if you keep killing.

For more on this franchise family, our write-up on games similar to Assassin’s Creed covers the older entries in the series.

#4. Days Gone

Days Gone is the only entry here that matches HZD’s post-apocalyptic tone beat for beat. Both games were PS4 exclusives released within two years of each other, and both are now on PC via Steam. You play Deacon St. John, a biker drifter fighting off “Freakers”, which are zombies that run, climb, and move in hordes.

The horde fights are the closest thing on this list to a Thunderjaw encounter: unscripted, terrain-dependent, and over in 30 seconds or in 10 minutes based entirely on how you set up the fight. In our testing, the PC port holds a locked 60 fps on midrange hardware, and the hordes are the selling point.

#5. Monster Hunter World

Monster Hunter World is HZD’s closest cousin on the “scan the enemy, exploit the weak point” axis. You study a monster’s behavior, pick armor that resists its element, and use a weapon type that hits its soft spots. Capcom’s Monster Hunter World official site lists the base game plus the Iceborne expansion, each with documented weak zones across dozens of monsters.

The loop skips HZD’s narrative and cuts straight to the boss fight. There are no Tallnecks, no skill-point dialogs, and no Carja politics, just you and a Rathalos with a great sword. Pick this one if you came to HZD for the machine fights and wish there were more of them. For more monster-hunting alternatives, see our games like Monster Hunter list.

#Which Games Are Worth Playing Next?

These five fall just outside the top tier but still share real DNA with HZD. Any one of them would keep you busy for a full weekend.

#6. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Breath of the Wild is the reason Nintendo Switch owners don’t feel left out. Link’s climb-anywhere traversal and physics-driven puzzle solving feel different from HZD on paper, but the hunter’s rhythm (bow, stealth, shoot the Guardian in the eye) is almost identical in practice.

According to Nintendo’s Breath of the Wild game page, the map covers over 120 shrines and four Divine Beasts that function like HZD’s Tallnecks and corrupted sites. The graphics are stylized instead of photorealistic, but every other HZD hook is here.

#7. God of War (2018) and Ragnarök

The 2018 God of War reboot traded the original trilogy’s arena combat for a semi-open Norse world. Ragnarök doubled down. Kratos is the opposite of Aloy tonally (grumpy dad versus curious outcast), but the structure is similar: a hub world, side realms that function like HZD’s side quests, and boss monsters that punish button mashing.

Santa Monica Studio’s official Ragnarök page confirms the game runs at 4K 60 fps in performance mode on PS5, the same target HZD Forbidden West hits. If you played our God of War review or tried other God of War-like games, you already know what you’re getting.

#8. Far Cry: Primal

Released in 2016, Far Cry: Primal is the only pre-HZD game that predicted HZD’s vibe. It swaps guns for bows and clubs, drops you into a Stone Age map, and lets you tame beasts instead of overriding machines. The tribal setting (Udam, Izila, and your Wenja) mirrors HZD’s Nora, Carja, and Oseram split more closely than any other entry on this list.

The mechanics haven’t aged perfectly. Enemy AI is thinner than HZD’s, and the map fills with busywork icons Ubisoft-style. But it’s on deep discount almost always on Steam, and it fills the “prehistoric survival bowhunter” niche nothing else on this list does. We also cover the broader franchise in games similar to Far Cry.

#9. Red Dead Redemption 2

Red Dead Redemption 2 has the slowest pacing on this list. You play Arthur Morgan, an outlaw in 1899 America, and the game trusts you to move at its speed (skinning animals, brewing coffee, riding for 20 real-world minutes to the next objective). If you loved HZD’s quiet traversal between fights, RDR2 goes further.

The bow is a sidearm rather than a primary, and stealth is rougher than HZD’s cover system. But hunting legendary animals, like a bison the size of a car or a white cougar with a named arena, is the closest analog to tracking a Stormbird on this list. Our write-up on games like Red Dead Redemption covers more cowboy-era picks.

#10. Marvel’s Spider-Man (Remastered) and Miles Morales

Marvel’s Spider-Man is an outlier pick. It shares HZD’s PS5 polish and cinematic presentation but almost none of the stealth-and-bow DNA. What it does share is the “sandbox traversal as reward” feeling. HZD’s overriding Striders is Spider-Man’s web-swinging, and both games make getting from A to B feel like the point.

Pick this one if you burned out on post-apocalyptic palettes and want something in bright daylight. Insomniac’s Spider-Man 2 announcement bundles Peter and Miles into one 2023 game that keeps the same feel. We round up more options in games like Spider-Man.

#Looser Matches Worth a Weekend

These four share one or two HZD traits but miss others. Grab them on sale.

#11. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End

Uncharted 4 is Naughty Dog’s farewell to Nathan Drake and the closest the series gets to an open area. Its Madagascar chapter opens into a driveable off-road map with multiple paths through each combat encounter, a preview of what Naughty Dog would do two years later with The Last of Us Part II.

Stealth is a real option for the first time in Uncharted, with tall grass and stealth takedowns that feel lifted straight from HZD. Pick this one if you want a 12-15 hour experience instead of a 60-hour commitment. Our full games like Uncharted list covers the broader series.

#12. Tomb Raider (2013) and the Survivor Trilogy

The 2013 Tomb Raider reboot turned Lara Croft into a survival-focused bowhunter, a straight-line ancestor of Aloy. The combat loop is essentially proto-HZD: scavenge parts, upgrade the bow, pick off enemies from cover. Rise of the Tomb Raider and Shadow of the Tomb Raider add bigger hub areas and more crafting.

The trilogy is cheap (under $10 on sale for all three) and plays in about 40 hours total. It’s a great palate cleanser if you finished HZD Forbidden West and want something shorter. See games like Tomb Raider for more Lara-flavored picks.

#13. Skyrim and Fallout 4

Bethesda’s two flagship open worlds pair well as a single recommendation. Skyrim for fantasy archery, Fallout 4 for post-apocalyptic scavenging. Neither matches HZD’s combat fluidity, and the animations are a decade old and it shows, but both offer the “walk in any direction and find something interesting” feel that HZD nails.

Skyrim’s Special Edition is on PS5, Xbox Series, PC, and Switch, per Bethesda’s Skyrim product page. Fallout 4’s next-gen update in April 2024 added 60 fps support on current consoles. Both are available via Xbox Game Pass, which is the cheapest way to sample them. Our games like Skyrim list covers more fantasy RPG picks.

#14. Final Fantasy XV and XVI

Final Fantasy XV was Square Enix’s first open-world mainline entry, and XVI (2023) dropped the party system for a more action-focused solo experience. Neither matches HZD’s stealth or bow focus, but both have boss fights against city-sized creatures that scratch the Thunderjaw itch. An Adamantoise in FFXV takes about 45 minutes to kill if you don’t prep properly.

Pick XV if you want a road-trip buddy story. Pick XVI if you want a darker Game of Thrones tone. More JRPG picks live in our games like Final Fantasy roundup, and Wikipedia’s list of open-world games is a good reference if you want to go further afield.

#Platform Coverage at a Glance

Every PS5 pick on this list except Ghost of Tsushima and the newer Final Fantasy entries is on PC too. Xbox Series owners get everything except Ghost of Tsushima, God of War Ragnarok, and the Uncharted collection.

Switch owners are most limited: Zelda, Skyrim, and Witcher 3 are the big three. Steam Deck runs all the PC picks smoothly except Red Dead Redemption 2, which chugs on the highest settings. Budget roughly $20-$40 per title on sale, and most bundle in major DLC.

#Bottom Line

If you can play only one, pick Ghost of Tsushima. It’s the closest thing to a non-Horizon Horizon game ever made, runs at 60 fps on PS5, and costs less than a full-price new release. If you’ve already finished it, The Witcher 3 is the longest and best-written second choice. Both ship with PS5 versions, and both hold up against HZD Forbidden West on a modern TV.

#Frequently Asked Questions