Why has there been so few Zelda clones?

[Deathknightish]

Playing through Immortals: Rise of Fenyx right now. It's quite fun. Definitely one of Ubisoft's better games, even if I still get the same feeling as with that kid in class who wants to copy your work but does it worse. It's still a good attempt on making their own version of Breath of the Wild, though.

That got me thinking though. Why has there been so few proper Zelda clones, especially 3D ones?
There are a couple of 2D Zelda clones, but when thinking about 3D ones all I can come up with are Darksiders 1 and Immortals: Fenyx Rising, really.

Why is this? It's not like Zelda is an obscure, unknown series. It's probably one of few series that even non-gamers recognize. It's also one of the most beloved and best-selling series.

Most third person games focus on combat, which is why Zelda is a nice change from it all. Sure, it also has combat, but its focus on adventure, mystery, temples and puzzle-solving is what defines the series and there aren't really that many third person adventure games with a focus on the ADVENTURE.

[Blueobelisk]

I don't wanna be that guy, but you're gonna have to define what a "Zelda" game is, because I don't really consider Breath of the Wild one. So if you do consider it one, then what is a Zelda game?

[Tiwack]

There's tons of 3D adventure games of all sorts if you look around. I agree a lot end up as BeatEmUp games but even they tend to have some small puzzle elements that can be hit or miss same as the story. It sorta tells you what most look for in a game while those who want the puzzles can focus on that with minimal combat in other games.

[XDurionX]

Few? There are hundreds. Last one i enjoyed was Hob.

[dope_danny]

You can sell a game about killing to a lot more people than a game about puzzle solving. Zelda has combat in it but outside of the bosses guarding the maguffins most of the game is "how do i do X" puzzles and thats hard to imitate well and a lot harder to sell.

[Orby]

Few? There are hundreds. Last one i enjoyed was Hob.

that game was a lot of fun. Big fan of the ambience in that game :P

[Tech614]

There are tons of Zelda clones and calling Immortals a Zelda clone is ignoring the fact BoTW itself is only a Zelda game in name and not in formula. It's a BoTW clone, not a Zelda clone.

This post sounds like someone who has never played pre BoTW Zelda? Because there are tons of games using pre BoTW Zelda formula. Not just 2D ones either, Okami being the most obvious 3D Zelda clone that anyone who wants to keep their gamer card should know of.

[Nihilist74]

I would love it if there were a lot of clones of the 16bit top-down SNES version of Zelda but with more options. Class options and abilities. I would like it if they made one with a large world with crafting. I think there are plenty of 3d games like this already.

Are you only playing games on the Nintendo switch? There are lots of games like this style. Skyrim, Dark Souls, The Darksiders series, WOW, the assassins creed games, elder scrolls online.

They have varying options and gameplay features but there is a lot of them similar to this style.

[breadisfunny]

so uhm what exactly is a zelda clone? i didn't know zelda was it's own sub genre of games.

[Tech614]

so uhm what exactly is a zelda clone? i didn't know zelda was it's own sub genre of games.

Yea didn't you know it's 2020 where genres are named after games. Just think "Souls Game" is a thing now as if Souls invented ARPGs with checkpoints. The average gamer these days probably doesn't even know the difference in a RPG from an Adventure game. Genre definitions are completely lost on them.

[Video Games]

If you cant think of more zelda clones, i would encourage you to actually start playing more games as a whole

[beanman12345]

There are more "zelda clones," they just get labeled as a zelda clone and dismissed because they are not as good as and thus don't get much recognition as a result, which is a shame cause there are some solid games that have a similar formula.

[Mysterymask]

Zelda Clone is such a broad term as SO MANY games are inspired by 1 or more zelda games...

Diablo, Path of Exile, Binding of Issac, Minecraft, Horizon, God of War, Okami, The Elder Scrolls series from 3 onwards, there's a TON of things that pry wouldn't of existed without one or more Zelda's influence.

[xenogear3]

Zelda Clone is such a broad term as SO MANY games are inspired by 1 or more zelda games...

Diablo, Path of Exile, Binding of Issac, Minecraft, Horizon, God of War, Okami, The Elder Scrolls series from 3 onwards, there's a TON of things that pry wouldn't of existed without one or more Zelda's influence.

I wouldn't call any of them Zelda clone.

[epLe]

I think the definition of a Zelda game, is mostly about the what was exclusive to the first Zelda games.
The Legend of Zelda & Zelda 2, The Adventures of Link is mainly what we got to look at to find out what is a Zelda Game.

Cutting some corners, these 2 games started what the kids of today would call JRPGs in 8bit.
And as a conclusion, there is countless JRPGs out there for the weebs to enjoy.

[Dhrizzle]

Zelda Clone is such a broad term as SO MANY games are inspired by 1 or more zelda games...

Diablo, Path of Exile, Binding of Issac, Minecraft, Horizon, God of War, Okami, The Elder Scrolls series from 3 onwards, there's a TON of things that pry wouldn't of existed without one or more Zelda's influence.

There are some particular aspects that make a Zelda game that most of those lack (speaking of 3D versions) -

Lock-on combat with melee and ranged weapons
Very light RPG theme - open world, side activities, shops, character advancement through items.
Illusion of or light aspect of non-linear play.
Dungeons with bosses
Environment puzzles using items - new items can open new areas in the open world and be used in combat.

The last point about puzzles needing items which then unlock new areas is the key aspect of what makes a game feel like a Zelda clone in my opinion.

There were a few on the Gamecube including Starfox Adventures (one of the most beautiful games out at the time which pulled an excellent bait-and-switch by setting up a Ganondorf-style fight before revealing Andross for a classic battle) and Beyond Good and Evil which I think pioneered "soft-lock" targeting.

More recently we have the Darksiders games and personally I reckon the Arkham and modern Tomb Raider games follow a very similar format.

Edit: corrected "Dark Souls" to "Darksiders."

[Tech614]

I think the definition of a Zelda game, is mostly about the what was exclusive to the first Zelda games.
The Legend of Zelda & Zelda 2, The Adventures of Link is mainly what we got to look at to find out what is a Zelda Game.

Cutting some corners, these 2 games started what the kids of today would call JRPGs in 8bit.
And as a conclusion, there is countless JRPGs out there for the weebs to enjoy.

Zelda is not a JRPG, nor did it start JRPGs. The Dragon & Princess is probably the first JRPG as the formula would come to be known as which led to final fantasy and dragon quest. That game came out in 1982, Zelda came out in 1986. Even discounting the fact that Zelda is nothing like a JRPG outside of a top down world view which a number of genres had at the time, claiming it was the first JRPG is some comical shit. Even the first Dragon Quest came out only mere months after Zelda and Zelda had 0 impact on how it was made. JRPGS where Japan's response to Wizardry and Ultima which where both popular in Japan and that is what they evolved from. Zelda literally had nothing to do with the genre or any impact on it.

[Endus]

I don't wanna be that guy, but you're gonna have to define what a "Zelda" game is, because I don't really consider Breath of the Wild one. So if you do consider it one, then what is a Zelda game?

Honestly, this kind of stuff drives me nuts.

Zelda 1 and Zelda 2 are wildly different games, but both Zelda games. Majora's Mask is also a Zelda game, and wildly different than the others. BotW is arguably a lot more like the more-classic Zelda titles than either of those entries.

[Vash The Stampede]

Up until Breath of the Wild, the Zelda games weren't exactly best in class. Sure some are good games but nothing top tier. Original Zelda was top down, with Zelda 2 being a mix of 2d side scroller and top down. Ocarina of time was the first 3D Zelda, but as Egoraptor put it the game isn't as good as we thought it was.

Breath of the Wild is the first Zelda game to be an open world but not the first open world game, and not even good at it. Breath of the Wild is more of a Skyrim or Elder Scrolls type of game. You run around in an open world and do what you basically want except not very good at it. The best thing about Breath of the Wild is probably the freedom to use physics as you please, to the point where it's game breaking.

[Daronokk]

Honestly, this kind of stuff drives me nuts.

Zelda 1 and Zelda 2 are wildly different games, but both Zelda games. Majora's Mask is also a Zelda game, and wildly different than the others. BotW is arguably a lot more like the more-classic Zelda titles than either of those entries.

BotW doesn't feel like a Zelda game at all. It's a good game, but a poor Zelda game if you ask me.

The musical score sucks. The storyline is minimal. The puzzles are nonexistant in the world but are instead all packed into simple extra levels with no imagination or vibe. There are hardly any people in the world to talk to or do sidequests. The weapons and armor mechanics are pretty generic for any game but feel so out of place in a Zelda game.

All the things that make a great Zelda game are missing.