Today's recommendations are games that are either themed around Legend of Zelda, or might give you the Legend of Zelda feel that you're looking for.
WARDENS, by Chaosmeister.
You were a Farmer once. Or a cobbler or blacksmith. Then the spirits of the wild called you to the Circle of Wardens, a group of defenders of all life against darkness and corruption. Empowered by spirit guides, you face down threats from as small as a corrupt village elder to a maddened dragon attempting to destroy the world. The spirit guides give you extraordinary mythical abilities to enable you to do so. You are not ordinary folk anymore; you are WARDENS.
WARDENS is a simple 24XX hack that prioritizes quick character creation and little-to-no game prep that facilitates pick-up games really well. The 24XX system is easy to learn and requires a few different polyhedral dice, which makes it ideal for hacking. While WARDENS doesn't directly take inspiration from Legend of Zelda, it certainly gives you the opportunity to play as small-town folks thrust into the world of supernatural forces, with abilities you didn't ask for. This responsibility, along with an animal spirit that guides you, has the potential to evoke the themes of Twilight Princess.
2. Heroes of Cerulea, by Bläckfisk Publishing.
Long ago, the three Divine Dragons created the mythical realm of Cerulea—a vast kingdom of green fields, blue lakes, deep forests, volcanic mountains, and hot deserts.
The world is locked in a perpetual cycle of conflict between good and evil—the Guardian and the Paragon bravely defend the world against the Shadow King and his army of monsters. All three have been reborn numerous times throughout history.
Now, the Shadow King has returned once more. But the Guardian and the Paragon are still nowhere to be seen... New heroes must come to Cerulea's aid!
Directly inspired by Legend of Zelda, down to the lof-fi art and the heart gauges on monsters, Heroes of Cerulea is a game of dungeon delving, inventories that need to be refilled, and action rolls for characters only. This is a series of rules whittled down to fit on a pamphlet, and it comes with a Woodland dungeon ready to explore. There's also a larger game that has its own Kickstarter Campaign!
3. Fight Item Run by Whimsy Machine.
Monsters spawn in the dungeon. What do you do?
Fight Item Run is a Powered by the Apocalypse tabletop roleplaying game that smashes action-packed combat and magic together with dynamic character and relationship exploration. The party begins in a chamber and there are monsters; once they’ve defeated the monsters, they proceed to the next chamber where there are more monsters.
If you like games that focus more on player contributions to the narrative, Fight Item Run might be in your alleyway. You balance dungeon-diving with player relationships, problem-solving with a thirst for secrets, and the granular elements of old-school rpgs with simplistic stats and resolution mechanics.
While Fight Item Run isn't directly Legend of Zelda-inspired, it carries many of the hallmarks of the old 8-bit games, including monsters that disappear in puffs of smoke, pieces of the environment that turn into threats, and chambers that must be explored thoroughly before the explorers can continue.
You take the role of an ICON, a larger than life hero, caught between the turning of two ages. Long ago, the cruel and prosperous Arken empire ruled the land until it fell to the Doom. Over time, the land healed, and the idyllic, pastoral Green Age came to pass. Now, however, that peace is threatened by the coming of the Churning Age. With dungeons literally erupting from the earth and monsters pouring out in great blights, Kin increasingly turn their hearts to plundering their depths for riches and power, and their hands to their sword hilts. Will you have the strength to resist this age, or will you claim its terrible power for yourself?
ICON is a fantasy role playing game heavily inspired by the vast, unknown spaces of classic mythic fantasy, anime, and video games. It has a robust narrative system for story driven play and a final fantasy inspired tactical combat system, with either or both systems usable for play.
From the creators of Lancer, ICON is a game that takes a lot of cues from the Forged in the Dark system, which relies on d6's and a staggered success mechanic. It's also not directly inspired by Zelda games, but the themes of forgotten civilizations as well as the threat of a burgeoning power, as well as the obstacles of blight ravaging the land, ICON certainly carries a lot of themes resonant with The Legend of Zelda.
Right now ICON is in playtest mode, which means that the game is free!
5. The Legend of the Forgotten Ballad by cueinn.
Listen, kid. The Enemy power is growing again. This old world had survived many calamities. Our people are few, simple and, scared. It gives us hope to see you with all that courage. You can fight back if you find those relics and forgotten songs buried in old ruins.
But it's dangerous to go alone, gather your friends and take this with you.
Another game directly inspired by Legend of Zelda, The Legend of the Forgotten Ballad is a single-pamphlet rpg that gives you the framework you need to design your own Zelda-like dungeons. The pamphlet itself is beautifully designed, and another creator, Leonardo Azevado, has created an equally beautiful supplement titled The Legend of Forbidden Song, which has additional items, character options, and pets!
6. Reclaim the Wild by Elemental Knight.
The worlds found in Zelda games often make mention of some ancient civilization that came before the present day. They made powerful weapons and spells with which to fight evil, and then built shrines, temples, or dungeons to hide those artifacts until the day they would be needed again.
There were Heroes in the past, as well, who may have wielded those weapons to much the same end that today’s Heroes might. Perhaps they left their techniques to future generations in the form of scrolls, or today’s Heroes might summon their ghosts to ask for vital information.
In this way, every Zelda game’s world is built on a foundation of a previous, more powerful civilization – that nonetheless, fell and was forgotten by many. No Hero’s journey is complete without traveling into the depths of a forgotten crypt or ancient temple, seeking the secrets left by those who came before.
Reclaim the Wild is a fan-made game that is freely distributed on the linked website, and is a great game for simulationist play. If you like expendable inventory, a number of stats to track and improve upon, gritty crafting rules, and a veritable book full of options to sort through to make your character, Reclaim the Wild is for you.
This is a hefty game with multiple rulebooks, with pieces that you can pick and choose from to emulate the Zelda game of your choice. These PDFs have an easily navigable menu, with shortcuts for tables, pieces of commissioned dotted throughout the books, and a stylized map from Breath of the Wild at the very end. There's also online google character sheets that do some of the math for you to make sure your stat calculations add up! Reclaim the Wild, as well as its supplements, Ravage the Wild (a bestiary) and Rebuild the Wild (a community supplement) are truly labours of love.
