Published Aug 22, 2026, 3:00 PM EDT
Tom Wilson is a Gaming Features Writer at Screen Rant. Over the past five years, Tom has worked as the Editor-in-Chief at The Game Crater, as a Staff Writer for GamingIntel, a List Writer at TheGamer, and, of course, as a Senior Writer at ScreenRant. Tom has experience writing reviews, guides, news, and features, and has been responsible for teams of writers, training them and editing their work.
Tom graduated with a Masters in Multimedia Journalism, and has since gone on to build up his portfolio of games journalism work.
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There are, naturally, so many games like Pokémon, The Legend of Zelda, and Stardew Valley. All three practically perfected their respective genres and offer the most compelling version of their core experience, which makes attempting to replicate them and their immense success an incredibly tantalizing experience. However, few games come close to successfully capturing the brilliance of just one of them, let alone all three.
As a result, we get a lot of games like The Legend of Zelda, Pokémon, or Stardew Valley, and occasionally a brave developer who dares to combine two of them. However, one upcoming open-world RPG has taken it upon itself to bring the best qualities of all three into one ultimate experience. While it remains to be seen whether this audacious experience can do what so many others have failed to, one cannot help but feel rather inspired and excited by what it is attempting to achieve.
This New Open-World RPG Looks Incredible
When looking for a game like Pokémon, Zelda, or even Stardew Valley, there are a handful of key traits that are important for it to truly resonate with me. The first is exploration, as this is key to at least two of these IPs, and helps endear the player to the world and makes the minute-to-minute gameplay of merely wandering around all the more fun. The second is an enjoyable roster of creatures to tame, befriend, and utilize in battle, and the last is a stunning pixel art world with some form of life-sim mechanics.
Wildaria, the aforementioned upcoming open-world RPG that dares to combine Pokémon, Stardew Valley, and Zelda (as well as Minecraft, but that's too many names for a title), looks set to contain each of these elements and many more. It has a procedurally generated world teeming with ruins, villages, diverse biomes, and more to explore. It has a huge roster of animals and creatures that can be tamed, ridden, and used in battle. Wildaria also sports a gorgeous, Stardew Valley-esque art style, alongside the ability to converse, trade with, and accept quests from the numerous villages.
Coupled with boss battles, customizable characters, spells, pet abilities, unique weapons, and a dynamic combat system, Wildaria is absolutely looking as if it'll be one of the most ambitious open-world indie RPGs available. While it is unlikely to dethrone the likes of Breath of the Wild and the other greatest open-world games on the market, it absolutely has the potential to capture the imagination and inspire new players in the same ways those titles did when they first released.
If You Like Pokémon And Zelda, Don't Miss This
Wildaria is set to launch into early access at some point, and plans to be in EA for one and a half years. During that time, developer SpaceFudge will add multiplayer, additional bosses, more pets, a new biome, and a full main quest. However, everything else, the entire gameplay loop, 20+ pets, weapons, character customization, numerous biomes, trading, questing, boss encounters, and more will be available during early access, giving players plenty to get to grips with before the full game launches.
Currently, prospective fans can request access to the game's Closed Alpha test via its Steam store page, during which they can get a taste of what Wildaria has to offer. It's the perfect option for Zelda and Pokémon fans who are sorely missing new entries into their respective series and are awaiting their upcoming new releases. There's so much to see and do in Wildaria, much in the same way as there is in The Legend of Zelda's biggest entries, so open-world RPG fans should absolutely wishlist and check it out.
Movie(s) The Legend of Zelda (Live-Action)
First Game The Legend of Zelda
Created by Shigeru Miyamoto, Takashi Tezuka
English (US) ·