"Games like Genshin Impact" is a trickier request than it sounds, because Genshin is really three games wearing one trench coat: a gorgeous open world to explore, a character-collection gacha to chase, and an elemental combat system to master. Depending on which of those pulled you in, the right alternative changes completely. So this list is not just a ranking. Each pick is tagged with the specific Genshin itch it scratches, so you can jump to the one that fits.
The short ranking
- Wuthering Waves if you want Genshin's open world with faster, flashier combat.
- Honkai: Star Rail if you love the characters and story but would take turn-based over action.
- Zenless Zone Zero if the combat feel was your favorite part and the open world was not.
- Tower of Fantasy if you want an open-world anime gacha with a stronger MMO streak.
- Reverse: 1999 if you came for the writing and character collecting, not the exploration.
- Infinity Nikki if the part you loved was wandering a beautiful world at your own pace.
Now the detail on each.
1. Wuthering Waves
The obvious answer, and the closest thing on the market to "Genshin but different." It is a free open-world action RPG with the same core loop: explore a large, handcrafted world, collect a roster of gacha characters, gear them up, and clear rotating endgame. The overworld traversal even rhymes with Genshin's, down to the climbing and gliding.
Where it diverges is combat. Wuthering Waves is faster and more execution-focused, built around dodging, parrying, and chaining characters together in tight combos rather than Genshin's more deliberate elemental setups. If Genshin's fights ever felt a touch slow, this is the fix. The catch is that the higher skill ceiling and the Echo farming grind can feel demanding compared to Genshin's gentler curve.
- Scratches the itch of: open-world exploration plus a deeper combat challenge.
- Free-to-play friendly: yes, with a generous pull economy.
- Start here: the Wuthering Waves beginners guide and best team comps.
2. Honkai: Star Rail
Genshin's sister game from the same studio, and the pick if what you loved was the characters, the world-building, and the production values rather than running around an open map. It trades real-time action for a polished turn-based battle system of turn order, weakness breaks, and follow-up attacks, wrapped in some of the best presentation in the genre.
The reason it lands so hard for Genshin players is that everything around the combat feels familiar: the gacha structure, the generosity, the character writing, the constant stream of events. It is Genshin's DNA in a format you can play one-handed on the couch. The endgame is deep without demanding a daily tithe.
- Scratches the itch of: character collection, story, and HoYo polish, minus the twitch.
- Free-to-play friendly: yes, and the endgame rewards patient accounts.
- Start here: the beginners guide and best characters.
3. Zenless Zone Zero
Also from Genshin's studio, but pointed at a different craving. If your favorite thing about Genshin was the moment-to-moment feel of combat, the dodges and swaps and satisfying hits, and you cared less about the sprawling overworld, Zenless Zone Zero is built for you. It is a stylish urban action game with fast, combo-driven fights and a swap mechanic that rewards perfect timing, set in a hub-based city rather than a giant open map.
It is the most action-forward of the HoYo trio and the least about exploration, which is exactly the point for players who found Genshin's world beautiful but its combat a bit floaty.
- Scratches the itch of: pure combat feel and character style.
- Free-to-play friendly: yes; see the pull economy guide.
- Start here: the beginner teams guide, the combat mastery guide, and our ZZZ review.
4. Tower of Fantasy
The closest structural clone of Genshin's open-world-anime-gacha formula from outside HoYoverse. Same broad shape: a large explorable world, a cast of gacha characters (here called Simulacra), weapon-swapping combat, and a steady content cadence. The difference is a heavier lean into shared-world, MMO-style elements, with more open multiplayer, roaming other players, and a sci-fi-flavored setting rather than Genshin's high fantasy.
It is the pick for someone who liked Genshin's template but wished it were more social and less strictly solo. It runs hotter and cooler than Genshin depending on the patch, so temper expectations, but the core loop will feel instantly legible to any Genshin player.
- Scratches the itch of: open-world gacha with a social, MMO-ish layer.
- Free-to-play friendly: reasonably, though the systems are more complex than Genshin's.
- Best for: players who want company in their open world.
5. Reverse: 1999
A left-field pick that lands for a specific kind of Genshin fan: the one who was really there for the character collecting and the story, and who could take or leave the running-around. Reverse: 1999 is a turn-based gacha with a hand-drawn, twentieth-century time-travel setting and fully voiced storytelling that stands with the best writing in the genre. Its Afflatus combat is a rock-paper-scissors puzzle rather than an action test.
If Genshin's exploration was never the draw and you mostly logged in for banners, lore, and a roster you got attached to, this delivers that on a smaller, cozier, more wallet-friendly footprint.
- Scratches the itch of: collecting characters you love and reading a genuinely good story.
- Free-to-play friendly: very; the endgame is short and the pull economy is kind.
- Start here: the beginner guide and our Reverse: 1999 review.
6. Infinity Nikki
The pick for players whose favorite Genshin memory is not a boss fight or a banner but a sunset, a quiet hillside, and the urge to see what is over the next ridge. Infinity Nikki is an open-world exploration game built almost entirely around wandering, dressing up, and gentle discovery rather than combat. It shares Genshin's love of a beautiful, seamless world to get lost in, and strips away the parts that stress people out.
It will not scratch a combat or theorycrafting itch at all. But as a "Genshin for the exploration and the vibes" alternative, nothing else on this list gets closer to that specific feeling.
- Scratches the itch of: relaxed open-world exploration and beauty.
- Free-to-play friendly: yes, as a cozy, low-pressure experience.
- Best for: players who treated Genshin as a walking simulator with extra steps, and loved it.
How to choose in one line
- Loved the open world plus combat? Wuthering Waves.
- Loved the characters and story, fine with turn-based? Honkai: Star Rail.
- Loved the combat feel above all? Zenless Zone Zero.
- Want it more social? Tower of Fantasy.
- Here for the collecting and writing? Reverse: 1999.
- Here for the exploration and calm? Infinity Nikki.
Most of these are free, so the honest advice is to try the two that match your itch and keep whichever respects your time. For deeper dives on the gacha side, the best open-world gacha games and best free-to-play gacha games lists go wider, and the gacha hub tracks banners and tier moves across all of them.
