The End of Dyeus, a surprisingly good exploration game with RPG elements. I never played a Zelda game cause those are console exclusives, but some Steam reviews compare it to that.
You play as a dude who has to find something or someone named Dyeus. And that's all the direction the game gives you. There's no map. There are no markers. There is no quest log. You explore, slowly uncover what you're supposed to do, and die a lot because you keep wandering into areas you're not ready for.
It's not really an RPG since there's no leveling. Enemies drop gold, with which you buy new equipment, but you can also find equipment in chests. Better armor, shields, weapons, to make you deal more and take less damage.
It also surprised me with some sci-fi elements when I wandered into a place of white marble, and then a floating robot one-hit killed me with a plasma rifle.
The game has no savescumming (
rusty_shackleford approved), but death carries no penalty other than re-spawning all the enemies and adding +1 to the death counter at the top left of the screen, which will forever mock you with how much you suck. You respawn at fountains, which you set as you respawn point by dropping a single coin inside. I upped my death counter by a dozen because I tossed a coin into a fountain in a high level area, and the attempt to get the fuck out of there cost me many lives
Very cool game. Got it for less than 10 bucks during a sale, and it's made by an obscure little indie studio. Definitely a hidden gem.
This is the only map you'll ever see in the game btw. You can find those maps in enemy outposts and look at them. The red dot is your current position, the red cross the location of this area's boss enemy. And no, you can't take those maps along with you. For most of the game, you will not have a map. You can find a compass and equip it to see which direction you're facing, but until you find it... tough luck, you just have to rely on your own sense of direction. I haven't yet found a map to pick up, so you better memorize that layout and familiarize yourself with the landmarks.