I keep seeing images of the new Legend of Zelda, and reading how good it is. Unfortunately I don't have a Nintendo Switch or a Wii U and can't afford one right now. So I was wondering what game for PC do you think is the most similar to the new Legend of Zelda?

Oceanhorn Monster of Uncharted Seas gets a lot of comparisons to that franchise but, more for it's Wind Waker leanings

Yeah, I keep hearing about it too, but my reaction to being constantly bombared by talk of how awesome it's supposed to be is the exact opposite- I'm starting to irrationaly hate it :D Not that I ever considered getting any Nintendo stuff in the first place.

Anyway, as far as I understand it's supposed to be so awesome because of the huge open world and exploration, so I guess The Elder Scrolls series and The Witcher 3 are the best "alternatives". Also there's this thing coming, but who knows when...

And Elex... also TBA.

I've read about it, but have yet to play it. Indeed, especially the boat sections. One of the things that is also appealing in the game it the art style/design of the world. I have Morrowind and The Witcher 1 and 2 to play, but have yet to take the leap.

"This thing coming" looks kinda cool I'll have to look into Elex tho

To be honest, I haven't even looked at the new Zelda

BUT!

If you want to discuss huge, open world adventure with brilliant art direction, well...

I'll just leave this here.


(edit)
I would be reluctant to recommend it to some looking for a Zelda-like, however. As it has a much greater emphasis on free, open-world exploration whereas the Zeldas are well known for their item-gated linear progression.

One of the things I like the most about Breath of the Wild is the lack of waypoints hand-holding you through the whole game, instead focusing on written directions and landmarks to situate yourself.

From what I hear Morrowind is like that as well.

It's not particularly like the new Zelda (from what I know, I haven't played it yet) as they're not really open world, but Darksiders (2 is the only one I've played so far) is a pretty great Zelda like and available here (and discounted right now I think).

I wouldn't recommend Oceanhorn... it feels like a mobile port. A little cheap and shallow.

Yeah. So much so that sometimes the NPCs will give you wrong directions :D And then you're really screwed, unless you already knew where to actually go. I don't even know if that's intentionall or a mistake by the devs.

Still, while I can see how that can be seen as a good thing- it's more realistic, emphasises exploration more and all that, it has huge donwsides too. For one thing, it can, overall, add hours to the game, and at some point looking for some particular cave or something you only have general directions for and can only sse if you stand in the exact right place and look in the right direction stops being fun and get tedious. But the biggest problem is how it makes it hard to take longer breaks from the game. Wait, where was I supposed to go? Where is that? What did they tell me? Damn, this journal sucks, it's like trying to find the nearest pizzeria with Wikipedia, and without a proper search function! Ok, got it... it's north-east of the Lower Anus village... wait, where in the hell was that? It's so small I can't even find it on the map and I can't remember for the life of me...

I really did enjoy my time playing Morrowind, but after taking a lengthy break from it the idea of coming back feels less and less appealing.

Far Cry 3+ onwards is probably the closest you would get on Steam. However, CEMU might allow you to emulate the Wii-U version of BOTW.

Unfortunately, there is no game like Breath of the Wild on PC.

Perhaps you could be a little more specific about what part of BOTW appeals most to you.

If you like 3D Zelda games for the dungeons, puzzles, boss fights, action combat and unique items then Darksiders 1 and 2 are pretty damn awesome, IMO.

If you want a huge open-world game, with lots to explore, tons of side quests, plant and herb collecting for crafting and action combat then The Witcher 3 is amazing, IMO

Unfortunately, there is no similar game on PC.

The new Legend of Zelda has already been running (good enough) in emulator at 30FPS (I think).
I have seen it somewhere. If you want to try I may search for it again.

Still better than "Thanks for bringing me these 10 rare green herbs. Can I ask another favour of you? Could you bring me 10 horns of the one-winged rabbit-buffalo?" -.- This is true. If you have an open world without questmarkers, you need a good questlog and a very good map. Can't be too hard to throw hints from NPCs into the questlog. And it shouldn't be impossible to link those hints with a small region on the world map.

I suggest trying cemu. A wii u emulator. and getting the game from questionable sources.