What exactly does it mean for a game to be like Fortnite? That's a question that used to be a fairly simple one--Fortnite became popular as a battle royale, so "games like Fortnite" usually meant other battle royale games. The situation is a little bit different now that we're in Fortnite's seventh year of existence, as Epic Games' metaverse has grown in a lot of different ways. On top of that battle royale mode, there's Fortnite Festival, Lego Fortnite, Rocket Racing, and thousands of user-created islands in the bottomless pit that is Fortnite Creative.

Fortnite is still primarily known as a battle royale, judging by the player-counts--but the rest of Fortnite continues to grow. Some folks, like me, like to sample everything, and some tend to stay in the modes and games they already know they enjoy and don't feel much of an urge to explore. There's nothing at all wrong with either approach--it just means that "games like Fortnite" can mean pretty different things to different people these days.

With that in mind, we're going to make our recommendations based on some of the various niches that can be found within Fortnite, rather than looking for other games that have this same breadth and scope. There just aren't many games that can compare, so it would be silly to go that route. Instead, scroll on for recommendations for other games that hit some of the same niches that Fortnite does. Many of these are free-to-play; for more of those, check out our picks for the best free games.

Call of Duty / Call of Duty: Warzone

• For fans of: Shooty shooty
• Developer: Raven Software, Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer Games
• Release Date: March 10, 2020
• Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S
• Genre: Shooter, battle royale

One key reason that Fortnite has persisted is that Epic is able and willing to spend so much money and resources keeping it up. Very few companies would ever even be able to consider the sort of spending Epic does on Fortnite, but Activision is definitely one of them, turning out Call of Duty games with blockbuster-movie budgets year after year. With that being the case, Call of Duty, including Warzone, makes for an excellent alternative to Fortnite--it's got battle royale in a very different flavor, it's got other modes to mess around with when you're tired of the open world, it's got tons of great cosmetics and skins, and rarely does Activision cheap out. It's not as free as Fortnite, since playing standard multiplayer requires buying a new game every year, but it's solid counterprogramming even so.

See at Amazon

PUBG: Battlegrounds / PUBG Mobile

• For fans of: Battle royale games
• Developer: PUBG Studios
• Release Date: December 20, 2017
• Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Android, iOS
• Genre: Shooter, battle royale

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is the game that popularized the battle royale genre, from which Fortnite took cues from in developing its own BR mode. This OG battle royale is still going strong today, even though the days when it dominated all of PC gaming are long gone--and while it lacks the polish of Fortnite, there's still something very endearing about going back to the original and seeing how it's evolved.

See PUBG on Steam

Apex Legends

• For fans of: Action and shooter games with fast movement, battle royale games
• Developer: Respawn Entertainment
• Release Date: February 4, 2019
• Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, Android, iOS
• Genre: Shooter, battle royale

EA's entry in the battle royale genre carved out its own niche by pairing Titanfall's sick movement mechanics--something Fortnite cribbed from with its own movement updates during Chapter 3--with a hero shooter. Thanks to that unique combination, Apex Legends has a fundamentally different feel from Fortnite, and that makes it a great option for when you need a break from Epic's never-ending grind.

See Apex Legends on Steam

Hunt: Showdown

• For fans of: Historical action games, extraction shooters, battle royale games
• Developer: Crytek
• Release Date: February 22, 2018
• Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S
• Genre: Extraction shooter, battle royale

Crytek's cooperative shooter--it has both an extraction-shooter/bounty-hunter PvPvE mode as well as a battle royale--has a distinctly different flavor from all the competition because it's set in the late 1800s and features period-appropriate gadgets and weapons in a Van Helsing-esque gothic setting. So even while it covers some of the same ground as other games you may have played, the package it comes in is novel enough that it doesn't matter.

See Hunt: Showdown at Humble

Dead by Daylight

• For fans of: Competitive multiplayer, horror movies
• Developer: Behaviour Interactive
• Release Date: June 14, 2016
• Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, Android, iOS
• Genre: Cooperative, asymmetrical multiplayer

This is a scrappy asymmetrical indie multiplayer game in which four survivors have to match wits with a single, player-controlled boss enemy. There isa Fortnite comparison to be made just with that cooperative gameplay alone, which is a blast, but where it really hits the spot and can even surpass Fortnite is in its DLC--while Fortnite has some pretty solid horror movie skins, Dead by Daylight has way more.

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See Dead by Daylight at Fanatical

Trackmania

• For fans of: Arcade-style racing games, making custom tracks
• Developer: Ubisoft Nadeo
• Release Date: July 1, 2020
• Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S
• Genre: Racing

With arcade-style driving mechanics, tracks that do loops and make you do big jumps, and the ability to design and share your own wacky tracks, Trackmania sounds a whole lot like Rocket Racing. But while Rocket Racing is still in its infancy, folks have been plugging away at Ubisoft's free-to-play racer for years now, and it's chock full of weird and interesting tracks that anybody can try.

See Trackmania on Steam

Descenders

• For fans of: Racing games, extreme sports games
• Developer: RageSquid
• Release Date: May 7, 2019
• Platforms: PC, Mac, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, Android, iOS
• Genre: Driving, platforming

If you were to combine the more forgiving arcade-style controls of Rocket Racing with the platforming of Trials, you'd end up with something like Descenders: a game about riding a dirtbike down hills. The beauty of this one is that it's only ever as easy or difficult as you want it--you can have a relaxing ride down a slight slope, or go with a path on an ultra-steep incline that's covered in huge jumps. And since there's no battle pass to grind here, you can simply enjoy Descenders because it's fun, and not because you're being coerced into it with the promise of free cosmetics.

See Descenders on Fanatical

Rock Band 4

• For fans of: Rhythm games
• Developer: Harmonix
• Release Date: October 6, 2015
• Platforms: PS4, Xbox One
• Genre: Rhythm

If you enjoy Fortnite Festival but are frustrated by how weirdly expensive the songs are, Rock Band 4 goes for just $10 on digital storefronts these days, and you get more than 100 songs for that small sum. There's a catch, of course--Rock Band 4 was not designed primarily to be played with a gamepad the way Festival is, and so ideally you'll need a plastic instrument to go with it. So for those folks who bought the new PDP Riffmaster guitar for Festival, you can get a little more bang for your buck with Rock Band 4, because that guitar is fully compatible with it.

See Rock Band 4 on the PS Store

Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA

• For fans of: Rhythm games
• Developer: Sega
• Release date: 2016 for most recent console version, 2022 for most recent PC version
• Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Arcades
• Genre: Rhythm

Some hardcore Festival players have noted that Festival is pretty forgiving for a rhythm game, particularly when playing on a gamepad. If you're one of those people looking for an additional challenge but don't want to deal with plastic guitars, give one of the Hatsune Miku games a chance--any max-difficulty song in a recent Project Diva game is much harder than anything you'll find in Festival, and you still get to play dress-up with your characters. And the most recent games include literally hundreds of songs, so it'll take a very long time to get bored.

See Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Mega Mix+ on Fanatical

Beat Saber

• For fans of: VR, rhythm games
• Developer: Beat Games
• Release Date: May 21, 2019
• Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Meta Quest
• Genre: VR, rhythm

Very few virtual reality games are worth the hassle of dealing with a VR setup for most folks, but the rhythm game Beat Saber is certainly an example of one that is. This is both because it's a lot of fun and because players have uploaded tons of custom charts for a shocking amount of music, so you won't have to spend hundreds of dollars' worth of fake currency to get it.

See Beat Saber on Humble

Tower Unite

• For fans of: Hanging out in digital spaces
• Developer: PixelTail Games
• Release Date: April 8, 2016
• Platforms: PC, Linux
• Genre: Social, party, minigames

This janky little metaverse, which contains no microtransactions at all, is one of my favorite little virtual spaces to visit because it doesn't really have any hook--it's just a place to hang out, where you can play mini-golf on some surprisingly cool courses, or play blackjack at a casino, and there are a ton of really strange little user-created sub-worlds. But what really makes Tower Unite work is the Steam Workshop, where you can find tons of user-created skins of pretty much anything--my main is Shrek smoking a cigarette.

See Tower Unite at Humble

Second Life

• For fans of: Hanging out in digital spaces, and having a job to do while you're there
• Developer: Linden Lab
• Release Date: June 23, 2003
• Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS
• Genre: Social, life sim

The original metaverse--in this case essentially a virtual version of our world, in which the purpose of playing is simply to exist in that space and participate in this digital society--is somehow still around after more than two decades. It's a credit not just to the concept, but how solid the foundation is that Linden Lab built for it.

Check out Second Life free

Warframe

• For fans of: Racing games, extreme sports games
• Developer: Digital Extremes
• Release Date: March 25, 2013
• Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, iOS
• Genre: Action, live-service

The online actioner Warframe has long been a stalwart of the live-service genre, persisting for more than a decade while most other attempts at that kind of thing have crashed and burned. A big part of that is Warframe's incentive structure--there's always something to grind for in Warframe, because most cosmetics and unlocks can be earned through play, and its battle pass is free.

See Warframe at Fanatical

Destiny 2

• For fans of: Shooters
• Developer: Bungie
• Release Date: September 6, 2017
• Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S
• Genre: Shooter, live-service

When the original Destiny originally launched back in 2014, it was successful in large part because it was the new shooter game and universe from the people who made Halo. But it and its 2017 sequel maintained that success by combining Bungie's unrivaled shooter feel with one of the best live-service hamster wheels in gaming. Destiny 2 is simply so enjoyable on its most basic level that it takes real effort to get burnt out on it.

See Destiny 2: The Final Shape at Fanatical

Fall Guys

• For fans of: Platforming, silly game shows
• Developer: Mediatonic
• Release Date: August 4, 2020
• Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, Android, iOS
• Genre: Driving, platforming

This goofy, bean-based game show, in which you compete against dozens of other players in a series of Nickelodeon-style competitions, is perpetually amusing, and since it's owned by Epic Games, it's packed with all sorts of cosmetic options that you can buy from the shop or unlock from the battle pass. But Fall Guys is great primarily because it's a totally unique experience that will constantly put a smile on your face, even if you don't mess with the cosmetics at all.

See Fall Guys at the Epic Games Store

Minecraft

• For fans of: Survival, crafting
• Developer: Mojang
• Release Date: May 17, 2009
• Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux, Xbox One, Xbox Series S|X, PS4, PS5, Switch
• Genre: Survival, crafting

Lego Fortnite has been a particularly intriguing addition to Epic's metaverse, but even a year after its release, and tons of updates, it feels a little bit barebones compared with the very-well-established Minecraft. Mojang's game covers a lot of the same ground with its systems of exploration, crafting and building, and since it's been around for so much longer than Fortnite overall, much less Lego Fortnite specifically, there's just so much more going on in Minecraft.

See Minecraft at Fanatical

Among Us

• For fans of: Casual multiplayer games, party games
• Developer: Innersloth
• Release Date: Jun 15, 2018
• Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, Android, iOS
• Genre: Party

Epic infamously replicated this game, in which players have to complete a series of chores around a base while one or more of them is secretly trying to undermine and murder the others, within Fortnite with the Impostors mode a couple years back. That apparently wasn't a collab--which is why Impostors mode is long gone now. But if you miss that mode, the real thing is still right there, and it's still as much fun as it ever was.

See Among Us at Humble

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