Checked 2–3 September 2026 — prices are US Steam prices; review scores are all-language totals from Steam's review endpoint, with the English-only view where it differs.
Games Like Tale of Immortal: The Verified Alternatives
Tale of Immortal (鬼谷八荒, $19.99) is the flagship of the genre and the game with the most cultivation reviews on Steam — about 224,700 of them. It is also Mixed across all languages (56%) while Mostly Positive in English only (79%), which tells you the two reasons people look for something like it: they want the same fantasy with fewer rough edges, or they discover that what they actually wanted was one specific part of it — the sect, the jianghu, the farm, the phone. This page sorts the alternatives by which part.
The short version
| What you liked in Tale of Immortal | Play | Price · reviews |
|---|---|---|
| Climbing the realm ladder in an open world | Seeking Immortality 觅长生 (Chinese only) · Destiny of Immortal (Early Access, English planned) | $14.99 · 93% of 32,018 — $11.99 · 80% of 1,832 |
| The sect, not the cultivator | Amazing Cultivation Simulator | $24.99 · Very Positive 86% of 23,611 |
| A newer cultivation RPG with English | Ascend From Nine Mountains | $19.99 · 93% of 302, Early Access |
| The sandbox jianghu (you did not need immortality) | Hero's Adventure · The Matchless Kungfu · The Scroll of Taiwu | $17.99 · $19.99 · $29.99 |
| A tighter, authored RPG | Wandering Sword | $24.99 · Very Positive 94.9% of 45,138 |
| The farm and the village | Immortal Life | $16.99 · 80% of 4,352 |
| Something on a phone | Tale of Immortal (official port) · Amazing Cultivation Simulator (port) | $9.99 · $9.99–12.99 |
| Cultivation where death actually sticks | Blade RPG Death Challenge (ours, text) | 40 turns free |
Tale of Immortal vs Amazing Cultivation Simulator
The comparison everyone makes, and the two games are not competing for the same evening. Tale of Immortal is one cultivator's life: you pick a spirit root, join or fight sects, and climb. Amazing Cultivation Simulator (了不起的修仙模拟器, GSQ Games, $24.99, released November 2020) is a RimWorld-shaped colony sim: you found the sect, and your disciples cultivate, quarrel, break through and die while you manage feng shui, alchemy and the mortal town next door. Steam reviewers prefer ACS by a wide margin — Very Positive at 86% of about 23,600 — while Tale of Immortal's all-language score is Mixed, largely on localisation and late-content complaints. Both have official mobile ports since 2025 (ToI $9.99; ACS $9.99 on Android, $12.99 on iOS). If you liked the duel chapters of the novels, ToI; if you liked the sect-politics chapters, ACS.
Tale of Immortal vs The Scroll of Taiwu, Wandering Sword and Hero's Adventure
These three come up because they share the Chinese-fantasy shelf, and all three are wuxia: martial artists in a human world, no realm ladder, no immortality. That is not a flaw — it is often what people discover they actually wanted.
- The Scroll of Taiwu 太吾绘卷 ($29.99) — the deepest simulation of the three and the most divisive: eight years in Early Access, 1.0 with English on 16 June 2026, Mixed at 65.4% of 70,170. Choose it for a living martial world that runs itself, and accept that it will fight you.
- Wandering Sword 逸剑风云决 ($24.99) — the best-reviewed game on this whole page, 94.9% of 45,138. A pixel-art turn-based RPG with an authored adventure arc; less freedom than ToI, far more polish. Console versions arrive 21 January 2027.
- Hero's Adventure: Road to Passion 大侠立志传 ($17.99) — the closest in shape to Tale of Immortal: an open-world pixel jianghu where you can be a hero, a merchant or a villain, Very Positive at 84.5% of 24,507 (93.8% in English). If what you liked was the sandbox rather than the immortality, start here.
- The Matchless Kungfu 活侠传 ($19.99, Mostly Positive 79.4%) — sandbox wuxia with sect management, the smaller cousin of both Taiwu and ACS.
The cultivation games closest to it
- Seeking Immortality 觅长生 ($14.99) — the best-reviewed cultivation game on Steam, Very Positive at 93% of 32,018, an open-world cultivation RPG that scratches exactly the Tale of Immortal itch — and has no official English, only a fan translation. If you read Chinese, this is the answer.
- Destiny of Immortal 造化仙缘 ($11.99) — story-heavy cultivation RPG with roughly 500,000 words in one route, Early Access since 7 July 2026, Very Positive at 80% of 1,832, no English until the full release. Wishlist it.
- Ascend From Nine Mountains ($19.99) — crafting and auto-battler cultivation RPG in English, Early Access since October 2025 on a two-year plan, Very Positive at 93% of 302; discloses AI-generated art and music.
- Immortal Life 一方灵田 ($16.99) — a farming and life sim wearing cultivation clothes, Mostly Positive at 80% of 4,352. For the people who spent most of Tale of Immortal tending their plot.
- Card Cultivation 卡牌修仙传 ($14.99) — Cultist Simulator-style card management, March 2026, Mostly Positive at 72% of 790. Same fiction, completely different hands.
Games like Tale of Immortal on Android and iOS
The honest first answer is Tale of Immortal itself: its own studio's port is $9.99 on Google Play (4.4 stars from about 1,700, 50,000-plus installs) and on the App Store since 15 July 2025 (a 2.1 GB download), with English. The complaints are a quest-blocking bug after 100-plus hours, touch fatigue without a controller, and no in-game guidance. Amazing Cultivation Simulator's port (June 2025) is the sect-management alternative on a phone. Below those two the phone shelf is idle MUDs and gacha — Immortal Taoists (5M+ installs), Overmortal, Infinite Cultivation — which are not like Tale of Immortal at all; the full list with monetisation is on cultivation games on mobile.
Numbers worth quoting
- Tale of Immortal: 224,681 Steam reviews — Mixed 56% all languages, Mostly Positive 79% English only; $19.99; official mobile port $9.99.
- Amazing Cultivation Simulator: 86% of 23,611, $24.99. Wandering Sword: 94.9% of 45,138, the best-reviewed game on this page.
- Seeking Immortality: 93% of 32,018, the best-reviewed cultivation game on Steam — no official English.
- The Scroll of Taiwu: 8 years of Early Access, English only since 16 June 2026, Mixed 65.4%.
- Of the 12 alternatives, 10 have an English interface; 5 are cultivation, 4 are wuxia, 3 are something else wearing the fiction.
Sources: Steam store API and review endpoint (all languages), US App Store and Google Play listings, GSQ Games' announcements — read 2–3 September 2026.
The one thing none of them do (ours)
Every game above lets you reload. Tale of Immortal's tension comes from a bad spirit root and a hostile world, but when the breakthrough fails you load the save. Blade RPG's Death Challenge keeps the ladder — 45 ranks from Qi Condensation Layer 1, a spirit root rolled once and locked — and removes the reload: when you die, the run is over. It is text-only, browser-only, single-player, narrated by an AI with an engine keeping score, and free for 40 turns with no card. It is not a replacement for Tale of Immortal's world and does not try to be. It is what you play when you realise the thing you wanted from the novels was the part where the heavens do not negotiate. Start a life →
FAQ
What games are like Tale of Immortal?
For the ladder: Seeking Immortality (Chinese) or Destiny of Immortal (English later). For the sect: Amazing Cultivation Simulator. For the jianghu: Hero's Adventure, Matchless Kungfu, Taiwu. For polish: Wandering Sword. For the farm: Immortal Life.
Tale of Immortal or Amazing Cultivation Simulator?
Protagonist or sect. Reviews favour ACS (86% vs 56% all-language).
Is Tale of Immortal on mobile?
Yes — official port, $9.99, Android and iOS (since July 2025), English included.
Is Tale of Immortal multiplayer?
No. Single-player only. The cultivation MMO question, answered.
Is Taiwu like it?
Half: deeper simulation, but wuxia — no realms, no immortality — and Mixed reviews.
Which have English?
All except Seeking Immortality (fan patch) and Destiny of Immortal (Early Access, planned).
The ladder without the reload button
Text only, browser only, 40 free turns, no card. Most people do not make it out of Qi Condensation.
Start the Death Challenge →Related: every cultivation game in 2026 · cultivation games on Steam · best wuxia games · cultivation games on mobile · xianxia vs wuxia