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

Disclosure: we make the last game on this list, a text cultivation roguelike that is nothing like Tale of Immortal visually and is listed for one specific reason explained there. Everything above it is other people's work, described from its own store page.

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 ImmortalPlayPrice · reviews
Climbing the realm ladder in an open worldSeeking 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 cultivatorAmazing Cultivation Simulator$24.99 · Very Positive 86% of 23,611
A newer cultivation RPG with EnglishAscend 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 RPGWandering Sword$24.99 · Very Positive 94.9% of 45,138
The farm and the villageImmortal Life$16.99 · 80% of 4,352
Something on a phoneTale of Immortal (official port) · Amazing Cultivation Simulator (port)$9.99 · $9.99–12.99
Cultivation where death actually sticksBlade 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 cultivation games closest to it

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

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