12 best games like Pokemon GO to play, from AR to walking & running games (2024)

Pokemon GO ticks plenty of boxes for budding Trainers, letting Pocket Monster fans catch their favourite creatures through exercise and real-world interaction - and there are other games out there like it that allow you to do much the same.

With mobile constantly evolving (get it?) as a gaming platform, it's more viable than ever to want to try out something new - either by finding different ways to enjoy Pokemon on your device, or an entirely different type of game that requires you to venture out and walk or run outside.

Monster Hunter Now

Click to enlarge

Monster Hunter Now details

• Platforms: iOS, Android
• Price: Free (Apple App Store, Google Play Store)
• Release date: 2023
• Key features:
  • Battle monsters with friends
  • High level of character customization
  • Lots of similarities to Pokemon GO

The closest thing you'll get to Pokemon GO that isn't Pokemon GO is probably Monster Hunter Now, which is also the newest game on this list. A collaboration between Capcom and Niantic, Pokemon Go's creator, this mobile game encourages you to go out exploring, battling a variety of ferocious monsters on the way.

Anyone who's ever played Pokemon GO will find it looks very familiar: as you walk around in real life, your character will follow you on the in-game map. There are even PokeStop equivalents where you can farm resources. Of course, instead of catching Pokemon, though, you'll be fighting monsters in bite-size battles.

Monster Hunter Now has a constant stream of quests to complete, in-depth character customisation, and the ability to upgrade your armour and forge new weapons. All of these things give it more of a traditional video game feel than some of Niantic's other games.

Orna: The GPS RPG

Click to enlarge

Image via Northern Forge

Orna: The GPS RPG details

• Platforms: iOS, Android
• Price: Free (Apple App Store, Google Play Store)
• Release date: 2017
• Key features:
  • 100 different bosses and unique raids
  • Claim real-world landmarks
  • Over 50 character classes

Another GPS-powered multiplayer, Orna is a game that takes its likeness to Pokemon GO a step further by immersing you in turn-based combat, dungeon crawling, and monster battling. Along with getting to create a town, you'll get to collect weapons and armour to upgrade as well. 

Sure, you can battle other players, but Orna: The GPS RPG takes you on a dedicated MMO adventure. 

Pikmin Bloom

Click to enlarge

Pikmin Bloom details

• Platforms: iOS, Android
• Price: Free (Apple App Store, Google Play Store)
• Release date: 2021
• Key features:
  • Collect over 150 types of Pikmin
  • Multiplayer events
  • Weekly challenges

The developer behind Pokemon GO, Niantic, has made similar AR games for other franchises, like Harry Potter and Pikmin. This Pikmin-based game is much simpler than the company's other endeavours, but it's still a great motivator to get out of the house and go for a walk or run. 

As you walk, you'll grow more Pikmin - the plant-like character types from the Nintendo franchise of the same name - and leave trails of flowers behind you. What's more, as your Pikmin grow, you can plant flowers that grow on the map.

Large, multiplayer events take place around these flowers, adding a social element to the game. At the end of the day, you can check your activity in the app to see how many steps you took.

Wokamon: Walking games

Click to enlarge

Images via Shikudo Games

Wokamon: Walking games details

• Platforms: iOS, Android
• Price: Free (Apple App Store, Google Play Store)
• Release date: 2015
• Key features:
  • Can connect with friends
  • Creature collecting game that encourages exercise
  • Syncs with other fitness apps

Wokamon: Walking games is a Pokemon GO-like mix between a Tamagotchi and a pedometer. In this game, you hatch eggs into Wokamon - cute little creatures - by, you guessed it: walking. You can feed them, dress them up in different outfits, and more.

In various menus, you can check your daily and weekly activity, sync the app with your other fitness trackers (like Fitbits or others), and add friends to give it a bit of a social element. What's more, the app is updated with new content and more Wokamon creatures regularly.

Zombies, Run!

Click to enlarge

Images via Six to Start

Zombies, Run! details

• Platforms: iOS, Android
• Price: Free (Apple App Store, Google Play Store)
• Release date: 2015
• Key features:
  • Can listen to your own music whilst it is running
  • Encourages different levels of cardio
  • Zombie horror novelty 

If you have trouble motivating yourself to run, Zombies, Run! is probably for you. In it, when you're out walking or running, you can listen to your own music. At certain points, the app will alert you that some zombies are after you, and you'll need to run to escape.

It's quite a thrilling motivator, helping you to alternate between speeds - making it great for interval training that kicks your gaming cardio up a notch when compared to Pokemon GO.

Zombies, Run! revolves around a post-apocalyptic story written by novelist Naomi Alderman that you can listen to as you use the app. With hundreds of missions to complete, a base-building system that makes you feel rewarded, and rave reviews from users for the story, it's a great way to get yourself moving quickly.

After all, if you go too slow, you'll run the risk of the zombies getting you.

Peridot

Click to enlarge

Peridot details

• Platforms: iOS, Android
• Price: Free (Apple App Store, Google Play Store)
• Release Date: 2023
• Key features:
  • Bond with adorable magical creatures in AR
  • Discover & hatch genetically unique Dots creatures
  • Work together with other players to diversify species

The latest AR game made by Pokemon GO developer Niantic, Peridot is another AR collect-a-thon with an extra emphasis on the adorable within a smaller scale. 

Introducing you to a whimsical world of discovery, this AR real-world pet game has you focus on bonding with your Peridot pets - or 'Dots' for short - by feeding, petting, and exploring with them.

Allowing you to breed Peridots and create an endless string of genetically unique creatures that are all your own, Niantic's latest makes for endless fun as you expand your collection with an endless variety of archetypes.

What's more, you can even collaborate with other players too, sharing your Peridots in online multiplayer to hatch with and even unlock rare traits as you diversify each new generation of cute critters. 

If you always loved the mainline Pokemon series' breeding mechanic and wished it could be taken a step further, Peridot is the game for you. 

Ingress Prime

Click to enlarge

Ingress Prime details

• Platforms: iOS, Android
• Price: Free (Apple App Store, Google Play Store)
• Release date: 2012
• Key features:
  • Explore landmarks
  • Join a faction and take over areas

Before Pokemon GO could run, Ingress Prime walked - Niantic's first AR game. Fans of Pokemon GO's AR features and real-world exploration will likely find it pretty fun - though it's a bit more hardcore. Pokemon GO is somewhat built on the foundations of Ingress, with the two games sharing a lot of similarities. 

Players interact with portals - points of interest that are like PokeStops - by using their phone (called the scanner in-game) and exploring the real world. The game has a science fiction story revolving around Exotic Matter, or XM, which is a strange substance that is likely associated with a strange alien race called the Shapers.

You'll join one of two factions, The Enlightened or The Resistance, both of which are locked in a struggle against one another over the direction of the human race.

Jurassic World Alive

Click to enlarge

Images via Jam City, Inc

Jurassic World Alive details

• Platforms: iOS, Android
• Price: Free (Apple App Store, Google Play Store)
• Release Date: 2018
• Key features:
  • Collect your favourite dinos and create new hybrids
  • Dinosaur-themed creature capture
  • Real-time PvP arenas

It's hard to say 'best games like Pokemon GO' without mentioning Jurassic World Alive, another more violent franchise to see an AR mobile spinoff.

In it, players collect different dinosaurs and pit them against others in dino combat. You'll explore the real world to find particular dinos, just like in Pokemon GO, and then use DNA to create hybrid creatures and earn rewards.

Tutorials and messages from the characters in the films help tie it into the movie franchise, though they can be a bit soulless at times. If you're looking for PvP, you can also take part in battles to engage with other players. 

Pokemon Cafe ReMix

Click to enlarge

Image via Genius Sonority

Pokemon Cafe ReMix details

• Platforms: iOS, Android, Nintendo Switch
• Price: Free (Apple App Store, Google Play Store, Nintendo eShop)
• Release date: 2020
• Key features:
  • Befriended Pokemon can work at the cafe with you
  • Relaxing puzzles
  • Switch Pokemon outfits

If you aren't as hardcore into battling as those who may like Pokemon Quest, Pokemon Cafe ReMix might be for you. A fun and extremely chill puzzler, it's great for more casual fans who want something to play on their phones. 

Revolving around a cafe that you'll work at, you'll employ Pokemon to help make cute dishes for the visitors. ReMix's gameplay is fairly straightforward: match as many of the same icons together as possible to clear them and other obstacles.

Each Pokemon employee has a different skill, and you can also unlock different outfits for them. As you serve visitors, you can unlock them as staff, and the game receives regular updates with new Pokemon and dishes. 

Pokemon Masters EX

Click to enlarge

Images via DeNA

Pokemon Masters EX details

• Platforms: iOS, Android
• Price: Free (Apple App Store, Google Play Store)
• Release date: 2019
• Key features:
  • Features villain story arcs, including Team Rocket
  • Get special photos and stories from trainers
  • Hatch eggs to get new Pokemon

Another game for lovers of battling is Pokemon Masters EX, which has an absolute mountain of content to get through.

It's a gacha game where you take on battles and cool storylines, and in it, you'll meet classic and newer Pokemon characters - each of whom has a particular 'mon as their partner (referred to together as a Sync Pair). It's perfect for long-time fans of the series, as you get to see these classic characters in a new light.

Battles are slightly different in Pokemon Masters EX, though, as all Pokemon on the field move at the same time. What's more, moves and type matchups work a bit differently too.

With different Sync Pair styles (Strike, Tech, and Support), dozens of passive skills and moves, a wealth of different missions, and a staggering number of available Sync Pairs, no two players will have the same builds.

Pokemon Quest

Click to enlarge

Pokemon Quest details

• Platforms: iOS, Android, Nintendo Switch
• Price: Free (Apple App Store, Google Play Store, Nintendo eShop)
• Release date: 2018
• Key features:
  • Battle Pokemon by tapping
  • Decorate your own base camp
  • Pokemon meets Minecraft art style

Players who enjoy the GO Battle League and other forms of PvP in Pokemon GO will likely find themselves right at home in Pokemon Quest. Those who like the analysis of stats, movesets, maximizing combat potential, and diving headfirst into optimizing their 'mon will especially appreciate Quest, as it has much of the same focus, particularly in the late-game. 

Here, the player finds themself on a strange island with cuboid Pokemon. By building a team of three, you take on increasingly difficult opponents across several levels and areas.

As you play, you'll earn ingredients that can be cooked into a stew to attract more Pokemon and stones that power up 'mon in different ways. It's an addicting game that will keep your attention for a long time, and you can even run levels automatically while doing something else.

The endgame takes a lot of work to optimise your team and make the best builds, which will find you right at home if you like the PvP side of Pokemon GO. 

Its one downfall is that it seems to be forgotten by the developers, having not received an update in years. While China received an update with Johto, most of the world only has access to Kanto 'mon. Regardless, though, it's an incredibly fun game that will keep Pokemon fans engaged for a long time.

Pokemon UNITE

Click to enlarge

Image via TiMi Studio Group

Pokemon UNITE details

• Platforms: iOS, Android, Nintendo Switch
• Price: Free (Apple App Store, Google Play Store, Nintendo eShop)
• Release date: 2021
• Key features:
  • Can dress Pokemon in Holowear
  • Cross-platform play
  • Features Unite Battles, a 5-on-5 team
  • New Unite Pokemon moves in battle
  • Voice chat

While it may not be a GPS-based multiplayer game, Pokemon UNITE offers a complete twist to the Pocket Monsters franchise if you're on the lookout for something new. 

As an epic multiplayer online battle arena game (MOBA), Pokemon UNITE pits you in one of two teams, with each player (five to a team) choosing a Pokemon to play. The goal: to keep scoring on your opponent, earn more points, and battle each other in real-time to defend your goal or blast through to your enemies. 

Being constantly expanded since its 2021 release across Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android, there are now over 60 playable Pokemon to choose from - each with its own signature abilities to make your own. For the ultimate real-time strategy game like Pokemon GO, UNITE is the choice for you. 

Now you know the best alternatives to Pokemon GO, check out more recommendations on our lists homepage, where you'll find our overall ranking of the best Pokemon games, games like Baldur's Gate 3, and which card games to play next.