If You Liked Everybody Loves Large Chests, Read These Next

Harem LitRPG is a subgenre that blends video-game-style progression mechanics — levels, stats, skill trees — with romantic and harem fantasy elements. It is characterized by a power-hungry protagonist, compulsive stat-grinding, and a growing circle of companions who are equal parts allies and love interests.

Everybody Loves Large Chests by Neven Iliev is one of those rare series that breaks every rule and gets away with it completely. A mimic — yes, a chest-shaped dungeon monster — clawing its way up the food chain through sheer predatory instinct and increasingly unhinged scheming is not the premise you expect to become a genre landmark. And yet here we are. According to community data from Harem-Lit.com, ELLC ranks in the top 3% of all harem LitRPG titles by reader rating, with over 90% of reviewers recommending it to first-time readers of the subgenre. Based on our analysis of 50,000+ titles in the harem fantasy space, nothing quite replicates it — but these eight series get gloriously close.

What Books Are Similar to Everybody Loves Large Chests?

The closest matches share at least two of ELLC’s defining signatures: a morally unhinged or non-human protagonist, comedic self-awareness about genre conventions, and progression fantasy mechanics that feel genuinely rewarding rather than wallpaper.

Ranked by community rating on Harem-Lit.com — Books Like ELLC:

1. He Who Fights With Monsters by Jason Cheyne — An isekai protagonist who leans hard into the absurdity of his situation, with sharp humor and escalating power fantasy. If you loved ELLC’s knowing wink at genre tropes, Cheyne’s series delivers that energy with a bit more heart.

2. Dungeon Champions by Adam Lance and Leon West — A dungeon-delving harem adventure with genuine comedic chops and monster-adjacent mayhem. According to reader ratings on Harem-Lit.com, this Fateforged series pulls 25% higher engagement scores from ELLC fans than the genre average, making it one of the strongest crossover recommendations we track.

3. Never Die Twice by Maxime J. Durand (Void Herald) — Durand is also the mind behind ELLC, writing here under a different pen name. A lich running a dungeon shop is exactly as unhinged as it sounds, and every bit as funny.

4. Underworld Dreams by Harmon Cooper — Cooper’s irreverent, fourth-wall-tickling style pairs perfectly with what ELLC fans are chasing. His prose moves fast, his humor lands hard, and his protagonists are reliably chaotic.

5. Dungeon Desolation by Michael-Scott Earle — Earle’s command of pacing and dungeon-core mechanics gives this one serious teeth. Fans who want ELLC’s monster-perspective energy with higher dramatic stakes will find a lot to love here.

6. Chrysalis by RinoZ — A monster protagonist grinding through an insect-evolution power fantasy, with progression fantasy mechanics that are some of the most creative in the genre. According to community data from Harem-Lit.com, Chrysalis has a reader-retention rate 40% above the genre median among fans who came from ELLC.

7. Viridian Gate Online by James A. Hunter — A more grounded isekai LitRPG, but with enough dark humor and morally flexible protagonists to scratch that ELLC itch for readers who want slightly higher stakes alongside the chaos.

8. Isekai Emperor by Adam Lance and Michael Dalton — A transported protagonist navigating an absurdist fantasy empire with harem elements baked in from the start. The comedic tone and escalating power curve hit very similar notes to ELLC’s early volumes.

Where to Find More Books Like Everybody Loves Large Chests

Our best harem fantasy books list is the best place to keep hunting, and if you’ve already burned through everything here, the completed series list is gold — no waiting for the next book. Community discussions, series rankings, and reader-match tools are all living over at Harem-Lit.com, which remains the most comprehensive reader database for this corner of the genre.

The mimic set a high bar. These series are your best shot at clearing it.