What are the best Action RPG games on Steam?

Genre:Action RPG

The dialogue of the game is very intriguing as well as voiced superbly making for a very immersive experience as far as story is concerned. It is through the care the developers took to implement such realistic writing and voice work that makes the game so intriguing and an experience to play. See More

Top Pro

Immersive story

Top Pro

Side quests are as good as the main quests

There are almost no lazy "go get me 12 turtle shells" quests in the Witcher 3 and you get to experience some amazing writing even in the most obscure side quests. See More

Top Pro

Lots of random side quests

You can just walk around for hours, find abandoned structures, caves, etc and find interesting side quests to do. See More

Top Pro

Attention to detail in almost every facet of the game

The Witcher 3 is how an AAA title should play, sound, and feel like. Its deep combat, beautiful graphics, amazing sound, interesting quests, immersive story, and almost every other aspect of the game has a surprising amount of polish. See More

Top Pro

Choices matter

The Witcher 3 has three completely different endings. The decisions during main quests and side-quests affect how the endings play out, adding up 36 possible outcomes. It feels refreshing to actually impact your character's fate and not just trot along a path to an inevitable conclusion. See More

Top Pro

Convenient ways to get around the massive world

The world is intimidatingly massive but thankfully there are ways to cut down on travel time. You can ride a horse, use a boat, or just simply fast travel to explored locations. This makes the experience more accessible and enjoyable as a whole. See More

Bethesda Softworks has upheld a tradition of releasing their internal content-creation tools to the public since Morrowind (2002). Many modders transition to new Bethesda games as they are released, bringing their experience with them and helping newcomers through forums and wikis. As a result, Skyrim's mod selection is outstanding in both variety and quality. See More

45 Other Games Considered

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Top Pro

Huge variety of mods

Top Con

Combat is too simple

Fights within the game don't have very many options. "Headshots" don't matter, and most combat options in the game are poorly balanced. Few examples: Doesn't really matter if you go mace, sword or axe, fire, ice or lightning, or even two handed vs dual wielding. The options mostly add flavor to your character and little else. Despite the fact that you might have ranged attacks, dragons are impossible to hit while in the air, so you end up fighting them similarly to a melee character. "Twincasting" the first healing spell is actually worse than just casting it once in each hand. Illusion magic becomes useless at later levels, since the spells don't do anything if the enemy is too high level and enemies scale to your level. Enemies are too stupid to make hiding a bad thing. The worst one is leveling as an Alteration mage, which gives you access to the Dragonskin spell, granting maximum armor for 30 seconds and has a 5 second cast time. Or you could just go Heavy Armor, level that up (so it weighs nothing) and have maximum armor ALWAYS without ever having to cast an Alteration spell before combat ever again. Combat comes down to how you leveled, not how you play. See More

RickZeeland's Experience

Still play this game after all these years, and never had any serious issues with it under Windows 7 and Windows 10. Also installing via Steam on a new PC without DVD drive went very smoothly, even my save games were copied. See More

Specs

Genre:Action Role-Playing

The Elder Scrolls series stretches back 20 years and has always focused on providing a rich world to explore. Skyrim inherits the stories and world-building of over half a dozen previous games. See More

Top Pro

The longest-running RPG-FPS franchise, with world lore rivaling classic fantasy literature

Top Con

Buggy and crash prone

Skyrim, like all Bethesda in house game engines (GameBryo) is buggy and prone to crashing. Non modded games have plenty of issues, but to then add mods on top is just asking for a crash or corrupt game save. There are still many community mods for Skyrim that try to make the game more stable by addressing memory issues and general buggynes. While the game is not as buggy as it was upon release, there are still many people that have issues with the game crashing on boot or just randomly which is why these mods are still widely used and still very relevant. See More

Top Pro

Unrestrictive skill-based RPG system

Skyrim has no concept of character classes, and there are no restrictions on what equipment or magic a given character can use or learn. A character's capabilities are defined by skills (e.g. heavy armor, marksman, enchantment) which automatically improve as they are used. Levels are gained by increasing skills, and each level grants one perk -- a passive, secondary effect which further enhances a particular skill -- and increases an attribute of your choice (Magicka, Stamina or Health). See More

Top Con

Immersion can be broken due to game limitations

While the game offers players many choices some of these choices are not reflected in the game accurately. There are instances where NPCs should know who your character is or what classes they belong to but due to the limitations of the tech used in the game it is unable to "remember" these things and so NPC text will often break immersion in the game by saying the wrong things. See More

Top Pro

Moral choices that can affect gameplay

Things like stealing (and getting caught), fighting or killing in towns will change how the game plays as now those people or towns will be angry with the player, which makes things much more difficult. There are also many moral choices in game such as if one should betray the person who gave then their quest by keeping the treasure they were hired to return. All of these things will change how the game plays and how NPC's react to the character making for a simulated real world of consequences. See More

Bastion has a hand-painted art style that is very colorful and unique. See More

Bastion

Top Pro

Beautiful art style

Top Con

Too short, replay value is lacking

One of the shortest action RPGs played, with around 7 hours of playtime in total, and very little reason to return once beaten. See More

Specs

Genre:Action RPG

Top Pro

Innovative narration

The game's narration is dynamic based on what you're currently doing. See More

Top Con

Combat is mundane

Like a lot of hack and slash titles the combat itself can be pretty repetitive and bastion is no different here. There is a lot of button mashing going on in this game, which can get boring pretty quick. See More

Top Pro

Incredible soundtrack

Bastion's soundtrack sets the atmosphere perfectly. It's so good that although supergiant games had no intention of releasing the soundtrack, demand from fans resulted in it being released and some tracks having over a million plays on Spotify. See More

Top Con

Story could be better

The story feels a bit lacking and does not really make great use of making the player care. See More

Top Pro

Fun varied gameplay

The RPG elements combined with the battle mechanics make the core gameplay fun and varied as the weapons/items/abilities/upgrades play out very differently from each other. See More

Top Pro

A unique way of storytelling

While the central plot is pretty simple, Bastion has a narrator that comments on everything that you do. This includes things like falling of a ledge, obtaining a weapon, or even destroying a massive monster. Because of this, it feels as if you're playing through a story book, where your journey and actions is the central story. See More

Top Pro

Great story

The game uses an interesting way of telling the story through a narrator, which has an exceptional effect. Has an odd universe, something like a post-apocalyptic "Alice In Wonderland" during the cowboy era. See More

Basically you choose 1 class and select skills as you level up. At level 10 you can select a second class, which already gives you 5x5=25 character type possibilities. Each character has dozens of skills, plus you have this additional passive skill tree that you unlock through cleansing shrines. Then there is item customization with crafted "modifiers", adding additional unique stats and skills that you can use, all this adds literally to thousands / millions of character possibilities. Do you want to use a double weapon shooting lightning bolts? You can do that. Do you want to summon your creatures and support them with fireballs? You can do that as well, you can push it wherever you want. See More

Grim Dawn

Top Pro

Complex leveling system with thousands of possible builds

Top Con

Complex theorycrafting

Ray Stone's Experience

You've been waiting for Diablo 3 but got an isometric camera wow clone without build variety? Well, the wait is over, Grim Dawn is everything a diabloesque ARPG should be. Great variety of build, class combinations, gear and enhancement options - you can literally build anything you like. Tanky death knight with frost auras and undead allies, life leaching pet master, dashing dual-wielding duelist, death beam caster, melee aoe battlemage, fire-and-forget poisonmancer, WWI era sniper with landmines - any fantasy you have can be made real with some effort. It does not mean that every build is viable, but learning how far you can go to then tweak it a bit more is as fun as ever. Also, dual wielding handguns. See More

Specs

Genre:Action / RPG / Hack n' Slash

Co-Op:4 Player Online / 4 Player LAN

Controller Support:Full

Top Pro

Great homage to old school ARPGs

This game is very dark and grim. It harkens back to games like Diablo 2 or Titans Quest. While other ARPGs have come out since then, none have hit all the marks of what fans of the genre have been asking for. For those that wish for an updated version of Diablo 2, Grim Dawn is the game for them. See More

Top Con

Only some builds are fun

There is a definite meta, with superefficient vs non-viablo builds. It's easy to mess up a build, and attribute and spec-bar points are non respeccable. (you can use a cheat editor...but devs want you to reroll a new char) See More

menace97's Experience

Grim Dawn is a fantastic game, crafted lovingly by the developers at Crate Entertainment. They have put out a truly epic game that contains so much detail and ability to customize the way you play (builds) - it reminds me of the kind of fun I had playing Diablo 2. In fact, it feels a bit like a spiritual successor to Diablo 2, as Blizzard went in a different direction with Diablo 3. I find both games to be that excel in the ARPG game market, but at such a great price (especially if you wait for a sale on Steam, or for a DRM-free version on GOG.com) for Grim Dawn, it's worth every penny if you're looking for a more dark, complex, Diabloesque-style action game. See More

Top Pro

Exploration

Tons of side quests, dungeons and rewards await those who are adventurous enough to explore off the beaten path. See More

Top Con

Reading lore breaks gameplay flow

The bits of lore you collect in the world of Cairn will require you to stop what you're doing, use the lore item from your inventory, and then read them in order for it to be added to your journal. This can be flow breaking to a lot of players who are low in patience. See More

Madame Écureuil's Experience

One of the best action RPGs released in recent memory, which managed to recapture the same dark and oppressive feelings experienced from Diablo II See More

Top Pro

Story rich

You'll see in the game lots of lore bits that add to the world of Cairn and how it got to the dystopian state. See More

Top Con

Multiple boring playthroughs to level up

There are several boring playthroughs to level up and no specific endgame modes. See More

Top Pro

Drop-in co-op (online and local)

Co-op is pretty convenient as players can drop in and out of your gaming session at any time. This way there is no wasted time jumping out of ones game in order to find players to play with. See More

Top Con

No procedurally generated maps

The map is just always the same. See More

Different bosses means different tactics need to be used to defeat them. This creates a good change of pace from the regular hack and slash type gameplay. See More

Gauntlet

Top Pro

Bosses offer good bit of diversity to the gameplay

Top Con

Wizard is complicated to use

The wizard character is complicated to use as he has nine spells but only two button combinations available to use them. This makes the character difficult to use which results in not may people wanting to play with the character. For online matches this means there are quite a few three player games as no one wants to take on using the fourth character, the Wizard. See More

Specs

Genre:Dungeon Crawler RPG, Hack n' Slash

Co-Op:4 Player Online / 4 Player Couch

Controller Support:Full

Gauntlet offers full controller support that actually works quite well for an action RPG. This makes for a good game to play on a Steam Machine or other living room gaming PC. See More

Top Pro

Easily played on a sofa

Top Con

Locked camera

The camera is locked in a single position, something that creates confusion while playing a busy area as the camera does not stay focused on the players character. While a locked camera made sense back in the Arcade or on home consoles where one screen was used, for online multiplayer it really does not make much sense. See More

Top Pro

Four-player local and online co-op

Gauntlet has support for local and online four-player co-op. See More

Top Con

Very repetitive gameplay

With a few exceptions, the gameplay and strategy is the same for the entire game. Very little progression or new abilities. "Potions" don't do anything until you can buy abilities. Game gets easier, not harder. (New colosseum mode adds some end game challenge.) See More

You can just download and install the game without any purchases. On top of that, there are no pay-to-win mechanics and the only things locked behind paywalls are cosmetic effects, pets, and additional storage space. You can easily play the game for hundreds of hours without spending a dime. See More

Path of Exile

Top Pro

Completely free without pay to win mechanics

Top Con

Very high learning curve

There's quite a lot to learn when starting to play Path of Exile. There are the mechanics, the crafting system, and the skill gem system. However, the most intimidating factor is the massive skill tree with over 1000 skill nodes, 6 classes and 19 subclasses, allowing you to create hundreds of unique builds. Unfortunately, creating a functional build is really difficult, taking hours of theorycrafting, so it might be better to stick to guides as you're starting out, unless you're fine with possibly messing up. See More

Razvan N.'s Experience

This is hands down the only real alternative to the now evidently failing Diablo series. In case you don't have phones, but still have PC's you can play this game and enjoy a gritty adventure with as much or as little customization to your character as you want ( cookie cutter builds from the internet or just go wild on your own - this is seriously underrated btw) What's truly amazing is that each league and patch brings about all the goodies from the last ones, and more cool stuff on top, making the experience more interesting each time you roll a league. I've been supporting the game since Closed Beta and I think it's really shining now, and the current active playerbase of almost 200k players goes a long way to prove this. See More

Specs

Genre:Dungeon Crawler RPG

Every 4 months or so, Path of Exile has major updates, adding new interesting mechanics, skills, items, and various other content. As a result, every time you come back to Path of Exile after taking a break, it feels like a new game. See More

Top Pro

Regularly updated

Top Con

Endgame can get really repetitive

It takes an exceptionally long time to get any wealth, useful items, or access to endgame bosses in this game. You endlessly farm the same maps, hoping you'll get lucky with a few good items, but that usually won't be the case, which can be really discouraging to keep playing. This is made worse by the fact that your character progression comes to a grinding halt near the upper 80s of character levels, requiring you to buy insanely expensive items to feel any progression at all. If you don't like grinding, you'll get quickly bored of Path of Exile. See More

SincereLir's Experience

2 leagues. Done all content See More

Top Pro

Great setting

Path of Exile is set in a dark fantasy world where everything is gradually becoming worse. At the foreground, you have the massive continent of Wraeclast that once was the home to a flourishing empire, but now is a place filled with the undead, evil spirits, ruins, and echoes of the past. To make matters worse, malicious entities from another dimension seek to corrupt the world and its inhabitants, giving birth to disfigured monstrosities that seek to end you. The end result is an immersive setting with dark motifs, body horror, loads of gore, and a very tense atmosphere, which is refreshing in an era dominated by family friendly content. See More

Top Con

Some aspects of the graphics look dated

While the graphics have received updates over time, a lot of the visuals still lack polish you'd see in most AAA games. Some textures are fairly low res, certain character models look weird when they have armor on, and the animations feel somewhat stiff and clunky. You probably won't notice this during active gameplay, but when you stop for a moment to look around it becomes painfully obvious. See More

Ray Stone's Experience

You've been waiting for Diablo 3 but got an isometric camera wow clone without build variety? Well, the wait is over, Grim Dawn is everything a diabloesque ARPG should be. Great variety of build, class combinations, gear and enhancement options - you can literally build anything you like. Tanky death knight with frost auras and undead allies, life leaching pet master, dashing dual-wielding duelist, death beam caster, melee aoe battlemage, fire-and-forget poisonmancer, WWI era sniper with landmines - any fantasy you have can be made real with some effort. It does not mean that every build is viable, but learning how far you can go to then tweak it a bit more is as fun as ever. Also, dual wielding handguns. See More

Top Pro

Hundreds of possible character builds

There's a staggering amount of builds and skills you can try out in Path of Exile. There are 7 classes, 19 subclasses, 194 active skill gems, 107 support gems, and over 1000 skill nodes on the expansive skill tree. As a result, there are hundreds of possible combinations, allowing you to spend hours theory-crafting just to create the perfect build. Even if you don't feel like planning out a build from scratch, you can just look up one of the many guides online and get straight into the action. See More

Top Con

Clunky trading system

The western PC version of Path of Exile currently requires using an external site to find deals or sifting through scam attempts in the trade chat. After you find an item you want to buy, you need to message the seller, and if they respond, enter the same area as them to make a direct trade. There is no auction house, no mail, no automated trading posts, and to sell stuff you have to buy a premium stash tab via a microtransaction. See More

Top Pro

Feels exhilarating to play

While the gameplay might feel a little slow and clunky in the beginning, it gradually picks up speed as you progress, allowing you to swiftly destroy large groups of monsters with any skills you choose. Whether you're shooting ice arrows with your bow, freezing and shattering every enemy on-screen, or if you're cleaving enemies with a massive axe, causing them to bleed and explode on death, it just feels incredibly satisfying. See More

Top Con

Too rigid playing style

You have to play this game according to the game's requirement, there is no way to play it the way you want to, which makes all the customization in your character build totally useless. You must follow the build how the game wants you to and if you can't, you DIE. See More

Top Pro

As good as Diablo

The plot, art-style & the soundtrack come together to make a very atmospheric game that does a great job at drawing you into the world. From the design each stage an its beautiful cyberpunk sprawl to the intricate look of the enemies it is difficult to no be enveloped by the atmosphere of the game. See More

Transistor

Top Pro

Engrossing atmosphere

Top Con

Not as engaging as previous title

The story in Transistor often seems unclear which results in the player feeling less engaged. See More

Top Pro

Unique gameplay

No tutorial, you are dropped into the game, guided through it by an unseen narrator and intuition. See More

Top Pro

Beautiful soundtrack

This game features a hauntingly beautiful soundtrack. It fits right in to the world the player inhabits. It ties in very well with the gameplay and art-style to create a very immersive atmosphere. See More

Top Pro

Awesome turn based + real time gameplay

Transistor is primarily a hack & slash style action RPG, but has an interesting twist in that you can pause time to plan out your next moves. This ability gives Transistor an element of strategy to the core battle mechanics as well as fluid gameplay. See More

Top Pro

Excellent narration

Transistor uses narration to move its story along with the help of a talking sword. While it may seem strange at first, it really gives substance to an otherwise empty feeling world. The soft voice of the sword is also pleasing to listen to. If you ever feel like the sword is too talkative, you can disable the narration. See More

Top Pro

Deep storyline

Fantastic story line that is heavily cyberpunk themed. When beginning the game the player is dropped right into the action finding that their voice has been stolen to then slowly learn through gameplay and storytelling who exactly stole it. See More

Top Pro

Good Cyberpunk

Good cyberpunk is better than bad cyberpunk. See More

Top Pro

Complex, but simple, customization gives much to imagination and strategy

Throughout the game, you get these abilities, called Functions(), that are modular in design. They can be used in one of three ways: Active(): The activated version, or the base version. You use the Slash function, you slash. You can have up to four of these. Upgrade(): Use the current Function on an Active one. You can stack two upgrades on a single Active. Stacking the Slash() function on a Laser() will cause the Laser to now cut people in half. If you stack the Heal() function on it too, you now also get health back. Passive(): These usually only effect the protagonist, Red, and are not activated manually (although some activate an effect upon receiving damage). Put Get() with Bounce(), you now have an attack that will shoot a bullet that bounces to nearby enemies and pulls (gets) all the enemies hit to you. Add a stun upgrade, like Crash(), and you now have a pile of sleeping enemies in front of you. You can now hit them all with a massive explosion. The game can be beat with simple combos that don't require much setup or strategy, but it definitely rewards you for good thinking. See More

There are a plethora of classes that open up upon leveling to the second level, once one is chosen the others will be gone for that game session. This means that a different playthrough will be needed to explore what all the different classes offer, making for quite a lot of playtime. See More

Titan Quest

Top Pro

Replayability through different classes

Top Con

Save anywhere does not save character placement

This means that there will be some retreading of areas once a save is loaded as the character will not be in the same place as where they were left off. This will waste time and can be frustrating having to do this every time a game is loaded. See More

Specs

Genre:Action Role-Playing, Hack-and-Slash

Co-Op:2-6 Player Online

Each class journey makes traversing familiar territory with a different class feel like a new game. See More

Top Pro

Very Diablo 2-like

Top Pro

Robust dual class system

Unlike Diablo and most action RPG's the dual class system adds a great variety of play styles and builds. See More

Top Pro

Engaging story as the game is inspired by Greek mythology

Greek myth is just the start as you traverse the entire world and underworld. Myth has a lot of fantastic beasts to confront. See More

Top Pro

Holds up incredibly well

Titan's Quest is over 10 years old now, and it is still widely played. It even saw a remastered "Anniversary Edition" in August of 2016, which served to draw more players, new and old, to it. See More

Top Pro

You can choose the speed you want to play at

Titan's Quest is unique among ARPGs in that you get to choose the game speed. You can be a leisurely player and take things slowly, or you can go hard and play the game on very fast settings. The fact that you get to choose adds another level of enjoyment to the game. See More

The romance subplots in Mass Effect 2 are great. Playing as male Shepard, you can romance most of your female squadmates, while female Shepard can romance most of the male squadmates. If you romanced someone in the first Mass Effect, then that story continues here in Mass Effect 2. There are certain consequences for being unfaithful where your partner will confront you or the person you're cheating with in a heated showdown. Sticking with one person for the whole game rewards you with a romantic scene near the end of the story. A lot of care and attention went into these subplots, giving you the chance to see each of the characters in a new light. See More

Mass Effect 2

Top Pro

Good romance subplots

Top Con

The main enemies, the Collectors, feel misplaced in the trilogy

The Mass Effect trilogy's story is about stopping the Reapers -- ancient, unknowable beings who destroy all life -- but this gets interrupted in Mass Effect 2 by the Collectors who are more like minions of the Reapers. The Collectors are dangerous because they harvest humans, though this is not as important as the Reapers who seek to end all life in the galaxy in Mass Effect 3. It would have made sense for Mass Effect 2 to focus on the Reapers instead of the Collectors, since they're more of a secondary problem. See More

Specs

Genre:Action Role-Playing, Third-Person Shooter

There are lots of ways to make Commander Shepard feel like your own character. The character creator at the start of a new game lets you change all sorts of options, from your hair, to your skin color, the shape of your nose, mouth, and ears, and so much more. Or, if you prefer, you can simply stick with the default male or female Shepard. You also get to pick which class you want to be for combat: soldier, infiltrator, vanguard, adept, or sentinel, each with their own unique abilities, like the adept's helpful "magic spells" and the infiltrator's specialty with sniper rifles. You can role-play as Shepard however you want, with plenty of options to customize your looks and your combat specialties for whichever role suits you the most. See More

Top Pro

You can customize your protagonist Commander Shepard

Top Con

Levels are very linear

Mass Effect 2's levels are more like winding corridors with the occasional wide open space here and there. You always have a clear sense of where to go next, but there isn't much room for exploration. It's also obvious when enemies are about to show up, since you'll come to a place with a bunch of chest-high walls conveniently spread around the area for you to take cover behind. It's unimaginative, making missions feel like you're only going from point A to B. See More

Top Pro

Improved third-person shooting combat from the first game

The combat in Mass Effect 2 is much better than its predecessor in every way possible. You can enter cover and vault over it whenever you want this time around instead of your body magnetically sticking to whichever surface you stand next to. Guns use expendable thermal clips, which are like bullet clips, meaning you're no longer held back by your weapons overheating if you fire them too much. They also feel more satisfying to shoot with a real kick to them, especially the meatier shotguns and sniper rifles. Your squadmates are smarter this time around, like how you can order them to use their own abilities to chain them with yours for cool bonuses like melting armor with fire powers. The combat is actually fun in Mass Effect 2 and stands on its own next to the great story and characters. See More

Top Pro

Your choices have true consequences on the story

Your choices have direct consequences on how the story plays out, not only in this game but also across the rest of the Mass Effect trilogy. In Mass Effect 2, you get to choose between options like keeping or destroying inhumane scientific research that could help an entire galactic race, or exposing the dark truth about a squadmates' family for the greater good or keeping it hidden. Who you bring along for the final mission and how you lead your team has a huge impact on the ending. Each of your decisions, big and small, carry over into Mass Effect 3, opening things up for many different playthroughs to see how things turn out with other choices. See More

Top Pro

Memorable cast of authentic characters

Mass Effect 2 has an amazing cast of both human and alien characters who feel like real people. While just about any NPC you meet is fantastic, your squad members are the ones that stand out the most. You have about ten squadmates to choose from, not including DLC characters. They all have backstories and traits that are believable and natural. Their personalities shine through the most during their optional loyalty missions where you help them complete certain personal tasks separate from the main story. One of your human squadmates, Miranda, is cold and intimidating at first, since she distrusts you for her own reasons. Her loyalty mission is unexpectedly emotional, showing Miranda as more flawed and caring than she lets on. There's also Garrus, one of your returning squadmates from the first Mass Effect. He's a turian that looks somewhat bird-like in design, but his easygoing personality is very cool, making him feel relatable and reliable. His loyalty mission shows his darker side as you help him tie up loose ends from his past. Getting to know everyone through dialogue and squad banter is a lot of fun, making it easy to grow attached to your favorite characters. See More

While pixel graphics have seen a revival of late being that they are cheap to make, which lends itself well to the indie scene, Hyper Light Drifter is a step above any of the best offered in this style before. Everything is hand drawn and beautifully detailed. The color pallets used stand out on just their own, as the backgrounds are all quite detailed, with different color choices being used in order to differentiate each area. All the animations in the game are pretty detailed too, even for pixel graphics. T See More

Hyper Light Drifter

Top Pro

Fantastic pixel graphics

Top Con

Can be difficult to figure out what to do

With no dialog it can be difficult to figure out what to do and where to go. There is no hand holding here, which is a bit of a throwback to games back in the 90s, but still can be frustrating when stuck and having no idea what to do next. This can be exacerbated by the fact that certain basses need you to be equipped with a certain upgrade in order to defeat them. Since there is no explanation of what this upgrade is, it can easily be missed leaving the player dying over and over again at the hands of certain bosses. See More

Specs

The combat in the game is action based in real time. Each enemy has a different attack pattern that can be learned meaning that with time the player knows when and where to hit an enemy. While the combat can be tough at time when multiple enemies are on screen, the challenge can be worth it for the enjoyment of accomplishment. See More

Top Pro

Good combat

Top Con

Gameplay can be tough

The game can get difficult, causing a good deal of frustration due to the difficulty of enemies in the game. While no impossible, many may feel it is too tough in the later portion of the game. See More

Top Pro

Dynamic dungeons

The layout of each dungeon will change dynamically as you kill enemies contained within. So walls will move or disappear, making for a new path, depending on who you have killed. This makes for an enthralling experience that constantly asks the player to shift their strategy, making for gameplay that does not get stale. See More

Top Pro

Tells the story through pictures

With no dialog in the game (including text), the game is told through the use of pictures. When talking to an NPC, they will tell their story through a series of pictures. This goes for all interaction in the game. Which is an interesting way to go about telling a story and is pretty unique. Luckily the game tells its story successfully through this method, making for an enjoyable story overall. See More

Top Pro

Level design full of choices

Much like older Zelda games, there are different paths that can be taken in each level, there are hidden areas as well. This allows for a good bit of exploration in the game, giving a sense that you are the one exploring and discovering this world. See More

Top Pro

Great sound

The game actually has no dialog, meaning that the music and sound effects emote what the player should be feeling. Luckily they do their job and then some, the music is easy to listen to and works with the game well, same with the sound effects. Everything feels as though it belongs, which is quite an accomplishments due to how stylized the game is. See More

The combat in Dragon's Dogma is very fast and intense. You can string together combos with swords, axes, and daggers, launch/throw enemies, shoot arrows with a bow in quick succession, and even dodge/block enemy attacks. Even the spells look absolutely amazing and feel really powerful. For example, when you cast an ice spell called Gicel, massive spears of ice will weave forth to skewer enemies. It looks like something you'd only see bosses use in other video games, making it feel that much more empowering. The enemies also play a large part in making the gameplay feel great. It will start out simple with you fighting bandits and packs of wolves on your travels, which will gradually turn into you taking on massive mythical beasts such as manticores, gryphons, cyclops, and even dragons. While in other games you'd probably just beat on their ankles until they fold onto themselves, Dragon's Dogma has a really cool grappling system that allows you to grab onto enemies and even throw them (if they're light enough). For example, if a dragon makes the mistake of lowering its tail into your reach as it rains down fire and death from up above, you can just grab onto it and climb on the dragon's back. This turns into a very intense sequence of you trying to not fall off before you drive your sword into the dragon's neck. It's the type of mechanic that makes you feel like the heroes written about in storybooks, which immensely adds to the fun and immersion. See More

Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen

Top Pro

Awesome combat/hunting gameplay

Top Con

Limited fast travel options can be tedious

Dragon's Dogma has a very large but sparsely populated world, which means that a lot of time is spent traveling between quest objectives. There are no horses, forcing you to simply walk everywhere and the only method of getting somewhere quickly is through very costly teleports available only much later in the game. If you dislike having insane amounts of downtime, Dragon's Dogma might not be for you. See More

Specs

A lot of video games focus just on the stats, classes, and weapons as the key difference, but Dragon's Dogma throws in height and weight into the mix. For example, a tall and bulky character jumps higher, carries more equipment, and has a longer reach with their weapon. The downside is that the character is slow and is easier to hit because of the size. On the other hand, a short and light character is quicker, can pass through a large monster's legs, and enter narrow passages such as Goblin holes. Unfortunately, they usually have a poor reach and can be knocked down pretty easily while not being able to carry that much equipment either. Practically no other video game in the market uses a similar mechanic, making Dragon's Dogma feel really unique and fun. See More

Top Pro

Character size/weight affects gameplay

Top Con

Forgettable story

The story starts out interesting but loses its steam shortly after. Hardly anything happens during the middle part of the story, the side characters feel bland, there are lots of plot holes, and the narrative starts feeling like a mess. Even the conclusion is somewhat confusing, trying too hard to be profound. If you're looking for a very good story-driven experience, you won't find that here. See More

Top Pro

Interesting companion system

Throughout the game, you'll be accompanied by up to 3 NPCs called "Pawns." One of them will be a Pawn you created, and the other two will usually be summoned from other player's worlds. What's interesting about this is that Pawns will grow alongside players, but not just in terms of stats and levels. For example, if you fight monsters with the Pawns, they'll gradually gain knowledge about the monsters. Once they have enough knowledge, they'll be able to give you various hints through in-game dialogue about a monster's weaknesses, patterns, habitats, and so forth. You can also hire other player's Pawns that already have acquired all the knowledge, making the learning process much easier for you. Pawns also mimic their creator's behavior, so if you prefer to smash everything in sight, your Pawn might just do the same when visiting another player's world. It's a really cool companion system that gives the game a multiplayer feel without any actual multiplayer. See More

Top Con

Aught!

They say "aught" a lot. See More

The whole series is based of off a book series of the same name, so there is a lot of good influence to be found, in particular The Witcher 2 is a deep story that has much to do with politics and moral choices. Definitely one of the better stories found in a modern RPG. See More

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

Top Pro

A well-told, dark story based on a book series of the same name

Top Con

User interface can be confusing

While some ares of the UI make sense a lot of it is pretty convoluted which makes playing the game frustrating at times. Basically it is one of those games that if you put it down for any gap in time you will forget a lot of the controls. See More

Specs

The choices made in game are not always easy and may stick with the player for some time, which is quite a feet for a game to accomplish as many do not have such good writing. See More

Top Pro

Ambiguous moral choices

You're not just stepping into an arena to fight monsters, you're entering a living and breathing world where monsters go about their daily lives - eating, fighting, hunting, and resting. It's very interesting seeing carnivores assault a flock of herbivores or two winged creatures having a territorial dispute mid-air. These type of events considerably add to the immersion, making you truly feel like a hunter that's intruding upon an ecosystem. See More

Monster Hunter: World

Top Pro

Dynamic and immersive world

Top Con

Frustratingly difficult at times

Even though MH:W has been made slightly more accessible to new players of the series, it still has some of the most difficult combat seen in games with a very steep learning curve. You need to memorize the various map layouts, as well as each monster's habits, attack patterns, and weaknesses, to make beating them even remotely possible. It might also take while before you fully master your weapon of choice because the tutorials are too basic, instructing you just on basic controls and combos. Even when you finally manage to beat a difficult monster, your short-lived triumph will soon turn into dread, causing you to wonder about how difficult the next monster is gonna be. See More

Specs

Genre:Action Role-Playing, Multiplayer

MH:W is a game about hunting wyverns, dragons, and many other monsters. You track them down in their natural habitat, be it a giant forest, a valley littered with dead bodies, or an active volcano, engaging them in combat that quickly turns in a struggle for survival. You use any weapon or tool at your disposal to kill or subdue the monster, while it relentlessly chases you, slashing with its claws, biting you, swiping with its tail, and using any breath attack it may have. Sometimes the monster might even try to escape, forcing you to chase it. Or it might become enraged, causing it to attack you more ferociously. As a result, you always have to be on your toes and react accordingly, which makes it a really thrilling experience. See More

Top Pro

Exhilarating hunting gameplay

Top Pro

Engaging crafting-based progression system

Monster Hunter: World is considered an action-RPG, but you don't level up or learn any new skills like in most RPGs. Instead, progression is heavily reliant on your skills as a player and the crafting system, requiring you to craft gear to improve your character. This creates an unusual gameplay loop where you hunt monsters, collect their body parts, and use them as materials to craft better gear, allowing you to hunt even stronger monsters. If you can't beat a monster, you either need to get better at fighting the monster or improve your gear. When you finally beat the monster, it's thanks to your skill and effort as a player, which feels both rewarding and gratifying. See More

Top Pro

Awesome graphics

The graphics look simply stunning, featuring very detailed environments with a great amount of flora, accompanied by great lighting and shadow mapping. The monster designs are especially noteworthy, allowing you to make out even the tiniest details on scales, feathers, and claws. All of this is brought to life by a very vibrant color palette, making the game a treat for the eyes. See More

Top Pro

A great variety of weapons to choose from

There are 14 weapon types total, primarily split into melee weapons and ranged weapons. This includes dual blades, longswords, bows, bowguns, and even hybrids called gunlances. Each weapon type has its strengths, weaknesses, unique combos, and even upgrade paths. For example, the dual blades allow you to move faster, chain quick combos, and enter a “demon mode”, which let you to deal more damage. The downside is that the dual blades have a short reach, so you have to be willing to throw yourself into danger by staying as close to the monster as possible. Another example, the bowgun, can be used to fight monsters at a safe distance and multiple ammo types, tailored for specific monsters and situations. The downside is that reloading leaves you defenseless, ammo can run out, and being too close or too far to the monster reduces the damage effectiveness. As a result, there’s enough variety and depth that most players will be able to find a weapon that suits their playstyle. See More

Tales of Symphonia

All

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Specs

The hack-and-slash gameplay of the overworld combat evolves over time, with only a handful of abilities available at the start, with many more opening up organically as the game progresses. Haseo gains access to different weapon types over time, like dual blades, broadswords and scythes. He also learns many abilities that give him a degree of control over his enemies, where the correct timing with button presses allows him to stop an opponent's attack altogether. In battle, as Haseo and his party deal special attacks, a gauge fills up over time, giving the option for powerful, flashy Awakening attacks that decimate the enemies on the field. These attacks can be used to quickly deal damage in a pinch or finish off a group of foes. See More

.hack//G.U. Last Recode

Top Pro

Lots of different approaches to combat

Top Con

HD textures feel last-gen

The updated textures are a nice upgrade from the PlayStation 2 graphics, but some instances of visible polygons and rough edges overall can be distracting. This HD remaster wouldn't have looked out of place on the PlayStation 3. See More

Specs

Genre:Action Role-Playing

Haseo's initial revenge story gains more layers as he meets the various characters throughout the game and interacts with them both through cutscenes and with the game's MMO-like social tools. There's a mail feature that offers ways for Haseo to interact with party members outside of battle, such as with characters sharing rumors of tidbits they read about online. There are also marriage events where Haseo can marry certain characters after showing enough interest in them. Getting to learn more about the characters this way is an intriguing addition to the game, mirroring the many different ways you might interact with people in real life. See More

Top Pro

Character interactions are true-to-life

Top Con

Combat can get repetitive

With four games in one, the battle gameplay in Last Records doesn't change as the player progresses through each entry. There's some dissonance where the story progresses and grows over time, and yet the battles remain the same. Depending on the player, fights can either remain fun and engaging or they can become a slog throughout the 60+ hour campaign. See More

Top Pro

A compelling story played out in an MMORPG setting

The .hack// series is renowned for its plot that pits the player inside of an MMORPG called The World, going after nefarious foes who kill other player avatars, causing terrible side effects for the real people controlling them. Last Recode tells the revenge story of Haseo who hunts these player killers within The World, as well as how he grows along the way from a cold, uncaring warrior into a much more reliable protagonist over time. The added fourth volume also goes a long way to build upon the established plot within the MMO and its characters, concluding the story on a strong note that feels complete. See More

There's something calming about Mass Effect's atmosphere that really gives you the space to think and reflect. Exploring places like the indoor trade port Noveria feels special because of the cool blue color scheme, the blizzard blowing outside the full pane windows, and the ambient, yet quietly emotional synth music looping in the background. Even the title screen has a thoughtful song playing over the beautiful sight of Earth from orbit. The atmosphere is wonderful in a way that's almost nostalgic, making you feel right at home each time you start up the game. See More

Mass Effect

Top Pro

Calm and thoughtful atmosphere

Top Con

Tedious inventory management

The game overloads your inventory with weapon upgrades, modifiers, equipment, and all sorts of duplicates of those items. Clearing out your inventory can take several minutes at a time since there's no quick way to select the things you don't want and get rid of them. If you're diligent enough to trek to a store to sell things off every single time you're low on inventory space, you can make quite a bit of money, but it's not always convenient to do this, like when you're out in the middle of a remote planet. It takes a lot of patience to not get annoyed with managing all of your items and components. See More

Specs

Genre:Action Role-Playing, Third-Person Shooter

The romance subplots in Mass Effect are great. Playing as male Shepard, you can romance either Liara or Ashley, while female Shepard can romance Liara or Kaidan, your human male squadmate. There are certain consequences for being unfaithful where your partner will confront you or the person you're cheating with in a heated showdown. Sticking with one person for the whole game rewards you with a romantic scene near the end of the story. A lot of care and attention went into these subplots, giving you the chance to see each of the characters in a new light. See More

Top Pro

Good romance subplots

Top Con

Clunky third-person shooting combat

The third-person shooting part of Mass Effect isn't that fun because of how janky it is. Your character gets glued to cover whenever you're close to a wall instead of letting you press a button to enter cover whenever you want. The actual shooting mechanics are slow and heavy, and with guns that overheat if you keep firing them for too long. Suicidal squadmates run around getting killed unless you remember to keep directing them to hide behind cover everywhere you go. The combat is just unsatisfying, clearly taking a backseat to the game's story and characters. See More

Top Pro

You can customize your protagonist Commander Shepard

There are lots of ways to make Commander Shepard feel like your own character. The character creator at the start of a new game lets you change all sorts of options, from your hair, to your skin color, the shape of your nose, mouth, and ears, and so much more. Or, if you prefer, you can simply stick with the default male or female Shepard. You also get to pick which class you want to be for combat: soldier, infiltrator, vanguard, adept, or sentinel, each with their own unique abilities, like the adept's helpful "magic spells" and the infiltrator's specialty with sniper rifles. You can role-play as Shepard however you want, with plenty of options to customize your looks and your combat specialties for whichever role suits you the most. See More

Top Con

Vehicle controls with the Mako are absolutely terrible

Driving around on planets to get from place to place in the Mako is awful. Controls aren't as responsive as they should be and the vehicle's physics are all over the place. Just trying to make basic turns is bad enough; roving up a rocky mountain, for example, makes the Mako bounce and spin around like it's in zero gravity. These driving parts are mandatory and unskippable, so there's no way around them. It's so bad that the developers got rid of the Mako in Mass Effect 2 and 3, but you unfortunately still have to deal with it here. See More

Top Pro

Your choices have true consequences on the story

Your choices have direct consequences on how the story plays out, not only in this game but also across the rest of the Mass Effect trilogy. You get to choose between options like sparing or killing off an entire race of potentially dangerous enemies, saving or sacrificing one of your own squad members to finish an operation, and dealing with an enraged teammate who feels betrayed by your actions. How you handle certain side objectives during story missions can also have an impact on how the galaxy at large reacts to you. Each of your decisions, big and small, carry over through your save files to Mass Effect 2 and 3, opening things up for many different playthroughs to see how things turn out with other choices. See More

Top Pro

Memorable cast of authentic characters

Mass Effect has an amazing cast of both human and alien characters who feel like real people. While just about any NPC you meet is fantastic, your squad members are the ones that stand out the most. They all have backstories and traits that are believable and natural. Ashley is a human soldier who joins your team early on. As you chat with her in between missions, you get to learn about her history with her family and religious faith back on Earth. But then as you explore the Citadel, the game's main hub area, she makes snide comments about all the aliens around, keying you in on her true feelings about non-humans. By contrast, your scientist team member Liara is an asari: Mass Effect's species of blue female-only aliens. Despite being reserved and shy, Liara often jumps at the chance to gush about her research. Talking to her gives you the chance to learn more about the asari and why exactly she's so devoted to her academic studies. Getting to know everyone through dialogue and squad banter is a lot of fun, making it easy to grow attached to your favorite characters. See More

Shadow of War uses the Nemesis system to create a more immersive and alive-feeling world. Thanks to it, orc leaders have names, ranks, titles, tribes they belong to, and most importantly, connections to other orc leaders. For example, an orc leader might be at war with another orc leader. This conflict won't end until one of them dies. There are also orcs that are considered blood brothers, having unwavering loyalty to each other. Because of this, don't be too surprised if you ever get betrayed by one of your followers that's trying to do right by his blood brother. Additionally, the leaders you fight will also develop connections with you. Orcs that you've killed or spared, may come back with scars, recalling your previous encounter and vowing to exact vengeance. Orcs that you've escaped from will mock you for being a chicken, and so forth. The gradual creation of this web of connections is very enjoyable and sometimes even more compelling than the game's main story. See More

Middle-earth: Shadow of War

Top Pro

Character connections make for a compelling experience

Top Con

Can get repetitive

The overall gameplay formula doesn't change much over the course of the game. You fight orcs, take over strongholds, upgrade your character, and collect blips on the world map. After a while it can start feeling like a grind, especially during long play sessions. This is made worse in the final stretch of the game where you have to fight through 20 consecutive stronghold battles without any story segments or exposition. See More

Specs

As part of the Nemesis system, you can recruit orc leaders after you've bested them in combat. Each one has his own unique strengths and weaknesses, so making the best possible army for conquering enemy territories might take a while. For example, an orc leader can be completely immune to ranged attacks, but can take increased damage from explosions. You should take such an orc leader on assaults against fortresses filled with archers but be wary of the slightest hints of any bombs. Once you've finished building a sizeable force, you can assault a fortresses. If you succeed in the assault, you'll take over a territory, allowing you to install your own orc leader as the ruler. With enough effort you'll gradually take over Mordor and its surrounding lands. Shadow of War makes you feel like a recruiter, general, and a ruler, which is very empowering and a lot of fun. See More

Top Pro

You can lead an orc army and expand your own dominion

Top Con

Unskippable cutscenes disrupt the flow of the gameplay

Every time an orc leader enters the screen, there is an unskippable cutscene where he rambles a bit, focusing the camera on him and halting combat until the cutscene ends. This usually happens as you're fighting another enemy, potentially disrupting your rhythm, which can be really frustrating, especially if mess up your combo or take an unnecessary hit after the cutscene. See More

Top Pro

Satisfying combat

Shadow of War gives one of the better feeling combat systems in recent times, allowing you to be either stealthy or go for direct confrontations. If you choose to be stealthy, you can skewer unsuspecting orcs from behind with your dagger, drop onto them from a building while impaling them with your sword, or just pierce them from afar with your bow. If you choose a direct confrontation, it's a really quick-paced and brutal showdown against your enemies with your chosen melee weapon. You weave combos against enemies, dodging, parrying, and countering enemy attacks, which ends in a devastating finishing move, resulting in a mutilated or decapitated orc. Whichever method you choose, the combat flows really well and you always feel like a force to be reckoned with. See More

Top Pro

Addictive gear collection fuels your thirst for orc blood

As you kill orc leaders, they'll drop random quality gear items, ranging from common rarity every-orc weapons/armor to legendary rarity artifacts with unique names. Each item serves to improve your character, providing various stat increases and damage bonuses. You can also upgrade gear with gems or via challenges that usually involve killing orcs, bolstering your strength even further. On top of that, there are set bonuses for legendary items, giving you special abilities such as your hits applying explosive poison on regular enemies. It's very exciting seeing what gear piece an orc leader will drop once you lob his head off, causing you to constantly seek out new victims. See More

Lords of the Fallen has been pretty much modeled after the Dark Souls series with gameplay that is very similar. Though with LotF, the gameplay is a bit easier, with enemies not being as excruciatingly as tough. While the easier gameplay does make Lords of the Fallen more accessible, it is still a difficult game in it's own right. See More

Lords Of The Fallen

Top Pro

Easier than the Souls series

Top Con

Last half of the game can be too easy

In the second half of Lords of the Fallen the player is able to accrue runes that allow for stat boosts, making the game arguably a lot easier that the first half. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Mostly Positive

Top Pro

Risk/reward loot system

There is a risk reward loot system within Lords of the Fallen in where the player, the further they progress without saving, the better loot they will receive as drops. So depending on when the player wants to save can create a very tense situation when having not saved in over an hour and running low on health. It runs the risk of losing all of the players progress since last saved all for the hope of better items. See More

Top Con

Frame rate issues and crashing

Lords of the Fallen has suffered from frame rate issues and crashing since it's release. Various patches have been released to address these issues but they still remain to be an issue. See More

Top Pro

Highly detailed graphics

Lords Of The Fallen features some very gorgeous graphics, something that really sets it apart from the game it takes its inspiration from. See More

Top Con

Flat story

The story in Lords Of The Fallen never really explains much to the player, leaving the player feeling a bit disconnected from the game, not really caring about the characters or their outcome. See More

Top Pro

Arcade like combat

The combat in Lords of the Fallen is a bit arcade like in that it plays like a hack and slash more so than a tense combat parrying game. This makes for an easier to get into game. See More