Action RPG

A Role Playing Game mixed with Action Adventure.

While these games retain many RPG Elements such as experience, levels, statistics, giant inventories, and sometimes even random battles, the gameplay is primarily that of action. You run up to an enemy and hit it with your sword, rather than selecting the "Attack" action from a menu.

Often this means seamless interaction between you and the enemies, rather than thinking of two different parts of gameplay (the exploration and the battles). Think Zelda but with more statistics, experience, depth, and people to talk to.

Battle menus can still exist, but generally need to be manually brought up rather than an integral part of the battle process.

This genre is essentially a subset of Eastern RPG; it attained massive popularity in Japan in the mid-1980s. While many Western RPGs have mixtures of battle and action, this is much more built into the definition of a Western RPG, and hence less of a separate genre. Eastern games, on the other hand, tend to be more firmly in either the "traditional RPG" or "action RPG" camp. There are some games that blur the line between the two, though, featuring a separate battle system which nevertheless is action-based (so you may wander the world and get into a random battle, in which case you suddenly have to be on your toes).

Compare Beat Em Ups, in which Action RPGs derive their basic gameplay, but do not contain the RPG Elements.

Notable games in this genre:

 * Adventure Quest
 * The Age of Decadence
 * Allods series
 * Alpha Protocol
 * Alternate Reality
 * Arcanum of Steamworks and Magick Obscura
 * Arx Fatalis
 * Avadon
 * Avatar
 * Baldurs Gate
 * Battleheart
 * The Bard's Tale: A Quest for Coin and Cleavage
 * The Bards Tale Trilogy
 * Betrayal At Krondor
 * Betrayal in Antara
 * Borderlands
 * Borderlands 2
 * Brain Lord
 * Champions of Norrath
 * Class of Heroes
 * Darfur Is Dying
 * Darklands
 * Dark Heart of Uukrul
 * The Dark Spire (Made by a Japanese developer and a clone of Wizardry. Note that Wizardry remained popular and influential in Japan for far longer than in the USA.)
 * Darkstone
 * Dark Waters: A Game Mod for Neverwinter Nights 2 created by Adam Miller.
 * Dead State
 * Deliantra
 * Demons Souls (another Japanese example)
 * Dark Souls, the Spiritual Successor
 * Deus Ex
 * 2027
 * The Nameless Mod
 * Deus Ex Invisible War
 * Deus Ex Human Revolution
 * Diablo
 * Divine Divinity
 * Divinity 2
 * Dnd
 * Dragon Age: Origins
 * Dragon Age II
 * Dragon Fable
 * Dragonstomper
 * Drakensang
 * Dream World
 * Dungeon
 * Dungeon Lords
 * Dungeon Siege
 * The Elder Scrolls:
 * The Elder Scrolls Arena
 * The Elder Scrolls II Daggerfall
 * The Elder Scrolls III Morrowind
 * The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion
 * Nehrim (a fanmade total conversion)
 * The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim
 * Elvira
 * Epic Duel
 * Etrian Odyssey (another example by a Japanese developer)
 * Evil Islands
 * Excelsior Phase One Lysandia
 * Exile
 * Avernum
 * Eye of the Beholder
 * Fable
 * Fable I
 * Fable II
 * Fable III
 * Fallout
 * Fallout 1
 * Fallout 2
 * Fallout Van Buren (a canceled installment)
 * Fallout 3
 * Fallout New Vegas
 * Final Vision
 * Forgotten Realms Unlimited Adventures
 * Fort Zombie
 * Freedom Force
 * Freedroid RPG, which is also Open Source and free.
 * A Game of Thrones Genesis
 * Geneforge
 * Gold Box by SSI
 * Forgotten Realms Unlimited Adventures (a game making tool for Gold Box-style games)
 * Gothic
 * Hellgate London: Owned now by a Korean game distributor, it's still defined by it's Western developers and influences, particularly Diablo.
 * Heroic Armies Marching
 * I of the Dragon
 * Icewind Dale
 * Jade Empire
 * Kingdom Hearts
 * Kingdom Hearts
 * Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories
 * Kingdom Hearts II
 * Kingdom Heartscoded
 * Kingdom Hearts 358 Days Over 2
 * Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep
 * Kingdom Hearts 3D
 * Kingdoms of Amalur Reckoning
 * Kings Field Japanese example whose Spiritual Successor is Demon's Souls
 * Knights of the Old Republic
 * Legacy of the Ancients
 * Legend of Grimrock
 * Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader
 * Lands of Lore
 * The Longing Ribbon
 * Lord of the Rings The Third Age (Another western take on the JRPG)
 * Mass Effect
 * Mass Effect 1
 * Mass Effect 2
 * Mass Effect 3
 * Mechquest
 * Might and Magic
 * Minecraft
 * Monster Arena
 * Mordor the Depths of Dejenol
 * Moria
 * Mount and Blade
 * The Last Days of the Third Age of Middle Earth
 * Neverwinter Nights
 * A Dance With Rogues (a popular fanmade module)
 * D 20 Modern Neverwinter Nights (a mod which adds modern and futuristic themed content for the Level Editor)
 * Neverwinter Nights 2
 * Neo Quest (Notable for being a PHP RPG on the Neopets Web site)
 * Neoquest II
 * Nox
 * Penny Arcade Adventures
 * Planescape Torment


 * Planet Stronghold (An independent 2D game with many Western RPG elements, created by Winter Wolves with Ren'py, released for computers in February 2011.)


 * The Precursors
 * Realms of Arkania
 * Risen
 * Sid Meiers Pirates
 * Siege of Avalon
 * Stonekeep
 * Sudeki, though it is modeled after Japanese JRP Gs
 * Stick RPG
 * Summoner, though it has elements inspired by Eastern RPG and is something of an hybrid of the two.
 * Summoner 2, its action oriented sequel.
 * Superhero League of Hoboken
 * Task Maker
 * Temple of Elemental Evil
 * Throne of Darkness
 * Titan Quest
 * The Twisted Tales of Spike McFang
 * Two Worlds
 * Ultima VII
 * Ultima VII Part II
 * Ultima Underworld
 * Ultima VIII
 * Ultima IX
 * Unterwegs in Duesterburg
 * Untold Legends
 * Vacant Sky
 * Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines
 * Vampire: The Masquerade Redemption
 * Venetica
 * Wasteland
 * Warp Force
 * The Witcher
 * The Witcher 2 Assassins of Kings
 * The Wizardry series
 * The You Testament