Category:Action Adventure
A subgenre of both the Action Game and Adventure Game genres (naturally), the Action Adventure game was effectively created by such titles as The Legend of Zelda and Metroid back in the days of the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System. These two titles are recognised as archetypical of the genre, and since then, the Action Adventure has expanded to include games in a wide variety of thematic genres, as well as appearing on every video game platform around. The essential traits of an action adventure are considered to include reflex-based gameplay, an action game element, combined with item collecting, environment exploration and puzzle solving, which are associated with the adventure game genre. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, the Action Adventure is sometimes used as a catch all for games that do not overtly suit any one genre but still have a plot, a usage which some consider erroneous.
The action adventure is exemplified in games that have large and detailed worlds to explore, a range of options in terms of possible actions and some level of non-linearity in terms of plot, but this last aspect is often sacrificed, in whole or in part, on the altar of budgets and/or writers. This lack of large-scale non-linearity is what differentiates the Action Adventure game from a Wide Open Sandbox, though there are other minor, but important, differences. This level of non-linearity is a characteristic the action adventure shares with the RPG, though it usually doesn't have experience points or levels -- character improvments, if any, are only ever the result of gaining new items or upgrading old ones. The key here is that in an action adventure a character either has an ability or he doesn't; there is no measure of how good he is with a given ability (which is considered an RPG element).
As a rule of thumb, an Action Adventure game is distinguished from those of closely related genres, such as Platformers, Action Games and Adventure Games by its combination of but lack of commitment to any one of these genres. It contains reflex gameplay, which adventure games do not; puzzle solving, which action games do not; and jumping puzzles, which both adventure games and action games generally do not. Action Adventure games also seldom, if ever, have "Extra Lives" (though there may be items that stop you from dying, such as the fairies in The Legend of Zelda), with the distinction between "fairies" and extra lives being that one has an "in-game" explanation and one is completely arbitary.
As the plot of these games becomes less and less Excuse Plot and more and more developed, this genre has become increasingly similar to the Role Playing Game genre. A general rule of thumb for telling them apart: In RPGs, you are in a dungeon because of the plot, whereas in Action Adventure games, you are in a plot because of the dungeon.
Most Licensed Games not on a portable console have this type of gameplay.
See Metroidvania for a particular sub-genre.
Pages in category "Action Adventure"
The following 200 pages are in this category, out of 261 total.
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- Advent Rising
- Adventure (1979 video game)
- Adventures of Bouapha
- The Adventures of Robin Hood (video game)
- Air Fortress
- Akiba's Trip
- Alice in Wonderland (2010 video game)
- Alice: Madness Returns
- Altered Beast (2005 video game)
- Alundra
- Alundra 2: A New Legend Begins
- Amea
- American McGee's Alice
- American McGee's Grimm
- Aquaria (video game)
- ARK: Survival Evolved
- Armed and Dangerous (video game)
- Assassin's Creed (video game)
- Assassin's Creed II
- Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
- Asterix & Obelix XXL 2: Mission: Las Vegum
- Asterix and the Magic Carpet
- Asterix: Operation Getafix
B
C
- Cadaver (video game)
- Cadence of Hyrule
- Castle Wolfenstein
- Castlevania
- Castlevania (Nintendo 64)
- Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
- Castlevania: Chronicles of Sorrow
- Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
- Castlevania: Curse of Darkness
- Castlevania: Harmony of Despair
- Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance
- Castlevania: Lament of Innocence
- Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
- Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
- Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
- Castlevania: Resurrection
- Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
- Cave Story
- The Caverns of Hammerfest
- Children of Mana
- Clash at Demonhead
- Combat of Giants
- Critical Mass (1995 video game)
- Crusader of Centy
- Cubivore: Survival of the Fittest
D
- Dark Earth (video game)
- Dark Void
- Darksiders
- Darkstone
- Dawn of Mana
- Dead Head Fred
- Deadly Creatures
- Deadly Towers
- Demonic Spiders/Video Games/Action Adventure
- Disaster Report
- Disaster: Day of Crisis
- Distorted Travesty
- Dizzy (series)
- Dragon Ball: Origins
- Drakan
- Dreamfall: The Longest Journey
- Dual Hearts
E
F
G
- The Getaway
- Giants: Citizen Kabuto
- Goddamned Bats/Video Games/Action Adventure
- Goemon (series)
- Good Bad Bugs/Video Games/Action Adventure
- The Goonies (video game)
- Graffiti Kingdom
- Grand Chase
- Grand Theft Auto III
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
- The Guardian Legend
- Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure
H
L
- La-Mulana
- The Last Guardian
- The Last Resurrection
- Legacy of Kain
- Legacy of the Wizard
- Legend of Mana
- The Legend of Spyro
- The Legend of Zelda (video game)
- The Legend of Zelda
- The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
- The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures
- The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords
- The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
- The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
- The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages
- The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
- The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
- The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
- The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
- The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
- The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
- LEGO Adaptation Game
- LEGO Island
- LEGO Rock Raiders
- Lego Universe
- Leo & Leah: A Love Story
- Little Big Adventure
- Loonyland
- Lost in Shadow
- Luigi's Mansion
M
- Mafia II
- Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom
- Mana (series)
- MediEvil (1998 video game)
- MediEvil 2
- Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
- Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
- Metal Gear Solid
- Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
- Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
- Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
- Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
- Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
- Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
- Metroid
- Metroid Prime
- Metroid: Other M
- Milon's Secret Castle
- Mini Ninjas
- Mirror's Edge
- Monkey Hero
- Musashi: Samurai Legend
- Mushroom Men