Summary
One gaming genre that’s flourished over the past two decades is the action RPG. For a while, the two genres remained separate, but there’s a huge audience for games that are RPGs but with more traditional, broader-appeal gameplay. Some have drastically changed gaming as a whole, including the creation of its own sub-genre.
Only pure action RPGs with an equal mix of action and RPG elements are counted. Popular critically acclaimed titles like Fallout: New Vegas and Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth won’t be included as they’re more of a pure RPG with so little of an action game focus.
Updated on Jul 29, 2025:Action RPGs can be some of the most exciting, in-depth games available to play, and there are some incredible experiences within the genre. We’ve added our video to this page, so you can check out which ones you should download now!
Gaming would be a heck of a lot different without Dark Souls. Yes, Demon’s Souls came before, but Dark Souls was the one that actually impacted the whole industry going forward.
From its absence of handholding to the nonlinear game map, storytelling, world-building, and brutal difficulty, Dark Souls was like no other triple-A title at the time. It created its own subgenre, and even today, it’s still one of thebest Soulslike titles you’re able to play. With how many Soulslikes there are right now, that’s saying a lot.
Besides the original Dark Souls, the other most well-known Souls title is Elden Ring, and for good reason. The later titles in FromSoftware’s Souls games were great, but they did little to advance the Souls formula. Elden Ring finally did that by being a full open-world game.
It’s not only massive, but every bit of the map is so well-designed and master-crafted. The game itself took a long time to finally come out, and you’re able to see why. There’s a bunchof incredible open-world games to playright now, and Elden Ring’s up there with the very best.
The original Nier game received surprisingly low review scores, so it seemed strange to even make a sequel. Nier: Automata, however, blew everyone away when it came out, and it’s generally considered one ofthe greatest RPGs in recent times.
Not only is the story absolutely amazing, but the action gameplay was significantly improved over the original, likely due to PlatinumGames being the primary developer. Sure, certain hardcore Nier fans may prefer the original game, but in terms of the best action RPG, that has to go to Automata.
Starting with Fallout 3, action became far more prominent in the series. New Vegas was heavily RPG-focused, while Fallout 4 was a little too heavy on the action. Fallout 3 has the best mix of action and RPG and is a fantastic game on its own. The open world has many cool and interesting areas to discover, and you can argue that the overall map is superior to New Vegas.
The side quests were stellar, too, retaining the multiple choices and different outcomes famous in the series. Most of the DLC content was fantastic, with Operation: Anchorage and Point Lookout being notable highlights. Out of the entire Bethesda library, Fallout 3 remains in the top echelon alongside Skyrim and Daggerfall.
Even with Diablo 3 and 4 succeeding this game,you just can’t top Diablo 2. Instead of one dungeon with 16 levels to blast through, you get five chapters to play, each with meaty content. What made this game so fun was the multiplayer.
Joining up with friends to play through the campaign is still an amazing experience, in contrast to the first game, which most people played via single-player. The difficulty was also really well-balanced and something the sequels just couldn’t replicate. Diablo 2 has to be a top-three or four Blizzard game, for sure.
The entire Mass Effect trilogy is one of the greatest gaming experiences of the 21st century. The original Mass Effect has more of an RPG focus, while Mass Effect 3 really dialed up the action. Mass Effect 2 has the best mix, but it offers so much more than that. Being the middle chapter of the story, you witness the most significant story bits, especially with the side characters.
All crew members have an optional loyalty mission that adds rich character development. The climax is by far the best of the trilogy, feeling epic on a scale that even the third instalment didn’t match. In all fairness, Mass Effects 1 through 3 are essentially one big game, but Mass Effect 2 is The Empire Strikes Back of the series.
Some people say that games were better when there were technological limitations that forced the developers to be more creative. It’s understandable where they’re coming from, but in the Monster Hunter series, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Comparing Monster Hunter: World to its predecessors was like night and day.
How the game played, controlled, and looked were all leaps and bounds greater. You also have a more fleshed-out story, and there’s a ton of additional content, thanks to updates and a full-on expansion. There’s a reason why Monster Hunter World is currently the highest-selling Capcom game in history: it captivated so many players from all over the world.
Coming after Witcher 2, Witcher 3, the finale of the trilogy, had a lot to live up to. CD Projekt Red ended up delivering a top 20 video game because Witcher 3 has some of the best writing, characters, and questlines in the medium.
The game’s more of an open-world title now, and despite the relatively small size, every bit is polished to the CD Projekt Red standard. Thestory’s engrossing from start to finish, and you can argue that Witcher 3 has the best DLC content ever created in a video game. Be warned, however, that it’s much more satisfying to play Witcher 3 after experiencing the first two.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake was a great game, but it had its share of issues, and thankfully, FF7 Rebirth fixed nearly all of them. The combat was better, there’s more juicy content to bite into, and the story got much more interesting. FF7 Rebirth is the middle chapter of the FF7 Remake trilogy, and like with Mass Effect, the second instalment usually contains the most important parts of the story.
That’s exactly what happens here, as the most memorable parts of the original FF7 are masterfully recreated. It’s frankly impressive how well Square Enix delivered all these big moments. It will be hard for the final instalment to top this one.
2000
PC, Mac, PlayStation 2
Deus Exis a game that should be in every outlet’s top ten best games of all time list. It still plays just as fresh, new, and genius as it was when it originally came out. The first Deus Ex encompasses a lot of genres, including action RPGs, as well as immersive sims.
The total freedom allowed here still stacks well against modern titles and makes the game replayable time and time again. This also goes for the story, which has a ton of paths, adding even more replayability. Sure, the graphics will turn off plenty of modern gamers, but if you give this game a chance, you’ll discover its true greatness.
