Open world hack and slash games?

[Damned Registrations]

Is there anything like this out there? What I mean is something along the line of diablo but without the linear progression through specific levels or story acts. I've played a few console games that more or less fit the bill for this (super hydrlide and record of lodoss war in particular), but they seem incredibly rare and I enjoy them alot; just roaming around murdering shit (or getting murdered if I wander into the wrong place) and finding loot and new places to explore. Elder scrolls is almost like this but has too much emphasis on talking to people and doing quests and shit, and the level scaling kills it since you may as well just run the same 3 dungeons over and over as they respawn. I just want to waltz into a random dungeon, murder the inhabitants, and walk out with some kind of decent reward and onward to the next bloodbath. Preferably with a top down/isometric type view, since that tends to lend itself to fast paced combat.

 

[Fatty]

sacred 1 & 2

 

[DraQ]

Divnity 2 isn't quite exactly open world, but is much more open than any Diablo and is a fine H&S to boot (still need to play 1).
There was also Revenant, but I don't remember how open it was exactly, and it lacked interesting or randomized loot.

Elder scrolls is almost like this but has too much emphasis on talking to people and doing quests and shit, and the level scaling kills it since you may as well just run the same 3 dungeons over and over as they respawn.

Daggerfall should work for you, same with modded Skyrim (Requiem, mostly).
Morrowind has no respawns (at least when it comes to people and loot just lying there rather than random creatures) and only mild leveling (no scaling), but is much less hack'n'slashy.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Divine Divinity is pretty simliar to what you described, except that it also has a lot of talking and some investigaton quests etc., but I think you could ignore those for the most part and just open world murder your way through most of the game.

Grim Dawn, currently in alpha stage also promises being an "open world" hack and slash RPG but there's not much content in it at the moment. Still might be worth a look.

 

[SuicideBunny]

sacred 2

 

[Damned Registrations]

Guess I'll try sacred 2. Apparently I bought it and sacred gold on steam at some point and never got around to playing them.

I've tried playing daggerfall a couple times, but I just can't get into it.The combat is awful and I hate the way it looks. Which is a pity because the mechanics of character building and everything are awesome, and it really is pretty much a limitless world to tool around in.

Morrowind is close to what I'm looking for but not quite (the alchemy and enchantment and trainer aspects all detract from being able to run around and beat shit up to get stronger, since they're a huge part of getting stronger at a decent pace), and I've played it to death already anyways.

 

[Surf Solar]

Unfortunately sacred 2 is pretty mediocre. The gameworld is too big for its own good. Sacred 1 was better IMO.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Does Revenant keep constantly respawning enemies? I remember monsters coming up SECONDS after I got rid of them, not sure if demo or full game was thus.

 

[Secretninja]

Dragon's Dogma, but its console only and third person rpg. Great game though.

 

[Gregz]

Is there anything like this out there? What I mean is something along the line of diablo but without the linear progression through specific levels or story acts. I've played a few console games that more or less fit the bill for this (super hydrlide and record of lodoss war in particular), but they seem incredibly rare and I enjoy them alot; just roaming around murdering shit (or getting murdered if I wander into the wrong place) and finding loot and new places to explore. Elder scrolls is almost like this but has too much emphasis on talking to people and doing quests and shit, and the level scaling kills it since you may as well just run the same 3 dungeons over and over as they respawn. I just want to waltz into a random dungeon, murder the inhabitants, and walk out with some kind of decent reward and onward to the next bloodbath. Preferably with a top down/isometric type view, since that tends to lend itself to fast paced combat.

It seems as if you're describing a sandbox Diablo clone, very hard to find.

The most open-world options I can think of are Divine Divinity or Sacred 2, but these still involve fetch quests and copious/boring dialogue.

Honestly if you just want to pillage and slaughter in an open sandbox Mount & Blade: Warband is pretty great for that, but it's not isometric.

I just want to waltz into a random dungeon, murder the inhabitants, and walk out with some kind of decent reward and onward to the next bloodbath.

You could level-scum on *Angband (Zangband is best) which would randomly generate dungeons and loot, then hack or spell the dungeon map and decide if you want to play it or RNG another one, but that's a roguelike, albeit a great one. I really enjoyed playing that way 3 or 4 times over the years, especially with a list of artifacts you are trying to collect, and can see them on the map when it's generated.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Mount and Blade and angband (though my favourite iteration is ToME 2.3) are both some of my favourite games, but the first lacks tangible rewards for fighting most of the time, and gets bogged down later with seiges, and the later isn't actiony for my current craving. Sandbox diablo is pretty much exactly what I want. Record of Lodoss war did this exceptionally well; after the early part of the game, you're just set loose in a world with enemies all over the place, most of which will fucking destroy you. A few areas are walled off until you can mine mithril, but not many, and you get that ability pretty quickly anyways. And like half the game is just optional dungeons. And when I say dungeon, I mean literal dungeon. It's not a labyrinth or fortress or anything, it's just a bigass prison cell for dozens upon dozens of a particular kind of enemy (like say, lizardmen, or sandworms) and you murder them all to get a sweet reward. It's one of those precious games that makes you feel excited every time a new item shows up and you can't wait to try it out and compare it with your current shit because they're often radically different and immensely useful. Sadly, these games tend to lose a lot on replays because you remember what everything is in advance so you don't get excited when you know what items have which stats and where to find them etc.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Apart from the already mentioned titles, there's Fable and Kingdoms of Amalur. They're borderline casual but if you just want to click things to death in an open-ish world they're an option. The Fable series' storyline(s) is also more interesting than it looks at first glance.

I played a bit of Sacred 2 and it seems pretty shit. Maybe it'll get more fun later on, but I'm not optimistic.

 

[Zewp]

You're right on that count. Sacred 2 is one of the absolute worst open-world hack 'n slash games I've ever played.

 

[Gregz]

Record of Lodoss war did this exceptionally well

Which version is the definitive best on Win 7 64?

 

[SCO]

Play divine divinity. Unless you hate text or something.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Record of Lodoss war did this exceptionally well

Which version is the definitive best on Win 7 64?

Alas, the game I'm talking about was only released on dreamcast. I suppose you could try emulating it.

 

[FuelBlooded]

MMORPGs

 

[Metro]

So.. basically you're asking if there are any Diablo clones? Yeah, lots of 'em.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Diablo is an entirely linear affair though. As are most of it's clones, broken into acts with a huge list of mandatory dungeons to complete in sequence. Having the options to just walk in the opposite direction and get equal or better loot elsewhere changes things from a treadmill to a carnival. For pretty much the same reasons it's better to have an open world RPG like Fallout than something entirely linear like most jrpgs, all else being equal.

 

[DraQ]

Yeah, Divinity II should satisfy you.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

So.. basically you're asking if there are any Diablo clones? Yeah, lots of 'em.

Open world

 

[Metro]

"Open world" is relative. Is something like Divinity 2 that much more 'open' than Torchlight 2?

 

[dibens]

Hack'n'Slash and open world don't mix. Just play Path Of Exile and shut up.

On more serious note, I'll second the Kingdoms Of Amalur suggestion. It has really sweet, flashy combat and MMOish quests, so you don't have to pay too much attention to non-combat activities.

Elder scrolls is almost like this but ... the level scaling kills it...

I wish it was possible to mod Elder Scrolls games. I bet there would people on the internet sharing fixes for the level scaling. Alas, a man can only dream.

 

[spectre]

While Sacred 1 and 2 seem the be the closes to what you want, both have a big open world that can appeal to you. Unfortunately, they're not that good as H&S.

You could also try Dungeon Siege (maybe also number 2 and 3, but I ditched both in disgust quite early), I remember DS1 was pretty linear in its progression in single player, but iirc playing it alone on multiplayer maps allows for a much greater degree of freedom.

And speaking of H&S roguelikes, ADOM has a pretty big overmap - allowing you, theoretically, to explore most of the world straight away. JADE (aka ADOM 2.0) is very early in development, but features a random world.
There is also Dwarf Fortress adventure mode for that perfect hiking sim in full ascii glory

 

[Borelli]

There was that action game that used minecraft graphics. Procedurally generated (infinite?) world where you just go around and kill stuff. We had a thread about it but i forgot its name -.- Might fit your bill.