Action rpg's with good exploration

[Late Bloomer]

Barely qualifies as an RPG but the exploration is amazing. One of the best explorefag experiences I had in recent years.

Was cool seeing your review on Steam. Nice write-up.

 

[JarlFrank]

I'm suprised no one has mentioned the likes of Morrowind and New Vegas already. I would still count those games as Action RPGs, even though some casuals might disagree and see them as "super deep real ajpegees".

Must be we all thought Morrowind goes without saying, and didn't even notice it wasn't listed under ''obvious examples''. I certainly did.

This being the Codex, I assume everyone already played Morrowind and New Vegas, as well as most of the other entries in the TES and Fallout series.
Same with Gothic and other PB games, which is why I didn't mention those.

Threads like these usually ask for games OP hasn't played yet.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Yeah, we need to define what is a RPG

No, first we need to establish that you say 'an rpg' rather than 'a rpg'.

Yes, everyone should know that it's pronounced Arpège.

 

[Machocruz]

Conan Exiles is simultaneously an action rpg and survival crafting game, and I enjoyed running around the nice looking world looking for unique content and better resources

Dragon's Dogma's exploration is of uneven quality across the board, but it has it's moments.

 

[adddeed]

Risen series and Elex.
Mankind Divided
Legend of Grimrock 2

 

[Eisen]

Legend of Grimrock 2

Are real-time blobbers "action"?

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Gauntlet!

Red warrior ate all the food.
Elf is about to die!

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Legend of Grimrock 2

Are real-time blobbers "action"?

For a certain subset of Codexers, any real-time RPG counts as an "action RPG", even if combat is highly dependent on the character's skills, even if it has to-hit rolls, and even if the physical demand on the player is little more than pressing an attack button while close to and facing towards the enemy.

 

[HoboForEternity]

Kingdom come: deliverance

the problem with kingdom come deliverance is you can easily get the top gears by killing bandits in skalitz. like from 20th hour to 100th i used the same gear. i didn't even know they are in skalitz, i just went for the buried treasure quest and came home with enough gear for a small company. the treasure maps are excellent but the armors from there are crap or weaker than the one you can buy in rattay or skalitz bandit.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

Examina, though this is perhaps stretching the definition of RPG. It's a skill based Diablo 1. The atmosphere and combat are excellent, making for tense exploration.

 

[Cryomancer]

All games from Piranha Bytes
Souls and souls like games eg - Code Vein and Hellpoint
Most TES games
Two Worlds 1/2

 

[adddeed]

Legend of Grimrock 2

Are real-time blobbers "action"?

For a certain subset of Codexers, any real-time RPG counts as an "action RPG", even if combat is highly dependent on the character's skills, even if it has to-hit rolls, and even if the physical demand on the player is little more than pressing an attack button while close to and facing towards the enemy.

Legend of Grimrock is an action RPG in my books. You really need to move around a lot and strike at the right moment. There are no quests or side quets or dialogue. Its pure dungeon action.

 

[luj1]

No one mentioned the king Morrowind, yet people mention turds like The Surge

Cringe

 

[Lord_Potato]

No one mentioned the king Morrowind, yet people mention turds like The Surge

Cringe

Morrowind was mentioned 5 times on this page alone and you're a cringy edgelord.

 

[Lord_Potato]

I remember Dex has some decent exploration. There are some locations you can only get with proper skills/cybermods installed so there is place for experimentation and trying new stuff.

 

[ItsChon]

Salt 2 = Excellent exploration. It is the focal point of the game. The combat is weak.
Wild West and Wizard = Good exploration. Story is decent. Combat is weak.
Wigmund = Good exploration. Janky controls. Combat gets fun once you are used to said jank. Decent character progression.

Out of the three games, how would you rank them in terms of overall quality?

This one qualifies as an RPG, but you don't level up a character but a spaceship. Really good. Mixes some random generation of planet phenomena with several hand-crafted questlines and locations, which is what propels this far above similar games that rely entirely on procedural content.

How would you rate this game? Are the systems actually deep? Oftentimes when I see an indie game that looks really good, I find out that it's just surface level and there really isn't any depth to the games systems and mechanics. Is there a good sense of progression? How's the difficulty? Are the quests actually deep and meaningful? Is the game strictly about combat/exploration like you would expect of a dungeon crawler, or does it have moments of pause where you perhaps do some none-combat related quests, go shopping, etc, akin to the momentary pauses in fighting that you see in games like BG or Underrail.

 

[JarlFrank]

This one qualifies as an RPG, but you don't level up a character but a spaceship. Really good. Mixes some random generation of planet phenomena with several hand-crafted questlines and locations, which is what propels this far above similar games that rely entirely on procedural content.

How would you rate this game? Are the systems actually deep? Oftentimes when I see an indie game that looks really good, I find out that it's just surface level and there really isn't any depth to the games systems and mechanics. Is there a good sense of progression? How's the difficulty? Are the quests actually deep and meaningful? Is the game strictly about combat/exploration like you would expect of a dungeon crawler, or does it have moments of pause where you perhaps do some none-combat related quests, go shopping, etc, akin to the momentary pauses in fighting that you see in games like BG or Underrail.

The systems were decent enough as far as I remember. I'm more of a contentfag than a systemsfag though, so I don't care all too much about the systems as long as the actual hand-crafted content is good (which is why I find most roguelikes ultimately pretty dull, as they're all systems, no content).

You will have to think about what to spend your currency on, as resources aren't too plentiful early on and there's a lot to spend them on. The game gives you a good feeling of being lost in an unknown sector of space, isolated and alone among strange aliens. The exploration is excellent, some of its quests give you only vague hints on how to get to the destination they want you to go, and you have to figure things out on your own. There is no quest compass.

Sometimes, you will have to follow hints like flying far towards the "northwest" area of the space map from the position you're currently in. It doesn't tell you how far, just a rough relative position of your destination in relation to a star system you've been to before.
Sometimes, you will get a star map showing you the destination, and you have to compare it with your own map and look at the layout of the stars to determine where the location is. There are no markers. You have to figure it out with your own eyes.
Sometimes, you get coordinates of a location that will lead you to a spot on your star map that's currently blank.

It builds a sense of mystery that has become extremely rare in gaming nowadays. Hints are often vague, nothing is spelled out for you, you have to read the hints you get and make your own conclusions from them. It's explorefag heaven.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

Starfield.

 

[Late Bloomer]

Out of the three games, how would you rank them in terms of overall quality?

All three games are very much indy games. Salt 2 and Wild West and Wizards are made by the same person.


Salt 2 overall quality I would rate as a 7. That is not to downplay the effort though. The things he has planned and the things he has already released make it a solid 7 with a cap out of 8 if he follows through on everything. I have put in 35 hours so far.

Wild West and Wizards overall quality I would give a 5. I did enjoy it quite a bit. I had a lot more fun than a 5. I got it on sale and it surpassed my one dollar for one hour metric. I put in 42 hours.

Wigmund overall quality I would rate as a 7. I am still playing this albeit a bit sporadicaly. This one for me kind of came out of nowhere. Never heard of the dev or the game before. Just bought it on a whim. I am quite impressed with the game. It is super janky though. Takes some getting used to. I was jonesing for an adventure game with this viewpoint after having discussed why all ARPG's seem to favor speedrunning loot pinata gameplay without any adventure / rpg elements. This game filled that void quite nicely.

I recommend all 3 games. I would not recommend Salt 1 though. Its a very rough project that seemed to be a learning expereince. All three games go on sale with Wigmund being on sale for 24 more hours (2023 march 15).

 

[ArchAngel]

Out of the three games, how would you rank them in terms of overall quality?

All three games are very much indy games. Salt 2 and Wild West and Wizards are made by the same person.


Salt 2 overall quality I would rate as a 7. That is not to downplay the effort though. The things he has planned and the things he has already released make it a solid 7 with a cap out of 8 if he follows through on everything. I have put in 35 hours so far.

Wild West and Wizards overall quality I would give a 5. I did enjoy it quite a bit. I had a lot more fun than a 5. I got it on sale and it surpassed my one dollar for one hour metric. I put in 42 hours.

Wigmund overall quality I would rate as a 7. I am still playing this albeit a bit sporadicaly. This one for me kind of came out of nowhere. Never heard of the dev or the game before. Just bought it on a whim. I am quite impressed with the game. It is super janky though. Takes some getting used to. I was jonesing for an adventure game with this viewpoint after having discussed why all ARPG's seem to favor speedrunning loot pinata gameplay without any adventure / rpg elements. This game filled that void quite nicely.

I recommend all 3 games. I would not recommend Salt 1 though. Its a very rough project that seemed to be a learning expereince. All three games go on sale with Wigmund being on sale for 24 more hours (2023 march 15).

You got too much free time when you are wasting time on 5 to 7 games and even recommending them lol

 

[Late Bloomer]

You got too much free time when you are wasting time on 5 to 7 games and even recommending them lol

Maybe I misunderstood "overall quality". I stated I had more fun than a 5 in Wild West and Wizards. But to give them a higher rating simply because I enjoyed them doesnt seem fair to anyone reading. I would rather someone approach a game with a critical eye and realistic expectations. Not every game I put hours into needs to be an 8, 9, or 10. Most games are just not deserving of such high accolades. I only play games, for the most part, that I am fairly certain I will have fun playing. My average of 5 is in comparison to the games I have put some quality time in and enjoyed. I am not using all the absolute shit that has been released in the last decade as some type of comparison. I simply don't play games I am not interested in.

 

[Zariusz]

Chronicles Of Myrtana
Kenshi has glorious exploration if it counts

 

[baba is you]

like Dungeon Master and Wizardry are highly exploratory.

 

[mediocrepoet]

You got too much free time when you are wasting time on 5 to 7 games and even recommending them lol

Maybe I misunderstood "overall quality". I stated I had more fun than a 5 in Wild West and Wizards. But to give them a higher rating simply because I enjoyed them doesnt seem fair to anyone reading. I would rather someone approach a game with a critical eye and realistic expectations. Not every game I put hours into needs to be an 8, 9, or 10. Most games are just not deserving of such high accolades. I only play games, for the most part, that I am fairly certain I will have fun playing. My average of 5 is in comparison to the games I have put some quality time in and enjoyed. I am not using all the absolute shit that has been released in the last decade as some type of comparison. I simply don't play games I am not interested in.

Wild West and Wizards at least is 90% off right now, so if you wanted to see what a "5 overall but fun" game is, you could check it out for less than the price of a cup of coffee.

 

[ArchAngel]

I have found this video about a game that seems to fit what this topic is about:
Anyone played this one?
Seems to be isometric Stalker or something.