#25Transistor
2014Play styleReal-time combat
Action RPG with real-time combat.
Discover RPGs built around real-time combat, character growth, abilities, and equipment, from story-led adventures to loot-focused challenges.
Find your kind of role-playing
Develop a character through real-time combat, abilities, and equipment. This broad family can include story-led adventures, Soulslike challenges, and loot-focused games. The narrower ARPG collection focuses on repeated equipment hunting and build optimization.
118 games before play-style filters. Filters combine and use supported source details; games with unknown details remain in All. A game may support both turn-based and real-time-with-pause combat. All years is the starting view so older classics remain visible.
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Start with a quick scan, then make the same ranked catalog richer until it becomes a long-form showcase.
Best reviewed blends the source score with rating volume. Release order is oldest first, and A–Z is title order. Unusually high scores with very small samples are treated as uncorroborated outliers until more players weigh in.
#25Play styleReal-time combat
Action RPG with real-time combat.
#26Primary genreRPG › Action RPG
Supporting signalsFarming · Crafting · Relationships
#27Primary genreRPG › JRPG
Supporting signalsOpen World
#28Primary genreRPG › Action RPG
Supporting signalsSoulslike
Action RPG membership is supported; finer play-style details need more evidence.
#29Primary genreRPG › Action RPG
Supporting signalsOpen World · Crafting · Exploration
Action RPG membership is supported; finer play-style details need more evidence.
#30Play styleLoot hunting
Supporting signalsOpen World
Action RPG with loot hunting.
#31Primary genreRPG › Action RPG
Supporting signalsSoulslike · Exploration
#32Primary genreRPG › JRPG
Action RPG membership is supported; finer play-style details need more evidence.
#33Play styleLoot hunting
Action RPG with loot hunting.
#34Play styleDialogue & investigation / Loot hunting
Action RPG with dialogue & investigation, loot hunting.
#35Primary genreRPG › Action RPG
Supporting signalsOpen World · Shopkeeping · Exploration
#36Primary genreRPG › Action RPG
Supporting signalsSoulslike
#37Play styleLoot hunting
Action RPG with loot hunting.
#38Primary genreRPG › Action RPG
Action RPG membership is supported; finer play-style details need more evidence.
#39Primary genreRPG › Action RPG
Supporting signalsSoulslike · Metroidvania · Crafting
Action RPG membership is supported; finer play-style details need more evidence.
#40Primary genreRPG › Action RPG
Supporting signalsOpen World · Sandbox · Crafting
#41Primary genreRPG › Action RPG
Supporting signalsRelationships
#42Play styleLoot hunting
Action RPG with loot hunting.
#43Primary genreRPG › Action RPG
Supporting signalsOpen World · Stealth · Relationships
#44Primary genreRPG › Action RPG
Supporting signalsCrafting · Community Building · Exploration
#45Primary genreRPG › Action RPG
Supporting signalsMetroidvania
Action RPG membership is supported; finer play-style details need more evidence.
#46Primary genreRPG › Action RPG
Supporting signalsRelationships
#47Primary genreRPG › Action RPG
Supporting signalsExploration
#48Primary genreRPG › Action RPG
Supporting signalsSoulslike · Crafting · Relationships
Observed alongside this lens
Series represented here
A research-verified chronology of Final Fantasy, spanning 1987–2024.
2 matching entries Monster HunterA research-verified chronology of Monster Hunter, spanning 2004–2025.
2 matching entries The WitcherA research-verified chronology of The Witcher, spanning 2007–2018.
1 matching entry The Elder ScrollsA research-verified chronology of The Elder Scrolls, spanning 1994–2025.
1 matching entry DiabloA research-verified chronology of Diablo, spanning 1996–2023.
Why these games appear
A role-playing game whose character growth and build choices are expressed through real-time combat, movement, abilities, and equipment.
Include when
Real-time combat is a sustained part of the RPG progression loop, and character growth, abilities, equipment, or builds materially shape that combat.
Leave out when
Do not use Action RPG for a game whose defining structure is turn-based, tactical, simulation-led, immersive-sim, or a pure action game with only incidental upgrades. Use ARPG for the narrower Diablo-style loot-and-build form.