31) Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen

Dark Arisen Cover art

Dark Arisen Trailer

A dragon advances upon the hero of the story, but then tells them that they are the chosen one… then proceeds to rip your heart from your body. This results in you being revived as an ‘arisen’ and you are now destined to kill the dragon that stole your heart.  

Dragon’s Dogma is another ARPG. One of the good open world ones. This high fantasy piece of beautiful art is filled with traditional RPG elements, along with a good old fashioned hack and slash feel to   the play-style. 

Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen is an expansion pack of Dragon’s Dogma (Original). The expansion pack features new locations, new items, more character customization options and adds a solid 15 to 20 hours of extra gameplay. This gameplay includes all sorts of quests, stuff to find and exploration value. Dark Arisen also obviously features the full length of the original game, with the new components added on.

Magic always seems a tad unfair

The player is allowed to choose between classes and gender when creating their character. Classes include: Fighter, Strider, Mage, Warrior, Mystic, Knight, Ranger, Assassin, Sorcerer, and Magic Archer. As you can see, Dragon’s Dogma features a whole lot of different ways to play the game just from the long list of playable classes. 

An Interesting feature of this game is the ‘pawn’ system. Throughout the game’s duration, the player is accompanied by companions called ‘pawns’. The 3 party members are controlled by AI, but the player can also issue orders to them in real-time. You can tell them to go to locations, come to you, and to give you battle assistance. Similar to Dragon Age, actually.

Dark Arisen Gameplay

32) Path of Exile

The Path of Exile Logo

Path of Exile Trailer

Path of Exile is a dark fantasy top-down view combat RPG. Watching or playing the game should give you a kind of ‘Diablo’ feeling. 

The player controls a single character that they can develop and level up. They can explore large outdoor areas, as well as dungeons and caves. The game starts with the player wake up on the shores of ‘Wraeclast’. Home to a once prosperous empire, now turned cursed land, when crawling with criminals and other obscenities.

The player is here because they have been exiled. The player must now face mountains of challenges, go against the dangerous wilderness and fight monsters and enemies.

Arrows, Swords, Magic, gore, perfect

The player can choose from a variety to classes to suit their playstyle. These include: Duelist, Marauder, Ranger, Shadow, Templar, and Witch. The game supports multiplayer and has a really high replay and exploration value due to its randomly generated areas. The monsters are procedurally generated and will give constantly give players new exciting battles.

The combat system is fast paced, beautiful and incredibly satisfying. There is heavy use of magic and flashy abilities tied with the quick use of your melee weapons.

Path of Exile Gameplay

33) Diablo 3 

One of the Diablo III covers

I mentioned Diablo a couple times in Path of Exile because of the similarities in gameplay. Well, here’s Diablo for you to see for yourself. Although, I’ll admit that it’s near impossible for one to decide which is better. Just play them both. 

Diablo III is an Action RPG set in a dark fantasy world. Much like other RPGs, there is a class system and a character development system. The classes that Diablo 3 offers are: Barbarian, Crusader, Demon Hunter, Monk, Witch Doctor and Wizard.

I'd love to jump into that skirmish

The story launches you into a world of turmoil and darkness. The player is tasked with the ultimate mission of defeating the powerful Lord of Terror, Diablo. Of course before you reach him there will be a multitude of bosses to fight before, some of these include: Humans, astral guardians, skeleton lords, shadow weavers and man more.

A kind of trademark feature of Diablo games is that the attributes on equipment are actually randomized. Along with base stats (attack speed, damage, etc.) 

34) Borderlands 2

The cool Borderlands 2 Cover

Borderlands 2 gameplay

Borderlands 2 is a first-person-shooter  RPG set in an open world environment.  

Set as a sequel to the events of Borderlands 1, the player is on the planet Pandora. The player is then allowed to take control of 4 characters in the game: Axton, Maya, Salvador, and Zer0. Each with their own skills, traits and abilities. 

The story introduces the player to the characters they will be able to take control of. Shortly after the beginning of the game, the villain is revealed. His name is Handsome Jack, the president of the Hyperion Corporation. Jack wants to take control of Pandora and rule it in absolution. It’s your job to play as the 4 new vault hunters to stop him.

Bathe your enemies in glorious firepower

The gameplay is quite similar to that of Borderlands 1. Allowing you to follow the main story but also explore areas, fight enemies, and go mad with the collection of randomly generated loot. The aforementioned characters not only have their traits and abilities, but they are also each featuring a combat class type. Axton is a commando, can summon a powerful turret to mow down his enemies. Maya the ‘siren’ can trap enemies in a ball of energy for a couple seconds.

Salvador is called a Gunzerker and can dual wield weapons.  Then you get the crafty Zer0, an Assassin. He can become invisible and spawn a hologram decoy to distract his enemies.

All in all it’s a fun play experience, and I might add that the cell-shaded graphics give the game an element of character.

35) Victor Vran

Victor Vran will mess you up

Victor Vran Story Trailer

If you ever feel like a spot of Demon Hunting, Victor Vran is the game for you.

Victor Vran is a Gothic-fantasy ARPG. The world is dark and eerie, and filled with places to explore, things to collect and enemies to fight. The player assumes the role of the Demon Hunter known as Victor Vran. This character is somewhat of a classless character, allowing the player to develop and mould them to suit their playstyle. Whether you like to mash enemy heads with your hands and swords, or like to decimate them from a distance or do both, it’s your choice.

Victor Vran obviously features the traditional elements of an RPG; you can craft items and level up your characters. The world is made up of a few large areas that you can teleport to and you can explore them. 

A feature that might not seem that unique, actually is. In Victor Vran, which is a Diablo style ARPG, you can jump. Very uncommon in the genre, but it’s one of the main features present in the game. The jump and roll features assist with your combat and traversing large gaps and help you explore areas. It’s also a key element to the puzzle-solving elements found in the game as well.

Now, let’s get into the fun part.

Wahey, look at him go

The combat system is wildly entertaining and over the top. Victor can run, dash and roll around the battlefield, slicing and shooting away at his enemies. The game features a great combo system where you can rack up lots of moves and execute explosive and devastating finishers.

Victor Vran Gameplay