Some of you may think you love Grim Dawn, but none of you were the guy whose comment got filtered for calling me and my family some horrendous things for not playing it. Posers.
What? That's very bizarre. How does someone get that mad about someone else not playing a videogame they like? Geeze, the internet can be a very silly and sad place sometimes.
Grim Dawn is one of if not my favourite ARPG (I like the levelling system which reminds me a bit of Deadfire in that you can combine two separate classes and the lore/setting is great) but it is bizarre that someone would get angry because it's not one of the games you've played and reviewed. And TL2, POE, and Wolcen are all excellent too. The only thing holding me back from playing another season of POE is - as I think you said in your video - how difficult it is to play seriously without following someone else's cookie-cutter build. What I would really love is an ARPG with a levelling system a bit like Pathfinders :) Thanks Mortismal for all your videos - I enjoy watching them!
That's insane who gets butthurt because someone else hasn't played their favorite game, especially a game like Grim Dawn. i love it but i found out about it completely by accident. it's not that big of a game. i just don't understand some people, it's just a game. there's no reason to get nasty just because somebody else hasn't played it or maybe they don't like it.
"You can't like what I don't like" or "You have to like what I like" are sadly (and insanely) the origin of wars. Nothing new under the internet sun I guess. Regarding Grim Dawn, I'm a little bit sad that you don't play it, because you and I have really similar tastes (from what your videos say about your tastes). But hey, to each his own.
I once tried to get into PoE but got lost quickly. I look up a beginner guide where they guy spent almost 30 minutes talking about end game stuff before he started talking about beginner stuff. It was mostly end game grinding, currencies, loot and such and then after over half an hour starts talking about how to move your character and the first area. I decided to quite then and there.
Grim Dawn is a great game in its own right, but, as a Diablo 2 fan, you might also like the Reign of Terror mod. It combines D2 and GD classes in a D2 environment. There's a whole slew of new classes to try, all while playing a faithful re-creation of D2.
TitanQuest is absent and that is one I always enjoyed lots, and one of the very first games I ever played, even if it does feel rather dated by now. Many of its systems and the whole multiclassing deal it allows for are refined and ported over to Grim Dawn as well. It's just an extremely fun way of building characters, mixing two classes that synergize well. Reminds me of the more classing CRPG levelling systems with their own ideas for multiclassing. Wolcen is a sore spot for me. I bought the game when it was in-dev on GOG. And then they took it off that particular market place. I didn't notice because the email disappeared in the usual sales and new arrival messages from GOG, and I also had the pre-release version of the game installed to check in on it every now and then. And when the launch happened I didn't really think too much about lagging behind a couple of versions since most devs update their products way more frequently on Steam. Luckily I was able to get a refund when I actually noticed that I would never be upgraded to the full version. The whole thing soured my outlook on the game though, and I don't think that I will be getting into it.
Yeah, you should definitely try Grim Dawn, it was my personal successor to Diablo II instead of Diablo 3 because progression system was more complex and diverse, story was more dark, environment more grim, also more “secret side stuff” as I call it, like cow level in Diablo II, and overall hack’n’slashing is more fun.
I wish the story was more compelling but the feeling of playing I that world harkens back to the darkness of the og Diablo. The stamina mechanic is pretty cool too
Am currently playing The Ascent, which is great. Have played and enjoyed D2, D3, Grim Dawn, Torchlight 1 and 2, PoE, Hades. 1000s of hours of goodness.
I couldn't agree more on Path of Exile. It is definitely my favorite but I can't play it since I am playing games casually. The first 3 characters I leveled hit a wall really hard after a certain point. They just couldn't survive the onslaught. Which led me to follow builds online, which in turn made the game feel like a chore.
I'm not sure how to ask this, but I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on the end game loop of recent ARPG's. I love ARPG's and I also love RPG's in general, but lately I've been feeling a bit of a disconnect with the way people engage with the ARPG genre. I enjoy playing all ARPG's, playing through the campaign numerous times with varying builds, and for the most part approaching it the same as I would any other RPG, but it seems like for most modern ARPG gamers the campaign is just the tutorial and the "Real" game is grinding for the perfect end game set and min maxing to be the most powerful thing ever. I'm sure you could play Baldur's Gate 3 or other RPG's like that too, but I think most people play those games for the experience, and it just seems weird to me that ARPG's for whatever reason seem to be dominated by a strictly min max style approach to gameplay.
Really enjoyed this video as I just recently started playing "Titan Quest Anniversary Edition" and although I never played the mother of them all "Diablo" I instantly fell in love with the ARPG genre. I bought "Grim Dawn" and I can't wait until "Lost Ark" comes out. I also wanna try "Warhammer 40.000: Inquisitor - Martyr" and also every other ARPG I can get my hands on. Even installed "Diablo 3" to try for free. So yes, I just now discovered a whole new genre for me I never even know I loved so much. Hope for more content on your channel about ARPG as your videos are really high quality and very informative.
Reading all those comments about Grim Dawn made me reinstall the game after 2 years and got me back into it. Thanks Mortum and comment section And even though you don't normally review ARPGs, I would love to see your thoughts on it.
To me what Diablo 2 still does better than most if not all other ARPGs is the game feel. The sensation of hitting enemies, the sound of items falling on the ground, it's spot on.
@@305killer I’m debating getting into it since It’s so often recommended but when I look at endgame gameplay it just seems so silly, like I saw one guy moving through a dungeon with a bajillon lighting bolts shooting in all directions, is that really just how characters will end up once you reach the endgame?
Path of Exile took 4k hours of my life and I couldn't be happier about it, I agree about the casual play though even after all this time I'm not interested in being the best and feel like I might not be the target audience after all lol. I can recommend Last Epoch though it is in early access, it grabbed me in the same way PoE did years ago, very easy to pick up and learn with tons of different build options, they also do "class fantasy" lot closer to crpgs or Diablo 2 then any of the other ones in the genre.
Both grim dawn and last epoch are absolutely worth trying it. Grim Dawn is kind of like diablo 2 and wolcen when it comes to end game. It doe have a sort of rifts system like diablo 3, but mainly its just playing the campaign over and over. Last epoch its clunky in gameplay, but ideas wise its awesome all around. End game stuff is a great idea too. If they can just work out the kinks it could easily compete with poe.
cool list thanks. For me there is still Sacred 1+2 and yes, Grim Dawn and their older title Titan Quest personally never tried Wolcen but maybe will give it a go when it is on sale .
Just a nod to Grim Dawn, made by the people that made Titan Quest, with a similar 'dual class' feature. And just because someone doesn't list a game you like is no reason to be rude, something the anonymity of the internet seems to bring out. Love your content Mortem, and look forward to each new video.
Not entirely sure why, but my favorite ARPG I've tried is still just Diablo 1, at least with the Beelzebub mod. My best guess is it has to do with simplicity and strength of theming. Other ARPGs can stray from town to town, sometimes including settings I don't particularly care for, such as deserts. Also, most ARPGs are much more graphically advanced, in a way that I'm not super compatible with. I'm pretty susceptible when it comes to games in this perspective where things are more zoomed out to find myself getting lost in all the visual noise and similar colors and particle effects and floating numbers. If I can't even tell where my character is on the screen during a fight, or what's even going on, I'm probably gonna tune out real quick from being overwhelmed. Not Diablo 1 though. Simple, dark catacombs with my bright red wizard clear as day in big chunky pixels. A laser precision theme, where all it is is you, a spooky gothic town, a big old catacomb that eventually culminates in hell, flawless voice acting in that glorious overacted 90s fantasy way, all while listening to some of the best town music and ambience in any game period. And casting lightning in demon's faces. You just can't beat that. Haven't played Diablo 2 yet since I was waiting for the remake, only for Activision-Blizzard to become...somewhat morally questionable to purchase from, and I'm still debating whether Microsoft owning them now and making changes (hopefully) means I can buy it and sleep at night somewhat reasonably yet.
A lot of people mentioning Grim Dawn, but despite it’s atmosphere and some big gameplay improvements, I think I spend more time playing Titan Quest, because of the mythological story, settings, and visuals. Another issue with Path of Exile is that, even though you describe it almost as an MMO (I think because of the towns and fantastic party anywhere and instancing system), the mechanics cater far more to single player and the usefulness of multiplayer falls behind more than other ARPGs. I also don’t like how late endgame turns into a game of clear every pack instantly so mob type and stats don’t matter. And all combat becomes the same moment to moment of shred or rip.
Hey Mortym question for you: What would be your dream CRPG? What elements would it take from other games to be greater than the sum of it's parts. And lastly is there a studio you would prefer to make this dream game?
My favorite ARPG is Sacred 2. I am not a huge fan of grinding for levels or gear, so I like S2 for the relatively interesting world and quests. It’s intentionally cheesy and I find it quite funny. Plus the survival mechanic is a good concept, whereby the enemies get stronger the longer you go without dying, but also drop better loot. I also like Grim Dawn, which I think feels much more like Diablo 2 than Diablo 3 does.
It was pretty bad at launch. The devs initially wanted to make combat more strategic by making players use the environment for cover and ambushes but that feature was barely used. All was left was a sluggish mess of a game with uninteresting progression, missions and loot. It's one of the few games I refunded on Steam but I recently bought it again while it was on sale and it's actually good now.
I think you'd really like the build possibilities of Grim Dawn. Last Epoch is also shaping up to be really good and looks like it'll also have a ton of options for cool and interesting builds
You should try Titan Quest if you haven't yet. I started this month and love it. It's similar to Grim Dawn and is essential Diablo set in Greek mythology. The only bad thing is it doesn't appear to be well optimized on PC and I've yet to figure out a solution. I'm sure there's mods I haven't found yet that could fix it.
Yeah, if you want to slightly step back from the complexity and multiplayer aspects of PoE then Grim Dawn is a robust alternative. Customization is no slouch either as you can layer skill trees with constellation bonuses, artifacts, and faction augments. Also, while it admittedly suffers mechanically due to being a predecessor title, Titan Quest has a strong mythic age setting that can be fun to experience as you travel from Greece to Egypt and on toward China.
My favorite ARPG is def Borderlands 3, I have many hours, I have beat it many times, and its just a comfort game. I know its a "Looter Shooter" but Borderlands specifically has always been inspired by Diablo so I consider it an ARPG. Main story is a story for sure, it does do story, but the DLC story is legit really good and also the gameplay is the best in Borderlands series
Revisiting this video, the best thing I can say about Wolcen(after buying it on sale) is that the skill customization is an interesting idea. I went with a gunslinger build and the auto-turret and rail gun felt great to use, and even basic attacks could be customized with the upgrade rings(I specced for rebounding shots and high damage at range). Even now though the game and gear systems feel half-baked, and the 'ascended' transformation feels poorly executed.
Loved Champions of Norrath as a kid. Played the heck out of Hades. Recently picked up Diablo 3 with a friend and loving it for what it is. Another fun but small rogue-lite aRPG, that was a little rough-around-the-edges (and that I hope they eventually do a more fleshed out sequel to) is Children of Morta - some interesting design ideas in there, with the way the characters progress together . And, if you want to get super broad with the definition of what an aRPG is, I think you could include Bordelands 2 - loved that game. Ones that I've never played, but really want to try in the future (again, broadest possible definition of aRPG): Grim Dawn, Path of Exile 2, The Ascent, Dark Souls, Elden Ring, No Rest for the Wicked, V Rising.
I am honestly surprised to see Diablo 3 and Wolcen on any top 5 ARPG list.. With games like Titansquest, Grim dawn, Last epoch and even The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing.
@@kenjordan954 Anything Blizzard made at the time sold incredibly well. So of course the game would sell amazingly well, Being the successor of 2 of the most loved ARPGs ever released as well as being a blizzard game. Diablo 3 can be fun for a day or two, for sure. But it's still a garbage ARPG. Without any character development or depth. The only "updates" the game gets is changing up the meta by tweaking a few numbers on the sets. And this have been the case from almost the beginning of ROS. When Combat is the only thing it got going for it.. I think we all can agree its a bad fucking game. Diablo 3 was a huge disspointment and is the worst game blizzard have ever released. Hero clicker got more ARPG elements then Diablo 3. And you won't see that game on any ARPG lists out there.
@@kenjordan954 On top of that Diablo 3 isn't even bad any more. I recently bought Eternal edition & I was shocked by how much better it is now than back when I first played D3 in the early 2010s, where I just dropped it after 1 playthrough. One thing that D3 gets right is the projectile & magic combat & it does it better than most Arpgs. Van Helsing & Victor Vran are extremely overrated. I guess people prefer the more focused story of those two, because it sure ain't the action.
I was watching some of your older videos, ARPGs are my favorite genre. I have beat most of the original content for PoE, and did most of it with a friend. PoE is way too complex for most people, and you need a build guide to not screw it up. D2 is one of my favorites, but agree about runes. I used to play tons of D3 after RoS came out, and I hit at least prestige 1200 in in 8 the 10 seasons after that. I enjoy Torchlight 2, 1 was the basic loot loop, but was missing the variety that 2 had. -- Grim Dawn is still great, and am curious to hear your current take on it after the new DLC comes out. I like that nearly any build can be viable. It is the D2 sequel we deserved, but made by the folks that make Titan Quest. -- I played an absurd amount Marvel Heroes back in the day. David Brevik worked on it until 2016, and they redid the skills after he left. The game shutdown in late 2017 after Disney terminated the contract with the developer. It was basically an F2P MMO ARPG that had a lot common DNA with Marvel Ultimate Alliance.
I’m pretty new to ARPG’s and I’ve played a few like Warhammer 40k Inquisitior, Warhammer Chaosbane, Wolcen, Diablo 2 and Diablo 4 and while I enjoy them I have not finished any of them. I don’t know if it’s a gameplay loop thing or attention span but I can’t seem to finish them. I enjoy them when I’m playing it but I never feel the need or urge to complete them like with RPG’s like The Witcher 3 or Baldurs Gate 3. I’m gonna try to again and will attempt to finish Diablo 2 and 4. I’m a solo player so I’m obviously gonna miss out on the multiplayer and not gonna endlessly do endgame content. Maybe that’s why I don’t finish them is cause they’re meant to be played with others but I could be wrong.
i really agree on the issue with poe requiring a certain commitment but i don't understand what you mean by saying its heavily monetized, the only relevant thing you need real money for are stash tabs, and if you blow like 10 bucks on those once that can easily get you through hundreds of hours, all the other purchasable items are purely cosmetic and theres never any agressive pop ups trying to sell you anything
Diablo 2 is a classic, but its age is showing. Also has some brutal difficulty spikes if you didn't spec your character correctly. Diablo 3 is by far the most polished out of the lot and can be a lot of fun to grind for a couple of days once or twice a year. Torchlight 2 just works. Small download, quick loading times, stable gameplay and a lot of flashy and cartoony action combat. This game was made with lots of love and attention to detail. Wolcen has the most satisfying action combat of the bunch, but lacks meaningful endgame goals that justify playing past the - unfinished - campaign for more than a few hours. Path of Exile is just massive. Too massive for my taste, as I'm constantly torn between different game modes. Good luck coming back to the game after a long hiatus and picking things up where you left them... But "heavily monetized"? That's just objectively false, or at least very misleading.
So far Grim Dawn and Diablo 3 Switch are my favorite arpgs. Playing these on a controller was a ton of fun although I'm primarily a kb+m player and the added gore/ragdoll effects adds to the power of spells and weapons.
I like watching you because you sound intelligent. Full stop. Your int score sells these videos. Grats on 40k I think youll continue to see growth (especially in the hours viewed per month) because of a rich back catalogue of content for new viewers to splurge on.
I'm currently revisiting Titan Quest (maybe even 100% if i wanna no-life a couple months or something) and it's interesting that it shares with diablo 2 the problem of the balancing with sets and "enchanting", diablo 2's keyword system vs titan quest's charms/relics. Sets not being able to combine with these makes in both cases special equipment that's specifically both "enchantable" but rare enough to be powerful the bis for a lot of stuff. Even today with the three new expansions after the revival of titan quest it's still pretty much the same "problem", although sets are still very much powerful enough to get you enjoyably through the game. Just especially not hardcore (there's no actual hardcore setting but achievements for not dying once). One problem I have with either and idk if any arpg properly solved this issue is saving nice sets/uniques for new characters. Managing a plethora of characters that just store your loot in their limited inventory or third party tools are both pretty mediocre options. Titan Quest just always stands out to me as an arpg where you can literally play an active healer, in solo-play.
For me the best ARPG (at least, from those that I played) is Grim Dawn. Pretty great story, really interesting world and lore, cool characters, great gameplay and class system. It's complex, but not to the point of Path of Exile, which has so many different aspects you have to pay attention to when creating a character with a certain build in mind that... well, PoE is great, but I got tired of it pretty fast because of that. Grim Dawn has deph to it's gameplay and a wide variety of classes and builds for each one. Also, I really like it's aesthetics, so dark and... well, grim. It has a good ammount of different enemies and a lot of bosses and mini bosses. When I saw that it wasn't on your list I was gonna comment that I felt a little surprised that Diablo 3 made it and not Grim Dawn. But seeing as you didn't play it (yet) it's understandable.
Path of Exile can be played casually. You just have to play... one character per league, no switch. Or strip everything on that character and play a new one while keeping only necessity items like currency (sellable ones), which means you have to know what you want and need in the first place, so... like one of those veteran players who suddenly wanted a fresh, no payment start.
Great list! Rather than add my voice to the chorus of Grim Dawn fans that have expressed themselves below, I will say that Lost Ark really is worth a playthrough or two, if you have the discipline to stay out of the cash shop and not get sucked into the endgame grind. The story is not spectacular but their use of the environment in dungeons, over the top set piece events, mechanics, and boss battles are top notch. It's even fun in the tutorial phase. There's no waiting for the experience to get good.
My top 5 of the ones I have played: Grim Dawn - just all around terrific…lots of options for building your character, endgame is varied and deep and it is a great bargain. Diablo 3 - yes the launch sucked but that is ancient history. Yes, it does not have the D2 aesthetic. But who cares? It is fun and well-crafted with some broken ass builds. Last Epoch - probably the least polished game on my list but it is very compelling and also has a rich combat and class system. Sacred 2 - an oldie but a goodie. Plus you get a mount. What’s not to love? Path of Exile - pretty much the reasons you stated
I love grim dawn but always hit a wall every playthrough on the second difficulty usually, character gets melted even when resistances are up and raised. I have posted builds asking advise and did what was advised....but then the build suffers in other ways so I dunno if I am really unlucky when it comes to loot
I do enjoy any ARPG where I can make a passive build utilising turrets. (It's always fun for me to watch as an army of mechanical contraptions do all the work, while I sit back and sip my drink). Grim Dawn with mortars. PoE with ballistae. Torchlight 2 with turrets. ... Might have forgotten a game here, but if you guys know of any others that offer such a playstyle, please, do tell :)
I'd be interested to know what you thought of WH: Chaosbane. I was immediately disappointed because I thought I was getting a "C" cRPG... but once I gave it a chance I was hooked through to a point where I just couldn't kill a demon you have to kill to progress or else I couldn't figure out the way around it. Haven't picked it back up. In retrospect it was a bit samey, even for an aRPG. Spam one good move, mow down a horde of smaller enemies. Spam a different good move, kill a bigger enemy. I'll give it another chance with a different character one day. I mean it was good fun when I was hooked on it.
POE is definitely hard to learn, but there are a thousand build guides available here on youtube or other sites, and the way to learn is to see what the guides say. Skim a couple guides, and go on in with your own twist on it. You won't dominate the full endgame with your janky homebrew stuff, but the game has so damn much content you won't even sniff the endgame until you're somewhat experienced anyway, so being on a lower powered build isn't so bad as a beginner.
I actually enjoyed Torchlight and Diablo more than the second games in those series, I liked the second games too but something about the simplicity spoke to me in the originals. I'm playing some Divine Divinity now and am surprised it didn't make this list, is it that you liked these more or do you not consider it an ARPG because of the amount of story or another reason?
Its one of those games that spans a couple genres really, I think of it more as a CRPG myself, but I can definitely understand people calling it an ARPG
good list....top 5 of mine are probably titan quest, grim dawn, dungeon siege 2, torchlight 2 and diablo 3....lots of good ones to choose from and lots i didn't even started yet :)
I was struggling with TL2 recently and I stopped playing fairly quickly. My Warlock (for example) has a couple of possible ranged attacks that both claim to be based on weapon damage (40% of it in both cases). One does a lot more damage/dps than the other early game and I've no idea why. On top of this I fought my way through a few tens of levels armed with wand or staff because it seemed the thing to do and then wondered if a hammer might work ... it added tons more damage to the ranged spells. Maybe my Berserker would be better off duel wielding wands or main hand pet collar and off hand tag!?! Not too many places to go to find info on the guts of the game either unfortunately.
Played poe for 8 years.I have a char that has 437 days if I hit the "/played" command.What did I get for this commitment?All my exalted orbs devalued to nothing , all 8 years of amasing them.
That is a pretty similar list to me except I did not play Path of Exile for long, I forget why. I try PoE 2 if the word is good. I've put in a fair amount of time on every Diablo but they are not my favourites. I really Wolcen and I've just started a new character to check out the chapter 4 upgrade. I loved both Torchlight 1 & 2. Grim Dawn is a great game as far as playability but I cannot get by the graphics. I don't why Grim Dawn doesn't update its graphics because it has quite a following despite shite graphics.
I played Darkstone for the PS1 as my first sorta ARPG game and I like it more than Diablo 2, I think only because I played it first and it's not the greatest but i just love it so much.
I'm enjoying D2R, but yeah...I wish sets and uniques were better and had a higher drop rate. I also wish there were a lot more of them, at all levels. Rune words are great, but they seem like a requirement, not an enhancement. eg: in early game, I'm always making a Stealth studded leather or breastplate for every build. I've never found anything close to better. Sorc always gets a Leaf staff Normal, and melee characters always get a Steel or Malice. Ancient's Pledge is required too, unless you get really lucky with resistance items. Because, again, I've never really found anything better on Normal. Slightly OT: I wish someone would make a game with top-down ARPG mechanics, but actually write an excellent and compelling story. We just blow off ARPG stories because we accept that they're weak or unimportant...
Interesting. My top ARPG is quite different, but to each their own. I played a bit PoE and Wolcen and enjoyed them, but they felt dry to me after a while. I didn't play them as of lately (for Wolcen i had a recurring crash at the start, disabling me to play any blood trail content after i downloaded it again). I got Torchlight 2 for free on epic, and it was fun to play through it once, but i probably won't go back to it. My top 3 are definitely Grim Dawn, Titan quest (both by the same developers with double mastery system) and Diablo 2 (particularly MedianXL mod, i played a lot of this one, it added so much more to the original game, albeit transforming a lot - like classes)
Since the most familiar ones, missing on the list, have already brought up in the comments: - If you want to go old school, the first Diablo is still checking out at least once, its mechanics are now from the Stone Age, but the ambiance it's got, is still amazing (Tristram theme is also the best). - Another old-timer is the Divine Divinity series (H&S precursors of DOS), got some issues running it on modern tech, but it's good fun, if a little different. - Chronicon is an indie pixel graphics little gem, it still got quite some depth behind it, and it's quite charming.
I have copies of Divine Divinity and Beyond Divinity from GOG (Good Old Games) packaged to install and run on modern windows computers. They also have games like Duke Nukem 3d which self installs in a Dosbox configured for modern hardware and includes updated textures (graphics), weapons, and additional levels.
path of exile is one of the best games ever made, and easily the best arpg ever made. the only real issue that it has is that's it's far too complex for most people. this normally isnt a bad thing as many casual players in other games tend to just make builds based on guide, but in path of exile the grind to get gear is amplified exponentially if you dont understand the complex game mechanics, which means that most casual players encounter an overwhelming grind wall that they simply cant get past. in poe knowledge is power, which leads those who cant or dont want to understand the games mechanics to leave far before they ever get to experience what makes poe great.
I like Warhammer 40.000: Inquisitor Martyr. It's not the best looking game by any means, and it can be a bit clunky sometimes, but it's really fun and cool to play in between other games, just to chill.
Diablo 2 will always be the game that got me interested in ARPGs but I haven't played Resurrected because I refuse to give Blizzard attention and money. That being said, I feel like Last Epoch is a diamond in the rough. It's still being actively worked on and as I right this, still in Early Access but it's a really casual friendly ARPG with a really nice class system and has done well to capture what I liked about Diablo 2.
Long comment warning! But please read as I desperately need help finding the right ARPG! \ I really like the isometric perspective & enemies design of ARPG games & I tried getting into them (bought wolcen & grim dawn which has really positive reviews & you can see people mentioning it in the comments) but when I played them I found them really really boring!! As a souls veteran I like challenging games where you need to use your reflexes & brain skills & to actually get gud to win! But when I tried grim dawn (wolcen was slightly better for me) I found all the gameplay was actually point & spam clicks to win! Plus the enormous amount of loot you need hours reading to find the ones with the best stats which I find really boring as I want to spend time actually playing not reading stuff! Not to mention all the skills you need to read to find the best ones. Now Im not against reading but Im against the huge amount of reading needed in these games! & when you finally finish reading you're back to the same click spamming gameplay!!. I really see it as wasted potential for these games :( now let me tell you about the games with the same perspective that I really like & wish all ARPGS were like them!! They are: hades, death door, v rising, victor vran, dark siders genesis & few others I can't remember. Now why do I like these games : simple, the combat is challenging & there's much less amount of reading! Can someone please help me & tell me about any other challenging arpg out there PLEASE!
The main reason I prefer diablo 3 over diablo 2 resurrected is because of the progression and loot systems are just so much better and more refined in d3, not to mention the combat is light years better, there's far more build diversity and variety, the loot system is just so much better in d3
Been playing Last Epoch, has potential though not a fan of the limited amount of skills you can select at one time, though they say it is a design choice and likely will not change it....still not my thing even one or two skills extra would make a world of difference for me (you can select one extra skill but at the expense of a base attack but again wish would just have the extra skill slot )
@@osirisruiz492 the game is very playable and enjoyable, you wont hit a wall for 100s of hours, but if you dont like that you will Probably have to do it all over again when it releases, i would wait
I don't think LE is all that different than other ARPGs in the department of skills though. I even prefer it in some ways. Even if GD & TQ & some others have more skill slots, usually a good chunk of those are populated with must-have passive auras whereas most builds, from what I've played anyway, in LE require you to go through the whole rotation rather than just 1-2 skills. In their defense, a lot of class fantasies & combos were built around having that number of skills and adding more would require pretty much reworking classes from the grounds-up so I can't see them bothering with that :d
i had alot of fun with path of exile and diablo 3 but my favourite action rpgs are third person witcher 3, whole fromsoft soulsborne roster, mass effect series, dragon age inquisition, monster hunter world and dragons dogma :)
wolcen imo has by far the best campaign in an ARPG and the bosses were very fun to play against. i think ive heard theyve nerfed them, which is a damn shame because their difficulty (fair, but hard) was the good part, wolcen did suffer from bad build diversity and wildly different skill efficiency, much like diablo4, but if you dont view an ARPG as something you have to put 500 hours into for it to be good, and accept it as a game where you only play the campaign, then imo its maybe the best ARPG made. but yes, endgame is lacking, the build diversity was lacking due to some things being so much worse than others and many passive skills being very boring small stat boosts, but the campaign was great and imo its worth a play if you just wanna go through campaign.
D3 for me lacks a lot of interesting stuff to do in endgame. It feels like they were chronologically developping the game and had a great idea for the game but then just ran out of time and released it anyway leaving the ending bits out that made it actually interesting for the hundreds of hours that people wanna put into their characters on arpgs. PoE is also a pinnacle of the genre of course but for the time that you're putting into ARPGs I'd recommend against it or at very least make a standard character and just gradually build a character over the years with some minor respecs every league without worrying about all the resets.
Sorry about your bad comment. I hope it won't detract you from Grim Dawn. It's really worth checking. I usually say it's the best current ARPG because of it's slower pace. To draw a parallel with D2, I accuse most modern ARPG of trying to make everyone a javazone: run fast, kill fast, nothing matters. I like GD (and even Titan Quest) because they play more like an elemental Bowazone: sometimes you are strong, sometimes you are clunky, but you always have options. Not going to lie, javazones are fun and flashy. I understand why plenty love them. But I like a little more spice in my gameplay.
Okay, I was going to 'text-yell' for not mentioning Grim Dawn... but then I saw your post about not playing it 'yet'. Ok, can't get mad for someone for hasn't experience Grim Dawn.
first time i actually 100% agree with someone's opinions entierly on vids covering ARPG's i am a heavily POE player since almost the start, but i also love d2/d2r and d3 and enjoyed Wolcen a lot to . i did not try Grim Dawn or Last Epoch but they are obiously good games as well .
So this is an old video, but I may give my opinion on this issue, since I'm rather a heavy player of H&S games. I haven't played Wolcen, Last Epoch, of Victor Vran, so I wonj't be able to speak about those. My list isn't that original, it is tied to my tastes so It's just mine : DII LoD/D2:R ; Titan Quest (Anniversary or just Ragnarock) / Grim Dawn because not only the same dev, but also same structure for skills and items ; TL2 because obvious reasons ; PoE because another obvious reasons (I mean boy I love this game) ; last is Van Helsing, Directors Cut Edition (because less bugs). If you tell me to remove one of the TQ/GD I will remove TQ because I prefer dark grimy gothic ambient so GD is best suited for my taste. I saw for some of the player base that Van Helsing is controversial because less deep than many other games, but I like the simplicity of its gameplay, for what it's worth, and I find this gameplay to be not that superficial. I mean, it's complex enough to keep me thinking about what my build will be by lvl40 when I will unlock those tier 3 skills, so it's good enough. Speaking of Diablo III, man you've said what I said since the beginning of 2013 (I bought the game like 1 month after it's release, because of finals I had to pass) and since they corrected the bugs, it was good, it was better after taking out the RMAH though, so I've always said "This is not a good Diablo but this is a good game nonetheless". Pleased to see another player thinks the same, because I passed like hundreds of hours farming the bounties when I needed no brainer gameplay, and it was chill, with or without friends the game is really chill.
I got to the endgame of Wolcen, and it was a good time, but something made me stop, and I can't remember what it was now. Maybe it was just what you said, the endgame content isn't that exciting. Kinda wanna go back and play some more. I've never gotten into PoE because it seems like you need to do homework to get really into it. Like, I was looking up builds and just getting overwhelmed.
Right now Last Epoch is my favorite, I haven't played Wolcen and having played a few seasons of Path of Exile I just dont like it. While I like Grim Dawn something about it just never kept me coming back to it. Last Epoch is the last ARPG that gave me that "Cant wait to play it when I get off work" since D2. I like playing a melee fighter, being up front smacking things. This doesnt work in games like Path of Exile when most builds can delete your screen of monsters with 1 press of a button, plus I think the telegraphed mechanics in POE are cheap and dogshit. Last Epoch I feel does a way better job in all aspects, except obviously it isnt multiplayer yet since its in early release.
Some of you may think you love Grim Dawn, but none of you were the guy whose comment got filtered for calling me and my family some horrendous things for not playing it. Posers.
What? That's very bizarre. How does someone get that mad about someone else not playing a videogame they like? Geeze, the internet can be a very silly and sad place sometimes.
Grim Dawn is one of if not my favourite ARPG (I like the levelling system which reminds me a bit of Deadfire in that you can combine two separate classes and the lore/setting is great) but it is bizarre that someone would get angry because it's not one of the games you've played and reviewed. And TL2, POE, and Wolcen are all excellent too. The only thing holding me back from playing another season of POE is - as I think you said in your video - how difficult it is to play seriously without following someone else's cookie-cutter build. What I would really love is an ARPG with a levelling system a bit like Pathfinders :) Thanks Mortismal for all your videos - I enjoy watching them!
That's insane who gets butthurt because someone else hasn't played their favorite game, especially a game like Grim Dawn. i love it but i found out about it completely by accident. it's not that big of a game. i just don't understand some people, it's just a game. there's no reason to get nasty just because somebody else hasn't played it or maybe they don't like it.
I'm sorry man. The Grim Dawn player base is usually pretty chill but I guess you ran into a black sheep. :/
"You can't like what I don't like" or "You have to like what I like" are sadly (and insanely) the origin of wars.
Nothing new under the internet sun I guess.
Regarding Grim Dawn, I'm a little bit sad that you don't play it, because you and I have really similar tastes (from what your videos say about your tastes). But hey, to each his own.
I once tried to get into PoE but got lost quickly. I look up a beginner guide where they guy spent almost 30 minutes talking about end game stuff before he started talking about beginner stuff.
It was mostly end game grinding, currencies, loot and such and then after over half an hour starts talking about how to move your character and the first area. I decided to quite then and there.
That was a huge mistake on your end.
Grim Dawn is a great game in its own right, but, as a Diablo 2 fan, you might also like the Reign of Terror mod. It combines D2 and GD classes in a D2 environment. There's a whole slew of new classes to try, all while playing a faithful re-creation of D2.
TitanQuest is absent and that is one I always enjoyed lots, and one of the very first games I ever played, even if it does feel rather dated by now. Many of its systems and the whole multiclassing deal it allows for are refined and ported over to Grim Dawn as well. It's just an extremely fun way of building characters, mixing two classes that synergize well. Reminds me of the more classing CRPG levelling systems with their own ideas for multiclassing.
Wolcen is a sore spot for me. I bought the game when it was in-dev on GOG. And then they took it off that particular market place. I didn't notice because the email disappeared in the usual sales and new arrival messages from GOG, and I also had the pre-release version of the game installed to check in on it every now and then. And when the launch happened I didn't really think too much about lagging behind a couple of versions since most devs update their products way more frequently on Steam. Luckily I was able to get a refund when I actually noticed that I would never be upgraded to the full version. The whole thing soured my outlook on the game though, and I don't think that I will be getting into it.
Yeah, you should definitely try Grim Dawn, it was my personal successor to Diablo II instead of Diablo 3 because progression system was more complex and diverse, story was more dark, environment more grim, also more “secret side stuff” as I call it, like cow level in Diablo II, and overall hack’n’slashing is more fun.
I think it has way more world building and story than any other arpg I've played too.
If grim dawn isn’t in a top 5 for arpgs it’s usually because the person who made the list hasn’t played it.
@@tonynittoli4792 I think Mortismal is really lucky to enjoy arpgs and still have Grim Dawn to experience. Definitely one of the best arpgs out there.
exactly what I was thinking. It is the 2nd best ARPG after D2 in my opinion
Grim dawn good
Great list! Only thing missing is Grim Dawn, it's the best arpg imo.
Grim Dawn gang come through!
Agreed
I wish the story was more compelling but the feeling of playing I that world harkens back to the darkness of the og Diablo. The stamina mechanic is pretty cool too
But was mentioned!
@@lepetitpantaloonsfancie i am here
Am currently playing The Ascent, which is great. Have played and enjoyed D2, D3, Grim Dawn, Torchlight 1 and 2, PoE, Hades. 1000s of hours of goodness.
Surpised as others are that there was no mention of Grim Dawn.
Love all these Grim Dawn comments xD Such a good game
I couldn't agree more on Path of Exile. It is definitely my favorite but I can't play it since I am playing games casually. The first 3 characters I leveled hit a wall really hard after a certain point. They just couldn't survive the onslaught. Which led me to follow builds online, which in turn made the game feel like a chore.
6:55 "Wolcen is a great game to play until you get to the end of it" LMFAO
I'm not sure how to ask this, but I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on the end game loop of recent ARPG's. I love ARPG's and I also love RPG's in general, but lately I've been feeling a bit of a disconnect with the way people engage with the ARPG genre. I enjoy playing all ARPG's, playing through the campaign numerous times with varying builds, and for the most part approaching it the same as I would any other RPG, but it seems like for most modern ARPG gamers the campaign is just the tutorial and the "Real" game is grinding for the perfect end game set and min maxing to be the most powerful thing ever.
I'm sure you could play Baldur's Gate 3 or other RPG's like that too, but I think most people play those games for the experience, and it just seems weird to me that ARPG's for whatever reason seem to be dominated by a strictly min max style approach to gameplay.
Really enjoyed this video as I just recently started playing "Titan Quest Anniversary Edition" and although I never played the mother of them all "Diablo" I instantly fell in love with the ARPG genre. I bought "Grim Dawn" and I can't wait until "Lost Ark" comes out. I also wanna try "Warhammer 40.000: Inquisitor - Martyr" and also every other ARPG I can get my hands on. Even installed "Diablo 3" to try for free. So yes, I just now discovered a whole new genre for me I never even know I loved so much. Hope for more content on your channel about ARPG as your videos are really high quality and very informative.
Don't sleep on Torchlight, Last Epoch, Van Helsing, Victor Vran, Grim Dawn, etc.
Reading all those comments about Grim Dawn made me reinstall the game after 2 years and got me back into it. Thanks Mortum and comment section
And even though you don't normally review ARPGs, I would love to see your thoughts on it.
Community League season 3 was a blast. Looking forward to season 4
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 1&2
Champions of Norrath 1&2
Dungeon Siege 1&2
Sacred 1&2
Shadows: Awakening
Throne of Darkness
Undecember
To me what Diablo 2 still does better than most if not all other ARPGs is the game feel. The sensation of hitting enemies, the sound of items falling on the ground, it's spot on.
There is no better arpg than path of exile, especially on killng mobs.
saudosism
That's a great point.
Torchlight 2 nailed this as well. The Pavlov’s Bell effect.
@@305killer I’m debating getting into it since It’s so often recommended but when I look at endgame gameplay it just seems so silly, like I saw one guy moving through a dungeon with a bajillon lighting bolts shooting in all directions, is that really just how characters will end up once you reach the endgame?
Path of Exile took 4k hours of my life and I couldn't be happier about it, I agree about the casual play though even after all this time I'm not interested in being the best and feel like I might not be the target audience after all lol. I can recommend Last Epoch though it is in early access, it grabbed me in the same way PoE did years ago, very easy to pick up and learn with tons of different build options, they also do "class fantasy" lot closer to crpgs or Diablo 2 then any of the other ones in the genre.
Both grim dawn and last epoch are absolutely worth trying it. Grim Dawn is kind of like diablo 2 and wolcen when it comes to end game. It doe have a sort of rifts system like diablo 3, but mainly its just playing the campaign over and over. Last epoch its clunky in gameplay, but ideas wise its awesome all around. End game stuff is a great idea too. If they can just work out the kinks it could easily compete with poe.
cool list thanks.
For me there is still Sacred 1+2 and yes, Grim Dawn and their older title Titan Quest
personally never tried Wolcen but maybe will give it a go when it is on sale .
Just a nod to Grim Dawn, made by the people that made Titan Quest, with a similar 'dual class' feature. And just because someone doesn't list a game you like is no reason to be rude, something the anonymity of the internet seems to bring out. Love your content Mortem, and look forward to each new video.
Not entirely sure why, but my favorite ARPG I've tried is still just Diablo 1, at least with the Beelzebub mod. My best guess is it has to do with simplicity and strength of theming.
Other ARPGs can stray from town to town, sometimes including settings I don't particularly care for, such as deserts. Also, most ARPGs are much more graphically advanced, in a way that I'm not super compatible with. I'm pretty susceptible when it comes to games in this perspective where things are more zoomed out to find myself getting lost in all the visual noise and similar colors and particle effects and floating numbers. If I can't even tell where my character is on the screen during a fight, or what's even going on, I'm probably gonna tune out real quick from being overwhelmed.
Not Diablo 1 though. Simple, dark catacombs with my bright red wizard clear as day in big chunky pixels. A laser precision theme, where all it is is you, a spooky gothic town, a big old catacomb that eventually culminates in hell, flawless voice acting in that glorious overacted 90s fantasy way, all while listening to some of the best town music and ambience in any game period. And casting lightning in demon's faces. You just can't beat that.
Haven't played Diablo 2 yet since I was waiting for the remake, only for Activision-Blizzard to become...somewhat morally questionable to purchase from, and I'm still debating whether Microsoft owning them now and making changes (hopefully) means I can buy it and sleep at night somewhat reasonably yet.
Belzebub D1 is top-tier arpg
Dang. This is my fav channel for long form rpg game reviews. I wish that it did more arpg vids.
I’m glad that we at least got this one.
Try Last Epoch. It's amazing and has a robust druid class in particular.
A lot of people mentioning Grim Dawn, but despite it’s atmosphere and some big gameplay improvements, I think I spend more time playing Titan Quest, because of the mythological story, settings, and visuals.
Another issue with Path of Exile is that, even though you describe it almost as an MMO (I think because of the towns and fantastic party anywhere and instancing system), the mechanics cater far more to single player and the usefulness of multiplayer falls behind more than other ARPGs. I also don’t like how late endgame turns into a game of clear every pack instantly so mob type and stats don’t matter. And all combat becomes the same moment to moment of shred or rip.
Titan Qust is the arpg of my life. I will play it forever
Grim dawn, titan quest, Diablo 2, that’s all I’ll ever need
Hey Mortym question for you: What would be your dream CRPG? What elements would it take from other games to be greater than the sum of it's parts. And lastly is there a studio you would prefer to make this dream game?
I'm kicking a few longer video ideas around and this is on that list
My favorite ARPG is Sacred 2. I am not a huge fan of grinding for levels or gear, so I like S2 for the relatively interesting world and quests. It’s intentionally cheesy and I find it quite funny. Plus the survival mechanic is a good concept, whereby the enemies get stronger the longer you go without dying, but also drop better loot. I also like Grim Dawn, which I think feels much more like Diablo 2 than Diablo 3 does.
I had a blast with Dungeon Siege 2.
Also have a soft spot for Dungeon Siege 2, one that seems to have flown a bit under the radar.
Been enjoying Inquisitor Martyr quite a bit, people were crying about it at launch but being a newcomer I cant see anything but a decent game
It was pretty bad at launch.
The devs initially wanted to make combat more strategic by making players use the environment for cover and ambushes but that feature was barely used.
All was left was a sluggish mess of a game with uninteresting progression, missions and loot.
It's one of the few games I refunded on Steam but I recently bought it again while it was on sale and it's actually good now.
I think you'd really like the build possibilities of Grim Dawn. Last Epoch is also shaping up to be really good and looks like it'll also have a ton of options for cool and interesting builds
You should try Titan Quest if you haven't yet. I started this month and love it. It's similar to Grim Dawn and is essential Diablo set in Greek mythology. The only bad thing is it doesn't appear to be well optimized on PC and I've yet to figure out a solution. I'm sure there's mods I haven't found yet that could fix it.
It's a PC game, where else would it be optimized on?
Yeah, if you want to slightly step back from the complexity and multiplayer aspects of PoE then Grim Dawn is a robust alternative. Customization is no slouch either as you can layer skill trees with constellation bonuses, artifacts, and faction augments.
Also, while it admittedly suffers mechanically due to being a predecessor title, Titan Quest has a strong mythic age setting that can be fun to experience as you travel from Greece to Egypt and on toward China.
My favorite ARPG is def Borderlands 3, I have many hours, I have beat it many times, and its just a comfort game. I know its a "Looter Shooter" but Borderlands specifically has always been inspired by Diablo so I consider it an ARPG. Main story is a story for sure, it does do story, but the DLC story is legit really good and also the gameplay is the best in Borderlands series
Revisiting this video, the best thing I can say about Wolcen(after buying it on sale) is that the skill customization is an interesting idea. I went with a gunslinger build and the auto-turret and rail gun felt great to use, and even basic attacks could be customized with the upgrade rings(I specced for rebounding shots and high damage at range). Even now though the game and gear systems feel half-baked, and the 'ascended' transformation feels poorly executed.
I'm glad your channel isn't an ARPG channel but I enjoyed your breakdown. Keep on gaming!
Loved Champions of Norrath as a kid. Played the heck out of Hades. Recently picked up Diablo 3 with a friend and loving it for what it is. Another fun but small rogue-lite aRPG, that was a little rough-around-the-edges (and that I hope they eventually do a more fleshed out sequel to) is Children of Morta - some interesting design ideas in there, with the way the characters progress together . And, if you want to get super broad with the definition of what an aRPG is, I think you could include Bordelands 2 - loved that game. Ones that I've never played, but really want to try in the future (again, broadest possible definition of aRPG): Grim Dawn, Path of Exile 2, The Ascent, Dark Souls, Elden Ring, No Rest for the Wicked, V Rising.
I am honestly surprised to see Diablo 3 and Wolcen on any top 5 ARPG list.. With games like Titansquest, Grim dawn, Last epoch and even The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing.
@@kenjordan954 Anything Blizzard made at the time sold incredibly well.
So of course the game would sell amazingly well, Being the successor of 2 of the most loved ARPGs ever released as well as being a blizzard game.
Diablo 3 can be fun for a day or two, for sure.
But it's still a garbage ARPG. Without any character development or depth.
The only "updates" the game gets is changing up the meta by tweaking a few numbers on the sets. And this have been the case from almost the beginning of ROS.
When Combat is the only thing it got going for it.. I think we all can agree its a bad fucking game. Diablo 3 was a huge disspointment and is the worst game blizzard have ever released.
Hero clicker got more ARPG elements then Diablo 3. And you won't see that game on any ARPG lists out there.
@@kenjordan954 On top of that Diablo 3 isn't even bad any more. I recently bought Eternal edition & I was shocked by how much better it is now than back when I first played D3 in the early 2010s, where I just dropped it after 1 playthrough. One thing that D3 gets right is the projectile & magic combat & it does it better than most Arpgs. Van Helsing & Victor Vran are extremely overrated. I guess people prefer the more focused story of those two, because it sure ain't the action.
Vikings: Wolves of Midgard is a pretty good ARPG nothing ground breaking but viking themed D2 knockoff can be a good change of pace.
Glad someone mention this arpg, it's a very decent game.
Tried PoE. I did NOT like how the acts are supposed to be just placeholders for the REAL game.
Wolcen is badass. They're working on releasing chapter 4 and end game content
I was watching some of your older videos, ARPGs are my favorite genre. I have beat most of the original content for PoE, and did most of it with a friend. PoE is way too complex for most people, and you need a build guide to not screw it up. D2 is one of my favorites, but agree about runes. I used to play tons of D3 after RoS came out, and I hit at least prestige 1200 in in 8 the 10 seasons after that. I enjoy Torchlight 2, 1 was the basic loot loop, but was missing the variety that 2 had. -- Grim Dawn is still great, and am curious to hear your current take on it after the new DLC comes out. I like that nearly any build can be viable. It is the D2 sequel we deserved, but made by the folks that make Titan Quest. -- I played an absurd amount Marvel Heroes back in the day. David Brevik worked on it until 2016, and they redid the skills after he left. The game shutdown in late 2017 after Disney terminated the contract with the developer. It was basically an F2P MMO ARPG that had a lot common DNA with Marvel Ultimate Alliance.
Thanks for the Wolcen bit! I've been trying to remember its name for a while.
I’m pretty new to ARPG’s and I’ve played a few like Warhammer 40k Inquisitior, Warhammer Chaosbane, Wolcen, Diablo 2 and Diablo 4 and while I enjoy them I have not finished any of them. I don’t know if it’s a gameplay loop thing or attention span but I can’t seem to finish them. I enjoy them when I’m playing it but I never feel the need or urge to complete them like with RPG’s like The Witcher 3 or Baldurs Gate 3. I’m gonna try to again and will attempt to finish Diablo 2 and 4. I’m a solo player so I’m obviously gonna miss out on the multiplayer and not gonna endlessly do endgame content. Maybe that’s why I don’t finish them is cause they’re meant to be played with others but I could be wrong.
i really agree on the issue with poe requiring a certain commitment but i don't understand what you mean by saying its heavily monetized, the only relevant thing you need real money for are stash tabs, and if you blow like 10 bucks on those once that can easily get you through hundreds of hours, all the other purchasable items are purely cosmetic and theres never any agressive pop ups trying to sell you anything
Diablo 2 is a classic, but its age is showing. Also has some brutal difficulty spikes if you didn't spec your character correctly.
Diablo 3 is by far the most polished out of the lot and can be a lot of fun to grind for a couple of days once or twice a year.
Torchlight 2 just works. Small download, quick loading times, stable gameplay and a lot of flashy and cartoony action combat. This game was made with lots of love and attention to detail.
Wolcen has the most satisfying action combat of the bunch, but lacks meaningful endgame goals that justify playing past the - unfinished - campaign for more than a few hours.
Path of Exile is just massive. Too massive for my taste, as I'm constantly torn between different game modes. Good luck coming back to the game after a long hiatus and picking things up where you left them... But "heavily monetized"? That's just objectively false, or at least very misleading.
So far Grim Dawn and Diablo 3 Switch are my favorite arpgs. Playing these on a controller was a ton of fun although I'm primarily a kb+m player and the added gore/ragdoll effects adds to the power of spells and weapons.
Same here. I've nearly 1500h on Grim Dawn, but still I feel like I've only scratched its surface.
grab grim dawn while its on sale. its feature set and qualities seem to fit very well into the arpg aspects you enjoy.
I like watching you because you sound intelligent. Full stop. Your int score sells these videos. Grats on 40k I think youll continue to see growth (especially in the hours viewed per month) because of a rich back catalogue of content for new viewers to splurge on.
I'm currently revisiting Titan Quest (maybe even 100% if i wanna no-life a couple months or something) and it's interesting that it shares with diablo 2 the problem of the balancing with sets and "enchanting", diablo 2's keyword system vs titan quest's charms/relics. Sets not being able to combine with these makes in both cases special equipment that's specifically both "enchantable" but rare enough to be powerful the bis for a lot of stuff. Even today with the three new expansions after the revival of titan quest it's still pretty much the same "problem", although sets are still very much powerful enough to get you enjoyably through the game. Just especially not hardcore (there's no actual hardcore setting but achievements for not dying once).
One problem I have with either and idk if any arpg properly solved this issue is saving nice sets/uniques for new characters. Managing a plethora of characters that just store your loot in their limited inventory or third party tools are both pretty mediocre options.
Titan Quest just always stands out to me as an arpg where you can literally play an active healer, in solo-play.
For me the best ARPG (at least, from those that I played) is Grim Dawn. Pretty great story, really interesting world and lore, cool characters, great gameplay and class system. It's complex, but not to the point of Path of Exile, which has so many different aspects you have to pay attention to when creating a character with a certain build in mind that... well, PoE is great, but I got tired of it pretty fast because of that. Grim Dawn has deph to it's gameplay and a wide variety of classes and builds for each one. Also, I really like it's aesthetics, so dark and... well, grim. It has a good ammount of different enemies and a lot of bosses and mini bosses. When I saw that it wasn't on your list I was gonna comment that I felt a little surprised that Diablo 3 made it and not Grim Dawn. But seeing as you didn't play it (yet) it's understandable.
Path of Exile can be played casually. You just have to play... one character per league, no switch. Or strip everything on that character and play a new one while keeping only necessity items like currency (sellable ones), which means you have to know what you want and need in the first place, so... like one of those veteran players who suddenly wanted a fresh, no payment start.
Great list! Rather than add my voice to the chorus of Grim Dawn fans that have expressed themselves below, I will say that Lost Ark really is worth a playthrough or two, if you have the discipline to stay out of the cash shop and not get sucked into the endgame grind. The story is not spectacular but their use of the environment in dungeons, over the top set piece events, mechanics, and boss battles are top notch. It's even fun in the tutorial phase. There's no waiting for the experience to get good.
My top 5 of the ones I have played:
Grim Dawn - just all around terrific…lots of options for building your character, endgame is varied and deep and it is a great bargain.
Diablo 3 - yes the launch sucked but that is ancient history. Yes, it does not have the D2 aesthetic. But who cares? It is fun and well-crafted with some broken ass builds.
Last Epoch - probably the least polished game on my list but it is very compelling and also has a rich combat and class system.
Sacred 2 - an oldie but a goodie. Plus you get a mount. What’s not to love?
Path of Exile - pretty much the reasons you stated
I love grim dawn but always hit a wall every playthrough on the second difficulty usually, character gets melted even when resistances are up and raised. I have posted builds asking advise and did what was advised....but then the build suffers in other ways so I dunno if I am really unlucky when it comes to loot
Heard Lost Epoch seems good too.
I do enjoy any ARPG where I can make a passive build utilising turrets.
(It's always fun for me to watch as an army of mechanical contraptions do all the work, while I sit back and sip my drink).
Grim Dawn with mortars.
PoE with ballistae.
Torchlight 2 with turrets.
... Might have forgotten a game here, but if you guys know of any others that offer such a playstyle, please, do tell :)
I'd be interested to know what you thought of WH: Chaosbane.
I was immediately disappointed because I thought I was getting a "C" cRPG... but once I gave it a chance I was hooked through to a point where I just couldn't kill a demon you have to kill to progress or else I couldn't figure out the way around it. Haven't picked it back up.
In retrospect it was a bit samey, even for an aRPG. Spam one good move, mow down a horde of smaller enemies. Spam a different good move, kill a bigger enemy.
I'll give it another chance with a different character one day. I mean it was good fun when I was hooked on it.
WH40K: Inquisitor Martyr had much the same effect on me.
Samey, spam, but fun until I hit a roadblock.
Maybe I'm just not very good at aRPGs. 🤷🤣
Short and to the point. The one thing i was expecting.
POE is definitely hard to learn, but there are a thousand build guides available here on youtube or other sites, and the way to learn is to see what the guides say. Skim a couple guides, and go on in with your own twist on it. You won't dominate the full endgame with your janky homebrew stuff, but the game has so damn much content you won't even sniff the endgame until you're somewhat experienced anyway, so being on a lower powered build isn't so bad as a beginner.
I actually enjoyed Torchlight and Diablo more than the second games in those series, I liked the second games too but something about the simplicity spoke to me in the originals. I'm playing some Divine Divinity now and am surprised it didn't make this list, is it that you liked these more or do you not consider it an ARPG because of the amount of story or another reason?
Its one of those games that spans a couple genres really, I think of it more as a CRPG myself, but I can definitely understand people calling it an ARPG
good list....top 5 of mine are probably titan quest, grim dawn, dungeon siege 2, torchlight 2 and diablo 3....lots of good ones to choose from and lots i didn't even started yet :)
I was struggling with TL2 recently and I stopped playing fairly quickly. My Warlock (for example) has a couple of possible ranged attacks that both claim to be based on weapon damage (40% of it in both cases). One does a lot more damage/dps than the other early game and I've no idea why. On top of this I fought my way through a few tens of levels armed with wand or staff because it seemed the thing to do and then wondered if a hammer might work ... it added tons more damage to the ranged spells. Maybe my Berserker would be better off duel wielding wands or main hand pet collar and off hand tag!?! Not too many places to go to find info on the guts of the game either unfortunately.
Surprised to not see grim dawn on the list. :O
Played poe for 8 years.I have a char that has 437 days if I hit the "/played" command.What did I get for this commitment?All my exalted orbs devalued to nothing , all 8 years of amasing them.
Did you try Grim Dawn? Pretty solid game despite been around for a while now.
That is a pretty similar list to me except I did not play Path of Exile for long, I forget why. I try PoE 2 if the word is good. I've put in a fair amount of time on every Diablo but they are not my favourites. I really Wolcen and I've just started a new character to check out the chapter 4 upgrade. I loved both Torchlight 1 & 2. Grim Dawn is a great game as far as playability but I cannot get by the graphics. I don't why Grim Dawn doesn't update its graphics because it has quite a following despite shite graphics.
Well, now we've got to get those builds you know from memory for D2, hehe
I played Darkstone for the PS1 as my first sorta ARPG game and I like it more than Diablo 2, I think only because I played it first and it's not the greatest but i just love it so much.
Kinda suprised you haven't tried Grim Dawn yet, if you got the time, its pretty good, and my personal favorite ARPG.
I'm enjoying D2R, but yeah...I wish sets and uniques were better and had a higher drop rate. I also wish there were a lot more of them, at all levels.
Rune words are great, but they seem like a requirement, not an enhancement. eg: in early game, I'm always making a Stealth studded leather or breastplate for every build. I've never found anything close to better. Sorc always gets a Leaf staff Normal, and melee characters always get a Steel or Malice. Ancient's Pledge is required too, unless you get really lucky with resistance items. Because, again, I've never really found anything better on Normal.
Slightly OT: I wish someone would make a game with top-down ARPG mechanics, but actually write an excellent and compelling story. We just blow off ARPG stories because we accept that they're weak or unimportant...
What is that bar you have above stamina bar in D2?
Interesting. My top ARPG is quite different, but to each their own.
I played a bit PoE and Wolcen and enjoyed them, but they felt dry to me after a while. I didn't play them as of lately (for Wolcen i had a recurring crash at the start, disabling me to play any blood trail content after i downloaded it again). I got Torchlight 2 for free on epic, and it was fun to play through it once, but i probably won't go back to it.
My top 3 are definitely Grim Dawn, Titan quest (both by the same developers with double mastery system) and Diablo 2 (particularly MedianXL mod, i played a lot of this one, it added so much more to the original game, albeit transforming a lot - like classes)
Oh and also Last Epoch, still in beta but very interesting.
Since the most familiar ones, missing on the list, have already brought up in the comments:
- If you want to go old school, the first Diablo is still checking out at least once, its mechanics are now from the Stone Age, but the ambiance it's got, is still amazing (Tristram theme is also the best).
- Another old-timer is the Divine Divinity series (H&S precursors of DOS), got some issues running it on modern tech, but it's good fun, if a little different.
- Chronicon is an indie pixel graphics little gem, it still got quite some depth behind it, and it's quite charming.
I have copies of Divine Divinity and Beyond Divinity from GOG (Good Old Games) packaged to install and run on modern windows computers. They also have games like Duke Nukem 3d which self installs in a Dosbox configured for modern hardware and includes updated textures (graphics), weapons, and additional levels.
path of exile is one of the best games ever made, and easily the best arpg ever made. the only real issue that it has is that's it's far too complex for most people. this normally isnt a bad thing as many casual players in other games tend to just make builds based on guide, but in path of exile the grind to get gear is amplified exponentially if you dont understand the complex game mechanics, which means that most casual players encounter an overwhelming grind wall that they simply cant get past. in poe knowledge is power, which leads those who cant or dont want to understand the games mechanics to leave far before they ever get to experience what makes poe great.
I don't play ARPGs, but I heard good things of Grim Dawn. I even considered to buy it, but I already have to many games to play in my backlog.
Have you ever tried Sacred? It's a super nice ARPG, Diablo like but does many things different
I like Warhammer 40.000: Inquisitor Martyr. It's not the best looking game by any means, and it can be a bit clunky sometimes, but it's really fun and cool to play in between other games, just to chill.
Came here to add to the "Grim Dawn" pile-on!
Also: I am glad I did, because I've now discovered "Last Epoch" - thank you, fellow commenters!
Diablo 2 will always be the game that got me interested in ARPGs but I haven't played Resurrected because I refuse to give Blizzard attention and money. That being said, I feel like Last Epoch is a diamond in the rough. It's still being actively worked on and as I right this, still in Early Access but it's a really casual friendly ARPG with a really nice class system and has done well to capture what I liked about Diablo 2.
Long comment warning!
But please read as I desperately need help finding the right ARPG! \ I really like the isometric perspective & enemies design of ARPG games & I tried getting into them (bought wolcen & grim dawn which has really positive reviews & you can see people mentioning it in the comments) but when I played them I found them really really boring!! As a souls veteran I like challenging games where you need to use your reflexes & brain skills & to actually get gud to win! But when I tried grim dawn (wolcen was slightly better for me) I found all the gameplay was actually point & spam clicks to win! Plus the enormous amount of loot you need hours reading to find the ones with the best stats which I find really boring as I want to spend time actually playing not reading stuff! Not to mention all the skills you need to read to find the best ones. Now Im not against reading but Im against the huge amount of reading needed in these games! & when you finally finish reading you're back to the same click spamming gameplay!!. I really see it as wasted potential for these games :( now let me tell you about the games with the same perspective that I really like & wish all ARPGS were like them!! They are: hades, death door, v rising, victor vran, dark siders genesis & few others I can't remember. Now why do I like these games : simple, the combat is challenging & there's much less amount of reading!
Can someone please help me & tell me about any other challenging arpg out there PLEASE!
The main reason I prefer diablo 3 over diablo 2 resurrected is because of the progression and loot systems are just so much better and more refined in d3, not to mention the combat is light years better, there's far more build diversity and variety, the loot system is just so much better in d3
Been playing Last Epoch, has potential though not a fan of the limited amount of skills you can select at one time, though they say it is a design choice and likely will not change it....still not my thing even one or two skills extra would make a world of difference for me (you can select one extra skill but at the expense of a base attack but again wish would just have the extra skill slot )
I was going to try it but I don't want to buy an ea game, is it worth it? Even in EA?
@@osirisruiz492 the game is very playable and enjoyable, you wont hit a wall for 100s of hours, but if you dont like that you will Probably have to do it all over again when it releases, i would wait
I don't think LE is all that different than other ARPGs in the department of skills though. I even prefer it in some ways. Even if GD & TQ & some others have more skill slots, usually a good chunk of those are populated with must-have passive auras whereas most builds, from what I've played anyway, in LE require you to go through the whole rotation rather than just 1-2 skills. In their defense, a lot of class fantasies & combos were built around having that number of skills and adding more would require pretty much reworking classes from the grounds-up so I can't see them bothering with that :d
I really liked Grim Dawn, it is a fun game.
i had alot of fun with path of exile and diablo 3
but my favourite action rpgs are third person
witcher 3, whole fromsoft soulsborne roster, mass effect series, dragon age inquisition, monster hunter world and dragons dogma :)
wolcen imo has by far the best campaign in an ARPG and the bosses were very fun to play against. i think ive heard theyve nerfed them, which is a damn shame because their difficulty (fair, but hard) was the good part, wolcen did suffer from bad build diversity and wildly different skill efficiency, much like diablo4, but if you dont view an ARPG as something you have to put 500 hours into for it to be good, and accept it as a game where you only play the campaign, then imo its maybe the best ARPG made.
but yes, endgame is lacking, the build diversity was lacking due to some things being so much worse than others and many passive skills being very boring small stat boosts, but the campaign was great and imo its worth a play if you just wanna go through campaign.
Have you tried Warhammer 40k Inquisitor Martyr? If you're not into warhammer then its still a fun arpg with a sci-fi setting
D3 for me lacks a lot of interesting stuff to do in endgame. It feels like they were chronologically developping the game and had a great idea for the game but then just ran out of time and released it anyway leaving the ending bits out that made it actually interesting for the hundreds of hours that people wanna put into their characters on arpgs. PoE is also a pinnacle of the genre of course but for the time that you're putting into ARPGs I'd recommend against it or at very least make a standard character and just gradually build a character over the years with some minor respecs every league without worrying about all the resets.
Sorry about your bad comment.
I hope it won't detract you from Grim Dawn. It's really worth checking. I usually say it's the best current ARPG because of it's slower pace. To draw a parallel with D2, I accuse most modern ARPG of trying to make everyone a javazone: run fast, kill fast, nothing matters. I like GD (and even Titan Quest) because they play more like an elemental Bowazone: sometimes you are strong, sometimes you are clunky, but you always have options.
Not going to lie, javazones are fun and flashy. I understand why plenty love them. But I like a little more spice in my gameplay.
Tell me you haven't played Grim Dawn without telling me you haven't played Grim Dawn
Okay, I was going to 'text-yell' for not mentioning Grim Dawn... but then I saw your post about not playing it 'yet'. Ok, can't get mad for someone for hasn't experience Grim Dawn.
first time i actually 100% agree with someone's opinions entierly on vids covering ARPG's i am a heavily POE player since almost the start, but i also love d2/d2r and d3 and enjoyed Wolcen a lot to . i did not try Grim Dawn or Last Epoch but they are obiously good games as well .
What do you think of the MedianXL Mod for Diablo 2? from what I understand, it's a... pretty insane expansion and revamp of the game.
I rarely if ever play anything with mods honestly
So this is an old video, but I may give my opinion on this issue, since I'm rather a heavy player of H&S games.
I haven't played Wolcen, Last Epoch, of Victor Vran, so I wonj't be able to speak about those.
My list isn't that original, it is tied to my tastes so It's just mine : DII LoD/D2:R ; Titan Quest (Anniversary or just Ragnarock) / Grim Dawn because not only the same dev, but also same structure for skills and items ; TL2 because obvious reasons ; PoE because another obvious reasons (I mean boy I love this game) ; last is Van Helsing, Directors Cut Edition (because less bugs). If you tell me to remove one of the TQ/GD I will remove TQ because I prefer dark grimy gothic ambient so GD is best suited for my taste.
I saw for some of the player base that Van Helsing is controversial because less deep than many other games, but I like the simplicity of its gameplay, for what it's worth, and I find this gameplay to be not that superficial. I mean, it's complex enough to keep me thinking about what my build will be by lvl40 when I will unlock those tier 3 skills, so it's good enough.
Speaking of Diablo III, man you've said what I said since the beginning of 2013 (I bought the game like 1 month after it's release, because of finals I had to pass) and since they corrected the bugs, it was good, it was better after taking out the RMAH though, so I've always said "This is not a good Diablo but this is a good game nonetheless". Pleased to see another player thinks the same, because I passed like hundreds of hours farming the bounties when I needed no brainer gameplay, and it was chill, with or without friends the game is really chill.
Omg youre such a fan of arpgs and you havnt tried Grimm Dawn? Please try it out. Titan Quest too :)
I got to the endgame of Wolcen, and it was a good time, but something made me stop, and I can't remember what it was now. Maybe it was just what you said, the endgame content isn't that exciting. Kinda wanna go back and play some more.
I've never gotten into PoE because it seems like you need to do homework to get really into it. Like, I was looking up builds and just getting overwhelmed.
good list , mine would be , Grim Dawn , Last Epoch , POE, Torchlight 2 , Wolcen
Grim Dawn is now on sale on Steam - only a hint ;)
Actually gonna start playing Wolcen tonight on Xbox 🙅 I think it will be a good time 😁
Right now Last Epoch is my favorite, I haven't played Wolcen and having played a few seasons of Path of Exile I just dont like it. While I like Grim Dawn something about it just never kept me coming back to it. Last Epoch is the last ARPG that gave me that "Cant wait to play it when I get off work" since D2. I like playing a melee fighter, being up front smacking things. This doesnt work in games like Path of Exile when most builds can delete your screen of monsters with 1 press of a button, plus I think the telegraphed mechanics in POE are cheap and dogshit. Last Epoch I feel does a way better job in all aspects, except obviously it isnt multiplayer yet since its in early release.
I haven’t played D3 since season 2. I don’t even know what season they are on now