Which ARPG should you play? There is so many hack n slash games out there that it can be difficult to find a good one without having to buy them all. Diablo II has a special place in our hearts and it is hard to find a game as good. Down below, we made a list of the best ARPG that you can play right now. While we could have used some old games like TitanQuest, Dungeon Siege and Diablo, we made a list only from the games that are recent.
Without more waiting, here is the top 5 ARPG games of the moment!
5. The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing
Initial release date: May 22, 2013
Developer: NeocoreGames
Put on your wide-brimmed hat, grab your weapons and embark on an incredible adventure in the gothic-noir world of Borgovia, where mad science threatens the fragile peace between monster and mortal. Be Van Helsing, monster-hunter extraordinaire and save the day with your charming and beautiful companion, Lady Katarina (who happens to be a ghost, by the way). Explore the savage wilderness in the mountains and the soot-stained brick districts of a grim metropolis twisted by weird science, and don’t forget: you might never know who the real monsters are!
First off, this game is not based on the movie. It is the same character but it has nothing to do with the movie. If you hate or liked the movie, it will not affect what you will think about this game.
The Story. One of the main reasons why Van Helsing is making this list is because of the story. We are also talking about the first game of the series, the second game wasn’t as great as the first one. The story makes the game unique and different from the other franchise of the genre. With great music that fits with the gameplay and a vast world to explore, Van Helsing is truly a solo campaign that you will enjoy.
You are not alone. One of the main thing in this game is that you have a companion that follows you and that you can customize how you want. The companion level up with you, you can gear him and choose his skills to what you feel complete you the best.
One class fits them all. In this game there is only one class; Van Helsing himself. The good part is that you can customize him how you want. You could make him a melee soldier or you could go for the ranged path. Building your character is really easy because you have many skills and it is really easy to undo your points and spec into something else.
Replayability. Unfortunately, there is no replayability in this game. You cannot go back to a previous map that you completed. There is different difficulties but once everything is done, it is done.
Challenging? Not really but that’s a good point. This is not a game that you will need to sink hundreds of hours to beat the final boss. You will clear most of the content in on try which is a big plus for casual players.
Overall, you will probably not play this game as long as the others but you will have a lot of fun. A good plus is that the game is pretty cheap and is often in special (5$ right now with the Halloween discount). If you are bored or the other ARPG and want to try something new that will keep you busy for a little bit, this is the perfect game.
4. Torchlight II
Initial release date: September 20, 2012
Developer: Runic Games
Torchlight returns! The award-winning action RPG is back, bigger and better than ever. Torchlight II takes you once more into the quirky, fast-paced world of bloodthirsty monsters, bountiful treasures, and sinister secrets – and, once again, the fate of the world is in your hands.
Torchlight I was an awesome game. Torchlight II is just incredible!
Infinite possibilities of classes. The game features many classes with a lot of different skills and paths. Just like Diablo II, each class has 3 paths you can invest in. What makes it more awesome is that with the community, you can install mods and play classes that the fans created!
Randomized maps. Each map/dungeon is fully randomized. You will get a unique dungeon each time. You can also replay any map as much as you can in order to get loot and xp. Infinite gameplay because the levels scales with you to the infinite.
Combat. The combat is really well designed, the graphics and effects are really enjoyable even if everything is cartoonish. You can tell that a lot of time has been spent to polish the game. Just like Diablo III, Torchlight makes a lot of points because of the graphics and fluidity of the game.
The loot is epic! Warning, you will get a lot of good loot! Jokes aside, what is really fun is that you will constantly get upgrades and a constant feel of progression. You will not be overwhelmed by the loot but you will keep upgrading your gear and there is no stagnant parts.
In conclusion, this game appeal to both casual and more advance ARPG gamers. You will have hundreds and hundreds of hour of gameplay. There is always something to do and to upgrade.
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3. Diablo III
Initial release date: May 15, 2012
First Expansion: March 25, 2014
Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
The Prime Evil rages within the Black Soulstone, its essence screaming for vengeance and release. Before the artifact can be sealed away forever, Malthael–Angel of Death–manifests in the mortal realms with a deadly new purpose: to steal the Black Soulstone and bend its infernal power to his will.
So begins the end of all things…
Yes, I included Diablo 3 in this list. While many of you will say that Diablo III is bad, Diablo II was better. I need to admit that yes Diablo III wasn’t great on the release but with the expansion and especially with the 2.0 update of Reaper of Souls, this game is among the best ARPG games right now. If you already played Diablo 3, I will not try to convince you to play again. But, if you haven’t tried this game, you need to play it.
Casual to the max. If you are familiar with Blizzard games, they have a tendency to make theirs games appealing for everybody and especially for people that don’t have a lot of time on their hand. Diablo III is the perfect example of casual gaming. It is not hard to succeed and complete everything with only a little bit of time and efforts but you can also go very far with some investments.
Awesome graphics. Out of these 5 games, Diablo features the best graphics. Once again Blizzard did a really good job on the game.
Multiplayer. In this game, it is really easy to play multiplayer. You simply have to choose the difficulty you want and what you want to do and the game will automatically match you with 3 other players to form a party.
Skills. Diablo’s skill system is really to use and you can change skills anytime you want. You can try all the skills and the game and if you don’t like it, just remove it from your slot and try another one. It is impossible to “brick” a character since you can change all your skills at anytime. There is also no stats points. Every stats comes from gear.
Infinite scaling. The story in Diablo is really great but it is not the only thing in the game. Diablo feature a lot of endgame content with their rifts and bounties mechanics. Enter a rift that scales infinitely. Beat the map in under 15 minutes and unlock the next level. Rank yourself on the leader boards.
A lot of people will tell you that Diablo is sh*t. While I can say that yes, the developers disappointed the Diablo fan base and that the devs are not really updating the game anymore except balance patches and seasons. Diablo is still an awesome game and will always stay to the top. You need to try this game if you haven’t yet.
2. Grim Dawn
Initial release date: February 25, 2016
First expansion release date: October 11, 2017
Developer: Crate Entertainment
Enter an apocalyptic fantasy world where humanity is on the brink of extinction, iron is valued above gold and trust is hard earned. This ARPG features complex character development, hundreds of unique items, crafting and quests with choice & consequence.
Grim Dawn is the newest game of the list and is made from the developer that brought us Titan Quest! One of the core games that defined ARPG.
Updated content. One of the strong points of Grim Dawn is that the developers are still active with the game and a new expansion just came out, featuring two new classes and new zones. The game is regularly updated and balanced.
Unique specialisations. Grim Dawn features dual classes. Which means that your character can learn two masteries and can mix those skills together. With 6 base masteries in the regular game and 2 more in the expansion, there is a total of 28 different classes that you can be.
Gothic graphics. Grim Dawn’s theme is close to Diablo II. With a dark gothic theme featuring skeletons, zombies and demons. Grim Dawn could really be Diablo 2.1.
Progress. There is not just xp that you can gain. There is also factions. Fight monsters and complete quests to raise your reputation and unlock powerful recipes. Yes recipes, Grim Dawn feature a good crafting systems and the items can be really useful.
Not randomly generated. All the maps are hand designed and stays the same. But you can reset the zones and fight the monsters again to try to get more loot and xp.
Endgame. The endgame is not as rich as Path of Exile or Diablo III because you will grind the same zones that you did in the story but Grim Dawn is not about the endgame, it is about completing the whole story… which will take you more than 100 hours on your first play through.
Overall, Grim Dawn right now is my 2nd favorite game and it is truly awesome. I strongly suggest you to play this game if you haven’t yet. You will not be disappointed.
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1. Path of Exile
Initial release date: October 23, 2013
First major expansion: July 10, 2015
Second major expansion: August 4, 2017
Developer: Grinding Gear Games
Path of Exile is an online Action RPG set in the dark fantasy world of Wraeclast. It is designed around a strong online item economy, deep character customization, competitive PvP and ladder races. The game is completely free and will never be “pay to win”.
And now for the last and best game, my personal favorite: Path of Exile. It is the most advanced, complex and fun ARPG that is on the market right now. And it is 100% FREE!
Free and no P2W. What makes it great is that it is completely free. The devs make their money from cosmetics that you can buy. There is absolutely no buyable items that can make your character stronger.
No fix classes. There is no fix classes as you know them. The class that you chose only determine your starting point in the massive skill tree. You can be a witch that fights with a sword and wear plate if you want.
Multiplayer. The game is highly designed toward trading with other players but it can be 100% cleared solo. A lot of community tools have been made to allow you to easily find players that are willing to buy your items. Simply invite the person that you want and simply teleport to them. If you play with friends, you can join and them anytime.
Dark theme highly similar to Diablo II. Path of Exile is truly the sequel to Diablo II that Diablo III was supposed to be. The developers did a really good job to get the feel of Diablo II in the theme.
A MASSIVE skill tree. Yes, it is really massive at first. In fact, most of people are scared of it when they see it for the first time. Which brings the fact that in contradictory of the other games listed here, Path of Exile has a big learning curve. If you are casual and do not want to invest at least 100 hours in order to start to really understand the core of the game, Path of Exile might not be for you. But for others that are willing to face and beat that big learning curve, you will thank yourself by playing the best game in the world. There is also a way to refund your points. It will cost a bit (a lot if you haven’t really played) of currency.
Endgame. This game feature an almost endless in game. Once you have completed the 10 act story, you can start “mapping”. Mapping is 16 tiers of dungeons, each stronger than the previous, that you need to fight through in order to beat the true final boss. Personally, I’ve played over 400 hours with 5 different characters and I haven’t been able to beat the guardians that are defending the last boss.
Path of Exile is really a big challenge to conquer. Its learning curve is really hard, especially for new players to the genre, and the game itself is not really easy. If you don’t follow a guide or has an immense knowledge of the game, you will not make it to the endgame. But this is not to scare you. Once you manage to convince yourself that you will die a lot and will need to remake a few characters, you will start to truly enjoy Path of Exile and its beauty and realize that after all it wasn’t that hard and that Path of Exile is really the best game there is.
This is it for my Top 5 Best ARPG Games of the Moment. Do you have a game that you think should be in the top 5? Let us know your favorites games in the comment section below!
