My Top 5 Favorite ARPGs

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Try Last Epoch. It's amazing and has a robust druid class in particular.

Great list! Only thing missing is Grim Dawn, it's the best arpg imo.

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.

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 .

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 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.

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.

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 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.

Thanks for the Wolcen bit! I've been trying to remember its name for a while.

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 :)

Also have a soft spot for Dungeon Siege 2, one that seems to have flown a bit under the radar.