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In the golden console gaming era of the PS2, solid action RPG hybrids were a dime a dozen. You couldn’t walk far in a physical game shop without bumping into tons of 15-hour titles about sword-wielding heroes that needed to score higher hit combos and level up while also occasionally jumping on crumbled rock platforms.
Every publisher got in on this now nearly-forgotten tier of action game. You had games like Primal, Summoner, Gungrave, Dynasty Warriors, Devil May Cry…the list goes on and on. Sometimes they would spawn major franchises that lasted for several titles. Other times they’d be based on an anime series in the hopes of drawing in existing fans. This hybrid genre paved the way for modern game design, forming the mechanical backbone of current open world action adventures, then being left by the side of the proverbial road.
The linear action RPGs of the past have been firmly replaced by big sprawling experiences designed to take 100 hours. Linear narratives with fleshed out character arcs and story twists have been replaced by epics full of icons and side quests and narrative-constraining player choice. You can’t have impactful consequences in a story when the player might do any of a million things on their journey. Sales numbers and online sentiment…
