White Rabbit
PlayStation 4 | Steam
Director: Jean Canellas | Alex Kubodera
Death’s Gambit
Chasm
BitKid
PlayStation 4 | Vita | Steam
Director: James Petruzzi
La-Mulana 2
NIGORO
Steam
Director: Takumi Naramura
Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap
Lizardcube
PlayStation 4 | Steam | Switch | Xbox One
Director: Omar Cornutt
Venture
Exidy
Arcade
Designer: Michael Cooper-Hart (uncertain)
ROOTS: Metroidvania games are one part platformer, one part action-RPG. So while Venture may not have the run-and-jump mechanics we associate with the genre, its formative role in the evolution of action-RPGs absolutely gives it a place on this list—it’s a true classic.
Adventure
Atari
2600
Director: Warren Robinett
ROOTS: The flip side of the Zork coin: Where that game presented the RPG concept entirely in text, allowing for methodical deliberation between player actions, Adventure played out with real-time action. More compact in nature than Zork, Adventure nevertheless introduced key concepts that would become integral to exploratory action games.
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