Top 5 Action RPGs on Steam of the Last 10 years

The best Action RPGs will give you hundreds of hours of adventure that will involve negotiation, politicking, and combat. To me, an Action RPG is a game that uses direct, real-time, reflex-oriented, action combat systems. While the combat is important, it has to blend in with the characters, the narrative, the world, and the storytelling. So roll that all together and you get my top 5 Action RPGs of the last ten years.

5. Dragon Age: Origins (2009, BioWare)

Ferelden evokes so much of the Forgotten Realms and captured the feel of Neverwinter Nights, yet somehow avoided feeling like a rehash/re-skin. This is another game with that BioWare magic. The Darkspawn Threat felt like a true “big bad,” world consuming evil. You get to explore a whole world and build alliances between races to save the world.

The combat is fast-paced and fun, with a surprising level of both strategic and tactical depth, depending on how you mix your party and their abilities. There was so much potential synergy I never got to do it all, even after a…