Video Games Encyclopedia

The action role-playing game or action RPG is a type of role-playing video game which incorporates real-time combat as opposed to turn-based or menu-based, often borrowing elements from action games or action-adventure games. Although the precise definition of the genre varies, the typical action RPG features a heavy emphasis on combat, often simplifying or removing non-combat attributes and statistics and the effect they have on the character’s development. Additionally, combat always takes place using a real-time system (hence the “action”) that relies on the player’s ability to perform particular actions with speed and accuracy to determine success, rather than mainly using the player character’s attributes to determine this.