Summary
Role-playing games (RPGs) have diversified into numerous sub-genres and play styles, which means if you’re looking for a game with stats and loot, while offering deep lore and story, there’s a lot on the menu. Let’s demystify ARPGs, JRPGs, CRPGs, roguelikes, and roguelites.
ARPGs—Action RPGs
The firstDiablogame essentially invented this genre, whereturn-based RPG combatis sped up to real time, and you need some modicum of reflexes to stay alive.
Today, isometric ARPGs are still massively popular with games likeDiablo IV, Path of Exile, and numerous other clones of the first Diablo. However, games from theDark Soulsseries and games likeElder Scrolls V: Skyrimcan be finagled to fit under the ARPG umbrella. However, most of the time when someone says “ARPG” they mean Diablo or one of its many, many clones.
JRPGs—Japanese RPGs
The “Japanese” part of JRPG refers to where this style of game originated, but not all RPGs made in Japan are JRPGs. For example, Dark Souls is certainly not a JRPG.
JRPGs can be made by anyone, anywhere, but most of them are still from Japan and all the big JRPG franchises, likeFinal Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Persona,and frankly, many more, are Japanese.
JRPGs are traditionally turn-based games where you control a party of characters and battle enemies to progress in the game. The “roleplaying” part of the name is also quite a misnomer, since there’s rarely, if ever, any real roleplaying in these games. The characters are all pre-written and pre-made. The story is also usually an on-rails affair. The only nod to traditional RPGs is a leveling system, with skills, and gear.
Despite that, I, and millions of other people, love JRPGs, and they definitely offer a great palate cleanser after playing Western-style RPGs.
CRPGs—Computer RPGs
“Wait a second,” I hear you say “aren’tallvideo game RPGs computer RPGs?”
Well, just like the “J” in JRPG shouldn’t be taken at face value, just so the “C” in CRPG has some history to it. These are video games that aim to replicatetabletop RPG systems. The idea is to simulate all the rules, flexibility, and mechanics of those games, but you can play by yourself, and you don’t have to do any of the math.
TheBaldur’s Gategames are possibly the most famous CRPGs, if not the first by a long shot. These games digitize and adapt the Dungeons & Dragons rule set, make some changes where the nature of computer technology requires it. ARPGs like Diablo were partly a reaction to the slow pace and depth of CRPGs, but there’s still no substitute for a good CRPG.
This is roleplaying in its purest form. Flexible narratives, endless choices, and combat is just one aspect of the adventure, not the focus. Who you shape your character to be can completely change the story or how you overcome challenges. The CRPG has somewhat fallen out of the limelight as gaming becomes more mainstream and attention spans shrink, but there are plenty of studios keeping the dream alive with games likePillars of Eternityand inventive off-beat CRPGs likeDisco Elysium.
Roguelike and Roguelites
Rogueis a 1980 video game you canstill buy and play today. What makes rogue so unique is that when your character dies, they are gone. You lose all of your progress, and you have to start from scratch. So beating the game becomes a combination of experience, skill, and luck. Dungeons are randomized as well, so mere memorization won’t help you.
So, as you’ve probably figured out, roguelike games copy the central design elements of rogue.True roguelikesare relatively rare, but this genre of game has given rise to the much more popular roguelite genre of games.
Roguelites likeHadesorReturnalretain having to start over when your character dies, and having randomized encounters, but they offer some forms of progression. For example, you might keep all your experience and skills, or you can keep gear you find. As such, your character becomes stronger and stronger, eventually letting you overcome the challenges of the game and beat it.
That doesn’t mean roguelite games are easy. In fact, they are usually quite punishing! However, players do seem to like the sense of progression more than being completely pushed back to square one.
Ironically, games likeDiablowhich also offer random level generations on each playthrough, offer “hardcore” modes where your character permanently dies, which makes them more roguelike than many roguelikes when playing in that mode.
See? These aren’t so hard to tell apart. There’s, of course, so much variety in every genre as developers try to push the boundaries of the games that have come before, and in some cases, franchises even cross over. Such as Fallout going from a CRPG to more of an ARPG, and Final Fantasy now feeling more like an ARPG as well. But hey, variety is the spice of life!
