Summary
Action RPGs can be some of the most challenging games to get into. Even the simple hack-and-slash ones can be intimidating for newcomers to the genre. No one would ever recommend Dark Souls to someone wishing to branch into the genre, right?
That would be too cruel and it may turn that player off of video games forever. Soulslike action RPGs typically don’t have difficulty levels but these other examples do. From easy settings for beginners to challenge modes for the hardcore, there’s something here for everyone. How the difficulties work will be discussed but the ranking will mostly focus on the games themselves and how they are balanced.
Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghanais a newly remastered game of an old classic that first launched on the PSP in 2010 or at least that’s the case for North America. Players will have to decide what difficulty they want to start with including Very Easy, Easy, Normal, Hard, and Nightmare.
Very Easy will make the hero, Adol, near invincible through the first two dungeons with the challenge ramping up from there. Every other difficulty level increases the amount of grinding players have to do along with the amount of equipment progression. Normal, is, of course, the most balanced for this action RPG but overall this is agreatYsentryto jump into.
Scarlet Nexuswas released the same year asTales of Arisein 2021. Both Bandai Namco games feature difficulty levels, which is not unheard of at least for theTales ofseries. InScarlet Nexus, players can decide between Very Easy, Easy, Normal, Hard, or Very Hard. LikeYs Memoire: The Oath in Felghana, it all depends on how much grinding players will want to do to beat the game.
That said, even on Very Easy players will have to get accustomed to the action combat and buddy system as some boss fights will not mess around. Of the two Bandai Namco games,Scarlet Nexusfeels more ambitious even all these years later and it will be a good game to experience before this console generation ends.
Persona 5 Strikersis one of themany Musou gamesthat Omega Force developed beyond their bread-and-butter franchises:Dynasty WarriorsandSamurai Warriors. It’s a direct sequel toPersona 5, taking place the summer after the events of the first game. The protagonist, canonically referred to as either Akira or Ren, comes back to visit his old Phantom Thieves comrades to go on a road trip.
Along the way, they get roped into a new adventure wherein they will have to use their old powers to right some wrongs but this time in real-time combat. Players can experience the game on Easy, Normal, or Hard and can change it at any time. Most Musou games have difficulty levels, so they are all pretty inviting even the newly releasedDynasty Warriors: Origins.
Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witchlooked like an RPG aimed at kids what with the kid hero andStudio Ghibli aesthetic. It was a pretty hard game though when it was released on the PS3 which was lightened up when it was remastered later.
The sequel,Ni no Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom, sort of course corrected and was an easier experience from the start, offering players Normal, Hard, and Expert difficulties. Even the Hard mode felt balanced so above the original, this is a wondrous RPG to jump into.Ni no Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdomalso switched turn-based combat into action combat and mostly did away with the monster-catching aspect for better or worse.
Star Ocean: The Second Story Ris a complete remake of the PS1 game which used Square Enix’s patented HD-2D style. Players have some cute difficulty modes for this one including Earth, Galaxy, Universe, and Chaos which fits with the space adventure motif.
Players can choose two different protagonists too which basically just starts the game on different levels. Most players should feel comfortable with Galaxy asStar Ocean: The Second Story Ris not that grind-heavy of a game although there are later sections that may be tricky for those unaccustomed to theStar Oceanseries.
Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIXis a great example as it’s a collection of most of the games in theKingdom Heartsseries. From the start,Kingdom Heartshas always included difficulty levels which makes sense since they are Disney games ultimately aimed toward a younger audience.
In the first game, for example, players can choose between Final Mix: Beginner, Final Mix, and Final Mix: Proud. Each difficulty will point out extras that players may or may not receive like secret endings. Harder modes in these games also make it easier to get secrets so it’s all a coin toss on what players are looking for between easy secrets or an easy gameplay experience to see all of the Disney worlds fromAladdintoTron Legacy.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirthis the second game in what will be a remake trilogyand it has an interesting approach to its difficulty system. Players can choose Easy, Normal, or Dynamic at the start and then change it during the game. Normal can get pretty challenging but so can Easy if players aren’t paying attention to leveling up or equipment progression including Materia.
Dynamic will automatically shift battles from Easy to Normal depending on how players are doing. If they have to keep reviving party members, Dynamic will slide things onto the Easy side. If players aren’t getting scratched and are dispatching enemies quickly, the opposite is true so it is definitely unique.
The World Ends With You: Final Mixwas the Switch release of the game that began on the DS. This action RPG integrated difficulty into the battle system well. Instead of giving players weapons or straight-up magic, the hero, Neku, could equip pins with different powers attached from slashes to fireballs.
Players could set the game to Easy or Normal difficulty anytime and depending on their level, they could get more or less rewards like EXP or more pins. Players could also stack monster encounters, called Noise, to increase rewards so overallThe World Ends With You: Final Mixis just a great customizable experience that every RPG fan needs to experience at least once.
