2025: I'm playing through a barrage of Action-Adventures that star dudes with swords.

[pepsimanvsjoe]

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From The Legend of Zelda to Ys, Brain Lord to Beyond Oasis, and everything in between. I'm spending my 2025 catching up on all of the top-down action-adventure games starring guys who carry swords. As you can see from the collage above, I've already completed 27* games.
As a bonus, every game is getting a review on my blog. - https://pepsimanvsjoe.blogspot.com/

The next three titles I plan on covering are:
Crusader of Centy, Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys, and The Magic of Scheherazade.

I made this thread to seek out suggestions for other games that fit the criteria. It doesn't explicitly have to be retro or a Zelda-like either. It could be something akin to Arcus Odyssey for all I care; as long as it's 2D, has a top-down view, and a guy with a sword is a playable character. Although, to be honest, I'm trying to avoid roguelikes, so preemptive apologies to all of the Shiren fans out there.

Thoughts and comments are also appreciated.


*26 if you count Ys 1 & 2 as one game.

 

[NotGodlike]

Alundra 1 and 2 are very fun zelda-likes, though 1 has better artstyle and is 2D. From top of my head, SNES also had Terranigma, which also plays exactly like Zelda

 

[Raziya The Seeker]

Magic of Scheherazade has been on my to-do list for gaming, and I'd been playing Zelda: A Link to the Past for the first time (other than dabbling with the intro once) as of a couple weeks ago. Cool to hear from someone in a similar vein!

I'm not sure if it counts as an action-RPG compared to the other games, but maybe the Diablo clone called Darkstone? There's both a version on the Playstation, and originally it was on PC and can be found on Steam.

 

[UnDubious]

I don't recognize the green-haired guy in the middle. What game is that?
I was a big of 2D action RPGs myself, I've played most of these. I'll second Alundra, and don't sleep on Magic Knight Rayheart on the Saturn, it was made by (most of) the Phantasy Star IV team and is a lot of fun.

 

[pepsimanvsjoe]

Alundra is on my to-do list. I just keep putting it off because damn it gets depressing. Terranigma is one that I'll save for later. I don't want to bend the rules too much by including a guy with a spear, but I've already covered Soul Blazer and Illusion of Gaia sooo...
I'll also look into Darkstone. Rogue-likes are out but Diablo-likes are definitely in. More PC suggestions in general are dope. The only rep I have so far is Dink Smallwood.


The green-haired guy is Eric / Alex from Shining Soul 2. I went with one of the alternate color schemes to add some... color to the collage.

 

[Big Finger Jim]

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From The Legend of Zelda to Ys, Brain Lord to Beyond Oasis, and everything in between. I'm spending my 2025 catching up on all of the top-down action-adventure games starring guys who carry swords. As you can see from the collage above, I've already completed 27* games.
As a bonus, every game is getting a review on my blog. - https://pepsimanvsjoe.blogspot.com/

The next three titles I plan on covering are:
Crusader of Centy, Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys, and The Magic of Scheherazade.

I made this thread to seek out suggestions for other games that fit the criteria. It doesn't explicitly have to be retro or a Zelda-like either. It could be something akin to Arcus Odyssey for all I care; as long as it's 2D, has a top-down view, and a guy with a sword is a playable character. Although, to be honest, I'm trying to avoid roguelikes, so preemptive apologies to all of the Shiren fans out there.

Thoughts and comments are also appreciated.


*26 if you count Ys 1 & 2 as one game.

Do the fanmade dub of Ys IV on the Turbografx/PC Engine, it's very charming.

 

[pepsimanvsjoe]

Do the fanmade dub of Ys IV on the Turbografx/PC Engine, it's very charming.

On it. I've just reached the Lava pits. Karna keeps stealing my kills (and experience points)
The dub is fun though.

 

[Stookymalarkey]

Crystallis on the NES is a decent one. Neutopia 1 and 2 on TurboGrax/PC Engine are other good ones.

 

[Graw]

Does it have to be a man with a sword specifically?

Death's Door is a more modern Zelda like where you play as a Crow with a sword. There's also Hyper Light Drifter and Tunic as well on the modern end.

 

[snes9x]

Lindy AF

 

[RageBurner]

Landstalker has a guy with a sword (isometrically) save the day. Good game.

 

[DunkeyKong]

Crusader of Centy, Zelda like game for the Sega Genesis

 

[LongDivision8]

Tōgi Ō King Colossus is a hidden gem! Great music. I saw your post title and was hoping I'd see King Colossus on there

 

[Strategist's iconStrategist]

I share your love for the dudes with swords genre. You are missing a few good ones.

The boy from secret of mana/Seiken Densetsu 2.

Duran from Seiken Densetsu 3

And last but not least, the Kid from Bastion

 

[Stare best girl]

you want a very good Zelda-like with a fantastic story and vampires?

play Blood Omen

 

[Strategist's iconStrategist]

By the way, everyone mentions various Zelda games, Ocarina of Time, Link's Awakening, LTTP, Twilight Princess. And they are all great. But the title that doesn't get mentioned but I think deserves respect is Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link. It is like if Link met Dark Souls. It is super challenging but if you get into the game it can suck you in.

 

[NotGodlike]

By the way, everyone mentions various Zelda games, Ocarina of Time, Link's Awakening, LTTP, Twilight Princess. And they are all great. But the title that doesn't get mentioned but I think deserves respect is Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link. It is like if Link met Dark Souls. It is super challenging but if you get into the game it can suck you in.

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Does Rambo on NES also count? I mean, it's also a guy running with a sword (knife) with some RPG elements lol

 

[Strategist's iconStrategist]

Does Rambo on NES also count? I mean, it's also a guy running with a sword (knife) with some RPG elements lol

A knife is not a sword, everyone knows that.

 

[RageBurner]

A knife is not a sword, everyone knows that.

It's a sword in training!

 

[pepsimanvsjoe]

Huh I never even considered Blood Omen. Good choice!

Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain

One of the darkest games of all time, Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain for the PC takes gamers

www.gog.com

On sale at GOG right now for less than a buck.

I've played Secret/Trials of Mana too many times to count, so I wanted to focus on other stuff first.

 

[pepsimanvsjoe]

I've published a couple of new reviews.
Crusader of Centy - https://pepsimanvsjoe.blogspot.com/2025/04/2025-special-crusader-of-centy.html
&
Ys 4: The Dawn of Ys - https://pepsimanvsjoe.blogspot.com/2025/04/2025-special-ys-4-dawn-of-ys.html

 

[UnDubious]

I've published a couple of new reviews.
Crusader of Centy - https://pepsimanvsjoe.blogspot.com/2025/04/2025-special-crusader-of-centy.html
&
Ys 4: The Dawn of Ys - https://pepsimanvsjoe.blogspot.com/2025/04/2025-special-ys-4-dawn-of-ys.html

Glad you liked Crusader of Centy. I enjoyed that game back when, and it's often overlooked. You may be aware of this, but the same team made another game in the same vein for the Saturn, Linkle River Story. It's not as good overall, and I thought the start was a bit rough, but ultimately it's a pretty good game too.

 

[pepsimanvsjoe]

I finished The Magic of Scheherazade but ended up disliking almost everything by the end.

Full review - https://pepsimanvsjoe.blogspot.com/2025/04/2025-special-magic-of-scheherazade.html

Also working my way through Radia Senki: Reimei Hen. Pretty cool so far. The real-time party-based battle system is quite decent, and being able to crash on any bed to rest & save is very convenient.

 

[UnDubious]

I have the same take. I didn't love that game and tired of it before the end. Not a fan of NES ARPGs in general.

 

[pepsimanvsjoe]

I started Golvellius - Valley of Doom. Just when I was starting to enjoy myself, I get this screen.
Did anyone who ever played the game managed to solve this puzzle without looking up a guide?