Action role-playing game

Action role-playing games (abbreviated action RPG, action/RPG, or ARPG) form a loosely defined subgenre of role-playing video games that incorporate elements of action or action-adventure games, emphasizing real-time action where the player has direct control over characters, instead of turn-based or menu-based combat. These games often use combat systems similar to hack and slash or shooter games.

Early real-time elements

Early dungeon-crawl video games used turn-based movement: if the party didn't move, neither did the enemies.Dungeons of Daggorath, released for the TRS-80 Color Computer in 1982, combined a typical first-person dungeon crawl with real-time elements, requiring timed keyboard commands and where enemies move independently of the player. The game lacked numerical statistics such as hit points or vitality, but instead used an arcade-like fatigue system where the heart pulsates to indicate the player's health, a concept inspired by the 1978 arcade game Space Invaders where a heartbeat-like sound gradually increases pace as enemies advance towards the player.