I played isometric hack-and-slash games back in the PS2 era (ie Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance and The Bard's Tale 3) and enjoyed them, but as time went on I favored 3rd person hack-and-slash games. Recently I have tried a few ARPGs like Titan Quest and Vikings: Wolves of Midgard (completed Vikings) but just didn't connect with the experiences.

Maybe it was the monotony?

Yet I keep looking at Chaosbane (I enjoy Warhammer fantasy) and even the Fate series (I really love the enemy designs of Fate... and the ability to call AI companions / allies) and wondering... this time will I enjoy it?

Anyway, any thoughts on hack-and-slash or ARPG games would be appreciated. The release of re-release of Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance has really got me hankering to give this genre(s) a try again.

Many thanks!

(PS -- I have noticed that I enjoy games where I can see what's happening clearly and make tactical decisions, so ARPGs where there are too many creatures or effects happening at once -- obscuring what's happening moment-to-moment -- can end up confusing me and "put me off." Hope this didn't just end the recommendations before they began!?)

Look at NOX its here on gog, and also divine divinity

Edit: also look at Revenant cheers


Lets not forget Sacred gold and Sacred 2

Also dungeon siege 1

Shadows: Awakening is really good. It's from the same devs as Vikings, but Shadows is newer and from what I've heard, much better than Vikings (I've never played Vikings myself, but I have played Shadows so I know it's excellent).

Van Helsing: Final Cut is also very good.

Both are very under-appreciated, high quality games. And they have better stories and characterization than Diablo and/or any Diablo clone style of game does.

not diablo immoral

I love the character, tone, and setting... but have passed up the games a number of times. I will take a look again next sale!

Divine Divinity and Beyond Divinity work very well. Enemies don't respawn.

Titan Quest has a unique and delightful feel (really captures mediterranean landscapes better than any other videogame). But ah, it's mentioned in the OP already.

Van Helsing is less colorful, but it was surprisingly great.

And actually, I enjoyed Torchlight a lot. It's more childish and goofy, in a way (more cartoonish in its designs), but its gameplay is suprisingly well calibrated and addictive. It's one of the few aRPGs I actually finished without getting bored and distracted by other games.

Also Dungeon Siege felt too linear, and still, something about its overly classic design and universe works, in a very back-to-the-roots, dungeon-and-dragoney way.

And I've enjoyed the Sacred series a lot. In a way, it was the opposite of Dungeon Siege. Much less linear, way more open and way more zoomed out. Good memories but the one thing that annoyed me was a sense of diminishing returns when levelling up your abilities (with longer cooldown effects for more damage, the gain becomes dubious pretty fast, and higher level spells aren't always the most useful).

Nox and Divine Divinity were excellent, but I somehow remember them more like proper RPGs than diablo-like. Especially Divine Divinity.

This is not your typical hack&slash but I had total blast playing Book of Demons. Opinions are varying as it twists some genre tropes (mostly with it's limited movement and no equipment drop which is replaced with cards) but for me it was very refreshing, highly addictive and simply fun. And you get to listen amazing song for beating final boss.
It's currently on sale too.

I looked at the Torchlight wiki and didn't see a lot of traditional enemies. That's one of the things that draws me toward Fate -- dragons, griffins etc.

Some suggestions, in case you may want to take a look:

https://www.gog.com/en/game/victor_vran

https://www.gog.com/en/game/gauntlet_slayer_edition

https://www.gog.com/en/game/transistor

https://www.gog.com/en/game/dins_curse

https://www.gog.com/en/game/kyn

https://www.gog.com/en/game/avencast_rise_of_the_mage

https://www.gog.com/en/game/space_hack

https://www.gog.com/en/game/forgotten_realms_demon_stone

https://www.gog.com/en/game/darkstone

https://www.gog.com/game/throne_of_darkness

Thanks for the list! Appreciate it.

I'd either known or owned most, but...

... Avencast: Rise of the Mage I'd completely forgotten about (I think I followed that at launch)!

I'd never have thought of that game again without you mentioning it (lost to the GOG digital vaults)! Just came from watching some walkthroughs and definitely on the wishlist.

I highly recommend checking out Children of Morta. It's an isometric roguelite/ARPG with a downright GORGEOUS pixel art style. It has ARPG-style combat and dungeon crawling, but it's roguelite in the sense that it's fully procedural and dying sends you back to your family's home on the surface. It also has a great story to it, centered around the power and importance of family, which is one of the major things that made me -- a lover of games with an actual story -- really enjoy it. I got it for free due to a promo GOG did in 2020 and yeah, I'm really glad I did because it was a very pleasant surprise!

It's too bad you didn't connect with Titan Quest.
Grim Dawn is made by i think most of the same people.
It's way more polished, the dual class system is dope, as is the passive constellation stuff.
I think my only gripe is that it lacked the different settings that Titan Quest had. But i haven't played through both DLCs, so i'm probably missing out.

The older Ys series and Xanadu Next are pretty fun too. I've played through Oath of Felghana or wtv. It had some fun bosses. I've yet to finish Xanadu Next.

If you received it for free a while back, Tower of Time is like a mix between hack n slash and real time with pause. Like real time with slo-mo i guess. It might fit your tactical wants.

For what it's worth, i also enjoyed Book of Demons

Would Nethack crammed into Vulture be applicable?