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Guide

Action And Adventure Games

PC games built around combat, exploration, traversal, bosses, quests, and moment-to-moment player skill.

PC game guideUpdated 2026-05-31For players comparing PC game recommendations by fit.
ActionAdventureExplorationCombatBosses
Tune this search
Hollow Knight cover

Action and adventure is one of the widest PC categories, so the guide does not treat every combat game as the same. It separates skill-heavy action, exploration-led adventures, boss-driven games, and open-world progression.

Recommendations are scored for concrete play hooks such as combat feel, traversal, exploration, quest structure, build variety, and how much the game rewards getting better over time.

How this guide decides

A useful action-adventure guide has to handle very different reasons people click the same genre tag. Some players want precise bosses, some want exploration, some want story momentum, and some want builds and loot. Stronger picks show evidence for the specific loop instead of relying on the broad Action label.

Rule

Combat, exploration, traversal, and mission structure matter more than a generic Action tag.

Rule

Games with clear player skill, builds, or world discovery outrank thin action overlap.

Rule

Story-heavy and open-world games can rank well when their adventure loop is visible in the catalog.

Good fit if

  • You want a broad starting point for combat, exploration, bosses, or open-world play.
  • You care about how a game feels to play, not only its setting or popularity.
  • You want recommendations that can split into skill-heavy, story-heavy, or exploration-heavy directions.

Skip if

  • You already know you want a narrower genre such as RPG, shooter, strategy, or roguelike.
  • You mainly want slow planning, management, or peaceful simulation.

Catalog-backed picks

Start here

01
Hollow Knight cover

Hollow Knight

Why it fits

Hollow Knight is a top pick because it overlaps with action, adventure, exploration rather than only sharing a broad genre tag. I'd try Hollow Knight because action, adventure, difficult combat, and bosses lines up with difficult combat, Adventure, and Action.

Tradeoff

Check this one first if you want you want a broad starting point for combat, exploration, bosses, or open-world play. Skip or tune the search if your priority is closer to: you already know you want a narrower genre such as rpg, shooter, strategy, or roguelike.

ActionAdventureIndieexplorationbosses
02
Elden Ring cover

Elden Ring

Why it fits

Elden Ring is a pick 2 because it overlaps with action, adventure, exploration rather than only sharing a broad genre tag. I'd try Elden Ring because bosses, dark fantasy, skill, and builds lines up with Adventure and Action.

Tradeoff

Check this one first if you want you want a broad starting point for combat, exploration, bosses, or open-world play. Skip or tune the search if your priority is closer to: you already know you want a narrower genre such as rpg, shooter, strategy, or roguelike.

ActionRPGAdventurebossesexploration
03
Resident Evil 4 cover

Resident Evil 4

Why it fits

Resident Evil 4 is a pick 3 because it overlaps with action, adventure rather than only sharing a broad genre tag. I'd try Resident Evil 4 because action, adventure, difficult combat, and horror lines up with difficult combat, Adventure, and Action.

Tradeoff

Check this one first if you want you want a broad starting point for combat, exploration, bosses, or open-world play. Skip or tune the search if your priority is closer to: you already know you want a narrower genre such as rpg, shooter, strategy, or roguelike.

ActionAdventurehorrorsurvival horrorthird-person shooter
04
Blasphemous cover

Blasphemous

Why it fits

Blasphemous is a pick 4 because it overlaps with action, adventure, exploration rather than only sharing a broad genre tag. I'd try Blasphemous because action, adventure, difficult combat, and metroidvania lines up with difficult combat, Adventure, and Action.

Tradeoff

Check this one first if you want you want a broad starting point for combat, exploration, bosses, or open-world play. Skip or tune the search if your priority is closer to: you already know you want a narrower genre such as rpg, shooter, strategy, or roguelike.

ActionAdventurePlatformermetroidvaniasoulslike
05
Lethal Company cover

Lethal Company

Why it fits

Lethal Company is a pick 5 because it overlaps with action, adventure rather than only sharing a broad genre tag. I'd try Lethal Company because horror, scavenging, teamwork, and risk management lines up with Adventure and Action.

Tradeoff

Check this one first if you want you want a broad starting point for combat, exploration, bosses, or open-world play. Skip or tune the search if your priority is closer to: you already know you want a narrower genre such as rpg, shooter, strategy, or roguelike.

ActionAdventureCo-ophorrorco-op
06
Ori and the Will of the Wisps cover

Ori and the Will of the Wisps

Why it fits

Ori and the Will of the Wisps is a pick 6 because it overlaps with action, adventure, exploration rather than only sharing a broad genre tag. I'd try Ori and the Will of the Wisps because metroidvania, platforming, movement, and story rich lines up with Adventure and Action.

Tradeoff

Check this one first if you want you want a broad starting point for combat, exploration, bosses, or open-world play. Skip or tune the search if your priority is closer to: you already know you want a narrower genre such as rpg, shooter, strategy, or roguelike.

ActionAdventurePlatformermetroidvaniaplatforming
07
Red Dead Redemption 2 cover

Red Dead Redemption 2

Why it fits

Red Dead Redemption 2 is a pick 7 because it overlaps with action, adventure, exploration rather than only sharing a broad genre tag. I'd try Red Dead Redemption 2 because story rich, cinematic, western, and missions lines up with Adventure and Action.

Tradeoff

Check this one first if you want you want a broad starting point for combat, exploration, bosses, or open-world play. Skip or tune the search if your priority is closer to: you already know you want a narrower genre such as rpg, shooter, strategy, or roguelike.

ActionAdventureopen worldstory richcinematic
08
Terraria cover

Terraria

Why it fits

Terraria is a pick 8 because it overlaps with action, adventure, exploration rather than only sharing a broad genre tag. I'd try Terraria because sandbox, crafting, building, and bosses lines up with Adventure and Action.

Tradeoff

Check this one first if you want you want a broad starting point for combat, exploration, bosses, or open-world play. Skip or tune the search if your priority is closer to: you already know you want a narrower genre such as rpg, shooter, strategy, or roguelike.

ActionAdventureSandboxsandboxcrafting

What matters most

Look for the activity you want to repeat: fighting, exploring, questing, mastering bosses, or experimenting with builds. The best pick depends on that loop.

How to branch out

Use this as the broad hub, then move toward RPGs for character builds, shooters for aim and loadouts, survival games for crafting, or roguelikes for repeatable runs.

Review notes

How this page stays useful

PC GameDex keeps guide picks tied to visible play loops, catalog facts, and public source pages. Store popularity can help players notice a game, but it is not enough to make a title a strong recommendation when the mechanics do not fit the request.

Sources

Quick answers

Before you pick one

Why combine action and adventure?

Many popular PC games sit between both labels. This guide keeps the category broad, then uses combat, exploration, bosses, missions, and progression signals to separate different kinds of fit.

Are RPGs and shooters included?

They can appear when they also match action-adventure hooks, but dedicated RPG and shooter guides are better when that is the main thing you want.

How do I narrow the results?

Open the guide in Discovery and add what matters most, such as open world, difficult bosses, story, co-op, no horror, or no soulslike difficulty.

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