10 RPGs that Reward Thinking Through Combat Instead of Grinding

RPGs are games that generally have a ton of grinding involved, but there are a handful of examples that don't want you to grind; they want you to think. They want you to take every encounter methodically, focusing more on your preparation for battle as much as the fight itself.

It's a different approach, but one that ultimately feels much more rewarding than just banging your head against the wall, grinding for hours on end to satisfy some arbitrary level or stat requirement.

We're going to take a look at a bunch of RPGs that make you think before you act.

10 Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous

A Game of Choices

Pathfinder: Wrath of Righteous gives you no reason to grind. Instead, it gives you plenty of reasons to explore, maximize your party's talents, and most importantly, focus on positioning. It is so important to think carefully about how your party is set up around the battlefield because things can get chaotic very fast.

But if you're thinking some steps ahead, you can lure enemies into a careful pincer movement and set up your ranged characters in a far better position than a blind rush would result in. This is even more important in the big fights with huge numbers of enemies, and boss fights, which generally come with numbers as well.

You can find yourself quickly overwhelmed if you're not making sure each character is doing their job, and your chances of winning have far more to do with your understanding of the systems than how many low-level grunts you killed in a loop for 2 hours.

9 Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon

Fight like a Legend

Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon is a dangerous world, and it's one that requires you to sharpen your parrying skills and also to come into battles loaded with potions, and even the right meal beforehand. It treats most fights like they're life or death, so grinding is far from the optimal way to go about battles here.

Learning your enemy's movesets is far more valuable, as even a low-level character can stand toe to toe with a super-powerful enemy if they know their dodge and parry timing. This makes you think about every encounter in a very real way. Are they slow and powerful or fast and weak? Where is the opening? Can I circle them and hit them from behind during a particular attack?

These are all things to consider when fighting and generally are required, because mindlessly grinding will only get you so far here. When it comes time to fight, it's all about how much you've soaked up the combat system and less about how many hours you've spent fighting without purpose.

8 Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Scientifically Gifted

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is one of the better examples of a great sci-fi RPG, and it has pretty much no grinding that comes to mind. Instead, combat is based around your skill with a gun, and the management of your abilities. This is crucial, because the way you augment your character determines just how your combat engagements are going to go.

You can go in loud, killing everyone, but Adam Jensen has his limits, and that's often the path less desired. Instead, scanning your environments, looking for alternate routes, or even charming your way through certain encounters is also on the table.

It's a game that respects your creativity and your imagination rather than your strength stats. If you think you can get through a combat-heavy area without a soul knowing you're there, it's quite possible you can. If you think you need to just take out one guard and distract the others while you sneak by, you can. It's up to you how these encounters play out, and it's 100 percent reliant on your thought process as a player as opposed to grinding.

7 Dragon Age: Origins

Full Party Control

Dragon Age: Origins has one of the more in-depth combat systems out there, and thankfully, it's in a darn good game. A master of this system with low-level characters can easily outclass someone who just grinded to get stats for hours. That's because it allows you to customize every bit of your party's behavior to maximize their potential in combat. You can customize everything from where they'll stand in the battle to what they'll do when enemies are hit, who they'll heal, how often they'll use abilities, and so much more.

It requires a lot of thinking on the player's part, because each battle is not created equal, and there will be plenty of times when one strategy succeeds during one fight and completely fails during another. You need to adapt with your enemies here, and luckily, the large variety of characters you have to choose from should give you enough choices to figure out who is best at what.

You really feel like the leader in this game, simply because most fights come to how well you've prepared for the battle and how well that gameplan comes to fruition once the blades start to clash.

6 Monster Hunter World

Study Your Prey

Monster Hunter World was another mega-popular entry in the long-running series, and it became so by introducing a different kind of RPG. You're expected to act and think like a monster hunter here, which means doing everything from gathering intel on your prey to making sure you've got the right bait and the right weapon for the job. There is no grinding. Sure, you can upgrade weapons and get better equipment, but it doesn't matter if you're not executing at the moment of truth.

These monsters feel completely alive, and they make you consider your every move, timing your sometimes lengthy weapon swing animations to make sure you're hitting your spot. The somewhat non-existent lock-on system doesn't help much either, so not only is your timing required, but your aim as well. It's one of the more fascinating combat systems in an RPG though, and one that respects you thinking ahead.

5 Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2

You're a Soldier, Henry

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is one of the most compelling RPGs out there, and it's unique because grinding simply doesn't exist. You can't out-level your enemies here. You simply have to learn how to be a swordsman. If you can't? You're screwed. Luckily, you can train with people and practice without worry. And practice you must, because once the enemies start coming in numbers, if you don't have your master strikes down pat, or fail to understand how to quickly shift to the correct attack angles, you're not going to last long.

It's a game that doesn't just reward slow, thoughtful play; it demands it. It's one of the only games where it feels like you're becoming a real fighter as you progress through it. You're learning alongside Henry, and his skills are only as adept as yours are. It's one of the only RPGs that makes you feel useless at the start and like a true warrior by the game's end.

4 Dragon's Dogma 2

You're Gonna Need a Team

Dragon's Dogma 2 has some amazing combat in it, but grinding for the sake of grinding is going to get you absolutely nowhere. That's because the combat is far more based on your pawns, the mastery of your vocations, and most importantly, your approach to fighting the various challenging creatures throughout the game. It doesn't matter how big the sword is that you bought, because if you go head-to-head with a dragon, it doesn't care how many times you fought goblin mobs on the way there.

You need to have a plan when you get into a battle. Your pawns do some of the work, sure, but unless you're capitalizing on the moves they're pulling off, the fight will be a failure. If your teammate is setting you up to jump on top of that Cyclops, you'd better take that opportunity, because even the best-laid plans go to waste. Quick thinking, smart preparation, and working as a team is a far better option over the tired formula of grinding.

3 Baldur's Gate 3

Use Your Brain, Not Your Grind

The beauty of Baldur's Gate 3 is that the player who has put 150 hours into it has the same chance of victory as the player who has studied all of the systems in the game and played less than 5 hours. That's because no matter how strong your characters get, it doesn't compare to what using your brain can do in this game. Your creativity is your greatest weapon here, not the biggest sword or flashiest spell.

Larian essentially created a D&D campaign with almost all the permutations that would come with that. It extends to combat too, so no matter how much HP a boss has, there is almost always a way to use the environment against them, use an ability to completely turn the tide in your favor, or, in some cases, even deliver a one-hit kill. Playing thoughtfully is far more rewarding than brute-strengthening your way through everything in sight.

2 Outward

Into the Wild

Outward isn't a pretty game, or one that will hold your hand. There are no easy to understand objectives here, but the world is your oyster, and that oyster wants to whip your butt. Combat here can be an absolutely brutal affair, and it expects you to know the best weapon for the job and be well-prepared from a resource standpoint to get through the fights.

Death has quite the penalty here, so repeated failed attempts are not a suggested path to success by any measure. The fighting is quick and deadly here. A mistake, or a missed swing, and it's generally curtains for you. There is nothing you can really do grinding-wise to avoid this either. The game is the game, and it demands you to "git gud" in a way that Soulslike games really don't. You're not overpowering anything here; you're just trying to outsmart them.

1 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

The Way of the Wolf

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is one of the all-time greats, but it's no cakewalk if you go in hoping to button mash or just level up your way through everything. You need to think like a Witcher and, more importantly, act like a Witcher. That means taking time to prep your oils, use the proper potions, and also study your prey. These monsters you're fighting have habits, and you need to figure them out if you're going to survive.

You need to figure out where their combos end, where their weak spots are, which Signs work best, and which blade you've got makes the most sense for the job. It's not the best combat system, but it makes you think, and forces you to understand your opponent in ways that most games don't really bother with.