Drakensang Online

Drakensang Online brings an isometric action RPG straight into the browser – the player moves through dungeons from a bird's-eye view, hacks down enemies by clicking the mouse, and collects better gear, similar to big hack-and-slash titles, just without needing to install anything on disk. The game draws its name and some of its atmosphere from the German RPG series Drakensang, but it's a standalone online project focused on multiplayer and long-term character progression, not on retelling the original story. It was released in 2011 by studio Bigpoint as one of the most ambitious browser titles of its time.

The controls are adapted to mouse and keyboard just like classic PC RPGs – click-to-move, abilities on keyboard shortcuts, inventory and crafting through interface windows – so players used to the genre feel at home quickly, without much of a learning curve. Cooperative dungeon runs with other players and regularly added content in the form of new areas and items kept the community active for years, and the game positioned itself as free-to-play with the option to pay for both cosmetic and practical advantages, which was typical for browser RPGs of the time and something players had to get used to.

Drakensang Online showed that even a more demanding genre like the action RPG can work directly in a browser without losing a significant part of its depth, and it became one of the longer-lived titles of its kind on the European market, keeping its player base for years after release.

Why play it: Suitable for players who want a hack-and-slash RPG with friends without installing anything, but be prepared for free-to-play monetization and the need to pay for a more comfortable progression.