History Main / EquipmentBasedProgression

* In ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' there's a slight variation; you level up, but you spend them to enchant equipment. Your strength, health and ability to interact with or shape your environment entirely depends on the items you own or use.

* While {{Okami}} and its sequel {{Okamiden}} have a leveling system, it is independent from its combat system. The brush techniques may not be equipment, but they do add new powers, allowing for further exploration and more effective combat, as well as some puzzle-solving.

* The entire FirstPersonShooter genre in general has this trope as one of its main features (since players are expected to get bigger and better weapons as the game goes on), although many have RPG or PointBuildSystem based progression as well.
** That really only applied to Classic FPS.

* The concept overlaps with AndYourRewardIsClothes in ''TheElderScrolls III: {{Morrowind}}''. After a certain point, the rewards for the main quest (and some other quest lines) become things you can wear, intended to be symbolic of recognition as a great war-leader, only occasionally with a marginally decent enchantment or other bonus.

* ''VideoGame/CastleWolfenstein'' was the UrExample for FPS games using this trope (being the first game in the genre) while ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' was the TropeCodifier (having popularised it); both games had the player go from the basic fists and pistol, all the way up to [[{{BFG}} room clearing super weapons]].

* In ''{{TabletopGame/Shadowrun}}'' character progression through equipment/ money (gear) and experience (karma) are equally important. There's actually an exchange rate that Game Masters can use as a guide to convert between the two when deciding how to reward players for their quests. This is unusual in table top games in that gear is a formalized part of the progression system, with the same importance as skills.

* ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'' runs on this trope as well. Your power is based completely on the equipment you own.

* In ''VideoGame/SpiralKnights'', the players don't gain experience themselves, instead, you can craft different pieces of armor and weapons, each one with it's own [[ElementalRockPaperScissors elemental bonuses and weaknesses]], and each item requires Experience points (or "Heat") separately, and usually has an additional bonus when they reach its level cap. They (and the levels' difficulty) are also divided on tiers. In order to be allowed to go deeper on the clockworks, you also need to craft better equipment(usually using a level capped item of a lower tier).
* In ''TheSecretWorld'', getting new and better gear is the only way to increase stats. You do still gain ExperiencePoints to buy new skills.

* While multiplayer characters in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' do gain experience and upgrade their skills, their levels are {{cap}}ped at 20 (single-player cap is ''60'') and the players have to reset them back to level 1 if they want to keep advancing up the score ladder. This effectively renders character progression meaningless in a long term, while rare weapons, weapon upgrades, and advanced equipment mods (randomly awarded for winning online matches) become on higher difficulty settings.

* The ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreed'' games generally follow this format, in that you get better weapons to do more damage, and better armor to get more health (the first had a "sync" bar that increased through the game as you did various sidequests).

* ''VideoGame/CastleWolfenstein'' was the UrExample for FPS games using this trope (being the first game in the genre) while ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' was the TropeMaker (having popularised it); both games had the player go from the basic fists, to a pistol and all the way up to [[{{BFG}} room clearing super weapons]].

* ''VideoGame/VagrantStory''; Ashley's stats can be permanently boosted by killing bosses or finding rare elixirs and wines, but the game's mechanics encourage the player to make Ashley stronger by finding new weapons and armor, or reforge and improve existing ones in workshops.

!!Non-Game Examples:

[[folder: Action/Adventure ]]

* ''TheLegendOfZelda'' series (with the exception of ''ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink'', which experiemented with RPGElements) use this trope, having Link pick up a new weapon in each dungeon.

* ''CaveStory'', another {{Metroidvania}} style game has you collect various guns, each one leveling up and down individually as you collect XP triangles and take damage.
* The ''AssassinsCreed'' games generally follow this format, in that you get better weapons to do more damage, and better armor to get more health (the first had a "sync" bar that increased through the game as you did various sidequests).
* In ''MegaMan'' the entire point of the series was to acquire new weapons from one boss to take down the next. Since you could fight them in any order, the trick was discovering the optimum sequence to fight them in.

[[folder: First Person Shooter ]]

* ''CastleWolfenstein'' was the UrExample for FPS games using this trope (being the first game in the genre) while ''{{Doom}}'' was the TropeMaker (having popularised it); both games had the player go from the basic fists, to a pistol and all the way up to [[{{BFG}} room clearing super weapons]].

[[folder: Platformer ]]

[[folder: RPG ]]

* ''ChronoCross''. You only level up by defeating bosses, not mooks, preventing you from StatGrinding. The only way to get stronger is to forge stronger weapons/equipments.
* In ''{{Minecraft}}'' there's a slight variation; you level up, but you spend them to enchant equipment. Your strength, health and ability to interact with or shape your environment entirely depends on the items you own or use.
* ''VagrantStory''; Ashley's stats can be permanently boosted by killing bosses or finding rare elixirs and wines, but the game's mechanics encourage the player to make Ashley stronger by finding new weapons and armor, or reforge and improve existing ones in workshops.

[[folder: Third Person Shooter ]]

* The ''TombRaider'' games follow this trope, giving you more powerful weapons as you progress whilst all other skills remain static from the start.
* The ''JakAndDaxter'' series gives you new abilities and weapon upgrades from the second game onwards (the first game just placed temporary powerups in certain parts of the levels) as you reach certain points in the story.

[[folder: MMORPG ]]

* In {{Spiral Knights}}, the players don't gain experience themselves, instead, you can craft different pieces of armor and weapons, each one with it's own [[ElementalRockPaperScissors elemental bonuses and weaknesses]], and each item requires Experience points (or "Heat") separately, and usually has an additional bonus when they reach its level cap. They (and the levels' difficulty) are also divided on tiers. In order to be allowed to go deeper on the clockworks, you also need to craft better equipment(usually using a level capped item of a lower tier).

[[folder: Other ]]

* The whole "catapult" genre of flash games such as ''TossTheTurtle'' has this as the main game mechanic. The farther you launch the projectile the more money is available for upgrades, and each upgrade helps you go further, and so on ad infinitum.

[[folder: Table Top RPG ]]

[[/folder]]

* ''{{Metroid}}'', the first part in the name of the {{Metroidvania}} genre used this trope (the other half, ''{{Castlevania}}'' tended to include levelling up).

* ''MonsterHunter'' runs on this trope as well. Your power is based completely on the equipment you own.

[[AC: Action/Adventure]]

[[AC: FirstPersonShooter]]

[[AC: Platformer]]

[[AC: RPG]]

[[AC: Third Person Shooter]]

[[AC:MMORPG]]

[[AC: Other]]

[[AC: Table Top RPG]]
* In ''{{TabletopGame/Shadowrun}}'' character progression through equipment/ money (gear) and experience (karma) are equally important. There's actually an exchange rate that Game Masters can use as a guide to convert between the two when deciding how to reward players for their quests. This is unusual in table top games in that gear is a formalized part of the progression system, with the same importance as skills.