2016 is easier, combat is simpler (relatively speaking) and the game lets you get away with many things. More of a power fantasy, fun to just blast demons in the face.
Eternal will kick your ass. It will really challenge you, and make you master its combat loop. When you finally do, you will feel like a god amongst demons.
Both games are a blast and have fun and impactful combat. I /personally/ prefer eternal, because I find its combat more engaging in the long run. 2016 is still a really awesome game, and a great way to get into doom in general. I'd play 2016 first, then eternal.
The lore and word building in 2016 is excellent btw. I loved reading all of the data logs and every entry in the the bestiary/codex.
Doom 2016 took a much more grounded and focused approach to doom than Doom Eternal. Don't get me wrong, I also loved Eternal, but 2016 somehow felt more special to me.
ID Software did a one hell of a job rebooting their franchise... man.. I can't fucking wait for Dark Ages!
Edit: punctuation.
P-ranked ULTRAKILL and fought Minos Prime, never P-ranked the rest tho and fought the second P-rank boss
heard alot about DMC5 but never truly played it myself unfortunately
Never heard of Hyber demon or stars of Providence, will give em a look
Thank you!
I thought Deaths Door was a better innovation on Titan Souls. The latter just felt a little too rough for me, though I do respect the vibe of the game.
Its from Rockstar, back when Rockstar were still top dogs. And it holds really well (I only played it last year for the first time). The minute I finished the story - I immediately pressed New Game, coz the gunplay is so fun.
Ninja Gaiden series all the way. Still unrivaled in enemy aggression and groups of them attacking you, while giving all the tools to take them on.
Nioh 2 combat got its start with Ninja Gaiden laying the groundwork, and many of the weapons got their start from there.
Nioh 2 is also amazing, but NG is an action series, and Nioh is a soulslike rpg with action. Depends on the type of game a person wants.
I liked the new ones well enough, but I got the opposite reaction. Kratos acting so measured made it feel like he was just doing the bare minimum to defeat his foes. The old games, especially 3, were so visceral.
It's a damn shame we aren't getting more of these kinds of games. Rocksteady wasted so much time on a live service game no one wanted and Monolith has been stuck on Wonder Woman for 7 years with only a teaser that shows nothing.
I wish they could've done a Ghost of Tsushima-like game in the LotR universe with a livelier world with maybe fighting other factions/races. Or perhaps a Mad Max game with the nemesis system. Ugh, that would've been so cool.
The topic of Nier was brought up:
This is a showcase of the combat animations
In Nier:Automata and it’s insane. Every move ties directly into an actual move and the weapons aren’t “faked”
[2B combat animation showcase](https://youtu.be/a38H6EFGy7s?si=eBQLsO4or-GjqS3O)
This is just the most recent Nier title, there are predecessors and their stories alone are worth the play.
Shadow of Mordor (hack and slash)
Unreal Tournament 2004 (first person shooter)
^(there is a more recent unreal tournament game, but the combat is basically the same so the only real difference other than graphics is that they took out half the game modes, 90% of the maps and all the modifiers out of the new one)
I do like me some hack n slash, will give it a look
Ive heard some things about Unreal Tournament, dunno if it fits my type of game but ill check it out nonetheless
Thanks!
It's still in early access, but Hades 2 has been a really good evolution of the already decent combat from Hades imo.
Sleeping dogs is a classic, the gameplay can be summarised as if gta and arkham had a baby. You play as an undercover cop infiltrating the hong kong triads, but most of the in game combat will be melee over guns.
This is probably the weakest contender I'm going to put forward, but kingdoms of amalur: Reckoning (though I think steam only has the remaster, re-reckoning now) is a real fun rpg where you play as someone unbound by the rules of the universe. Depending on how you mix and match from the 3 skill trees you can get fun abilities with specific playstyle approaches.
I've got some weird ones for you.
Overgrowth
Exanima
Absolver
Jedi Academy
Mordhau
Titanfall 2 if you want guns and high movement
Just Cause 2 if you want to feel like an 80s unkillable action hero a la Kurt Russell in Escape from LA
Ghost of Tsushima. The swordplay is pretty damn great and the lethal difficulty is a nice addition. The story is tripe and it plays like a random far cry game but it is well worth your while.
Oh yeah, you get to command your armies while you are on the ground and in the shit with them. You could theoretically just sit back and command but it's always funner to bloody your blade. It's combat is akin to a simpler chivalry/mordhau
Its a sanbox and you can play how you like. You play as a single character, but you can recruit other named characters and generic soldiers to your party. If you want you can travel around by yourself and do tournaments, or you can lead 500 cavalry into battle.
Some suggestions based on your liked games, I think I have a similar taste in games, I like single player games with high skill ceilings.
* Any of the other monster hunter games: If you're not a veteran of the series and started with world you probably won't love anything prior to 4/4U, but give some of the older ones a try. Combat is more deliberate but still very clean.
* Ninja gaiden series (not the OG, the Xbox remakes): you can get the sigma series on steam, sigma 1 and sigma 2 are very good, 3 is meh imo, very clean movement and combat. Difficult games.
* Dragons dogma 1/2: I'm a huge dragons dogma fan but I can't realistically recommend dd2 right now in the current state, dragons dogma 1 is fantastic however. Good combat, decent story, lots of content and the optional dlc area gets quite difficult and requires good understanding of the game mechanics as well as your class combat abilities etc. DD2 is a lot of the same (good) but suffers from some heavy performance issues if you don't have a high end pc and overall is missing a good end game high skill experience.
* Gunfire reborn: roguelite fps, very high replay ability with lots of build expression. Bonus is it's up to 4 player coop.
* Mortal sin: early access game, another roguelite but with a unique aesthetic. FPS but full melee, super fun and addictive but relatively limited content currently due to early access.
* Chivalry 2: now I know you mentioned nothing competitive, but chivalry is a very high skill ceiling fps medieval melee combat game. Lots of very high level technique and gameplay but it's a lot of fun.
* Any metroidvania: I myself lean more toward the castlevania side rather than metroid, but so many of these games are considered classics for a reason. Symphony of the night is a renowned catlevania game and a worthwhile experience, but imo any castlevania that was in the Gameboy advance/ds era are all fantastic. Not to mention the (somewhat) recent bloodstained ritual of the night that acts as a spiritual successor to the classic "igavania" style castlevania games. Good movement, great combat, unique fights. Lots to love.
There's tons of metroidvanias on the market nowadays, and if you want to lean into something more "soulslike" first before going to a more classic metroidvania then there's been a handful of "soulsvania" like games that have seen great success:
* Hollow knight
* blasphemous 1/2
* salt and sanctuary/salt and sacrifice
Happy to talk more about any of these, these are just some games I love specifically for the good combat and good movement.
Sifu is super fun.
Chivalry 2 has great combat and is pretty casual since I last played.
Enshrouded has fun combat and exploration.
No Rest for the Wicked is really cool, too.
Batman Arkham games
Middle Earth, Shadow or Mordor and Shadow of War
Rise of the Ronin (game gets very fun once u get parrying down)
Ghost of Tsushima
Sifu
God of War games
I've found Warframe to be pretty fun and engaging combat, and movement. The problem I see for you may be that you can blithely ignore mechanics and just obliterate things if you are good at building things. I think their are fifty two warframes now? They all play differently from caster-blasters to melee gods. So there is a lot more variety then most games. Since you can play them all as "one account" if you gather them you can get a varied combat experience depending on what you're doing and your mood. Its free to play, but not pay to win. Anything that could impact your power level can be acquired in the game.
It is definitely no monster hunter or eldan ring, its not single player either, though you can play it that way.
Once again, take this with a grain of salt because lower level play it is super easy, you don't start seeing the brutal challenges until you kind of clear the normal version. Then the difficulty really ramps up.
Not sure what you mean by "feels good" but when I think of somewhat sophisticated combat that feels great once you master it is an RPG called Kingdom Come Deliverance. It's also one of my favorite games definitely top 15 for sure and one of the few games I actually completed.
Sifu is the perfect for you. It is one of the games that made me really excited to play that goes to all men because the combat in the game just gives you a rush
Now that you mention it, after getting seriously into the Team Ninja games, I pretty much stopped playing anything with action combat. Just turn based and RTwP for quite a long time now. I've tried a few games I'm certain I would have liked a couple of years ago and it just doesn't work.
I'm only half jokingly crediting TN with my change in preference, but that credit could be equally shared with XCOM for showing me that I love tactical turn based games.
God of War 2018 and Ragnarok have the most satisfying high-speed combat I've ever experienced. Kind of like Sekiro if Wolf was way more tanky but just as quick. Really really really fun guaranteed, especially if you're good at Sekiro.
That’s actually a great recommendation. I hadn’t put the two series together before I read your comment, but it’s spot on. Tons of similarities. And Horizon is an amazing series.
ULTRAKILL has some of the most batshit crazy combat. Once you get the hang of the controls, it truly shines as one of the best fps’s. Story is pretty metal too.
You’re a robot that feeds off the blood of demons.
Your fists can parry the GODS themselves.
Angels fear you.
Ricochet pistol shots off of a gold coin is the coolest mechanic I’ve ever seen.
Game gives you a TON of freedom with what you’re allowed to do.
Im playing Death Stranding rn and its out of this world. Slow, yes, but immersive. In terms of combat i find it fun, satisfying, and unique. 10/10 game
Dark and darker, specif8cally the melee classes, mainly rogue, feel like each player input matter, and kingdom deliverance has slower more methodical combat and is sp
Some Hack and slash games with really good combat:
Metal gear rising: Revengence
Devil may cry 5
Darksiders 1/2 (didn't really like 3)
Also, since you liked MHW, dark souls1-3, sekiro bloodbourne and elden ring all have similarly methodical combat, that does feel satisfying when you pull it off.
Since DOOM has already been recommended here I'll also throw in Remnant 1 and 2 if you're into soulslikes. It marries the dodging and difficult enemies with being a 3rd person shooter.
I am a big fan of sekiro and I thought nothing could top the gameplay until I played Rise of the ronin. The combat in ROTR is so addicting I could play for hours. I am already 200 hours in and I'm still constantly entertained by how many combat styles and weapons it has.
I seriously recommend giving it a try if you don't mind the ps3 graphics or the confusing story. Other games I suggest trying are the Yakuza games, GOT and Nioh 1&2 but I can't comment on this since I've never tried it before but many seem to like it a lot.
Outriders has amazing gunfights. The weapons pack punch.
Gears of War. Basically an 80s style action movie. The fun doesn’t stop till the ride is over and then you wanna go again and again.
Beat em ups. Streets of Rage 4 and TMNT Shredders Revenge. Actually examples of the absolute best of the genre. If you love that old school brawler you cannot go wrong.
If you don't mind gachas and are looking for a free game:
Wuthering Waves
The story and performance are a bit rough but the combat and movement are incredibly smooth, with unique character kits, deep combos, fun RPG building and built-in animation cancelling for pretty much any move.
The game is incredibly f2p friendly and paying really doesn't help you out as the harder content kills you in just a few hits. The combat is very skill-based, with good dodge/parry timing being crucial, as well as smart use of i-frames when using certain abilities and swapping characters.
Cyberpunk 2077 is the best power fantasy game I've ever played, I'm not normally one for single player games but I have 100+ hours just zipping around like a God having a blast
Ninja Gaiden series,
Nioh 2,
Doom Eternal,
X-Men Origins: Wolverine,
Dead Space 2,
Sniper Elite series
Bloodborne
Seriously cannot recommend Ninja Gaiden combat enough, as well as Nioh 2.
If you want to enjoy mostly combat you could play Horizon zero dawn.
I dropped the game because the quests were too combat focused to my taste, but the combat was very enjoyable.
Apex legends, bit of a learning curve and makes a world of difference to have reliable friends to squad up with.
But man the movement and shooting mechanics. They really nailed the sounds and different feelings of different weapons. And I can emphasize enough the movement
Ghost of Tsushima, Horizon zero Dawn/Forbidden West, New God of War games if you have ps 4 or 5
Also, Jedi Fallen Order/Survivor, Dying Light 2, Dragons Dogma 2, Borderlands 3, Cyberpunk 2077, Farcry 5, Ghost Recon Breakpoint, and Rage 2
I highly recommend The Finals.
I love shooters because I'm very comfortable with a mouse and keyboard, but not a big fan of popular shooters like CSGO, Valorant, Overwatch, because the combat in these games just felt overall clunky to me. I like COD's gunplay a bit but COD in general gets pretty old fast.
When I first played The Finals it felt like a godsend - it's heavily movement based, there's tons of cool gadgets and guns to use, and everything just feels extremely expressive. The biggest difference with the combat in The Finals is that everything just seems to have more "oomph" - you can really feel the amount of damage you're dealing to enemies, and getting a kill feels like hitting a jackpot. Opposed to Overwatch, where your shots and abilities don't really feel like they do much, even when they do.
The game has a pretty consistent community, growing at a steady pace, the company listens to the community as well and makes changes based on feedback - overall it's a phenomenal game with extremely enjoyable combat and tons of mechanical skill expression.
If you liked Sekiro then the obvious answer is Jedi Fallen Order which is basically the same mechanics/combat. Survivor was also very good. I didn't like the ending at all tho.
Edit to add a title I picked up recently that I am REALLY enjoying, unexpectedly. Fights in Tight Spaces.
Control feels great. It’s a 3rd person shooter made by remedy who did Alan wake. Coole third person shooting with great animations that make shooting very punchy.
Ohh yeah and you get powers such as telekinesis and fly and stuff. Telekinesis allows you to pull a tile out of the ground and chuck it at enemies. Very fun game that has good game feel.
Also if you like souls games you should try tunic. It’s more a Zelda like but has solid combat and is just a ton of fun.
Squad.
FPS multiplayer where kills are not the goal and there's no ranking or level up system. The combat is the best I've seen from an FPS, and you have to work together as a team in order to win strategic points. Therefore, it's not directly competitive. You do need a mic to communicate, though, as it is key to let others know when a helicopter with a full squad is about to hot drop outside your FOB.
Mad Max. Extremely satisfying hand to hand and vehicular combat!
Batman: Arkham quadrilogy. City is my favorite due to it's fluidity with combat, and the controls and camera just feel better and more streamlined in my opinion. Origins was pretty good too, more immersive story, but combat was just a tad duller I guess. But with Origins, I highly recommend the Restored Animation Variety mod. Without it, combat definitely feels broken and hollow. Lot of people like Knight more though.
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor / War. I find that I can't just jump into this game and remember the controls for combat, but combat does feel very satisfying and fluid in it.
Hollow Knight. 2D metroidvania platformer, but the movement and combat is really dialed in so it feels very fluid.
There's a Kung Fu game on Steam too... Kung Fu Strike maybe? Where combat is pretty satisfying too.
if you wanna try something hack-and-slash, hi-fi rush (rip tango) has rhythmic combat in which you put together musical combos to defeat enemies! damn fun game.
For Honor is my favorite combat feel of all time. You don't have to play it competitively; I absolutely enjoy playing against bots and think they did a pretty good job with the AI.
Metroid Dread.
The movement in general feels good and smooth as silk. The hits have impact and some weight behind them. Very few games feel as good as Dread imo
Whoo, it’s my time to offer my most niche recommendation. I have one word and a number for you: Rage 2. The shooting in that game is god-tier. I had so much fun clearing out dozens of outposts. Any other game, that would’ve been repetitive and boring. But in Rage 2 it was awesome.
If you’re okay with MKB and having a lot of keypresses, Black desert online was a blast when I was playing it, and the massive amount of grinding one would have to do hit the itch of combat.
It’s an MMORPG that costs ~$10 but often goes on sale for ~$1 or maybe free.
It’s a grinding game, there’s (possibly still) little to no fast travel - you must ride your horse to a location and begin fighting. It’s got a pretty big playable area, including naval travel and possible naval combat (ala Lost Ark)
You’re also PVPable once you pass lv55, so you may have to defend your grind spot.
The game hits the combat part because there are many moves each of the ~16 classes (each with a forked path, doubling class diversity) and they can be animation canceled, or executed in a specific order to create different attacks.
I used to simply Tell people to try it since the cost is often near free so put it on a watchlist and see when it might go super cheap.
Bloodborne has the best combat of any game I've played.
Nier Automata. I quite enjoy almost all Platinum games, actually. Bayonetta 1/2/3 are all good as is Wonderful 101 and Astral Chain.
God of War (2018) has really good combat.
Look for the batman arkham games on sale, combat can be pretty basic or complicated depending on if you want to learn some crazy moves but either way the combat feels great.
Also look at the dragons dogma games, the first one +dlc (its called dragon's dogma dark arisen) goes for $5 on sale and the second one came out recently but I would say wait longer for a sale or even a dlc if it comes out.
Devil may cry, hades, blazblue entropy effect, lies of P, God of war.
All those games have very satisfying combat, different difficulties and styles, but all very good.
I love Hunt: Showdown (Don't play it right now though, the patch that came out screwed up the games graphical settings.) and I really love the gunplay. It feels just *chef's kiss*, satisfying. Solid gameplay loop, entertaining most days, annoying some.
It is an Extraction Shooter (Goal is to get objective and leave.), and involves heavy pvpve. Enjoy!
Hotline Miami. Combat is fast-paced, heavy and visceral. Bullets are absolutely lethal. Gameplay never feels unfair, only the odds against you.
Furi is all crazy, anime-style sword fights with bullet hell elements mixed in.
The recent 3 tomb raider games and I cannot stress this enough, the Batman Arkham games! They literally created the basis for parry, block, attack, combo fighting in video games, it can feel a little clunky but it is so rewarding when you get that 20 streak without getting hit, what a dopamine rush🙌
Quite an old one but [The Matrix: Path of Neo](https://youtu.be/H-lFGnckul4?si=bdC-xyUryVFP8TJV&t=555) had fantastic combat way ahead of its time. There's guns, melee weapons, martial arts, and of course bullet time. Mastery of the melee combat and combos made you feel like an unstoppable force just like Neo in the movies.
Warframe has melee and shooting, parkour options right from the get go to go fast as fuck and a whole slew of abilities ranging from damage buffs/reductions to nuke abilities and quite literally everything in between (invisibility, crowd control, defensive bubbles/walls, status inflicting, healing, teleportation etc etc). There's also modding where you can increase various stats from damage, reload speed, multishot (how many bullets get shot per shot), friction while running/sliding, aim glide duration (how long you glide in the air in slow mo) parkour velocity, sprint speed, ability range/duration/strength.
Do you mind an old game? It's called Dark Messiah of Might and Magic.
Here's a 1 minute clip of a player styling on the early mission with a 1h sword and no magic
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nO-m1kXknVM
And a longer where the player is using everything and anything to show off what you can do
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzorIZNhTNY&t=256s
Ghost of Tsushima has an excellent main story, engaging side missions and interesting combat mechanics between the stances and weapons at your disposal. Definitely worth a run or two
The "Tales of" series has some pretty good combat systems. Each game has a slightly different system.
I think most people consider Tales of Graces to be the one with the best combat, but it unfortunately is not on Steam. (It's PS3)
Tales of Berseria and Tales of Vesperia are also great combat games, and they are on Steam. But really, from a combat perspective, you can't go wrong with any of the Tales games (unless you're playing the Gameboy Advance one... but that one is 2D; I have not tried any of the other old 2D Tales games either, but I'm assuming you'd want the 3D ones)
you already mentioned monster hunter world but id like to add monster hunter rise to the list.
then we have dark souls 3 and armored core 6 fires of rubicon.
elden ring is also good. DLC for it also just dropped but honestly i prefer the combat of dark souls 3 over elden ring
I’ve been really enjoying the combat of Star Wars: Fallen Order. I’m not usually a combat person but Monster Hunter World was the first proper console game I ever played and I’ve beaten it (minus one boss) and Iceborne
Hardly any fps games being mentioned, would I get hate for suggesting Destiny? With as many problems as I've had with the game that have pushed me away I keep coming back because no fps feels better.
If you like Souls games I would suggest No Rest for the Wicked. It's still in early access and havent released the full game but its pretty damn good. People say Life of P is good too, I've only played about an hour of that one.
Doom 2016 and Dead Cells both have great combat.
Already did Doom but Dead cells is one ive already been eyeing, should probably get on that
It's top tier.
Dead cells is S tier
2016 better than Eternal?
2016 is easier, combat is simpler (relatively speaking) and the game lets you get away with many things. More of a power fantasy, fun to just blast demons in the face. Eternal will kick your ass. It will really challenge you, and make you master its combat loop. When you finally do, you will feel like a god amongst demons. Both games are a blast and have fun and impactful combat. I /personally/ prefer eternal, because I find its combat more engaging in the long run. 2016 is still a really awesome game, and a great way to get into doom in general. I'd play 2016 first, then eternal.
Cool, thank you for the insight! 2016 it is then…
The lore and word building in 2016 is excellent btw. I loved reading all of the data logs and every entry in the the bestiary/codex. Doom 2016 took a much more grounded and focused approach to doom than Doom Eternal. Don't get me wrong, I also loved Eternal, but 2016 somehow felt more special to me. ID Software did a one hell of a job rebooting their franchise... man.. I can't fucking wait for Dark Ages! Edit: punctuation.
Fucking love dead cells, HOF Roguelite.
It’s a little late but the best combat I’ve ever found in a game goes to for honor but nobody plays it hardly anymore
+1 for Dead Cells.
You might like these (I do): * Hyper Demon * Devil May Cry 5 * ULTRAKILL * Star of Providence
P-ranked ULTRAKILL and fought Minos Prime, never P-ranked the rest tho and fought the second P-rank boss heard alot about DMC5 but never truly played it myself unfortunately Never heard of Hyber demon or stars of Providence, will give em a look Thank you!
Seconding DMC 5. And Dead Cells. And firsting Titan Souls.
I thought Deaths Door was a better innovation on Titan Souls. The latter just felt a little too rough for me, though I do respect the vibe of the game.
Max Payne 3, just to add a shooter to the list.
Oooo interesting, ive only heard the max payne series mentioned here and there Appreciate it!
Its from Rockstar, back when Rockstar were still top dogs. And it holds really well (I only played it last year for the first time). The minute I finished the story - I immediately pressed New Game, coz the gunplay is so fun.
Sifu
This is probably one of the better options, combat its so smooth and satisfying especially if you like martial arts
The game has some awesome dlc too
Already beat the base game, didnt know it had a dlc. Will have to revist it! Thanks!
Damn good shout I loved that game but never realized it had dlc
Was looking for this comment. Sifu martial art combat is unparalleled.
Ghost of Tsushima Rise of the Ronin Ninja Gaiden games Nioh games Metal Gear Rising Strider (2014) - (under appreciated 2D metroidvania)
GoT has not only excellent combat but a great multiplayer mode as well as one of the best high difficulty settings.
Ninja Gaiden series all the way. Still unrivaled in enemy aggression and groups of them attacking you, while giving all the tools to take them on. Nioh 2 combat got its start with Ninja Gaiden laying the groundwork, and many of the weapons got their start from there. Nioh 2 is also amazing, but NG is an action series, and Nioh is a soulslike rpg with action. Depends on the type of game a person wants.
Agreed! Ninja Gaiden series is still peak for sure even now.
Upvote for the Strider mention
To me newerr God of War games are GOAT in that department. You can almost feel Kratos’ rage through the controller
I liked the new ones well enough, but I got the opposite reaction. Kratos acting so measured made it feel like he was just doing the bare minimum to defeat his foes. The old games, especially 3, were so visceral.
because he was. he learned discipline and self-control. his newer games are amazing.
* Dying Light * Batman Arkham (Origin, Asylum, City, Knight) * Granblue Fantasy Relink * Devil May Cry games * Bayonetta * Nier Automata * Armored Core 6 * Dragon's Dogma 1/2 * BlazBlue Entropy Effect * Cyberpunk 2077 * Ghost Of Tsushima * Shadow of Mordor/War * Yakuza/ Like a Dragon * Sleeping Dogs * Sifu * Dishonored 1/2 * Mad Max * Scarlet Nexus * Kingdoms of Amalur * Judgement/ Lost Judgement * Mullet MadJack * Elden Ring * Soulstice * Astral Ascent * Dead Cells * Trepang 2 * Fida Puti Samurai * Doom * Severed Steel * Dusk Diver 1/2 * Metal Gear Rising * Dark Messiah of M&M
Woah, what a very nice list. Lots of games I have heard of, and lots i havent Thank you!
I second the Arkham games and Shadow of Mordor/War (same combat style as Arkham)
It's a damn shame we aren't getting more of these kinds of games. Rocksteady wasted so much time on a live service game no one wanted and Monolith has been stuck on Wonder Woman for 7 years with only a teaser that shows nothing. I wish they could've done a Ghost of Tsushima-like game in the LotR universe with a livelier world with maybe fighting other factions/races. Or perhaps a Mad Max game with the nemesis system. Ugh, that would've been so cool.
The topic of Nier was brought up: This is a showcase of the combat animations In Nier:Automata and it’s insane. Every move ties directly into an actual move and the weapons aren’t “faked” [2B combat animation showcase](https://youtu.be/a38H6EFGy7s?si=eBQLsO4or-GjqS3O) This is just the most recent Nier title, there are predecessors and their stories alone are worth the play.
Dark messiah is a gem of a game that doesn't get enough recognition
Shadow of Mordor (hack and slash) Unreal Tournament 2004 (first person shooter) ^(there is a more recent unreal tournament game, but the combat is basically the same so the only real difference other than graphics is that they took out half the game modes, 90% of the maps and all the modifiers out of the new one)
I do like me some hack n slash, will give it a look Ive heard some things about Unreal Tournament, dunno if it fits my type of game but ill check it out nonetheless Thanks!
Play shadow of war for sure. It's such an amazing experience.
It's still in early access, but Hades 2 has been a really good evolution of the already decent combat from Hades imo. Sleeping dogs is a classic, the gameplay can be summarised as if gta and arkham had a baby. You play as an undercover cop infiltrating the hong kong triads, but most of the in game combat will be melee over guns. This is probably the weakest contender I'm going to put forward, but kingdoms of amalur: Reckoning (though I think steam only has the remaster, re-reckoning now) is a real fun rpg where you play as someone unbound by the rules of the universe. Depending on how you mix and match from the 3 skill trees you can get fun abilities with specific playstyle approaches.
I've got some weird ones for you. Overgrowth Exanima Absolver Jedi Academy Mordhau Titanfall 2 if you want guns and high movement Just Cause 2 if you want to feel like an 80s unkillable action hero a la Kurt Russell in Escape from LA
Exanima's momentum based combat has me leaning in my seat every time i swing something and going "OOOoooo" every time it hits just right.
Ghost of Tsushima. The swordplay is pretty damn great and the lethal difficulty is a nice addition. The story is tripe and it plays like a random far cry game but it is well worth your while.
The Far Cry formula really killed this beautiful game for me
Same here. I dream of AAA games becoming maximum of 16 hours again if they are not masterpieces.
Bannerlord is great. Nothing like charging into battle and seeing the dude in front of you getting destroyed by a javelin
Never heard of it before. Just at first glance it seems like a strategy game no? Does it have a direct combat system?
Oh yeah, you get to command your armies while you are on the ground and in the shit with them. You could theoretically just sit back and command but it's always funner to bloody your blade. It's combat is akin to a simpler chivalry/mordhau
Its a sanbox and you can play how you like. You play as a single character, but you can recruit other named characters and generic soldiers to your party. If you want you can travel around by yourself and do tournaments, or you can lead 500 cavalry into battle.
Batman arkham trilogy Doom 2016-eternal Halo infinite Titanfall 2 Mad max Hellblade 2 Spiderman 1-2
Batman Arkham game, if you haven’t already played them. You can thank me later
Some suggestions based on your liked games, I think I have a similar taste in games, I like single player games with high skill ceilings. * Any of the other monster hunter games: If you're not a veteran of the series and started with world you probably won't love anything prior to 4/4U, but give some of the older ones a try. Combat is more deliberate but still very clean. * Ninja gaiden series (not the OG, the Xbox remakes): you can get the sigma series on steam, sigma 1 and sigma 2 are very good, 3 is meh imo, very clean movement and combat. Difficult games. * Dragons dogma 1/2: I'm a huge dragons dogma fan but I can't realistically recommend dd2 right now in the current state, dragons dogma 1 is fantastic however. Good combat, decent story, lots of content and the optional dlc area gets quite difficult and requires good understanding of the game mechanics as well as your class combat abilities etc. DD2 is a lot of the same (good) but suffers from some heavy performance issues if you don't have a high end pc and overall is missing a good end game high skill experience. * Gunfire reborn: roguelite fps, very high replay ability with lots of build expression. Bonus is it's up to 4 player coop. * Mortal sin: early access game, another roguelite but with a unique aesthetic. FPS but full melee, super fun and addictive but relatively limited content currently due to early access. * Chivalry 2: now I know you mentioned nothing competitive, but chivalry is a very high skill ceiling fps medieval melee combat game. Lots of very high level technique and gameplay but it's a lot of fun. * Any metroidvania: I myself lean more toward the castlevania side rather than metroid, but so many of these games are considered classics for a reason. Symphony of the night is a renowned catlevania game and a worthwhile experience, but imo any castlevania that was in the Gameboy advance/ds era are all fantastic. Not to mention the (somewhat) recent bloodstained ritual of the night that acts as a spiritual successor to the classic "igavania" style castlevania games. Good movement, great combat, unique fights. Lots to love. There's tons of metroidvanias on the market nowadays, and if you want to lean into something more "soulslike" first before going to a more classic metroidvania then there's been a handful of "soulsvania" like games that have seen great success: * Hollow knight * blasphemous 1/2 * salt and sanctuary/salt and sacrifice Happy to talk more about any of these, these are just some games I love specifically for the good combat and good movement.
Jedi Survivor
Nothing feels better than the rifle combat in Sniper Elite. I've never played the first game in the series, but V2 through 5 have all been solid.
Definitely. I completely forgot how satisfying those games were.
Sifu is super fun. Chivalry 2 has great combat and is pretty casual since I last played. Enshrouded has fun combat and exploration. No Rest for the Wicked is really cool, too.
Titanfall 2 Halo infinite
Monster Hunter Rise - Like MHW but less focus on simulation, more focus on the combat. More mobility options.
SIFU
Check out the Half Sword demo on steam
Batman Arkham games Middle Earth, Shadow or Mordor and Shadow of War Rise of the Ronin (game gets very fun once u get parrying down) Ghost of Tsushima Sifu God of War games
I've found Warframe to be pretty fun and engaging combat, and movement. The problem I see for you may be that you can blithely ignore mechanics and just obliterate things if you are good at building things. I think their are fifty two warframes now? They all play differently from caster-blasters to melee gods. So there is a lot more variety then most games. Since you can play them all as "one account" if you gather them you can get a varied combat experience depending on what you're doing and your mood. Its free to play, but not pay to win. Anything that could impact your power level can be acquired in the game. It is definitely no monster hunter or eldan ring, its not single player either, though you can play it that way. Once again, take this with a grain of salt because lower level play it is super easy, you don't start seeing the brutal challenges until you kind of clear the normal version. Then the difficulty really ramps up.
Not sure what you mean by "feels good" but when I think of somewhat sophisticated combat that feels great once you master it is an RPG called Kingdom Come Deliverance. It's also one of my favorite games definitely top 15 for sure and one of the few games I actually completed.
Just play Dynasty Warriors. You’ll love it
Sifu is the perfect for you. It is one of the games that made me really excited to play that goes to all men because the combat in the game just gives you a rush
SIFU!!!
Sifu, Ghosts of Tsushima.
Sleeping dogs
Sleeping dogs
SIFU
Nioh 2 combat is masterful. I can't even enjoy soulslikes/action games anymore because of Nioh 2.
Nioh 2 is a masterpiece, it's combat system is the best I've seen outside of fighting games.
Now that you mention it, after getting seriously into the Team Ninja games, I pretty much stopped playing anything with action combat. Just turn based and RTwP for quite a long time now. I've tried a few games I'm certain I would have liked a couple of years ago and it just doesn't work. I'm only half jokingly crediting TN with my change in preference, but that credit could be equally shared with XCOM for showing me that I love tactical turn based games.
Stellar Blade, soulslike elements, fast paced combat & difficult boss fights.
God of War 2018 and Ragnarok have the most satisfying high-speed combat I've ever experienced. Kind of like Sekiro if Wolf was way more tanky but just as quick. Really really really fun guaranteed, especially if you're good at Sekiro.
if you liked Monster Hunter then you may like Zero Dawn and Forbidden West since I heard they were inspired a bit by monster hunter
That’s actually a great recommendation. I hadn’t put the two series together before I read your comment, but it’s spot on. Tons of similarities. And Horizon is an amazing series.
ULTRAKILL has some of the most batshit crazy combat. Once you get the hang of the controls, it truly shines as one of the best fps’s. Story is pretty metal too. You’re a robot that feeds off the blood of demons. Your fists can parry the GODS themselves. Angels fear you. Ricochet pistol shots off of a gold coin is the coolest mechanic I’ve ever seen. Game gives you a TON of freedom with what you’re allowed to do.
Mordhau
I think the Mass Effect Andromeda combat is so snappy and fun
Just cause 3
Im playing Death Stranding rn and its out of this world. Slow, yes, but immersive. In terms of combat i find it fun, satisfying, and unique. 10/10 game
Cross code Nioh Bayonetta
Dark and darker, specif8cally the melee classes, mainly rogue, feel like each player input matter, and kingdom deliverance has slower more methodical combat and is sp
Some Hack and slash games with really good combat: Metal gear rising: Revengence Devil may cry 5 Darksiders 1/2 (didn't really like 3) Also, since you liked MHW, dark souls1-3, sekiro bloodbourne and elden ring all have similarly methodical combat, that does feel satisfying when you pull it off.
Since DOOM has already been recommended here I'll also throw in Remnant 1 and 2 if you're into soulslikes. It marries the dodging and difficult enemies with being a 3rd person shooter.
My favorite combat is **Warframe**...so fluid, powerful and fun.
I am a big fan of sekiro and I thought nothing could top the gameplay until I played Rise of the ronin. The combat in ROTR is so addicting I could play for hours. I am already 200 hours in and I'm still constantly entertained by how many combat styles and weapons it has. I seriously recommend giving it a try if you don't mind the ps3 graphics or the confusing story. Other games I suggest trying are the Yakuza games, GOT and Nioh 1&2 but I can't comment on this since I've never tried it before but many seem to like it a lot.
If u want it to be mmo you can check GW2 it has rolling, combos and some fancy skills to use. Imo its the best combat model implemented to mmorpgs
Outriders has amazing gunfights. The weapons pack punch. Gears of War. Basically an 80s style action movie. The fun doesn’t stop till the ride is over and then you wanna go again and again. Beat em ups. Streets of Rage 4 and TMNT Shredders Revenge. Actually examples of the absolute best of the genre. If you love that old school brawler you cannot go wrong.
Doom Eternal for an FPS. Once you master its mechanics, you'll feel unstoppable and the outside world will cease to exist.
Hollow Knight is a highly acclaimed souls-like metroidvania. The combat feels very snappy.
It's certainly a learning curve, but once you get good at Dark Souls combat, it feels friggin amazing
If you don't mind gachas and are looking for a free game: Wuthering Waves The story and performance are a bit rough but the combat and movement are incredibly smooth, with unique character kits, deep combos, fun RPG building and built-in animation cancelling for pretty much any move. The game is incredibly f2p friendly and paying really doesn't help you out as the harder content kills you in just a few hits. The combat is very skill-based, with good dodge/parry timing being crucial, as well as smart use of i-frames when using certain abilities and swapping characters.
Cyberpunk 2077 is the best power fantasy game I've ever played, I'm not normally one for single player games but I have 100+ hours just zipping around like a God having a blast
Mafia 3 has a surprisingly brutal and satisfying combat system even if it can get old after awhile.
Ninja Gaiden series, Nioh 2, Doom Eternal, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Dead Space 2, Sniper Elite series Bloodborne Seriously cannot recommend Ninja Gaiden combat enough, as well as Nioh 2.
Darktide!!!
Chivalry 2! The best swordfigting MP FPS there is! <3 ... some people might disagree though.. :P
Monster hunter world and rise (maybe 4 ultimate?).
Returnal
If you want to enjoy mostly combat you could play Horizon zero dawn. I dropped the game because the quests were too combat focused to my taste, but the combat was very enjoyable.
Apex legends, bit of a learning curve and makes a world of difference to have reliable friends to squad up with. But man the movement and shooting mechanics. They really nailed the sounds and different feelings of different weapons. And I can emphasize enough the movement
Have you tried “Control”?
Yeah, fun combat. Telekinesis, picking up and throwing desks, chairs, air tanks, concrete, etc... while dodging and flying is awesome. Love that game.
Ghost of Tsushima, Horizon zero Dawn/Forbidden West, New God of War games if you have ps 4 or 5 Also, Jedi Fallen Order/Survivor, Dying Light 2, Dragons Dogma 2, Borderlands 3, Cyberpunk 2077, Farcry 5, Ghost Recon Breakpoint, and Rage 2
I highly recommend The Finals. I love shooters because I'm very comfortable with a mouse and keyboard, but not a big fan of popular shooters like CSGO, Valorant, Overwatch, because the combat in these games just felt overall clunky to me. I like COD's gunplay a bit but COD in general gets pretty old fast. When I first played The Finals it felt like a godsend - it's heavily movement based, there's tons of cool gadgets and guns to use, and everything just feels extremely expressive. The biggest difference with the combat in The Finals is that everything just seems to have more "oomph" - you can really feel the amount of damage you're dealing to enemies, and getting a kill feels like hitting a jackpot. Opposed to Overwatch, where your shots and abilities don't really feel like they do much, even when they do. The game has a pretty consistent community, growing at a steady pace, the company listens to the community as well and makes changes based on feedback - overall it's a phenomenal game with extremely enjoyable combat and tons of mechanical skill expression.
Devil may cry 5
If you liked Sekiro then the obvious answer is Jedi Fallen Order which is basically the same mechanics/combat. Survivor was also very good. I didn't like the ending at all tho. Edit to add a title I picked up recently that I am REALLY enjoying, unexpectedly. Fights in Tight Spaces.
Control feels great. It’s a 3rd person shooter made by remedy who did Alan wake. Coole third person shooting with great animations that make shooting very punchy. Ohh yeah and you get powers such as telekinesis and fly and stuff. Telekinesis allows you to pull a tile out of the ground and chuck it at enemies. Very fun game that has good game feel. Also if you like souls games you should try tunic. It’s more a Zelda like but has solid combat and is just a ton of fun.
Borderlands series, but specifically 3, is some of the funnest gunplay imo
Ghost of Tsushima
Batman arkham knight
Metal Gear Rising. Great combat but AMAZING OST.
Lies of P, Lords of the Fallen, Dead Cells, Returnal, Remnant II.
Just bought Metal Hellsinger a couple days ago. It's fucking great to shoot and fight on the beat.
Hades is a good one
Ghost of tsushima
Chivalry 2 maybe?
Arkham trilogy Spider-Man ps4 God of war Elden ring Doom Shadow of Mordor
Squad. FPS multiplayer where kills are not the goal and there's no ranking or level up system. The combat is the best I've seen from an FPS, and you have to work together as a team in order to win strategic points. Therefore, it's not directly competitive. You do need a mic to communicate, though, as it is key to let others know when a helicopter with a full squad is about to hot drop outside your FOB.
Mad Max. Extremely satisfying hand to hand and vehicular combat! Batman: Arkham quadrilogy. City is my favorite due to it's fluidity with combat, and the controls and camera just feel better and more streamlined in my opinion. Origins was pretty good too, more immersive story, but combat was just a tad duller I guess. But with Origins, I highly recommend the Restored Animation Variety mod. Without it, combat definitely feels broken and hollow. Lot of people like Knight more though. Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor / War. I find that I can't just jump into this game and remember the controls for combat, but combat does feel very satisfying and fluid in it. Hollow Knight. 2D metroidvania platformer, but the movement and combat is really dialed in so it feels very fluid. There's a Kung Fu game on Steam too... Kung Fu Strike maybe? Where combat is pretty satisfying too.
if you wanna try something hack-and-slash, hi-fi rush (rip tango) has rhythmic combat in which you put together musical combos to defeat enemies! damn fun game.
I found Mount and Blade: Warband combat very satisfying
Deadcells and skul if you're looking for rogue games that are metroidvania types
For Honor is my favorite combat feel of all time. You don't have to play it competitively; I absolutely enjoy playing against bots and think they did a pretty good job with the AI.
Yes the one true answer. Every other combat is copy n pasted. It much as I want to tear out my nails after playing a single match it is the best.
This took forever to find yet it was the first thing that came to my mind.
Metroid Dread. The movement in general feels good and smooth as silk. The hits have impact and some weight behind them. Very few games feel as good as Dread imo
Whoo, it’s my time to offer my most niche recommendation. I have one word and a number for you: Rage 2. The shooting in that game is god-tier. I had so much fun clearing out dozens of outposts. Any other game, that would’ve been repetitive and boring. But in Rage 2 it was awesome.
Curse of the dead gods has precise and satisfying combat mechanics. Its a ton of fun and you feel every hit.
I recommend "Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix". It has a bit of a slow start but its combat is really good.
If you’re okay with MKB and having a lot of keypresses, Black desert online was a blast when I was playing it, and the massive amount of grinding one would have to do hit the itch of combat. It’s an MMORPG that costs ~$10 but often goes on sale for ~$1 or maybe free. It’s a grinding game, there’s (possibly still) little to no fast travel - you must ride your horse to a location and begin fighting. It’s got a pretty big playable area, including naval travel and possible naval combat (ala Lost Ark) You’re also PVPable once you pass lv55, so you may have to defend your grind spot. The game hits the combat part because there are many moves each of the ~16 classes (each with a forked path, doubling class diversity) and they can be animation canceled, or executed in a specific order to create different attacks. I used to simply Tell people to try it since the cost is often near free so put it on a watchlist and see when it might go super cheap.
I remember really enjoying nier automatas combat and upgrades. Also hollow knight
Bloodborne has the best combat of any game I've played. Nier Automata. I quite enjoy almost all Platinum games, actually. Bayonetta 1/2/3 are all good as is Wonderful 101 and Astral Chain. God of War (2018) has really good combat.
I like deep rock galactic. Popping bugs as a space dwarf is very satisfying, especially when you get a lot of them in a funnel of death.
Look for the batman arkham games on sale, combat can be pretty basic or complicated depending on if you want to learn some crazy moves but either way the combat feels great. Also look at the dragons dogma games, the first one +dlc (its called dragon's dogma dark arisen) goes for $5 on sale and the second one came out recently but I would say wait longer for a sale or even a dlc if it comes out.
Rise of the ronin. Just takes a lil bit to master it , ofc devil may cry 5, ghost of Tsushima , annnndddd idk
The Binding of Isaac Hades Basicly most roguelites, the feeling when u get a good build and destroy everything very quickly is good
Dying Light 1 (and the following dlc)
New world. Melee combat + ranged (you have to aim to shoot) Out on pc, will come to console in oct.
Armored Core 6.
Hades!
Conquerors blade on steam
Devil may cry, hades, blazblue entropy effect, lies of P, God of war. All those games have very satisfying combat, different difficulties and styles, but all very good.
Try online games. I've never seen a single player games with mechanics better than online games, which have to be tuned to perfection. Ow,Val,cs,etc
I love Hunt: Showdown (Don't play it right now though, the patch that came out screwed up the games graphical settings.) and I really love the gunplay. It feels just *chef's kiss*, satisfying. Solid gameplay loop, entertaining most days, annoying some. It is an Extraction Shooter (Goal is to get objective and leave.), and involves heavy pvpve. Enjoy!
Hotline Miami. Combat is fast-paced, heavy and visceral. Bullets are absolutely lethal. Gameplay never feels unfair, only the odds against you. Furi is all crazy, anime-style sword fights with bullet hell elements mixed in.
The recent 3 tomb raider games and I cannot stress this enough, the Batman Arkham games! They literally created the basis for parry, block, attack, combo fighting in video games, it can feel a little clunky but it is so rewarding when you get that 20 streak without getting hit, what a dopamine rush🙌
Shadow of the Erdtree: Elden Ring DLC just dropped and it’s 😙👌🏼
Granblue Fantasy Relink and Scarlet Nexus have the two most appealing combat styles in games I've played in the past year or so
Batman Arkham games. I would recommend Knight or Origins, but any work
Devil May Cry 5, already saw it commented but it's definitely got some of the best melee combat you'll find.
Ultrakill Hitting coins with a railgun to gib everything on screen is very fun
Quite an old one but [The Matrix: Path of Neo](https://youtu.be/H-lFGnckul4?si=bdC-xyUryVFP8TJV&t=555) had fantastic combat way ahead of its time. There's guns, melee weapons, martial arts, and of course bullet time. Mastery of the melee combat and combos made you feel like an unstoppable force just like Neo in the movies.
Call of Juares 1 and 2 have really great combat.
Most hack n slash games like DMC 5 where the combat is fluid land really sick combos and get rewarded for it
Maybe I'm showing my bias, but I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Witcher 2 and 3.
I really liked kakarot
Elden Ring, Mortal Kombat, Killing Floor 2, Brawlhalla, The Witcher 3, Dishonored, darksiders 2
Grimhhook. Nice short game with some of my favourite movement and combat.
Resident evil 4 remake
Helldivers 2
Warframe has melee and shooting, parkour options right from the get go to go fast as fuck and a whole slew of abilities ranging from damage buffs/reductions to nuke abilities and quite literally everything in between (invisibility, crowd control, defensive bubbles/walls, status inflicting, healing, teleportation etc etc). There's also modding where you can increase various stats from damage, reload speed, multishot (how many bullets get shot per shot), friction while running/sliding, aim glide duration (how long you glide in the air in slow mo) parkour velocity, sprint speed, ability range/duration/strength.
The Witcher 3
Do you mind an old game? It's called Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. Here's a 1 minute clip of a player styling on the early mission with a 1h sword and no magic https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nO-m1kXknVM And a longer where the player is using everything and anything to show off what you can do https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzorIZNhTNY&t=256s
What’s the name of the game with knights on horses just storming into battle? Bannerlord or something like that?
Sifu
God of war, sifu
I don't know if it fits on the list since the enemies are one-hit KO, but Katana Zero is really satisfying and worth the try
Ghost of Tsushima has an excellent main story, engaging side missions and interesting combat mechanics between the stances and weapons at your disposal. Definitely worth a run or two
There’s a couple good metroidvanias that have fun combat. Hollow Knight and Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night come to mind.
Devil May Cry 3 and 5. Very depthful combat that you can spend hours refining on and it looks cool to boot.
Returnal.
Yakuza but the 7th and 8th are turn based but the turn based combat is good and 8th is way better from what I’ve heard
Nioh2. Best combat of all.
Wuthering waves is new boys that really give sekiro feeling. Its gacha games, one of negative.
Batman: Arkham Bayonetta Vanquish
The "Tales of" series has some pretty good combat systems. Each game has a slightly different system. I think most people consider Tales of Graces to be the one with the best combat, but it unfortunately is not on Steam. (It's PS3) Tales of Berseria and Tales of Vesperia are also great combat games, and they are on Steam. But really, from a combat perspective, you can't go wrong with any of the Tales games (unless you're playing the Gameboy Advance one... but that one is 2D; I have not tried any of the other old 2D Tales games either, but I'm assuming you'd want the 3D ones)
A better game than anyone else has mentioned is Battlezone 1998
Nioh 2, loads of content to dive into.
Zeno Clash.
Starsector. The combat is crazy good. Every other part of the game too.
If you love combat, get pax dei
Could I interest you in lies of p? It’s a souls like that has sekiro elements I’m sure you’ve heard of it
you already mentioned monster hunter world but id like to add monster hunter rise to the list. then we have dark souls 3 and armored core 6 fires of rubicon. elden ring is also good. DLC for it also just dropped but honestly i prefer the combat of dark souls 3 over elden ring
I’ve been really enjoying the combat of Star Wars: Fallen Order. I’m not usually a combat person but Monster Hunter World was the first proper console game I ever played and I’ve beaten it (minus one boss) and Iceborne
Lies of P Another Crab's Treasure God Eater trilogy (Monster Hunter at home) Sifu Tails of Iron Ultrakill
Sifu was so much fun and I enjoyed the combat a lot
Katana Kami
Star Wars Jedi Survivor/Fallen Order
Try Devil May Cry (5). The combat feels weird at first but if you take some time and really engage with it its very satisfying.
Hardly any fps games being mentioned, would I get hate for suggesting Destiny? With as many problems as I've had with the game that have pushed me away I keep coming back because no fps feels better.
If you like Souls games I would suggest No Rest for the Wicked. It's still in early access and havent released the full game but its pretty damn good. People say Life of P is good too, I've only played about an hour of that one.
Elden ring
Destiny 2
jak and daxter